Interesting thread.
Well, I'm going to try to make this as non-boring as possible, so here it goes
:
I started writing music in December of 2004. I had only started playing music six months earlier - my only instrument was an unused acoustic guitar my dad bought in 1982 for $150 (oddly enough, it had been sitting in a case behind his bedroom door at his mother's house all this time, and only in 2004 did I actually notice the case and ask if there was a guitar inside it, LOL).
Anyways, my first song was pretty simple. It didn't just consist only of chords (which seems to be the case for most acoustic guitarists' first songs...) but it was pretty incoherent.
I continued writing more and more songs, all of them pretty interesting compositionally but none of them founded in actual music theoretical knowledge. My favorite of my old songs was a seven-minute epic that I absolutely LOVED, but when I posted a recording of it online, I quickly saw that my love for my music was biased, and that the general public didn't think I was the creative genius I felt I was.
This realization of the dichotomy between my understanding of my music and others' understanding of my music expanded into the realization that a quality (or at least a successful) songwriter needs to have a perceptive awareness of what makes music appealing. This pushed me to make my music better and better, and my writing process gradually became more and more focused on supposed listener reception.
Nonetheless, writing music was always an incredibly emotional experience for me. All this happened in the context of my high school years, which weren't exactly the "best years of my life". The emotional turbulence of my domestic setting often produced intense music on my behalf, and, even now, I must admit I didn't write my first fully upbeat piece until mid-December of 2007, LOL.
So anyways, at the end of my high school junior year, while I was deciding which classes to take my senior year, an AP Music Theory course caught my attention. At that time, I had absolutely no knowledge in music theory. Granted, from an academic point of view, it probably was stupid of me to take that class. But I really wanted to catch up on 17 years of not knowing any music theory.
Interestingly, I actually had to cheat my way into getting enrolled into the class. In order to take the class, I had to get the signature of the teacher. He required that all entering students have had at least four or five years of academic music experience (hell, some of the students in that class began piano when they were nine; I didn't start piano until I was 17!). So, instead, he signed his name for me to take regular music theory, the course of which I penciled in on the registration sheet. Well, later on, I erased the regular music theory course and wrote in the AP music theory course. Sneaky, eh?
So, obviously I had to go a little hyper-drive on learning music theory basics before the class started in fall. Eventually, I found myself looking at the 2006 summer school course list of a local high school. This school offered an ROP Music Theory & Technology class that seemed perfect for my ambition of learning all I could before the fall semester came. The only setback was that this high school was pretty **** far from where I lived, and that I’d have no easy way of getting home (both my parents worked during the week and bus fare cost way too much).
Thus, for every day of that summer school session, I left the house at 6:50am and biked five miles to get to class by 7:30am. Needless to say, I developed a strong aversion for hills. ><
Nonetheless, I learned a decent amount (I learned how to read standard notation). Still, I didn't even understand scales by the time the class was over, so it that sense, I was still going into AP Music Theory unprepared. =[
But at last, my AP Music Theory class came. As I expected, everyone else in that class had had at least several years of formal music instruction. Nonetheless, throughout the duration of the class, I read over my textbook’s chapters numerous times, studying like crazy. I'm glad to say that the class was just about a complete success for me. I learned all the basic fundamental compositional tools, so my songwriting ability skyrocketed massively (especially with the fundamental domains of harmonic progressions, non-harmonic tones, and cadences - these helped IMMENSELY). Granted, I never got the hang of sight-singing or dictation, but oh well, those aren't directly related to composition anyway =] ).
Anyways, after high school ended in June of 2007, I sort of stopped learning music theory. With no academic pressure pushing me, I didn't really feel too compelled to master things we didn't cover in class (like modes and seventh chords). But, after a short hiatus over the summer and early fall, I eventually got back into songwriting, especially with a focus on sonata form, an interesting practice in which I had dabbled somewhat for an end-of-the-year composition project in my music theory class.
Oddly enough, as much as the above text is, I forgot to mention my experience with genre.
I started out with rock. First acoustic, then - with the addition of a crappy $99 electric guitar ordered online from China - heavier rock in addition to softer elements. My early recordings consisted of guitar, programmed drums, and my abominable vocals. I actually wrote my first orchestral piece in that summer music theory class. I knew absolutely no music theory (save for how to read standard notation), but it actually was quite a success, and it was compositionally miles beyond anything I had previously written.
Which reminds me - the computer composition program I use is Finale. I first learned it in the summer music theory class. At the time, it was a little overwhelming, but by now I've pretty much mastered it. =D
While there is a free version of Finale (called Finale Notepad), it's awfully limited, and so I've had to resort to using *cough*pirated*cough* versions from the Internet. I currently use Finale 2008. It is absolutely PHENOMENAL.
Except for one thing.
Finale is intended mainly for orchestral and jazz ensembles. Thus, writing rock music on Finale doesn't sound too good.
Now, I'm not incredibly wealthy, and recording rock music is admittedly a very expensive hobby. A good electric guitar, a good amp, a good bass, a good drum set, a good microphone, and a good recording interface collectively cost way more than I could ever afford (at least, not until I'm out of college, have payed off all debts, and have a financially successful job...). So, I actually converted to writing orchestral music mainly for economic practicality. Pretty bizarre, eh?
I have dabbled a bit in hip hop, but beat programs like Reason are way over my head. ><
So...that's one side of the story up till now. That's the external "what happened" stuff.
On the other side of the story are the actual songs.
I could literally write a book about the origin and development of each of my songs. Each of them was an incredibly deep journey both compositionally and emotionally. In general, most of my songs start off with a melody I've written either from playing around on guitar, piano, or Finale. Sometimes I'll have the melody (and usually the harmonic and percussive accompaniment) in my head, and I'll transcribe it onto sheet music (originally tablature).
Most of my current songs are the products of conglomerations of separately-written musical ideas, combined because of after-the-fact, coincidental cohesion. In fact, you'll almost never hear a current song from me in which everything in it was initially intended as such. Recently, I've categorized all my best musical cues by time signature and BPM, and I try to develop full songs out of different cues that work well together.
So composition works note by note. Arrangement works cue by cue (entailing successive compositional integration of the separate cues). Recording rock music involved guitar/vocals-amp-microphone-CPU-Audacity or guitar-amp-CPU-Audacity. Recording music with Finale involves playing it while recording and making afterward sound adjustments.
I've so far compiled two "albums", though both are by now outdated in terms of the compositional skill I've gained since then. I'm currently trying to complete my first, mature full-scale work. But this one's taking a lot of time, due to the high standards I'm mandating of it.
Oddly enough, I've actually gone this far without mentioning somewhat of another second side to the story. LYRICS!
My lyrical development has by no means been as substantial as my musical development, but I simply cannot ignore the incredible influence lyricism has played in my overall musical development.
As far as pure music is concerned, I don't really have any inspirations other than the music itself. However, I've accumulated a TON of lyrical inspiration over the years. My first sets of lyrics throughout middle school and high school (I wrote lyrics extensively back then; about 97 different sets of lyrics) were all mainly about me. Huge Linkin Park influence, if you know what I mean. Though, I eventually did dabble in some political lyricism (ala Rage Against the Machine) and semi-abstractionism.
But it wasn't until, oddly enough, my discovery of Wikipedia that I began drawing from more interesting inspirations.
My first external lyrical inspiration was the tragic Nanking Massacre. I first learned about it in my high school freshman year, and it affected me massively. I was horrified that mankind could do such ghastly things, and - about a year later - I felt compelled to make a musical eulogy of the tragedy. Interestingly enough, the guitar solo that I recorded for this song has lived on to be perhaps my most successful moment in music ever. Everyone who listens to that guitar solo has told me how incredibly moved they were (and THAT is why I write music!).
Eventually, I branched off into other historical topics (like Unit 731, the My Lai massacre, and Genie the feral child), literary topics (like Stephen Crane's poetry), and a hint of religion/philosophy (like the Hindu concept of Moksha).
Of course, all of this is absent in my instrumental work. But all of it is still incredibly fundamental in regards to context.
Well, after all this time spent with music (I've probably spent over 152 hours writing and recording music, 334 hours playing piano, 2366 hours playing guitar, and 7118 hours simply listening to music - yeah, I like to calculate), I've built up somewhat of a personal philosophy on the nature of music and the different elements regarding it. I won't go into detail (that could be a whole other book...), but one simple thing I've grasped is the importance of memorable and likable melody. There is no other aspect as vital as this. Harmonically, the most potent progressions have been done to death. Harmonic progressions involving I (or i), IV, and V are the most effective, but harmony involving these three chords has an innovational limit - and that limit has been reached years ago. Sure, harmonic innovation can be achieved through more sophisticated progressions, but these are usually emotionally lacking, inherently due to their lack of simple (yet potent) cadences. On the other hand, songs that are rhythmically boring can still be very enjoyable.
Thus, I've realized that melodic strength is the most vital asset any songwriter can have. A song harmonically rich and rhythmically inventive can only have limited appeal (usually only to some musicians).
Thus said, I place great focus on melodic considerations when composing. Of course, I also aim for strong harmonic texture, but I'd be more likely to develop a piece out of a melody than a chord progression.
Well, amazingly, I've gone this far without really actually mentioning any specific songs or pieces. But I'm not going to go into that now; at least, not without some directed interrogative specification.
So, I guess I'll post some screenshots to show what I work with. =]
Here's the program I work with, along with the coda to one of my pieces:
Here's another:
Heh, the very first orchestral piece I ever wrote. Did this during that summer school class =] :
One of my later tabs. Also one of the last rock songs I ever wrote:
Another tab. This was a fun song to play on the acoustic. =D :
...well,
that was extensive. I didn't plan to write so much, but I guess I had to "get it off my chest"; after all, none of my friends or family have really shown any interest in my songwriting. ><
As for my future plans, well, writing music is really just getting in the way of me having a successful career. More music = less studying. And I could never pursue music as a career; I lack the charisma, the contacts, and the financial wealth (all three of which are vital to make it in the music industry).
Oh well. That's the general gist of my story. I actually never really went very in-depth, but you get the idea.
