Beethoven Challenge

Mattia,

Wow! Do this more often. As you said you "caught yourself singing"... Is this cheating? I'm not sure but who cares! Because what came out, in the end, was something just as "singable" and lyrical as you wrote. I can sing your theme because YOU COULD SING IT! It was quite rhythmic and lyrical all the way through. It breathed, it flowed, it made sense.

Bravo!

Question: As you notated it into your notation program, did you hear the notes then or waited to the very end to hear it finally played back?

P.S.

Tchaikovsky didn't need a piano to write his scores. He notably wrote his scores in his diary while he took his walks. He would write from within his head and/or would sing the melodies... hence! Why his melodies are so lyrical because he would sing them and articulate them.

Here is a real Tchaikovsky sketch from one of his diaries.

 

I'm not a fan of calling this "Beethoven Challenge", but being able to do this one day is one of my goals too. I think you did a wonderful job at this, very well done! I do think there are great benefits in terms of speed and melodic quality to be reaped from this approach.

 

Maybe to write a melody that isn't trash, but not something to this extent! Great job!

I'm with Dillon -- I don't think singing is cheating. Maybe if you're really trying to be like Beethoven, but many of the greats composed by singing.

 

That is a good challenge and a way to develop your concentration probably. I think you should be able to sing or whistle though. I would whistle.

One problem - if somebody else does this how can you verify they didn't cheat? Like the Straight 8 Super 8mm film competition - the film isn't developed so you can't cheat.

 

They'd mainly be cheating themselves out of the learning opportunity and satisfaction of pulling it off. Why do you think it's a "problem" that we can't be certain? What's at stake that makes it a problem for us?



When I read the title pop up on the notification bar again I thought this was about something different entirely:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_CyR8Aqfl45kzFIDeMr-CQ/community?lb=UgzSMc1rsZFgGcBd4Kh4AaABCQ


I was wondering what the redbanned crowd thinks about this.

 

Of course, I was just saying that as a semi-humorous observation. Never mind.

 

Oh, Sorry! My girlfriend frequently makes fun of me for not understanding jokes or irony and taking most things literally.

Par for the course for youtube comments. I've seen a tweet recently by an indie gamedev who showed some examples where spambots nowadays leave more positive and wholesome comments on her blog than real people do.

I guess it must come from a place of still thinking higher education is some magical fairydust and those who manage without it must be truely gifted heroes to achieve anything without that formal education guiding them. I can't imagine anyone who actually studied to talk like that. At least I thought large parts of my (non musical btw.) education held me back compared to autodidactic studies that I could have done in that time.

I don't know him super well, but I watched a couple of his videos. I don't think he's arrogant and I expect him to fail this challenge in some way and also acknowledge it himself. I was tempted to invite him to redbanned because I'm sure he could learn a lot here and generally I think he'd be receptive to the input, but I was worried he might recommend this place on stream or on youtube and I wouldn't want to see dozens of random fans of his join here and mess with the "balance of the force" this place has.
I'm curious to see what he comes up with.

 

"I don't care for academia, rules or theory and I'm indeed self-taught myself but I don't really get how not having an education of any sort (not necessarily schools) has become a point of pride and something to be celebrated for many people. "

Really agree with that. The best music is intuitively created. Most great composers just breezed through harmony classes or didn't even take them because they already had it down. Also think of all the blues and jazz players who never could afford an education but created the greatest music. Or another example ( though a very different area of music) is Erich Korngold who wrote his Sinfonietta when he was 17. It is musical technique and expertise equal to Richard Strauss or Mahler and he hadn't had time yet for hardly any formal education. His brain just did it.