{"id":220,"date":"2022-05-25T21:30:11","date_gmt":"2022-05-25T21:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.electronicmusicmall.com\/?p=220"},"modified":"2022-05-25T21:30:11","modified_gmt":"2022-05-25T21:30:11","slug":"what-makes-a-composer-truly-great-4-qualities-of-great-composers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.electronicmusicmall.com\/blog\/what-makes-a-composer-truly-great-4-qualities-of-great-composers\/","title":{"rendered":"What Makes a Composer Truly Great? 4 Qualities of Great Composers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe width=\"100%\" height=300vh src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/N6AQhGZMNnw?autoplay=1&#038;mute=1\"><\/iframe>Great composers are few and far between. With all of the music that has been written over the centuries, only a handful of composers have achieved true greatness. What qualities make a composer truly great?<\/p>\n<p>The question is difficult to answer, but there are some hallmarks of a truly great composer. Here are four qualities that define what makes a composer truly great:<\/p>\n<p>1) Originality<\/p>\n<p>2) Sense of Humor<\/p>\n<p>3) Ability to Speak to Their Audience<\/p>\n<p>4) Comfortable with Silence<\/p>\n<p>Originality<\/p>\n<p>Making music is difficult. Learning the rules takes years. But more than anything else, the hardest thing to do in music is to be original. The best composers have mastered the rules and can bend them in their own way. They have a unique voice that is unmistakable in any genre or style. To do this, it helps to channel your inner child and have fun creating. A child&#8217;s mind is not bogged down by all of the rules and does not worry about doing things &#8220;right&#8221; or &#8220;wrong.&#8221; When you create from this mindset, you will find that your musical ideas become much more original. And when you really allow yourself to be free, you will realize that your musical voice is extremely unique&#8211;no one else has<\/p>\n<p>We are all familiar with the great composers who have lived and lived during our lifetimes. We know their names, we hear their songs played on the radio, and we see their works performed on stage all over the world.<\/p>\n<p>But what makes a composer truly great? Not just a talented composer\u2026 or even a successful one\u2026 but one who not only survives in our memories, but thrives for centuries after his death?<\/p>\n<p>Here are four hallmarks of a truly great composer. A composer who is remembered as much for his musical brilliance as he is for his skill in composing and performing.<\/p>\n<p>1) A Great Composer Has an Excellent Musical Ear<\/p>\n<p>2) A Great Composer Has an Ability to Create Music that Has Both Structure and Beauty<\/p>\n<p>3) A Great Composer Can Create Music that People Want to Listen To<\/p>\n<p>4) A Great Composer Has an Ability to Write Music That Moves Us<\/p>\n<p>As I\u2019ve been working as a composer for about 7 years now, and I\u2019ve been teaching music theory and music composition for about 6 years, I have a lot of experience with the growth that young composers go through.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m going to talk about what makes a composer truly great. And by great I don\u2019t mean popular or famous (although these may be happy side effects). By great, I mean someone who has the qualities that make their music sound unique and timeless.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m going to list 4 qualities of truly great composers, which are:<\/p>\n<p>1. Great Composers Use The Most Basic Materials<\/p>\n<p>2. Great Composers Take Risks<\/p>\n<p>3. Great Composers Don\u2019t Think In Terms of Genre<\/p>\n<p>4. Great Composers Are Not Afraid To Be Simple<\/p>\n<p>The best composers are able to do something that most people can&#8217;t. They are able to create something out of nothing. Composing is more than just writing music, it&#8217;s the ability to create something that wasn&#8217;t there before. It&#8217;s a gift that most people don&#8217;t have.<\/p>\n<p>What makes a composer truly great? What makes someone like Mozart, Bach or Beethoven truly great? Is it their genius? Is it their ability to compose at such a young age? Or is it something else?<\/p>\n<p>I believe that the true hallmarks of a truly great composer are creativity, originality, freedom and openness. All of these traits are essential for being a great composer. If you don&#8217;t have any of them, you&#8217;re not going to be a great composer.<\/p>\n<p>Creativity is the main trait that all great composers have in common. They all have the ability to create something out of nothing. They can take an idea and turn it into music that sounds incredible. Without creativity, you&#8217;re never going to be a composer.<\/p>\n<p>Originality is another important trait for being a great composer. Great composers are original because they&#8217;re able to come up with ideas that other people haven&#8217;t thought of yet. Originality is what separates the good from<\/p>\n<p>Great composers are among the great artists of the world, and they deserve the credit they receive. Among those great composers, there are a few who really stand out as truly great. These composers have something special that makes them stand out from their peers. Here are four qualities that set truly great composers apart from the rest:<\/p>\n<p>1. Truly great composers don&#8217;t just write music. They create music that is so compelling and beautiful that it can change a person&#8217;s life or even bring people together in peace and harmony.<\/p>\n<p>2. Truly great composers don&#8217;t just write for themselves. They write for others, too. They listen to other musicians and learn from them, but they also create their own style of composition which may be very different than anyone else&#8217;s style.<\/p>\n<p>3. Truly great composers never settle for second best or third best; they&#8217;re always striving for excellence in their craft. They work hard at their work, and they don&#8217;t give up easily when things get tough or frustrating.<\/p>\n<p>4. Truly great composers understand that everyone has a unique voice and vision of how music should sound, feel and express itself; they respect and value each person&#8217;s unique voice and vision while maintaining their own individuality as an artist.<\/p>\n<p>When I was in graduate school, my composition professor was fond of telling us that a composer must be able to compose in any style. In his mind, this meant that composers should be able to write in the styles of previous eras\u2014the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, etc.\u2014as well as in contemporary styles.<\/p>\n<p>I think this is a pretty fair evaluation of a composer&#8217;s abilities. But it&#8217;s not necessarily indicative of their greatness. Greatness is not simply about the ability to compose at all, but rather to compose well.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps this seems obvious. But sometimes I wonder if composers take themselves too seriously and become too invested in their own opinions (guilty as charged!). They forget that the purpose of music is not to make one feel good about oneself as a composer or performer, but rather for the sake of the audience (or listener).<\/p>\n<p>In short: great composers are able to do what they want because they know how to do what others want. Here are 4 qualities that truly great composers possess:1) They have good taste2) They listen3) They practice4) They collaborate<\/p>\n<p>The study of the great composers is perhaps the best way to improve your composing skills. This is why I have written a series of blog posts on famous composers, including Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, and more.<\/p>\n<p>Today I would like to share with you some of the most common qualities found in the greatest composers. It is important to look at these qualities as they can help you improve your own composing skills.<\/p>\n<p>1. The first quality that all great composers share is that they are highly skilled musicians. The level of mastery over their instrument or instruments is extremely high. In addition, they also have an excellent understanding of music theory and how the various elements of music fit together. They understand how harmony, melody and rhythm interact to create a great piece of music that sounds good and makes sense to the listener.<\/p>\n<p>2. Another quality that all great composers share is that they are not afraid to experiment with new ideas or ways of doing things. They are always open to new possibilities and willing to try anything once if it means making better music for their audience. This openness allows them to create some truly amazing pieces that no one has ever heard before!<\/p>\n<p>3. A third quality that all great composers share is that they never stop learning<iframe width=\"100%\"\" height=300vh src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Yk1LFEbQCKA?autoplay=1&#038;mute=1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Great composers are few and far between. With all of the music that has been written over the centuries, only a handful of composers have achieved true greatness. What qualities make a composer truly great? The question is difficult to answer, but there are some hallmarks of a truly great composer. Here are four qualities [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.electronicmusicmall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.electronicmusicmall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.electronicmusicmall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.electronicmusicmall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.electronicmusicmall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.electronicmusicmall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":221,"href":"https:\/\/www.electronicmusicmall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220\/revisions\/221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.electronicmusicmall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.electronicmusicmall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.electronicmusicmall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}