# Best ways of getting working new sounds into your composition?



## Manok (Aug 29, 2011)

Is it by listening to music, or just simply trying things that are out of my comfort level? Maybe by writing short passages in styles I want to try? Any ideas?


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

By "working new sounds" do you mean "sounds that are new to you (ie. sounds that you have previously not used because of traditional compositional devices and whatever the heck all that stuff is in music theory books that no one (not even Bach) follows properly) that sound good/interesting/insanely complex?" As in what Cage calls "Illegal Harmonies"? Or are you just asking how you could explore and expand your musical knowledge of already existing composers and their personal styles by putting yourself in their shoes and having a crack at composing like them knowing that you can draw on some of their techniques in your own original compositions?


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Your intuition about writing short passages in new styles is good, but I'd take it one step further. Even if you reach out into new styles, you're still limiting yourself to certain rules - for at least some of your efforts, you should try to free yourself from the notion of rules all together. Forget the scales, forget the progressions, forget the voicing; explore and find your way around the music purely by what sounds good to you. It's the sound that matters, not the theory.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

^I have to say I have not heard a single piece of music that follows all if the rules set in those silly music theory lessons. While learning music theory is good to start off with, it is always good to veer away from them when you become a composer. No one wants to hear your correctly voiced four part harmony suspension exercises in a concert! I have learnt from the preferences of music the kids like to listen to at my school the people like the music _more_, the _more_ rules the music breaks.


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## Manok (Aug 29, 2011)

I tend to get into ruts, and was just looking for a way of experimenting, that broke me away from certain things.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

^Have a look at some music that you are not often exposed to. Have a look at other cultures and their music for inspiration. Glass was greatly inspired by Indian classical music and Sculthorpe drew a lot of inspiration from Indonesian gamelan and Australian aboriginal music.


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