On Sunday, 6. January 2013 08:13:14 Rustom Mody wrote:
A favourite example of mine: Today J S Bach is regarded as the pinnacle of western classical music. When he was a young man he spent much of his time just copying out 'the masters'
Perfect analogy! You see, with music there is a set of rules which can be learned, because they are written down. But mastering these does not make you a good composer. When given the task "write a tooth-paste jingle" you would still not know where to start. But when you talk to a jingle writer, he could probably tell you his train of thoughts and you would be able to learn from him. Incidently I am interested in writing music too and I ran into the exact same problem as with haskell. Try to find information about how to write 3-4voice vocals, so it sounds like the Beach Boys, the BGs or Abba. Even though this wisdom is known to someone, it is impossible to find something which resembles a tutorial. Either this wisdom cannot be written down at all, or the masters prefer to keep their wisdom concealed. Copying the masters will certainly help, but it is a long and time-consuming process. I was hoping for ways to shorten it. -- Martin