Crap comparison

Yes, this guy has a lot of TALENT.

(just trolling, don't beat me to death please)

 

I'm never quite sure if this is something that motivates or demotivates beginners. If a beginner is doing this as a recently started hobby and is realistic about what they're willing and able to invest, then the sentences "You can achieve anything if you put in enough hard work" and "You'll never be as good as any one of the pros, because they already have over a decade headstart and can and will continously invest more time into their craft than you can do" are basically the same, aren't they?

I used to be very convinced of the "anyone can learn anything" idea, but nowadays I'm leaning more towards "talent" being "persistence", and for a fact not everyone has the same persistence in persuing certain things.

I'm always interested in science about persistence, willpower, motivation, etc. being learnable or not. If anyone has some interesting studies or articles, throw 'em my way any time!

 

All things take time to learn. The difference in people is that some will absorb the same thing in half the time as others. I wouldn't call that "talent", just "intelligence". It is, however, much easier to progress with a guiding hand and mentoring, as well as learning about the wheel, instead of rediscovering it yourself.

You don't know what some pro did to get to where he is. Maybe he took 20 years because he didn't want to listen to anyone and wanted to discover it all by himself. There's a famous quote that says it takes ~10 000 hours to achieve mastery of a skill. That's about 4 hours a day for 7 years. I think that's a fair ballpark, although "mastery" in music can be a loose term.

I'm pretty sure if every single person here put 4 hours a day into transcribing and composing and took advice on their pieces here, in 7 years (probably even sooner) everyone would write beautiful, sophisticated music.

Whether it motivates or demotivates beginners is completely up to them. If it demotivates them, they never wanted to write great music in the first place. I think it should be a great motivation for anybody who does, because it means that it actually can be done and it's not a goose chase or a magical dream; it's a reality waiting for you after doing the work to get there.

 

Fuck no! x]

But I make a living as a freelance 2D/3D illustrator/artist, so it's not like I never stuck for long with anything (should have been easily 10k+ hours doing things related to all kinds of visual "art" - using that term very loosely here). It's just that otherwise I'm all in on the "jack of all trades, master of none" thing. That never was a conscient choice, it just kind of happened automatically and economically it makes very little sense for a visual artist - I am well aware of that. But I seem to derive greater personal satisfaction from being able to do a broad number of things, than be really good at one thing.

edit: But yes, I'm hoping I'll manage to focus more on learning to make music this year.

 

There's a ton of parameters others than time and dedication, such as genetics, environment, etc. Not that simple. For my personal case, I have all the time I need and Redbanned.com. Is it enough ? No, because I don't know how to use my time efficiently, Most part of time I have no idea of what I'm doing and nobody around me knows shit about music. So I try, I fail, I experiment, I fail and it take tenth the time it should for a disappointing result every time. Then I give up... then I restart... again and again, trying to lower my expectations. It's not because I can't focus, it's because it completly kills my motivation and it takes some time to get the energy to go back to work.

And honestly, the main reason I subscribed on Redbanned is because I knew it will keep a link with what I like (and want) for these bad times.

 

By the way, I'm not complaining. I just want to say that working hard is not the key to success but just a part of it (the major part) and it can be blocked by other minor aspects.

There are great people on this forum and it's why I'm still here. I've also learned a ton of stuff that I've to digest before doing a good shit. And if I progress, it's 99% because of all of you.

 

Alex mentioned me, so now I have to follow up, hah.

This is me in March 2017 before enlisting into the MV School of Music.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/or46edxrb8dasav/av_march_2017.mp3?dl=0

Oh yes, cello and oboe (wtf) with a piano, then 28 horns in the climax and the "I'm the coolest shit ever" modulation. Oh, and Heavyocity percussion, of course. This piece has it all. The only reason I haven't deleted that is to remind myself every now and then that work pays off. If you listened to my pieces here, I'm sure you'll recognize the main ostinato pattern.

Then after "You don't learn that by going to school, you learn that by transcribing, which is actually all you need to do and what I've been saying all this time, and I'll keep saying it until there's no one taking my classes anymore because that'll mean you're all transcribing!" and 3 months of actually taking that advice, I was here. Those col legnos are loud.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/x2a00z90gnc9b28/av_june_2017.mp3?dl=0

And the rest you can hear on this forum (or on my SoundCloud, just check the posting dates).
I'd like to add that I was by no means just starting out writing music and have been doing pop/EDM for quite some time before diving into orchestral music. I also know I still have a long way to go but looking a year back now and feeling progress is great (even though some of the better folks here can listen to my latest pieces and laugh and I'll laugh together with them!) . There was certainly a lot of transcribing on my part (even though I've been doing it the wrong way, it was transcribing nonetheless), but there was also guidance from Doug and Alex which they selflessly provided and input from everyone else here, as well as reading what everyone was posting about other people's music and about other topics regarding composition, and seeing myself in some of these scenarios and then applying that advice to my own work.

I believe all of that also played a very significant role.

So come on, dudes and dudettes and whoever is reading! Don't get discouraged by achievements of others, and instead know that it's possible. I know I didn't think it was possible a year ago, but with all the understanding I have now (which is still not a lot) compared to a year ago, it doesn't all seem that hard and impossible.

I realize not everyone can devote too much time here, but hopefully knowing that it's not a dream, but rather just a distant reality, you'll spend less time dreaming and more time transcribing and posting your pieces

 

Thank you for saying that. It means a lot. And I definitely think your woodwind writing has become masterful. Your latest piece is a perfect example of your fantastic composition chops. I put a longer comment in the other thread about that specific piece. I wish there was a way to get your music heard by more people. Perhaps Spotify? Your music is now miles ahead of Two Steps From Hell and those guys are getting rich.

 

Are those really 3 totally distinct things though?

I actually kinda liked that . Just not my preferred metal sub-genre.

That big of an improvement in 3 months is quite impressive and indeed motivating!

But harmonically I'll admit I liked the first one already. I think with synths and a little sound design it might have worked really well. Maybe that's your EDM experience showing through?