Being A COMPOSER, What Does It Mean???

the experience of creating this channel has been nothing short of amazing nearly a hundred thousand subscribers i thought i'd never get to this thing is i'd like to break that 100k mark before the end of october so all you need to do is subscribe tell your friends to subscribe and ding that bell you're gonna really want to ding that bell trust me happy composers day lauren asked one of the most fiendish questions i've ever been asked which is to describe what it means to be a composer to be a composer what actually is it every year i go to the ivor novellos and the reason i love it there so much is because it's a bunch of people who just know what each other does and what each other does is so difficult to describe but so easy to share for me if i was going to describe the pure act of composition it would be that of this just lighting a match ignition the rest really can be done by other people but the very first act is that of ignition and then we put it into some fuel and hope it takes if i could pick a natural element to represent music it would be fire because it's it's kind of not made of anything yet it warms us and it lights us in those dark shadows [Music] that a few months ago was like the the match head hitting the side of the the match box and sparking the sound of these [Music] three rubbing semi-tones i mean there's nothing to it but there was something i just found beguiling about that so i expanded on it but would it take when put into the fire well it did the director liked how boldly simplistic stupidly simple it was and also enjoyed the prospect which i kind of pitched to him of what if we did a john carpenter score but without since instead an orchestra and he liked that idea too and we threw mandolins hurdy gerties and strings onto that fire turned the top line into the baseline the bass line into the top line part b part c angry versions happy versions but all from that single spark [Music] those three notes rubbing together uncomfortably the legal definition of what is composition is if no one sung or wrote down the melody that you've just sung or indeed on an instrument no one has played that piece of music or written it down before you then you have composed it that's where composition starts and to a certain degree ends being a composer isn't just about composition i think that whilst you could get someone to build your pyre for you your orchestrators your copyists your musicians it's your fire you started it it's your responsibility so it's about you tending to it and making it grow to a appropriate size whether that be a simple lantern or a candle a small fire pit like this or indeed a large bonfire and sometimes fires do completely burn out of control those the fires made by trailblazers but it'll always be your fire and what's extraordinary about it is even if you're really specific about the way in which you construct the fire until you've recorded it it'll always burn differently but the fire is always you and for me composition being a composer is doing just this this process with spitfire audio is getting to know you and just sharing that understanding without really stating it it is a complicated thing to discuss this spark it's not like a miracle it's it's just a match it's it's it tends to often be the act of finding that spark tends to be fairly inconsequential but immediate we do toil over these things we do worry about them but they're not when they happen it is fairly inconsequential it's not like some kind of shining beam of light as you're touched by some celestial power it just happens like a match but for me the meaning of being a composer and the greatest joy is that it earns me the honor of working with live musicians taking what i created as a spark codifying on a piece of paper and then becoming the furnace and until we decide upon which take which comp to use every time it's performed that furnace is ever so slightly different it's a staggering honor to be someone who can work frequently with musicians and that for me is when i understand the true meaning of being a composer is it the same for you and how would you define being a composer we've got a twitter thread going on at the moment which is trending on composers created by composer magazine and we'd really like to hear your definition of what it is being a composer what it is to you thanks for bearing with me my first fireside chat i don't know if i'll do another one certainly not with the wind pointing in this direction um subscribe please as i requested earlier and ding that bell it really will be worth your while and one of those to everyone at composer magazine see you again next time and that was okay i think we'll cut together get some rid of some of the waffle okay fire just not impressed highland highland boy with his with his burning wicker man

Channel: Christian Henson Music

Views: 10,730

Keywords: spitfire audio, christian henson, behind the scenes, orchestral programming, media composition, media composing, media composer, orchestral samples, orchestral sampling, behind the scenes in recording studios, recording studios, music programming, music programming techniques

Id: zBpu9ed9Tww

Length: 7min 26sec (446 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 15 2021