How to Write a Symphony - part 1 - Walk Before You Run

This is the first part of a course on how to write a symphony.

[fish]

Watching this so I can write 8 symphonies and then die in the middle of the 9th

[musicstuff]

I wrote a few smaller pieces, and going in high school I learned about form and obliques, last year I wrote my first ~15 minute classical symphony. Then I read a lot of books, wrote a few more smaller pieces, listened to a lot of 19th century orchestral compositions and now I'm writing a quite succesful Overture so far. If only little me knew big me would write such amazing pieces one day haha..

[malik-a-creeper]

Nobody else gave me even music references. I know they are so famous composers, but still, i didn't know them very well, and this is a beloved exhaustive reference, so thank you

[devonk]

You may not have reached your goal, but it's impossible to not learn from two years of effort.

[BJamesThompson]

His credibility was established when I saw his collection of Harry Potter books. He only sounded smarter from then.

Very great info here.. Just what I needed, thank you!

[kylejudkins]

your speaking gives me anxiety

lol but I feel you know wasting many years on a project too big. mine wasn't finished and kept me from making anything for years

[smoothpicker]

I'm only familiar with symphony of destruction, megadeth. So guess I have a long long road ahead of me. Gotta start somewhere.

[OlDrake]

Do you have any recommendations of short/simpler pieces to study for composing shorter pieces?

[jdhed.mcpack]

I'm currently starting out in composition, and I really wish to compose symphonies. At the moment, I already have ideas for a solely instrumental symphony, and a more massive choral symphony. But, I know that I am still too early in my journey. I have picked up the piano barely even a year ago, and I have made my first attempt at a composition just about 3 months ago. I currently have only 3 full compositions, my first composition being a 1 minute waltz which I was more or less ok with. The second a 30 second short canon for piano which I was also ok with, and my 3rd full composition also being a 3 minute canon for piano which was just more or less an expansion of my first canon. I had spent much more time on my 3rd canon, which is about a week compared to my first waltz being mostly composed in just one midnight, and my 2nd canon which I composed during class. I was not particularly satisfied with it since it just did not make sense in a lot of parts, my harmonies were shaky during modulations, I used dynamics way too liberaly, and my vision for the grace notes was interpreted differently when I wrote it on sheet music. I was quite disappointed with it even though I had spent more time on it, but nonetheless it did remind me that I am bound to meet endless frustrations and failures when composing. I am currently trying to write a 4 part canon for a string quartet, which is a bit daring since I had previously only written by 2 canons for 2 voices, and without transposing the other voices. It is more or less going decently for now, and I am trying to be more cautious with it now, especially since 4 part voice writing is much different compared to two part voicings. I have also found the rather obvious problem of having to be very attentive to the clef you're reading after having to deal with reading 4 lines and 3 clefs at a time. But nonetheless I have higher hopes for my 3rd canon, and even though I currently have little to no idea to how it sounds since I decided to train myself in writing my practice pieces in sheet music only before listening to them to train my skills in theory.

[instinctbrosgaming]

I'm two years into any type of writing for music. I composed a piece for solo classical guitar and a piece for a group of a piano, an organ, and a drum set. I'm moving into getting close to finishing my 1st Piano Sonata. It's length is going to be about 13 to 14 minutes, but it uses repeats and there is one movement that lasts about 9 minutes because it's super slow (marked at the start as Grave [36 BPM] and eventually bottoming in speed at 10 Eight Notes a minute)

[WilburAndACrazyPen]

I get it now! This video is wildly useful to me! I will be starting properly on my walk now, thanks

[JordanMHollowayComposer]

I'm very intrigued to see the rest of this series. I just finished my first symphony (which can be found on my channel), and I could not agree more with starting with several smaller pieces. I attempted writing symphonies (and "completed" a few) 8 different times before I finally felt comfortable calling by recent piece my Symphony No. 1. Before this piece I had written almost 50 different pieces, only seven of which survived to be in my current portfolio. Great video!

[pukalo]

Gustav Holst is my favourite composer.

[RadicalFilfil]

What do you mean by knowing/studying the symphonies you mentioned?

[EXPRESCARE]

Excellent introduction to a most welcome series on symphonic writing. A composer should be very familiar with any instrument he is writing music for especially before combing these instruments to make a coherent musical idea. Also, studying the symphonies of Prokofiev and Shostakovich is a wonderful introduction to the "modern" 20th century classical symphony especially in utilizing unusual instruments or combining them in unusual ways.

[corradoforza]

Thank for uploading this teaching videos 😍

[TheodoreBrown]

Given that you've mentioned 20th Century English composers, what are your thoughts on Joseph Holbrooke? I know he was substantially more popular when he was still alive, but I don't know if his gruadual decline in popularity is well justified

[GutjahrSoundtracks]

Hey Bret, really great introduction in this topic. But I`m not sure if you have to study a restricted field of composers or a single one exactly to be able to write a good symphony. I think the other points like orchestration, well educated in harmony, rhythm, form and (thats the most important thing in my opinion) able to write memorable themes are more important. Thats the point where the most composers struggeling. Looking really forward to see the rest of your series!

[KaneGruber]

Your voice is nearly identical to that of a friend of mine I once knew twenty+ years ago. It’s kind of a wild coincidence that you’d sound almost exactly like Paul Stella.

[trptguy]

where did you get your copies of the symphonies