Thread: I want to produce symphony/organic type music.

You want to write music? Awesome! For me, I have learned a lot about writing classical music by use of the internet, but even more so, by listening to the works by the great composers. Go to the store, or amazon.com, search classical music and find some that you like. Here is a great site for discovering great music.
http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/classmus.html

It provides short clips from different pieces of music, giving you a small idea of whether or not you would like to purchase it. It is much like flipping through pages of a book before checking it out of the local library. And here is a site with links to sites for downloading free music.
http://www.classiccat.net/

Another site with free music downloads.
http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/584

Now after purchasing or downloading some great pieces that you like, you should purchase the full score for that piece off the internet. I bought a couple of score for Mahler Symphonies 5 & 6, and had an awesome time of following along with my recordings, lots of fun! This will give you an insight on the composer's style of writing, and many different ideas of melodies and harmonies. And then, as stated above by IAmKing, you should look for a teacher and study things such as counterpoint and musical structure. Also, if you do not currently play an instrument you should consider that as well, because playing music can be a great way to learn how to write music, as well as learning notes, scales, etc. These steps should help you on your journey of becoming a composer. Hope this helps!

Music is one of these things that the more you put into it, the more you get out of it. With composing it's the more experience you gain, the more fluent you become. It's up to you how high you set your sights initially - symphonies, yes, but bear in mind you're talking orchestral and enough knowledge to develop structure...so be ready to revise and reqork a bit. You may not need to but most people do. You may instead go for a symphonic suite, a collection of separate movements loosely connected in some way or another.

Many students consider composition and orchestration to be separate stages but I personally think that if you're composing orchestral music, you think orchestrally from the start as it's part of the composing process. For that, as Mahlerfan has just said, studying scores is the only real way to learn. You can get a book about instruments and their techniques, but that won't teach you orchestration. So choose something not too complicated - a Mozart or Beethoven symphony (or if you like more modern work, a Mahler score, Debussy or something), get a recording and study them together until you can recreate the sound in your mind of what's on the page. That may sound difficult, hence starting with something easy, but it's surprising how much progress you'll make.

It takes time - a composer's life's work is an expression of her/his inner life. So don't expect to be out-Maherling Mahler in your first couple of years. Hard but extremely rewarding work.

Just as a start, this book is a bit old now - Rimsky-Korsakov's Orchestration - and he self quotes but he knew what he was doing all right. Contains playable examples!

http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/...splay.php?f=77

All the best with it.

Yes, that is also a great site as well, Frasier. I have been there before.