Young Composers:Article of the Month
The Article of the Month section of the Young Composers Music Forum's home page allows the site's staff to showcase one article per month that they deem noteworthy including those they consider well written, interesting or regarding topics upon which information is scarce elsewhere. A new article is chosen every month and past articles are listed below.
Current Article of the Month
August 2009: Counterpoint
August will explore the the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm, and interdependent in harmony-- more frequently referred to as counterpoint. It has been most commonly used in Western music, developing strongly in the Renaissance, and also dominant in much of the common practice period, especially in Baroque music.
Past Articles of the Month
July 2009: Masashi Hamauzu
The chosen article of the month for July examines game music composer Masashi Hamauzu, best known for his work done with Square Enix, composing the soundtracks for numerous Final Fantasy games. Flexible in his style, his work often resembles that of Chopin, Ravel, Debussy, yet he can masterfully combine multiple genres such as jazz, tango, electronic ambiance, and more within a single track.
June 2009: Rehabilitating Antonio Salieri
June's article proposes the witty task of Rehabilitating Antonio Salieri. Through its criticisms of the movie, Amadeus, our monthly pick sets out to humourously debunk the horrible reputation of the poor sweets-loving court composer and promote him for who he just might possibly could've been, rather than what Mozart lovers tend to make him out to be.
April-May 2009: Flute
Flute is the pick of the month for April. This article provides a thorough investigation into the role of the flute in both orchestral and band music to benefit the composer, analysing timbral qualities, specific playing ranges, and listing any do's and don'ts in the world of orchestration. Also covered are the flute's auxiliary instruments, such as the piccolo.
March 2009: Thematic Material and the Handling Thereof
Thematic Material and the Handling Thereof is the featured article for the month of March. It provides a foundation for the beginning composer by defining and concisely discussing matters of theme handling, form, structure, development, and variation in hopes of helping the lesser experienced composer to avoid the oft-encountered problems of incoherence, over-repetition, direction, purpose, and stability/solidity in their works.
October 2008: Guitar
Guitar is the featured article for the month of October. It covers a vast amount of topics, covering the different genres of guitar to methods of tuning and understanding the instrument’s range as well as a detailed analysis of several classical guitar fingering techniques and their uses.
September 2008: The Fugue and The Sonata: Reconciling the Two Worlds
September’s article of the month is a brief essay titled The Fugue and The Sonata: Reconciling the Two Worlds. This article details the difference between horizontal and vertical thinking during composition and explores the efforts of some of history’s best known composers to bring together these two popular forms.
June, July, and August 2008: Piano Concerto in A minor Op.16 (Grieg)
The article of the month for June, July, and August is Piano Concerto in A minor Op.16 (Grieg), outlining Edvard Grieg's only completed concerto and is one of his most popular piano works.
May 2008: Twelve Tone Composition
The article of choice for the month of May is Twelve Tone Composition. This extensive article includes an introduction to the twelve-tone method of composition, directions on how to use it as well as a short essay on the method's relevance to composers of today.
November 2007: Geirr Tveitt
The article on Geirr Tveitt is our pick of the week. Tveitt was a profilic composer from Norway whose music is largely unknown by now, because 4/5 of his works burned up in a tragic fire in the seventies. Check him out, and give him some love.
December 2007: The Extremely Short Dictionary of Musical Criticisms and How to Fix Them
This month's article of choice is The Extremely Short Dictionary of Musical Criticisms and How to Fix Them. This article contains some useful advice on how to rececive common criticisms of your works and how to improve your piece accordingly.
February 2008: Eivind Groven
This month's article of choice focuses in on Norwegian composer and fiddler, Eivind Groven. A master of both the Hardanger fiddle and the symphony orchestra, his influence is drawn largely from Norwegian Folk music.
