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Which path should I take?

Axl28

New Member
Hello.
TLDR;

I'm a newbie in music and I've always wanted to make my own, and make a career out of it. My head sometimes generate melodies out of the blue (apart from other ideas) especially during very late evenings and I need to let it all out instead of going for my headphones and listen to other people's music all the time or else I won't be able to rest easy or sleep at all.
It's a curse! And sometimes I even need to run or walk in circles just to mentally exhaust myself...physically exhausting myself is almost impossible during late evenings...but I think it's not important here.

Here's a little overview on how I learn:
- I prefer visual, hands-on and straight to the point approach.

- Videos more on talk than what I stated above bore me to oblivion (like Mike Verta's BUT I don't deny I do learn a lot from him as I currently have his composition 1 and might buy more).

I have a very short attention span, jumping from one idea to another in a minute that I have to multitask or else, there will be a system error in my head...

- Modern and world music than the traditional are what I prefer at this point and I plan to learn EDM in later stages.


Anyway...last month, I purchased my own 88-key digital piano and I was able to learn to read sheet music alone and play a little. Now I'm considering to buy a course teaching cinematic orchestration with a limited budget after the sound libraries sucked my wallet dry, then I stumbled upon Evenant Courses.

So Cinematic Music looks shiny to me...
But I might be able to ask my parents to help me pay half of the gold bundle or maybe Thinkspace's Cinematic Orchestration too.


Right now I review JunkieXL and Alex Moukala's videos then I also have the Udemy music theory bundled courses as supplements.

The question is, is the Cinematic Music course is good for my learning style? Or is the gold bundle or Thinkspace's course better in your opinion? Or do you have other recommendations?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you! :(
 
Whatever gets you learning, do that. And don't be quick to spend money on education; as long as you are properly, consistently motivated (emphasized because this is freaking SO important) you can learn everything you need for free imo.

I learned a ton just from youtube, and that's free my friend.
 
Suggestions: pick a piece of music you're cuckoo over (and don't let yourself be made intimidated just because you love it). Then study as many aspects of it as you can: composition, chord progression, counterpoint, harmony. Try to become as aware as possible of what instruments are used (plus, practice getting your ear for effects spruced up). If you're rawther young I strongly recommend working on ear training.

I bit off a HUGE piece (Wagner's Ring and Beethoven's 9ths) and kind of reverse engineered from there I guess. However, I wouldn't necessarily go that big...in fact, it might frustrate you out of making music.

The first paragraph might really help.

Ultimately, please try to listen inside first.
 
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I'm a newbie in music and I've always wanted to make my own, and make a career out of it. My head sometimes generate melodies out of the blue

Thats perfect. Use your DAW and bring this melodies to life. If you want to spend money, get some libraries, maybe "Native Instruments Komplete" is a good start. Go, make music. Be creative. There is no right or wrong in music. Just do it. This way, you can create a skill which nobody can ever teach you. After that you can do some online classes. Oh, and share your music with the world.

I did the Evenant Cinematic course. Its great. I did a lot of the Verta classes. Love them. I did hundrets of Youtuber tutorials, some teached me alot, some only confused me. BUT I did them all after years of just making music. This is just my own experience and I would always do it again.

For example: The Evenant course will teach you an easy way how to write melodies. If you start making music with this information, you will always use it and maybe never realize all the other wonderfull melodies, for example the melodies in your head right now. Don't get me wrong. All these classes are good and I have learnt a lot, but the music I love making is what I have learnt by just doing it.
 
There are a lot pieces to this.

I would suggest you stick with just the piano for the moment (that moment could be a week or 50 years). As Parsifal666 said, pick a piece of music you like. Try to figure out the melody (just one key). Next work on the chords. Maybe you just do the first 16 bars. I would also suggest a song in 4/4 to start with.

Once you have that, try putting it into a DAW. I actually prefer using notation software (Dorico) but if you are just starting out, a DAW will be better. Get that piece of music to sound good (still just piano sounds) in the DAW with proper timing (proper bpm, every downbeat of the song starts a bar). Try making minor adjustments in the piano roll. This will help you understand how the DAW works and how to best make it work for you.

Next, go back to the song and try adding an additional instrument. Work it out on the piano. Get it into the DAW.

You also need to understand instrument sounds and articulations (how are they played). There are great videos on Youtube and Khan Academy for this. Also start learning about theory, and counterpoint, and composition, and orchestration, and other stuff that I dont really know yet.

Go back to you initial track, try adding your own lines and phrases. Add some violins. Add violins legato. Add violins pizzicato.

And of course listen to music with an ever more discerning ear.

What I am basically trying to suggest is to not try to learn everything at once but have a scaffolded approach. Keep learning. Keep building. Get better at playing the piano. Get better at using the DAW. Get better at understanding the instruments. Get better at listening to music. Keep that loop going.
 
There are a lot pieces to this.

I would suggest you stick with just the piano for the moment (that moment could be a week or 50 years). As Parsifal666 said, pick a piece of music you like. Try to figure out the melody (just one key). Next work on the chords. Maybe you just do the first 16 bars. I would also suggest a song in 4/4 to start with.

Once you have that, try putting it into a DAW. I actually prefer using notation software (Dorico) but if you are just starting out, a DAW will be better. Get that piece of music to sound good (still just piano sounds) in the DAW with proper timing (proper bpm, every downbeat of the song starts a bar). Try making minor adjustments in the piano roll. This will help you understand how the DAW works and how to best make it work for you.

Next, go back to the song and try adding an additional instrument. Work it out on the piano. Get it into the DAW.

You also need to understand instrument sounds and articulations (how are they played). There are great videos on Youtube and Khan Academy for this. Also start learning about theory, and counterpoint, and composition, and orchestration, and other stuff that I dont really know yet.

Go back to you initial track, try adding your own lines and phrases. Add some violins. Add violins legato. Add violins pizzicato.

And of course listen to music with an ever more discerning ear.

What I am basically trying to suggest is to not try to learn everything at once but have a scaffolded approach. Keep learning. Keep building. Get better at playing the piano. Get better at using the DAW. Get better at understanding the instruments. Get better at listening to music. Keep that loop going.
Definitely this, I can’t remember who said it but the most important part about music is forward motion/momentum. If you can’t keep listener interested with one instrument you won’t be able to interest them with 30. It’s not challenging to take a short 4 bar phrase and dress it up with all the colors of the orchestra. The real challenge is taking that phrase and turning it into a lengthy piece that keeps the listener interested the entire time.
 
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