11-03-2016, 01:30 AM
A couple of weeks ago I turned on an audio stream of a Gustav Holst's "Mars" while the children and I were cleaning up after dinner. I wasn't surprised when they said "THIS SOUNDS LIKE STAR WARS!", having heard such opinions before. They got really excited and started making comparisons to the soundtrack from various scenes.
Today, again while cleaning up after dinner, we listened to Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring". This time I was surprised when they said "THIS SOUNDS LIKE STAR WARS!" Indeed, there was an uncanny resemblance in a certain part of the Stravinsky composition that I had never noticed before.
Sometimes musicians get so worked up about being original, but I've about decided that virtually everything creative is derivative of some other prior work. Everybody has their influences, whether they're aware of it or not, even John Williams.
Instead of trying to flee from any possibility of your music sounding like something else, why not embrace it? Not that you should wholesale copy other works, but take musical ideas that you like and put your own spin on them. Maybe it's taking an existing melody, changing the harmony under it, and then reworking the melody to fit; or maybe it's just hearing a combination of timbres that can give you a novel idea. Whatever the case may be, don't dismiss musical ideas outright just because they sound too much like existing music.
Today, again while cleaning up after dinner, we listened to Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring". This time I was surprised when they said "THIS SOUNDS LIKE STAR WARS!" Indeed, there was an uncanny resemblance in a certain part of the Stravinsky composition that I had never noticed before.
Sometimes musicians get so worked up about being original, but I've about decided that virtually everything creative is derivative of some other prior work. Everybody has their influences, whether they're aware of it or not, even John Williams.
Instead of trying to flee from any possibility of your music sounding like something else, why not embrace it? Not that you should wholesale copy other works, but take musical ideas that you like and put your own spin on them. Maybe it's taking an existing melody, changing the harmony under it, and then reworking the melody to fit; or maybe it's just hearing a combination of timbres that can give you a novel idea. Whatever the case may be, don't dismiss musical ideas outright just because they sound too much like existing music.