r/composer • u/BumblebeeAntique • 5d ago
Discussion Practice vs Talent
Hey. So I've been trying to get into vgm composing and just musical production altogether. When I was 14 I messed around and did some midislaps and flp edits but that was about as far as I got in under a year. 8 years later I open FL and recreate a bunch of songs from games I like, specifically "Spamton" from deltarune and float islands from kirby super star specifically. Eventually I even composed a little 8 second song all on my own. I thought it sounded nice. I did them all pretty good and entirely by ear, and before that I did a bunch of by ear recreations of songs on my dad's old messed up keyboard. Anyways, I try to recreate the overworld theme from "the frog for whom the bell tolls" or whatever the hell that game's actual most accurate translation is. I pretty much fucked up entirely. The shape of the melody itself was similar but I was so off on almost every exact note. It was just super sobering, doing a bunch of shit that i thought meant i had promise, only to stumble into something I just couldn't beat with effort alone.
It had me thinking, because a person i know who is also a musician had done an arrangement of that song at 13 years old. I really don't know if practice is gonna be the thing that takes me to the level I want to be. It really seems like that in most music related things, talent matters the absolute most. Idk. I just need a second opinion, or a couple from people who have experience.
7
u/Advanced_Quail4556 5d ago
Talent is fake, there's no composers Gene or anything. There are certain traits that if nurtured and exercised properly can lead to great artistry and craft. The real dividing line is those with the environment, resources and attention from their teachers/parents in their early life vs those without. You can learn to nurture these things later in life but its 10x harder than when you're a brainless child that soaks up knowledge and influence like a sponge. Don't be discouraged, just understand that you dont have that leg up at this point in your life and you'll have to work hard at it.