Related Directory Categories
Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Composer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A composer is a person who writes music. The term refers particularly to someone who writes music in some type of musical notation, thus allowing others to perform the music. This distinguishes the composer from a musician who improvises or plays a musical instrument.
The level of distinction between composers and other musicians also varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music. For example, in the development of classical music in Europe, the function of composing music initially had no greater importance than the function of performing music. The preservation of individual compositions received little attention, and musicians generally had no qualms about modifying compositions for performance. Over time, however, the written notation of the composer has come to be treated as strict instructions, from which performers should not deviate without good reason. Performers do, however, play the music and interpret it in a way that is all their own. More recently, scorewriter programs have become available, allowing composers to personally engrave music.
The term "composer" is often used specifically to mean a composer in the Western tradition of classical music. In popular and folk music, the composer is typically called a songwriter (since the music generally takes the form of a song).
- Composers at the Open Directory Project
- Women composers at the Open Directory Project
- Composer societies at the Open Directory Project
- Composers and arrangers at the Open Directory Project
|
|
||
|---|---|---|
| History | Ancient music · Medieval music · Renaissance music · Baroque music · Classical music · Romantic music · 20th century music · Contemporary music |  |
| Composition | Musical notation · Musical improvisation · Music theory | |
| Education | Music history · Musicology · Ethnomusicology · Music cognition · Music therapy | |
| Production | Music genre · Album · Song · Suite · Lyrics · Record label · Record producer · Musician · Composer · Musical form · Compilation album | |
| Lists | Basic Topics · Topics · Terminology · Musical forms | |
| Miscellaneous | Definition of music · Music theory · Musical instrument · Music and politics · Music and mathematics · Music industry | |
| Category · Portal · Project | ||