Music is like Eating. Don't believe me? Think of this:

A Chef creates a recipe. The recipe is the instructions for creating the food.
A Composers creates a score. The score is the instructions for creating the music.

Composers are Chefs.

Cooks prepare a meal from the recipe.

Performers are Cooks.

We eat and enjoy the food. We are the Audience.

Obviously, some Composers also play their own works. Well, I create my own recipes and prepare them as well. Heck, sometimes I even eat them.

We can participate in the creation, preparation, and ingestation of food. Likewise, we can participate in the creation, performance, and assimilation of music.

But it's easy to be a listener (it's easy to eat too, right!). Being a performer is a little more difficult - takes some training - so does being a cook.

Composers are at the top of the food chain so to speak. We have to create the recipe.

Now, how do you create a recipe?

What you need to do as a composer, is decide what kind of dish you're going to make.

Then you're going to need to decide whether you're going to use an existing recipe, modify an existing recipe, or create something from scratch.

Are you going to use "canned" or "home-made" ingredients? Are you going to consider your - audience - are you going to feed an army, or are you going to make a quiet dinner for two? Are you going to make a 7 course meal, or a quick snack?

Like cooking, with music, the most important thing is to know your ingredients. I think this is where most would-be composers (and would-be chefs) fall from grace. For food, you know what things do - salt makes things salty. Pepper makes things spicy. But if you're out of Black Pepper can you substitute Red Pepper? Or Cayenne Pepper? What happens if you do?

How do you thicken a stock? Do you know? Chefs do. I know you can use Flour, Cornstarch, Potatoes, Pureed Vegetables, Cream, Reductions, and Okra, to name a few.

How do you thicken a musical texture? Do you know? Don't you think you should find out?

Do you know what Basil tastes like? How about Tarragon? If you're making Bruschetta, which is more likely? Which is more traditional? What might the other do if you use it? How much should you use? Do equal amounts of Basil and Tarragon produce equal amounts of flavor?

Do you KNOW what a quartal chord sounds like? How about a Dominant 7 chord? If you're making a Blues, which is more likely? Which is more traditional? What migh the other do if you use it? How much should you use? Do equal amounts of quartal harmony and triadic harmony produce equal amounts of flavor?

Know your ingredients (and use fresh, high quality ingredients where possible :-).

The second most important thing is, to know your method. What does chopping finely versus coarsely do? What does adding an ingredient at the beginning versus the end do? What does boiling versus sauteeing do?

Do you boil or steam pasta? Can you do either? Which is traditional? What does the other do?

If you want Tonality, do you use 12 tone serialism, or Major and minor scales? Can you do either? Which is traditional? What does the other do?

Let's say you're going to make a Hamburger. There are preconceived notions about what a Hamburger is: Ground beef, shaped into a patty, cooked in some manner, and usually served on a bun with mustard, ketchup, and possibly lettuce, tomato and onion. I've had hamburgers with Pickle Relish on them. Strange, but delicious. I've had square hamburgers. Strange, but no better than the round ones. I've had them with Cheese. Now, with cheese is a Cheesburger, so I don't want a restaurant to serve be a Cheeseburger without Cheese. Don't serve your audience a "Piano Concerto" with piano in the orchestra. This may seem obvious, but some composers tell their audience they're giving them a hamburger, and it turns out to be a tofu burger or something.

Let's say you're going to compose a Fugue. How far can you deviate from the recipe before you're making a Canon, or a Chorale Prelude instead?

Some "recipes" are like recipes for Bread - bread must have certain ingredients, in fairly specific proportions in order to come out as you expect (or as your diners suspect). Some musical recipes are similar - there's a certain amount of things you need to do to make a Fugue a Fugue, or a Mass a Mass. You can add sun-dried tomatoes to your bread. You can add some quartal harmony to your Fugue. But certain elements must remain.

Now, how do chefs learn to cook? They learn their ingredients, and their methods. They don't learn by creating their own recipes from scratch. They begin with tried-and true recipes, and learn from what they do. Plus, it's already proven that diners like particular things.

Was Schoenberg a bad chef? Well, I think Schoenberg was trying to serve Ants dipped in Chocolate on a bed of Dandelion petals (all edible by the way) to audiences that were used to Meat and Potatoes. Chefs try this too, and, if their restaurant is in the wrong location (I always wonder how many Taco Bells there are in Mexico, or how many Olive Gardens there are in Italy????), they will likely go out of business.

So I'm not suggesting you pander to your audience's tastes, but you should be aware of what audience's perceptions are. Composers in West Virginia might want to include a little more Banjo in their works than composers in Michigan - or if you don't, at least understand that response to your work might not be indicative of the larger world-view.

I'm also not suggesting that you simply "follow a recipe" - you're basically a performer, or "assembler" then (like you prepared a meal of all pre-existing ingredients). I'm also not suggesting that everything you create has to be new.

What I'm suggesting is, use existing recipes to practice creating your music, but add your own spices and twists. But again, you have to know you're ingredients - so composers put diced Garlic in their Ice Cream. Wouldn't chocolate syrup be better? Once you've got the basics down, you can then create your own recipes. And furthermore, everything doesn't have to be a 7 course meal - Chefs experiment too you know? Ever watch Iron Chef? That's all improvisation and experimentation - but they do know that when they're handed that Ugli Fruit, what it is, and what they can do with it. Sure, the Trout-flavored Ice Cream was probably a bad idea, but no one got food poisoning from it.

What your mother said still goes: Try it, you might like it. If you haven't tried making (or eating) Haggis, you might give it a go. You might want to try just a little though, in case it disagrees with you. You may find trying to write 12 tone serial music might work as well as trying to pan-fry a whole Pumpkin, but then again you might find it makes a pumpkin pie that has an explosion of flavors in every bite.

But you can not be a good chef and create good recipes without knowing what ingredients you have at your disposal, and what they're good for, and what methods you can use to best convey those ingredients to your intended audience.

No go whip up some dinner (or a nice snack would be OK).

fine.