Mike Verta is a Hollywood composer who has put out a lot of great videos on composition, and he makes great points on this (he has since become an insane alt-ri

Mike Verta is a Hollywood composer who has put out a lot of great videos on composition, and he makes great points on this (he has since become an insane alt-right nutjob, unfortunately, but his old videos are still up). He tells a story about stopping at a red light next to a woman who was absolutely jamming out to some hip-hop song. Her car is shaking, she's shouting the lyrics with a big smile on her face, just completely engrossed in this music that everyone who considers themself a "composer" would turn their nose up at; not "real music", of course. And he thought: I would be elated if I pulled up and saw someone connecting like that to my music. Isn't that why I got into composing in the first place? To bring about that in people? Why else would you want to be a composer? To join the circle-jerk and feel infinitely superior to all those stupid normies? Many of these composers write this way because they simply cannot write tonal music well. It's too hard. Writing music with original colors and style, but is still tonal and still resonates with actual human beings? That's tremendously difficult. Avant-garde composers avoid doing this because they can't. They write atonal shit because it's much, much easier. The idea is that you've failed as a composer if the "common man" can relate at all to your music is one of the most elitist attitudes a human can possibly hold. Normal listeners' brains are so far beneath yours that if they can recognize any form of structure, melody, or harmony at all in your music, then it must be trash normie music. It's the exact premise of the Emperor's New Clothes story and it's amazing how long this bubble has lasted. Shame on everyone who thinks this way. Imagine being the one who takes these "challenging" musical ideas and presents them in a way that listeners can actually intuitively understand. Imagine pulling in listeners with what they know, and then taking them on a journey into the previously unknown, and having them be with you the whole time. Now that's a damn-good modern composer! Of course, the vast majority of modern composers would wallow in despair if such a thing happened to their big-brained magnum opus -- normies understanding their music!?