Study the Masters, Listen to Your Contemporaries, & Write for Yourself

Almost 10 years out of Berklee, I still spend a fair amount of time studying music. I try to study a wide range of styles and eras, but disproportionately I find myself analyzing music from the Classical period, in particular Beethoven.Of course no one has ever said my music "sounds" like Beethoven or Mozart. It doesn't, and I wouldn't want it to (unless that was the gig I was hired to do!). I don't study Classical music for the particulars of style or to "sound" like one of those guys. I study it for the universal elements of proportion, balance, tension vs. release, harmonic continuation, melody, etc. etc.My reasoning is that the underlying principles that worked for Beethoven must certainly work for anyone else. If I'm going to spend the little time I have available to deeply study music, it makes sense that I spend it with the best.However I hardly ever passively listen to classical music. Occasionally I'll listen to film scores but more often than not if I have music on in the background it's current alternative, electronica and pop.Partly this is because I enjoy it, but also because an essential need of my career is to stay current. By listening to contemporary music I am always aware of what kind of sounds are fresh vs. outdated, what chord progressions are in or out of vogue, and so on. I also am able to hold a conversation with a director who references their new favorite song and actually know what they are talking about!When it comes time to compose, however, I put all of that aside and just write in my own voice. In the past I have made attempts to sound like some composer or another, but the result is always a pathetic attempt to imitate rather than a genuine expression.With a well-maintained ear for what music sounds like in 2014 and an embedded sense for what has driven centuries worth of Western music, I can write authentically without worrying about who or what my music might sound like other than my own.