There’s a famous expression in the art world: “Good artists borrow, great artists steal.” There is an important truth in this: You don’t have to reinvent the wheel; rather you can build on what came before you.
For example, I was submitting an orchestral piece I wrote to a competition. In that piece, there was one particular passage that I wrote in which I wanted a texture I had heard in Mahler’s 5th symphony. So I found the score, turned to that passage, and used almost exactly his orchestration, simply substituting my harmonies and melody. When I got the judge’s feedback on my composition, almost all the judges commented on that particular passage as a moment when my writing and orchestrating was strongest.
It just goes to show that learning from the greats is indispensable if you want to level-up your skills.