Does anyone else do this?

I have completed three pieces. One is a 2 minute piano solo I wrote 7 years ago when I was 10, one is a 4.5 minute full orchestral piece I completed a month ago, and one is a very short timpani solo I wrote a few weeks ago. However, I've written about 300 sketches and one almost-completed 6 minute piece for piano and orchestra. Some of the sketches are about a minute long, but most are just a few measures. For some reason, I just can't bring myself to work on one particular piece for an extended amount of time. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Buy a shreader.

Then go through your entire collection, playing the scores and looking at them etc. Then take out the ones you like. Make sure it's less than 50% of what you started with.

Rinse and repeat.

Once your at 1%, take your best stuff and smash them together and invert/retrograde it.

Result: a good motif.

Like Mahler said, "I never get caught up in my own ideas since I abandon 19 out of 20 every day."

One thing that has worked for me is writing without midi (or playback). Sometimes, I'm just dying to hear an 8 bar phrase that I wrote, but midi will just cripple that effort by making it sound crappy.

SO, I'd suggest that you write an entire exposition of a theme for as many voices as you have. THEN go back and listen. That way, you'll be thinking of new ideas while thinking of what to change within that section.

If you aren't writing in sonata form then you should just get as much as you can inputted without listening to it.

Buy a shredder.

Oh man...isn't rule number one of being a composer never throw out anything you've written? Organize, yes, but never throw away. You'll never know when you might need that motif that showed up in bar 45 of your failed tuba and kazoo duet. Imagine how upset you'd be if you realized that you've lost the perfect fit for your masterpiece because you threw it out.

Have goals!

If you are writting simply for yourself you won't get pushed to complete. If you start wanting to hear the pieces being played, by you or someone else, or some assignement in school/college, or something else, external than you, you WILL be forced to complete the pieces.

By all means don't throw away anything, forget the shredder!

It all depends on your personal approach. I go Justin's route too. I throw away at least 95% of all the sketches I make. I tend to fill tons of paper, then let it rest for a month or two, then look through all of it and throw away half of it and keep the rest for another month, then repeat the process. If I kept everything, the few good ideas would simply get lost in that huge pile.

Yes, I also tend to discard 95% of what I write, and I also have large piles of sketches lying around which I never look at. Nikolas is spot on - deadlines and competitions will always push you to work harder to finish a piece. I cannot stress this enough. If there is no real need for you to finish a piece then the likelihood is that you will have a very hard time finishing anything.

I also agree that you should never "throw anything away" as such - while I leave a lot of ideas and sketches lying around in the distaster that is my desk, I never throw it away, and I often look back on it a few months later and think "Hmmm, I think this idea could work if I changed the rhythm here and add a few different chords there" or something along those lines.

One thing that has worked for me is writing without midi (or playback). Sometimes, I'm just dying to hear an 8 bar phrase that I wrote, but midi will just cripple that effort by making it sound crappy.

SO, I'd suggest that you write an entire exposition of a theme for as many voices as you have. THEN go back and listen. That way, you'll be thinking of new ideas while thinking of what to change within that section.

If you aren't writing in sonata form then you should just get as much as you can inputted without listening to it.

i completely agree.

Well, I don't really do it for music, since I tend to finish what I started in one form or another, or it'll bug me, but in math, I'm currently working on about 12 problems, 2 of which achieve my focus 90% of the time.

Maybe you're like me.

I can only work on something in short burst before I have to go do something else, so I tend to oscillate between problems.

I can only work on something in short burst before I have to go do something else, so I tend to oscillate between problems.

That seems like a more accurate description of my problem. I really like the idea about the midi playback. I'll definitely give that a go. Thank you all for your replies

While I do agree that competitions and deadlines are extremely helpful, I would also point out that you should probably train yourself to compose for a certain period of time per day, or to crank out a certain number of measures per day. Remember that not every piece you write will be your masterwork: even if you write a particularly lackluster piece, you'll still have had the experience of working through tough times and you'll come out the other side a better composer (and hopefully there will be some germs in the piece that you really do like which can be jacked for future pieces.) This will also reinforce good habbits; poets write every day because the simple experience of writing is like a workout, it keeps the brain nimble and strong. Composers should learn from this.

As for your complaints of a sort of composition ADD, I'd reccomend trying new techniques. Write in a completely different style than you're used to, try a different form or ensemble. The sheer novelty of doing something out of the ordinary should help keep your interest.

That failing, try aderol. It's a truly miraculous drug that lets you see in, out, and around your piece and really keeps you from getting distracted. Aderol has saved me more than a few times the day before a lesson.

No offence, but I think medication is a topic one should discuss with a physician, rather than just following advice over an internet forum.

No offense taken, but one should remember that composers - in fact, many artists and even great thinkers in science and other fields - throughout history have self medicated, be it by drink, potent smokables, or other chemiclas. Taken responsibly, mind altering chemicals can be extremely helpful. Of course there is risk - there's always risk - but that's something one would have to calculate for one's self.

Even if you remember that composers may have self-medicated in the past, that doesn't really mean you should try it too! People also used to drink mercury, doesn't mean you should drink it too.

People also used to drink mercury, doesn't mean you should drink it too.

IT DOESN'T?!

DAMN, I thought the further back in history you went the BETTER the medical treatments got!

lol.

IT DOESN'T?!

DAMN, I thought the further back in history you went the BETTER the medical treatments got!

lol.

Shoot.

And I just got my witch doctor approved by my insurance...:dry:

(I have to admit, lopping of a limb sure does releave the pain...)