How do you start composing?

You sitting at the piano and play random notes waiting to find some good melody? or just start writing without any perparation? Or if you have a melody how do you start writing it? Which instruments parts do you write first? First the melody than accompaniment, or vica versa or do it in other way? So how do you exactly start to bring your piece to life??

I usually come up with melodies while walking my dog afterschools. At this time I try and just get it stuck in my head and perfected, even sometimes adding harmonies/counterpoint. When I get home I imput it on Finale, or I write it down, using the piano to find which notes they are. I usually complete the bars I've started first, completing eight bars or so at a time instead of adding melodies until the end.

Great question, can't wait to see what others think of it.

I use several methods depending of the type of music I'm creating...

For piano/organ pieces I play and play in piano looking for good material but not just random notes, I play somekind of improvisation using the material I already know is good, or I know how it sound, like chords progessions, motifs, some of those are inspired on music I've listened (other composer's works) in other words, based on what I have learned.

for orchestra I write directly on Sibelius, I write a line in some instrument (based on what I heard on my mind or what I discovered on the piano) then I play it, listen it, and write on another instrument what I heard on my mind while listening the Sib playback, then I play again the two lines/motifs and I heard more things in my head, I add them and so and so, like creating layers of lines/motifs in instruments/sections ... then I construct the following parts of those lines/motifs, .... after creating a significative part, I play it all from the begining and I edit/add/delete things according with the result I just heard..... rarely I listen all in my head and I open the Sibelius to write it all, already designed or created.

for Electronic pieces is about the same, I just switch my way of handnlig harmony/melody/beat using the other elements I know from the Dance/Pop/Trance/Rock music I've heard, the song I know/like but I also add things after listining the playback results. Rarely I just add random stuff for creating "Experimental" music.

so, basically the "quick results listening" is very important for the ñast two methods, ... if I wouldn't have the way to listen what I write (as in my old composing days) my orchestration would be easier and simpler, wrinting only what I'm sure of how does it sounds...

I usually have an idea I want to accomplish, and that can vary between a type of sound, atmosphere, form, whatever. Then I just sit down and write.

Pretty simple really.

yep, its entirely up to your target of why did you want to create the music in the first place.

one of the ways that usually produce better results is "picturing" the music in your head nad then trying to bring it out as much as possible the same. that would mean you have to work on your performance as well since sometimes the idea has to be presented well, so its a process of making it every time you imagine it until you get it right!

These are interesting things you say, mostly I have a melody in my mind too and than I start adding other things to it. Thats ok.

But what if, you write music for a game or kinda film style music and you want it to be 5 minutes long for example? What do u do? R U just start writing it, write a melody and accompaniment than u develop it (so just start writing), or do u make some "checkpoints", when there will tempo/key changes, and u make some sketches first?

I think of the thing called "condensed score" amongst film composers for example. They dont write a full score at first, they just group the strings, brass,strings, others , and make some scketches. But how does it work exactly?

Its faster to work in this way but I dont know how to use exactly a condensed score.

So what do u think? What do u do if you want write something around 5 minutes (so the time is given)?

if im writing for a specific theme emotion film clip..etc

i get a piece of paper and write the main ideas on it ( not musically) just what i want the piece to represent

then i try to do a melody that works for that emotion using my keyboard and when i get a melody that i think its good , i write it on sibelius then i start adding more instruments to it to enrich it.

I start with a brief or comission. Then the rest falls in to place.

So what do u think? What do u do if you want write something around 5 minutes (so the time is given)?

its not like you have to invent 5 minutes of substance inside a particular scene, if its a film then you can look for emotions in the actors, scenario, background , the action that is happening, and it doesnt necceseraly have to represent it, you can add a dimension that isn't there at all, to create a depth that wasnt there, which is also pretty common.

in games, since its post production, you might want to play it abit, read about it get the most feeling, and once you grasp it, visualize and spit :) later its just development.

if you are talking about developing, you can create just about anything for a lot more than 5 minutes, since each note, and musical phrase has so many possibilites. for example- take a motif and try make it a story, see where it takes you. i'm usually not focused enough to be loyal to a motif, also because i'm trained as an improviser, so you can direct yourself and develop your skills better! :santa:

well enough yammering..i can talk about music all day.

[distilled from several previous posts]

Thinking about it. Instantly the generalities of a piece are created. A lot of time is spent in a pre-compositional state where I uncover and define the main elements of a piece. Starting often with a single idea: a chord/scale, rhythm, bass line, melody, texture. In this step come basic orchestration (nonet? jazz orchestra? string trio?) and the overall shape/form of the piece.

With consideration more specific details take shape. Melody, a solid form, soloists, and exact orchestration, etc.

I usually end up spending a lot of time in this stage - never omitting it, and often never getting past it. I Spend a week or two (or less... or a lot more) just thinking of the piece, playing it in my head almost constantly. Tweak it - fix it - scrap it. Iron out the kinks before setting pencil to paper.

THEN hit the piano with paper/pencil and figure it out; often flip-flopping back-and-forth between thinking and sketching.... The rest is easy, when I've already (basically) finished the 'composing' part of it, mentally.

That's the important step - everything else, exact voicings, backgrounds, physically writing the damn thing out, computer input, part extraction...it doesn't matter, unless I LIKE the thing - in my head.

For instrumental pieces I almost always start by fooling around on an instrument, usually piano. Rarely I'll come up with an idea away from an instrument, but I'll quickly move to the piano to feel out various ways that I can take the idea. Sometimes the initial idea is harmonic, but it's usually melodic/rhythmic. After I work out a melody and some form of accompaniment I often sit on the ideas for a while and hum them to myself until I can't stand it any longer and I have to put something on paper. From there the process is usually linear and I'll work out further ideas in my head, in a messy notebook, and at a piano. When crunch time comes I work mostly from my head and input straight into Finale.

For choral pieces I find a text, write it out by hand, often a few times, and see what words lend themselves to text painting (particularly the verbs and adjectives). I repeat the text to myself many times, memorize it, and see what ideas come to me. After I have some ideas, usually melodic, I'll sit at the piano and work out harmonies from there.

Every piece is a bit different, but in the end I'm usually looking for ways to vary and manipulate my original ideas to spread out and form a unified work.

If I play random notes and hope for the best, all my pieces end up the same. I look at my music as a story. If you were to hear music for the various bands I've been in, I tend to write the lyrics and nearly all my lyrics are just a story of either something that happened to me or someone else I know. I just take the same approach to my orchestral music. The key thing for me is that I usually write about an event I don't understand well so I can't write about yet. For example, when my dear friend Roseann died, I only wrote instrumentals, because I didn't understand. All my music was just based on how I felt. Not saying I wrote based on feelings, but I put forth an intelligent effort and thought about exactly how I wanted my music to express the events I didn't understand. That takes time. So when I start to compose, I simply write the events as is (meaning only the facts) then try to remember how I felt. Then I break it up into segments and look at the instruments I know how to write for and begin to write for the segments. When I feel I got each segment right I then put them in order and weave them together. Then when that's done, I rewrite it so it fits better until finally I feel the music represents the event as how I understand it at the time.

(Just to give a bit detail. I actually never initially write a melody or chord in my initial phases. I actually just just put some notes down represent the range I want for various parts and space them based on how long I want the sound to flow for. Then I fill in the details. )

So in to summarize. I don't focus on melody or harmonies or chordal progressions or keys. I just look at what I want accomplished and then think about the best way to get there. By nature I am a planner, so it's only natural that how I write music reflects that.

I make myself lots of coffee, pull out a cd with some music, listen to it, and say to myself... "ok, now I want to make something like this", close the player, start my sequencer and I'm very well on my way... but the coffee is paramount :) So, if you're searching for inspiration I usually find mine in other music, or movies... or books for that matter... anything that can spawn an atmosphere in my imagination.

I normally find that when I sit down and say to myself 'Right. I'm gonna write a masterpiece now.', I struggle.

But when I'm not expecting it, that's when I get my good ideas.

My compositions originate in a variety of ways.

Most of my compositions come about when im just fooling around on my guitar and some melody or chord progression sticks out all of a sudden. Then i write that down and improvise over it to come up with other parts, and soon enough im off an running... for the time being.

Some of my compositions have themes that originate in the shower or on the toilet. Yup... no better time for the mind to wander off into musical originality than in the bathroom doing mindless tasks.

I write a lot of my stuff both with and without my instrument. I usually only use my instrument to come up with ideas when i just can't think of anything in my head. Thats when i just improvise till something sounds right.

Also I sometimes have a goal or technique I really want to work with, so music originates from those ideas sometimes. These can range from odd time signature combinations, to strange sounding scales or other interesting techniques i want to try.

You sitting at the piano and play random notes waiting to find some good melody? or just start writing without any perparation? Or if you have a melody how do you start writing it? Which instruments parts do you write first? First the melody than accompaniment, or vica versa or do it in other way? So how do you exactly start to bring your piece to life??

No, not random notes. I usually have to first work it out in my head before ANYTHING else can happen. I then usually work it out at the piano and try to finish working things out, before I go to the writing it down stage. I always try to find a melody and then the accompaniment. To start, in my head, it's usually just a piano piece, I'll be it one that nobody could play! Then at the piano, I actually hear the sounds and orchestrate it there, before it goes down into the computer. To bring it to life is easy for me. I'm really used to it not working, and I know when the idea should stay in the scrapbook! :P

I sit. Then sit some more. Then yell at myself. Then sit even more. Then start writing.

I usually just listen to a million other soundtracks, and take inspiration from them. It's actually in my humble opinion, one of the hardest parts of composing - finding a good set of notes.

If all else fails, I just stop composing :rolleyes:

I usually just listen to a million other soundtracks, and take inspiration from them. It's actually in my humble opinion, one of the hardest parts of composing - finding a good set of notes.

If all else fails, I just stop composing :rolleyes:

I usually can't get any good ideas if I just sit an try to write. My best ideas come to me when I just play around on the piano usually. Sometimes melodies hit me during the school day, during lunch, etc. I remember those melodies, and then I come home and start the piece.

I have the main idea first. Then i bring notes to the idea :) Look at Aleatoric Manifestation :) http://forum.youngcomposers.com/t23445/magyari-aleatoric-manifestation/page__pid__331808__st__0entry331808