Composing on Paper or Notation Program

When I want things to look nice and professional I definitely can (1st), but if I'm scrambling to get ideas done, things can get bit messier.

Sorry they're flipped to the side!

2 hours ago, Monarcheon said:

@Maarten Bauer Have you ever abbreviated something or used a sort of pneumonic device to convey a larger idea in shorter terms? That's what shorthand is, in terms of writing.

 

Yes, I have. Thank you for explaining this!

Do you mean that I have to use shorter time signatures or are you talking about the crescendi and diminuendi?

I think the most important part here is to separate "Practice" from actually wanting to write something. The way I was taught by my various hard-a s s teachers ended up looking something like this:

(1) Practice means writing under any given circumstances, any kind of music. So for example, my teacher would tell me to write an 18th century-accurate(or as close to it as I could) fugue while on the bus. That meant that every time I got on a bus I'd have to write and continue to write it until either I got off the bus or I finished the thing. This also may have included doing handstand pushups while balancing buckets of water on my feet, but that's neither here nor there. The point of forcing a particular method is to develop your abilities rather than get any "art" out of you, though "art" may happen by accident you never know.

(2) For realsies composing is just writing music you want to write. There's no right or wrong way to do this at all. Some people help themselves with actual instruments, notation programs, etc. The important part is that you check and double check that what you are writing is what you WANT to write it and that, preferably, you like it! Do whatever it takes to get this done and you'll find being a composer is not nearly as tragic, lonely, difficult and sad as everyone keeps telling you it is.

On 3/31/2017 at 2:20 PM, SSC said:

I think the most important part here is to separate "Practice" from actually wanting to write something. The way I was taught by my various hard-a s s teachers ended up looking something like this:

(1) Practice means writing under any given circumstances, any kind of music. So for example, my teacher would tell me to write an 18th century-accurate(or as close to it as I could) fugue while on the bus. That meant that every time I got on a bus I'd have to write and continue to write it until either I got off the bus or I finished the thing. This also may have included doing handstand pushups while balancing buckets of water on my feet, but that's neither here nor there. The point of forcing a particular method is to develop your abilities rather than get any "art" out of you, though "art" may happen by accident you never know.

 

(2) For realsies composing is just writing music you want to write. There's no right or wrong way to do this at all. Some people help themselves with actual instruments, notation programs, etc. The important part is that you check and double check that what you are writing is what you WANT to write it and that, preferably, you like it! Do whatever it takes to get this done and you'll find being a composer is not nearly as tragic, lonely, difficult and sad as everyone keeps telling you it is.

 

Well, that's interesting!

I like the idea of writing under any circumstances, although I understand that your assignment to write a fugue in the bus may be frustating! 

Interesting to see all the different methods, and why they are employed.  

I started composing before there were even computers, much less notation software, so I cut my teeth writing whole scores out on paper - usually using pencil, because early on I tended to make a lot of mistakes.  

Nowadays, I tend to scribble down ideas on paper, often on anything that happens to be at hand - even a paper napkin at a restaurant.  My husband complains about all the Post-It notes I leave lying around that I dash ideas off on while I'm at work during the day.  Once I've got the initial idea (a melody) down, I do a fleshed-out sketch in either pen or pencil of whatever I'm hearing in my head, pretty much fully orchestrated, until I'm satisfied I've I've got enough down, and then I enter the sketch into Finale when I have time at home and continue from there.  From that point, most of the composition process happens on the computer.  I do a lot of sketching sitting in my car on my lunch hour at work.  

I still will occasionally write out a whole piece or movement by hand, though.  There is something about it that feels satisfying.

A typical sketch in my writing: