Help with writing?

Hi all!

This is my first post, and I'm looking for a little advice! For context: I've been playing piano for 11+ years and I'm taking AP Music Theory right now. My theory teacher is having us write a composition using traditional 18th-century techniques, with four voices (I've opted for a traditional string quartet). This is my first time ever writing a piece of music for a class (everything else I've done is just playing around on guitar and piano), so I'm super unsure of where to start. I would be incredibly grateful for any advice on how to begin! 

Best,

EB 🙂

Hello @Eva Browning,

Welcome to the forum!

On 5/16/2024 at 1:17 AM, Eva Browning said:

My theory teacher is having us write a composition using traditional 18th-century techniques, with four voices (I've opted for a traditional string quartet). This is my first time ever writing a piece of music for a class (everything else I've done is just playing around on guitar and piano), so I'm super unsure of where to start. I would be incredibly grateful for any advice on how to begin!

Do you listen to String Quartets? If no, I think Haydn’s op.33 quartets would be a good starting point to listen with! That will definitely helps with your quartet writing. Also do you learn the traditional SATB rules? Even though you don’t have to stringently follow the rules when writing, knowing the principle will definitely help. Also, what is the designated length of the piece? That will affect your choice of the musical form of your piece to write. What mood do you want? What key will it be in? Also what style would you love to have? These questions may have you write!

And you can also visit our fellow members’ posts, particularly the ones in the Chamber Music forum. They will for sure help with your writing since composers in different levels are all featured here! Thx for joining us!

Henry

Hey welcome oh no Henry beat me to it as usual,

I like the Haydn idea, and also maybe explore the main foundations of what makes music music (especially from that era). Scour youtube on the simple things: How to write a melody, harmony, counterpoint, etc. etc. If I were you, I wouldn't write something with the intention of being legendary. Just practice the fundamentals, and write something that works. If the 18th century is your starting point, listen to the "hits" from that period. Find composers you like, and keep your piece concise and simple. Practice the EXECUTION of completing a finished product. 

Ask lots of questions, and ultimately have fun. That's why we all do this after all 🙂 

Hi Eva, 

Some things that I find helpful...  

Get your phone out and use it to make an audio recording so you don't have to write down what you come up with at the same time that you are generating musical ideas.  Get some ideas to play with first, and then if you can't remember that good harmonic idea you had, you can listen back to your recording.  

Find a classical piece you have never listened to before, or at least don't know very well.  Listen to just the first few bars, while humming along, then turn off the music, but continue humming.  You'll have a feeling for how you want it to go next, and then next after that...  Inevitably this won't be the same way the original composer developed things.  Use that as starting material for one instrument of your quartet, then go back and start expanding the line, adding harmonies for the other instruments, and when you are far enough away mentally from the original piece you listened to that you are sure you aren't accidentally going to copy the composer's ideas note for note, write a fresh beginning.  

Find a piece of classical music you don't know well and listen while humming with the volume turned WAY down so you can't quite hear what is going on.  Even turned down to the point that it becomes almost white noise, you'll still feel a sense of structure coming through your headphones, and your brain will try to fill in all the gaps of what it can't hear.  Hum away for a minute or so, then go back and listen to what you hum-recorded and use that as your starting material, expanding on that line and harmonizing it.  

Go for a walk somewhere with few people and hum or whistle to yourself.  There is something about being in motion and the rhythm of footfalls that can just wring music out of you.  

If you think well at the piano, you can always noodle at the piano, but it sounds like you already do that and are getting stuck, so maybe try getting away from the keyboard?

Good luck!  

16 minutes ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

If I were you, I wouldn't write something with the intention of being legendary. Just practice the fundamentals, and write something that works. 

 

Yes!  Such a good point!  It's really easy to get bogged down trying to write something great, and you aren't going to.  You don't know enough yet.  And the only way to learn what you need to know is to write.  So let go of all your expectations and just play.  

Do try to polish things a bit as you go, incorporating things you are learning in class, but don't get so twisted up about it that you can't put a thought down on paper.  The more you write the better you will get.  

What we think are the major composers' first works almost certainly weren't.  Those are the first ones that were good enough to be shared with anyone other than immediate friends and family, and the ones that were good enough that people held on to copies.  I can guarantee, they all wrote lots of bad stuff before they started writing good stuff.  So go ahead and get your bad writing out of the way as soon as possible so you can learn from it and start getting better.  You don't have a finite set of ideas in you, I promise!  

There is an expression in the game of Go (it's a bit like chess), "lose your first 100 games quickly."  You are going to lose.  You don't know enough to win.  So don't overthink each move, just play a lot, and you'll start getting better.