Why compose music?

For me originally it was just something I do always since I was young but only very little bit. Then eventually I continued to compose to help me improvise better.

edit: wait you can't allow other people to add answers?

3 hours ago, PCC said:

For me originally it was just something I do always since I was young but only very little bit. Then eventually I continued to compose to help me improvise better.

Ever since listening to music I loved in childhood, I felt like I could easily come up with really great music in my imagination and thought that it would be awesome and fulfilling to be able to actually create that music in real life.  Now I consider musical composition my 'originative intellectual work' and listening to my own music induces great fulfillment and 'peak experiences'.  Check out this pertinent book quote I shared that's related to this topic:

3 hours ago, PCC said:

edit: wait you can't allow other people to add answers?

No, but you can add the option "other - please reply to the topic!" and when people suggest other answers you can edit the questions to include answers that they mentioned.

I didn't really get a choice about playing music, and I never really cared about it for years. I didn't understand the point of music as a kid.

Then, I heard Guns N' Roses when I was like 11 and I realized I HAD to create my own rock songs that now suddenly existed in my mind.

Fast forward over 20 years and the guitars and drum kits mostly disappeared in favor of the orchestra, but there are all these pieces that keep demanding I set them free.

Hi @PCC

For me if I don't compose I will end up going into a mental ward or an asylum. I cannot not compose because my emotion is way too unstable and I need to use those emotion for music, otherwise it will stir me up and harm my mental and physical health. I only know this during the last few months of my life.

Besides it's really an achievement to finish a piece especially ones you think it's successful. Outside popularity, recognition and fame would of course be the additional bonus but personal enjoyment would be the most statisfying of all. Showing improvement progressively in music composition is definitely an enjoyment.

Henry