What's Your Method?

[Gordon Francis Blaney Jr.]

I'd be interested in learning the who, what, where, when, why, and how of different approaches we all have to composing, ergo ponder and post:

1) Who do you compose for? (a higher power or power(s), people, and or yourself)

2) What do you compose? (genre and style)

3) Where do you compose? (in your mind, at an instrument, at a desk, on a computer)

4) When do you compose? (schedule vs. no schedule)

5) Why do you compose? (passion or paycheck or both)

6) How do you compose? (first, next, and last) 

[22b8n9x97ddrd]

1. Myself, friends and lovers.

2. I love polyphonic music... A lot of my stuff is pretty, well, "baroque-y," OR 1825-ish... but I'm trying to advance into the present age. When I'm (more or less) successful at having done that, what I've written is usually either a little jazzy, or pretty rave-house techno. Pretty incongruent, right?

3. Used to be on an instrument, but now ALWAYS on the computer. I get a lot of good ideas in the shower, too, for some reason. Must loosen up the blood flow, or something. I do keep a small stave pad next to the bed, as well.

4. Whenever I can get a little while away from a houseful of kids. So... usually late at night.

5. Passion. (AND probably mental illness? I've always been prone to mild depression, but when I'm working hard at a composition, it does tend to ease up.)

6. Generally, after the initial idea, I write a lot all at once... But not usually through to completion. Before I ever get there, I always spend an awful lot of time editing the hell out of the first surge (or the 2nd or 3rd one, etc.), just listening to it over and over again, and pruning it, or adding to it (or outright FIXING it, lol), in an attempt to make it all sound as natural and unforced as possible. That process ends up taking the vast majority of the time spent, as best as I can tell.

[David Stowell]

1) Me and anyone who'll listen

2) Contemporary Classical

3) Computer, Piano, and in the mind when I am/should be busy doing other things

4) Whenever I get a moment (usually every day)

5) Self-delusion that I have something remotely interesting to say

6) Forwards, backwards, upside-down, inside-out. I look at it as 'problem-solving' where I have no idea what the problem is.

[Noah Fraioli]

1. I've written for many different audiences: Friends, strangers, God, and myself.

2. Metal, hard rock and neoclassical, usually following a standard classical style.

3. I do most of the work in my head concerning non-MIDI instruments.

4. Basically, if I have a few hours to spare, I'll at least try to sit down and write something.

5. Very passionate and ambitious, I am :P

6. First, I pick the key, tempo, ensemble, meter and submeters. Sometimes, I'll come up with a title and write towards that. Then, I plug and chug the notes, rhythms and harmony. Lastly, I polish by changing a few notes here or there so that the whole thing sounds cohesive.

[Noah Fraioli]

Why?

Raymond Kemp said:

1,2,3,4,5,6). Stay away from this interweb and just get on with it.

[Gav Brown]

1) Who do you compose for? - Everyone

2) What do you compose? - Prog rock influenced piano, mostly

3) Where do you compose? - At the piano

4) When do you compose? - I work for a living, so mostly weekends

5) Why do you compose? - Because I must

6) How do you compose? - One note at a time

[Richard Ford]

1) Who do you compose for? (a higher power or power(s), people, and or yourself)
I have to be willing to listen to it when it's done! Other than that I can compose for other people, performers and audiences.
2) What do you compose? (genre and style)
I compose classical music for soloists and ensembles of all sizes, music for theatre and film and dance.
3) Where do you compose? (in your mind, at an instrument, at a desk, on a computer)
I compose in my mind first, then on paper, then back to my mind, then to a piano or computer, then back to my mind, etc. During the composing of a piece or set of pieces I'm constantly going back and forth between my mind and notation.
4) When do you compose? (schedule vs. no schedule)
I compose pretty much all the time with a regular schedule daily and then increase the schedule when I'm under a big deadline. Usually 3-4 hours per day unless there's a pressing deadline.
5) Why do you compose? (passion or paycheck or both)
Both.
6) How do you compose? (first, next, and last)
Depends on the piece. Short pieces are more straight forward. A 20-minute plus piece for orchestra and vocal solists will see me do an enormous volume of sketching starting with phrases and gestures and working up to entire sections. I keep checking in with what I'm doing formally and any other elements such as film or text. It's a bit like knitting in that I keep building up material and developing it in my head until I've got a real sense of how it will play out. All the time I'm generating hand sketchs and even sequencing ideas that I'm not completely sold on.

[KilwaZoldic]

1) Myself, and hopefully others that will enjoy my taste of music.

2) Most of my tracks include piano + drums or piano + drums + electronic instruments so i guess pop and eletronic?

3) I use an app on my iPhone for all my music compositions.

4) Anytime I feel I need to listen to something new.

5) At some point I stopped searching for music I enjoy listening to and decided to start composing my own music that I would enjoy listening to, and it's what I do really, though if I can compose for a paycheck and reach out to an audience with a similar taste in music I wouldn't mind. It would still be for passion and a paycheck.

6) The process is simple, I usually compose music based on my emotional state, and match the music with what I'm feeling, then I keep experimenting with what sounds good and go by that. It's not how it usually works with others but personally it works fine for me.

[Jeff Brien]

1) Who do you compose for? Posterity and my own ego.

2) What do you compose? Pseudo-classical. I'd like to think it's my own style but undoubtedly, I'm borrowing.

3) Where do you compose? All of the above, but most often it's in my mind or on the computer.

4) When do you compose? When inspiration strikes me or when I've already got an idea I'm working on and I'm either zipping along or grinding through to the finish.

5) Why do you compose? Because art is expression of identity and I feel the need to say hi to the world.

6) How do you compose? Usually starts with harmony or an accompaniment line, then a melody above, and a rhythm last. 

[David Unger]

1) Who do you compose for? (a higher power or power(s), people, and or yourself)

Myself and at times others. I often have others in mind that I dedicate the pieces to, sometimes as a gesture, sometimes for them to perform. But mostly for myself, but with others in mind.

 

2) What do you compose? (genre and style)

Art songs and programmatic piano miniatures, choral works. Romantic.

 

3) Where do you compose? (in your mind, at an instrument, at a desk, on a computer)

By the piano. (At times actually also in the bathroom (mainly songs) where I get a moment for myself)

 

4) When do you compose? (schedule vs. no schedule)

 

Whenever I get the time. I have the main responsibility for my 2 year old son, and that doesn't leave much time for creativity.

 

5) Why do you compose? (passion or paycheck or both)

 

Passion. I feel I grow as a person from being creative. I also write poetry quit a lot and try to draw, some...

 

6) How do you compose? (first, next, and last)

Very quickly.Little time means short pieces that I finish in just a couple of sessions. Very much from texts that I use, and much according to 4-piece harmonisation.