Writing your music.

[Styxx]

How long does it typically take you to write your music? Are you one of those that can rip off a tune in just a few minutes or one that needs to take days, weeks, months to complete a piece?
I guess I'm looking for a little comfort here as I have been working on a symphony for a month now. I have gone so far and now in a holding pattern for something new and exciting to add for the past two weeks. Once I have completed my work I will be submitting to a exceptional local orchestra for live performance.
Well, thought I would inquire out of curiosity.

[conwaylemmon]

take your time, styxx
a symphony, geez, that can take years if you want it to. I'm working on a big orchestra piece too, and i only have two months left to finish (contest deadline), and that's not nearly enough. i wish i could have started it 8 months ago, then i think i'd be in fine shape. and I write fast! i usually think and stress about the thing for about 70% of the time and then spend the last 30% on actual writing. now at least i'm in the final 30% of the time. If it weren't for deadlines, though, I'm sure I would never finish anything.
good luck styxx and happy writing.

greg

[qccowboy]

Well, the "Symphony in C" I posted here actually got its start 15 years ago as my first attempt at a symphony, so the thematic material was "pre-existing". However, the form it is in now is basically a completely new work. And that work took from late august through early december of 2005, working around 12-14 hours per day, 5-6 days a week.

In that time, the music got composed, the score got cleaned up, the GPO realization got done (which was a breeze really with Finale.. I just said "here, Finale, play it").

The only thing that isn't done is the individual parts... <shiver>
I oh so dread doing the individual parts.... :eek:

[jsp2]

A good question... I often wondered this myself of those on this forum.

.. takes me Forever to compose anything!..... But then I'm incapable of thinking musically, so I have to expect this.

Don't feel bad...

As the saying goes: If it were easy.. everyone would be doing it.

~Jeff

[SeanHannifin]

Sometimes it takes me forever... other times music can just roll out of my mind in a few hours... I don't know why. :confused: In the end, however, I am left with many more unfinished pieces than finished ones. :o

[pianodoc]

Styxx:

The replies thus far certainly address the fact that a large piece can take considerable time to finish.


When I run into a block (which certainly happens) I get in the car and drive - seems to eliminate distraction and allow me to relax or something. Sometimes the music starts to flow then. I can sit and think for hours with no preogress then drive somewhere and problemns get solved somehow. I'm sure everyone has their own way of dealing with these situations.

David M.

[Mitch Manthe]

Depends on how much time I have. With three kids in school I don't have a lot of free time so I have to squeeze my composing time in whenever the kids aren't on the computer IMing their friends or doing their homework. Also depends on what type of song I'm writing. Those marches I've been posting the past week were initially written 3 years ago but never finished till now. Of course, I'm never satisfied with my work so all my music is a work-in-progress and could take the rest of my lifetime to complete. :rolleyes: So don't get down on yourself too much. Like the old saying goes "We will play no song before it's time". :D

Pass the wine please. :cool:

[Styxx]

Cool, all nice constructive and helpful replies. There is no time limit since the orchestra tells me I can submit when ready. It is nice to have Finale 6 and Overture 4 working as well on my ideas. For the first time I am able to see and hear the material before deciding blindly on the writing. I have a weird way of writing. First I start off with the initial theme in Cubase SE and then I write the part(s) out on manuscript disregarding the rules. However, now that I have the two notational programs my manuscript goes untouched. After, I check my work over and over again till it musically sounds logical. The best part of all is having GPO, GOS lite (less filling sounds great) :D JABB and SSV (although I am having quite the time using SSV due to K 2 problems).
I am delighted to have shared this with all of you and looking forward to additional
I have to admit the very idea of a live orchestra performing one of my works makes me way too eager!

[CallMeZoot]

I write really quickly and really slowly at the same time. I know this doesn't make sense.

It generally takes me a long time to finish a piece. Sometimes months, sometimes years. But this isn't because I compose slowly, it's because I compose infrequently. Or rather, because I jump from project to project.

I tend to compose in spurts. So a piece that takes me a year to finish might have actually only taken 24 hours to write. 6 hours one night in January, 12 hours spread out over an intense weekend in March, 2 hours one afternoon in June when I came up with an idea for a new section, 4 hours in December when I wanted to experiment with a new keyboard, etc.

chris.

[Cobalt Katze]

It depends on the piece for me. It's varied on mostly everything I've done, but I seem to be getting faster as I learn more and more about music and how I personally relate to.

For my latest "opus" quality work, it took about 2 months to create an 11-minute chamber piece for four players.

At the same time, about 3 months working off and on to compose a 3-movement harp suite at 3-4 mins per movement.

Prior to that, it took me about 1 month to write a 5-minute string quartet movement.

On the other hand, for a 6 minute digital piece using samples such as Corrigan's Wail, it took me about 2 days of composing, and 2 days of sequencing/mixing/mastering.

For an 8 minute through-composed film score using all samples, it took about 5 days total of composing/sequencing/mixing/mastering.

So basically, quick if it's digital, long if it's going to be interpreted by other players and performed live.

[lavoll]

on a symphoy.. probably years :) But for my composing job i often end up having to compose 3-5 minutes per day... 2 minutes per day is much better. The worst i've done is 10 minutes in one day. not very inspired stuff there :)

[Larry G. Alexander]

I write quickly...much too quickly. Speed doesn't equate quality in my case. I'm sure that my works would be much better if only I could slow down. I think that I was born in a hurry. (Type A personality...zipping through life with impatience.) I wonder what caused that last heart attack? :p

Regards,

Larry A.

[wrayer]

Like a couple of others have said, I can spend months and years on a piece then turn around and finish one in an hour. It depends on stuff I have no control of. Where the 'spark' comes from is always a mystery. It does depend largely on how complicated the work you are writing is. I can write a 3 minute brass work in under an hour. A Symphony - you can actually put time spent writing a symphony down? - can take years and A LOT OF ERASERS!

I tend to compose more than I need and then remove the trash!

[C J Pro]

Well, let's just say that it takes me a while to write music at the moment due to time restrictions. As soon as finals and school are over, I should be able to churn out more compositions.

[rwayland]

Well, sometimes it takes me a long while. The longest, from conception to execution, was about 45 years. Some things get done about as fast as I can write or enter the notes. Some things get thought about for weeks or months, then get zapped into the computer very rapidly. Gregarri Finn Sonata, I think, was fairly fast. The first two movements of Petronella Sonata were very fast, but the third movement is still a mass of indefinite sounds in my mind! It is easier to write a fast, rhythmic piece than a slow meditative piece.

Richard

[Styxx]

Ha! Now the request is, "Can you make sure it is a Waltz?" Sure, why not ... 3/4 time ezz no problem. :eek: Huh?
I will attempt to post the first part and hear what you fine composers have to say. Keep in mind there will be no editing nor reverb.

[Christopher Duncan]

Of course, I tend to write more pop / rock oriented songs than symphonies, but even so, I think no matter what the scale, the important thing is to follow the muse. Probably why I never got into composing for a career. I need inspiration (typically of an emotional variety) to do my best work, but when I have that inspiration it often comes out of me so quickly I can barely keep up with it.

Could I sit down and force myself to write something? Sure, but that violates all the warranties associated with my work. If you want it fast, you'll get music, but it probably won't be the best that I'm capable of.

The important thing is to identify what triggers your creativity. For me, it's emotional experiences. For others, it may be philosophical insights or considerations (Neil Peart's lyrics for Rush). Others are visually oriented, taking their inspirations from things like intense thunderstorms or a beautiful sunrise. After giving it some thought and recognizing what does it for you, you're then well armed to find it when you need it. Whenever you're having a lull in creativity, just get out there and seek out the types of experiences that bring out the music in you. Then go home and write about it. :)

[Christopher Duncan]

In the end, however, I am left with many more unfinished pieces than finished ones. :o
I went through that for years. The way I got all the little scattered pieces of half finished songs off of the living room floor was by giving myself permission to write bad songs. I wasn't finishing stuff because I'd get a good hook, and then be dissatisfied with anything else I tried to add. Since nothing ever measured up, I just wouldn't finish the song. Of course, this meant that no one ever heard that great hook.

So, I decided I'd just forge ahead and finish songs. If they were bad songs, so be it. I didn't have to play them for anyone. What I found, though, is that by letting myself write bad songs, and consequently finishing more tunes, there weren't that many throw-aways. Sure, there was the occasional lamer, but overall they were okay at worst, and often decent.

Best of all, I can now walk across the living room floor in the middle of the night on the way to the fridge without tripping over all those little half finished snippets of a song. :)

[Christopher Duncan]

http://bambiela-music.blogspot.com/ (http://bambiela-music.blogspot.com/)

Inspired by "Bambi meets Godzilla", perhaps? :)

[CallMeZoot]

One point I should add to my previous post:

I tend to compose as fast or as slow as my deadline requires.

This is why I tend to compose slowly, in spurts, when I'm working on a piece for no reason other than creative expression. Composing is an expressive and recreational activity for me--it's like doodling or pacing or building sandcastles--it's something I enjoy doing. But I don't necessarily enjoy FINISHING a piece--that's like finishing a pizza when you're still hungry, or finishing a book that you don't want to put down. Keeping a piece open-ended and unfinished gives me a toy to play with.

At least, that's my pseudo-psychological explanation for why I compose slowly. It may be BS, but it was kind of a revelation for me.

The point is, in the absence of a deadline, I WILL NOT FINISH A PIECE. But if somebody said "hey, I'm looking for a piece to perform, I need it in 36 hours," I would write a piece in 36 hours (well, knowing me, let's say 37). It would not be rushed or incomplete or any less quality then the bauble I've been working on for months. In fact some of my best pieces are ones I had to write on short notice -- when you don't have time to second guess, you can write better stuff.

So my advice for you is this: ask your orchestra to give you a deadline. Think of a duration that you could comfortably compose this piece in, and ask the orchestra to program your piece on a concert which is just shy of that duration. Whether it's 2 months or 2 years is your call (and the orchestra'ss), but get it down on paper and stick to it. You don't need to worry about how long it takes to compose a symphony. You know exactly how long it has to take.

chris.

P.S. Your orchestra wants your whole symphony to be a waltz???

[Cataclysm]

It takes me forever to finish a composition, given the time that I have right now. Also, I tend to work on multiple compositions, and maybe that's why I haven't finished a work yet. But I'm pretty much focusing on a piano concerto right now. I have the ideas, but I'm still working on the first movement (I think I've been working on that for months now).

[Christopher Duncan]

P.S. Your orchestra wants your whole symphony to be a waltz???
That shouldn't be a problem. If it was originally in 4/4 time, just have the software move the bars to every 3 beats. If you end up with a last measure that doesn't come out to a full 3 beats, just extend the duration of the last note. Problem solved. :)

[AtmosMan]

I take forever! This is one reason why I haven't posted anything I wrote yet on this forum. Music is my hobby, and it often goes on the back burner to meteorology. I have 18 songs/pieces composed...just not orchestrated and set to my sample libraries yet. I don't know if I'll ever get done before I need to get a job. Maybe I should start writing in 2/4 ... that's two less beats per measure to compose for than normal! :D

[rwayland]

Inspired by "Bambi meets Godzilla", perhaps? :)
Well, good try, but, no. When my daughter was very small, she was called Sheila Bambiela. I have no idea why.

Richard