Music Composers?

[Castaras]

Any music composers around this place?

Basic problem I'm having - I've been given in my Music GCSE a specific criteria to compose a piece of music in. But the past 4-5 weeks, I have managed to write a grand total of 4 bars of music.

Nothing's working, I'll write something, then the next week I'll hate it and delete it.

Just wondering if there's any good ways to break this writer's musician's block...

[AmberVael]

>.>
<.<

So did they just say "hey! Write music!" and leave it at that? Are you composing a solo? Duet? For an entire orchestra or band?
As for breaking musician's block... mneeeeeh... I've never found a good way. >.>

[Capt'n Ironbrow]

I'm a musician and a song-writer, but not a composer who makes scores(okay, only the chords). I do have some knowledge on musical theory (harmony, scales, measures), so if you tell the criterea I might be able to help you.
I do have some general advice though: Write what you want to hear as an excersise or starting point. It might not fit the criterea, but it's practice and you might make a usefull discovery for use in your official piece. It also gets you from the composersblock. It doesn't matter if it sounds too much like something else, or has a silly bridge, as long as you got those creative juices flowing.
Writing music can be a struggle, and learning to do it well is a road of trial (do it!) and error.

Take it as if you're making a comic strip. You'll first have to make sketches of what the characters, locations and other visual things will look like (the "musical key and scale"), then you do a scenario (basic structure), followed by a first draft (basic melody). and if that's good, you can start inking and colouring (All the musical frills you want to include like tremelo, crescendo, harmony etc.).

With basic structure I very much mean the skelleton of the whole piece, you've chosen your key and scale, and now you're going to put the basic chords on every bar untill the last one and all the sharp/flat markings. Now you have a mould for the little black spots to follow.
Writing the melody bar-by-bar, especially when you find it hard, might easily grind to a halt when the next bar is totally empty both in your mind and on the sheet. Rather have a chord structure ready.
Also, repetition is no crime unless the criteria is that it does not include repetition.

[Narmoth]

write something completely different. If you can't compose any good metal riffs, write blues, if your orchestral piece stopped on the first bar, write an irish drinking song

and if you give us the criteria and what you have done, forum people might be able to help

[JettWilderbeast]

Good old Music GCSE!
I did two compositions... 1 was a jazz piece in turnary form and the other was fusion world music, Gamelan Blues!
What were the criteria you were set? (And what are you capable of?)

[Castaras]

Heh, apologies for not going into enough detail in the first post. <.<

Basically, I have to create a piece of music, which can be in Ternary, Rondo, Ground Bass, or Theme and Variation form. That's all I've been given in the way of Brief.

So yeah Vael, basically "Hey! Write music!". And it's not really I'm stumped for ideas, its just that the ideas I have aren't going from head to paper. Which is annoying.

What I've done... I've got quite a few beginnings of pieces for the above criteria. Between 4 and 20 bars long(the current one I'm kinda happy with is 4 bars). All the ones previously, and the one I have now, have the problem of me not knowing where to go next with them.

[Brickwall]

I know next to nothing about music theory, but there's one good trick I can submit.

Noodling.

It works best on instruments with linear progressions of notes (strings and keyboards, as opposed to the button-combiners). Simply just kinda play around with the keys/notes until you find something that sounds interesting. You now have a riff. The riff gives you part of your key, determines what kind of music you want to write, gives you a tempo, that sort of thing. Now write a song with the riff in it based off what you know of music theory, and what sounds good to you.

[Dallas-Dakota]

Step 1 : Go home
Step 2 : Get out your instrument and keep it closeby.
Step 3 : Read fanfiction or look at art. Do not listen to music!
Step 4 : Led your hands guide you, experiment, do what feels good.
Step 5 : Improve it.
Step 6 : Write it down.

Well this is what I usually do when I want to make/try something new in music...

[Amotis]

*raises hand*

I'll help, drop me an IM on AIM. SN: a verklartenacht

[The Extinguisher]

I dabble in it.

[JettWilderbeast]

Well first off what do you play?
Normally when I write songs (as in my band... Check out myspace.com/offbeatcontingency Shameless plug :smallwink: ) I just play anything random and it either takes shape or doesn't, but don't play to write something just play to have fun and then when a tune/melody/rhythm strikes you as fun go with that!
OR
Listen to your favourite bands (normally best with things like guitar or bass or horns if reggae or ska) and try to play with them without reading and kind of music, by ear if you will and you won't get it right straight away but those wrong attempts can turn into something wonderful!

[Zombie pixe]

I’m about to finish my GCSE music now. Does it HAVE to be in area of study one? Why instrument(s) (if any) do you play? Are you using the computers to help you write up your piece, if so what software do they have?

If you are proficient with a key board (I’m not insulting you, sorry if you are grade 8 or something, but I’m not sure where you start) then just play around, improvise and play around with different rules for each piece.

Hope that’s a help, fill me in on all my questions and I will be more than happy to help you :smallsmile:

Music is fun :smallwink:

[The Pink Wonder]

I'm doing music AS level, and the first thing I always do is work out the chord structure, then play around with the notes of the chord until I find a tune that I like. What instruments are you composing for?

[Castaras]

*raises hand*

I'll help, drop me an IM on AIM. SN: a verklartenacht
Thanks. =) *makes note to go on Trillian sometime in the near future*


Well first off what do you play?

Keyboard(self-taught), Clarinet(Grade 5), and I sing(self-taught/primary and year 7 choir).


I’m about to finish my GCSE music now. Does it HAVE to be in area of study one? Why instrument(s) (if any) do you play? Are you using the computers to help you write up your piece, if so what software do they have?

Yep, this composition has to be area of study one, sadly. We do compositions in all areas of studies at our school, then pick the two best.

Instruments...See above. Yes, we're using software - Cubasis. VST 3, iirc. Although I also have VST 5 on my shelves next to me. =)


Music is fun :smallwink:

Favourite GCSE. ^.^

To others who've given ideas: I'll try some of them out tomorrow at home, and Monday in lesson. Thanks. ^.^

[Aranai]

I write pieces from time to time (I usually do 4-part choral stuff), and I know EXACTLY how you feel. Sometimes it just comes out like a faucet, and other times you can't come up with something good even if you were being given millions of dollars as an incentive. It happens to most creative people--the creativity just dries up from time to time. It just rarely does so at a time that's convenient for us. :/

[Zombie pixe]

Clarinet(Grade 5)

So you are a classically trained musician, ok.

If you know how to input instrument tracks on cubase, then you should be able to play around with different instruments, they don’t sound exactly the same, as I'm sure you’re aware! But they should give you a rough idea.

Try playing around with your Clarinet, find a catchy little tune about two to three bars long, then keep it in mind and use your unorthodox keyboard skills (I am presuming that you learnt keyboard before clarinet?) to find something interesting to put to it. Area of study one doesn’t really need singing, so unless you enjoy operatic singing, you shouldn't need that.

I'm not going to go through all the pros and cons of the different styles, since you will undoubtedly know them already, but if you have a Harpsichord at your school, then you should consider ground bass, nice and simple to play (although a little boring), and you get to use lots of different instruments.

Ternary would be good with your clarinet, about the right time period, but then so would rondo…

I think the trick that I have found for composing is to forget everything I know about the instrument I am using, forget all the rules with it, and just play. That is obviously, just my opinion and writing style, but I have never had an instrument lesson in my life, so there are different approaches.

Hope that helps :smile:

[Emrylon]

I'm in the middle of making my AS composition at the moment and I was struggling for a while. At the end of the day you just have to get on with it. I ened up making some chord progressions and deciding on the basic structure and then filling it out with harmonies.

[Castaras]

So you are a classically trained musician, ok.

If you know how to input instrument tracks on cubase, then you should be able to play around with different instruments, they don’t sound exactly the same, as I'm sure you’re aware! But they should give you a rough idea.

Try playing around with your Clarinet, find a catchy little tune about two to three bars long, then keep it in mind and use your unorthodox keyboard skills (I am presuming that you learnt keyboard before clarinet?) to find something interesting to put to it. Area of study one doesn’t really need singing, so unless you enjoy operatic singing, you shouldn't need that.

I'm not going to go through all the pros and cons of the different styles, since you will undoubtedly know them already, but if you have a Harpsichord at your school, then you should consider ground bass, nice and simple to play (although a little boring), and you get to use lots of different instruments.

Ternary would be good with your clarinet, about the right time period, but then so would rondo…

I think the trick that I have found for composing is to forget everything I know about the instrument I am using, forget all the rules with it, and just play. That is obviously, just my opinion and writing style, but I have never had an instrument lesson in my life, so there are different approaches.

Hope that helps :smile:

That helps alot, thanks Pixe. :smallsmile:

Will definitely keep all your suggestions in mind. ^.^

[Capt'n Ironbrow]

Heh, apologies for not going into enough detail in the first post. <.<

Basically, I have to create a piece of music, which can be in Ternary, Rondo, Ground Bass, or Theme and Variation form. That's all I've been given in the way of Brief.

So yeah Vael, basically "Hey! Write music!". And it's not really I'm stumped for ideas, its just that the ideas I have aren't going from head to paper. Which is annoying.

What I've done... I've got quite a few beginnings of pieces for the above criteria. Between 4 and 20 bars long(the current one I'm kinda happy with is 4 bars). All the ones previously, and the one I have now, have the problem of me not knowing where to go next with them.

Play with it. Maybe there's just this one note you have to change to resolve the dead end.

or do something radical and daring, like switching key or meter.

[Moff Chumley]

When I compose, I look for complex patterns (or not so complex. I wrote a song based entirely on the first four notes in a circle of fifths, their minor thirds, and their fourths.) in music theory, then write one down and start fiddling with it and use it as a theme. Then write the structure of the piece, and figure out how to alter the theme to fit the structure. The rest pretty much falls into place.

[onasuma]

I could send you mine, done to the exact same criteria, for the exact same reason, but i think that would be cheating, and maybe get me in more trouble with my music teachers.