Finding Your Music? Pre-Composing Rituals?

healey this may sound odd to you, but for some reason I feel incredibly musically inspired when I'm brushing my teeth! Usually the bathroom is a good place for me to start!
Quite simply, if you do something that requires a bit of conscious effort, the subconscious or inner composer comes out. I find pacing up and down like a madman helps as well!

Originally Posted by almacg

I find pacing up and down like a madman helps as well!

Totally! Moving around (be it by foot or on the bike) is the most helpful thing for me to "get my creativity flowing".

I just listen to whatever music that is further a way as possible as any ideas I may have, or, I'll just start writing something with no idea of what I want and "wing it" as I go along. Sometimes I need a lot of preparation to write something, research, etc... sometimes not.

I can't say I have any method really, I just write whatever works, whenever it works.

I find that I get the best ideas either while I'm in physics class, or while I am falling asleep (or sometimes both).
I also find inspiration when I wake up early. Sometimes I'll stumble out of bed straight to the piano, and stay there writing without eating til well past noon. Perhaps hunger aids creativity? Makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint...

Something kinda cheesy is to think of something and try to imagine how I would want the music to sound along with it if I was directing it in a film. For example, if I was doing a wide shot of a lonely protagonist standing in the desert watching the sunset (coughstarwarscough), what music would best counterpoint that visual/narrative statement?

Another technique for coming up with a motif is to find a poem you like and imagine singing it. Often I find that a powerful motif can develop out of that.

Hope these anecdotes help

I listen to Paganini, John Williams, Liszt or any other classical music. Sometimes I feel "inspiration" coming and before I know it, a melody is stuck in my head! At other times, I eat little divertions (cakes, truffles, tea, sandwitches) to inspirte me.

I just let each project lead me which way it wants.

Originally Posted by Gardener

Totally! Moving around (be it by foot or on the bike) is the most helpful thing for me to "get my creativity flowing".

Definitely! Exercise before composing helps. If you feel good, then you're more likely to want to create something. if you feel physically exhausted, chances are you just want to go back to bed!

Certain music can certainly be inspiring, but the funny thing is, listening to music I don't like, is as inspiring as listening to music I like! I personally think it's important to listen to as much music as possible, and occassionally listen to something you don't like overall, because subconsciously you absorb something constructive from it in some degree. I personally don't like Webern that much, yet, as it is competently written, fantastically orchestrated, it inspires, even if the end result sounds nothing like Webern. Also, strange harmonies tend to inspire more than basic ones.

Someone mentioned right before sleep - I often have music start playing through my head just as I'm about to fall asleep. I don't recognise it most of the time and it changes each time. I feel like an observer in these occasions which is really weird seeing it is my own brain making it up. The problem is that if I try and 'grasp it' I loose it.

I guess this is what Beethoven always talked about - music coming from the silence.

I start with a note, just a random note... that usually gets the beast rolling. (The beast drives the car.)

I too usually have things pop in my head as i am waiting for sleep. I usually have my phone near by and i just record me whistling what ever I hear in my head. the problem is that i listen to it later and it makes very little sense... <_<.

What I hate is that I will hear something at some candid moment, when recording it or writing it down isn't possible, and all i can do is savor the possibilities it could bring, then watch it disappear.

Put me away of the piano and any music. When I come back I will feel creative on the piano or composing. Just that my mind sometimes need a rest of everything. To be working on the same for various hours can make your mind feel tired and wanting a rest of it. When come back it will feel refreshed and having orgasms of ideas. It's like does that say going out for a walk and being in contact with the nature help them. Just need a rest and to be away of it for a brief moments. At least that is how works for me and I don't mean it about just with music, I am expressing in general.