Continuity. The Feeling Of Progress

[Kamil Adamčík]

Do you ever listen to your ideas or compositions of others and lack the sense of smooth continuity as the piece develops? I feel as if this is one of the biggest issues when I work on something. In a musical composition there should be this smooth feeling of progress. The 50th measure should feel as a brother of the 1st and not like some "creative sequence of the day". Do you catch my drift?

 

I have this confidence while beginning the piece and it all falls apart on cca 16th measure with feeling of "this doesn't fit in/this doesn't make sense". I ask for a feedback of my friends and they say it has continuity and feels natural yet I am annoyed by this so much. Is it because I view each few measures as memories "aaah that is the correction of the first version I had/ oh that is the 2nd day of work on that part"? Even my composition teacher assured me it is fluent but I am just so frustrated by not feeling the melody being natural and progressive. Although one time he stated that in my melodies is reflected my "thinking personality" and as I like to think stuff through my melodies are like streams of thoughts and develops as such. If that is true I am not competent to judge, however by the end of the day It all ends by pausing the work on the piece and I rarely get back to it. Start another and the circle repeats. I am sure that this is not the case of boredom but rather irritation (giving up? lol).

 

This may be just a flaw in my perspective but if not then what? I came to the point where I am certain that even if I have the harmony/theory knowledge of Schoenberg I would not compose a single song properly. So I ask for your opinion on the matter.

 

[pateceramics]

):  I think we all have that day frequently.  It comes with wanting to create beauty.  

 

You are the only person who can really know the gap between what you want your music to be able to express, and what it is currently expressing, because you're the only person in your own head.  So I'm not surprised your professor doesn't see what you see.

 

But the more music you get down on the page, the more closely what you write will express your inner ideas.  

 

Is it helpful to look back at where you started?  You may not be able to see the progress you are making toward your goals day by day, but I bet if you look back at the first piece you ever wrote, what you write now will seem smoother.  

 

(And sometimes it helps just to take a walk.)

[robinjessome]

In a musical composition there should be this smooth feeling of progress. The 50th measure should feel as a brother of the 1st...

 

 

While I get your point, I don't necessarily feel it all needs to be "smooth"; an entire piece need not feel like it's all immediate family. 

 

I think, the idea you're asking about isn't necessarily "smoothness", but a sense of connection between sections; natural, organic evolution of a piece.

 

Don't be afraid to stay with a single idea longer than you feel it should. If you've already abandoned something by the 16th measure, you're moving way too fast! Let things sit and simmer...eventually, the music will tell you where it wants to go next. This will come easier as experience grows...

 

That said, don't feel you need to prepare listeners for everything. Unexpected twists and sudden shifts can make for very engaging and creative music.

[KJthesleepdeprived]

That said, don't feel you need to prepare listeners for everything. Unexpected twists and sudden shifts can make for very engaging and creative music.

 

Quite right. Also Kamil, don't make the mistake of thinking that the ideas need to have an obvious connection in order for that natural flow to be present. Music can develop nicely and make perfect sense even if the ideas are only tangentially related or not related at all. Further, don't discount the relationship they can share simply because they arise from that same creative impulse and/or inspiration. Sometimes you get ideas like that and even though they don't share obvious common patterns (notes, chords, general shape, etc.) they're still related atmospherically or otherwise. Even non musical people who may not necessarily have a clear and conscious awareness of these musical attributes can mentally pick up on it enough to appreciate that the natural flow is there despite it not being spelled out for them.

 

Like pate said, you're probably suffering from that dreadful and familiar ailment of the creative mind. You're aware of what you want to express and you're also aware of how far away you are from it. I'm like that too and it sucks. But you just have to tread onward and understand that you're unlikely to reach that perfect composition that expresses itself just how you want it, as it can't happen every time. Be content to view it as another stage in your development as a musical butterfly of wonder.

[Ken320]

Everybody feels this way. Sometimes working with music is frustrating because it feels like the path you are on must be built brick by brick before you can even walk on it, when all you want to do is just walk on it. This is part of the madness of modernism, where originality is more important than any other aspect of the music. I have found this mindset to be a shackle - IF - your problem is continuity. When I give up trying to be original and just write, I necessarily lose many inhibitions. And this means more music. and the more music I write, the better it becomes and the more fun it is to write. That's the way I look at it.

[pateceramics]

musical butterfly of wonder.

 (:

[bkho]

I battle this problem all the time when I compose, especially as because I tend to compose in spurts with multiple works simultaneously at different stages in development. 

[U238]

Robin's on the money.

[Kamil Adamčík]

Thanks a lot guys. I don't tend to respond at anwsers at each topic I create but I value them a lot! You eased my mind.

[SSC]

There's a lot that can be said about method concerning how you're actually writing things so that they feel like a coherent whole, so to speak. However, I tend to think that the best way to get it how you want it is to experiment with different ways of actually writing your music. Maybe starting at bar 1 is not the best option every time, and if you have troubles with continuity perhaps you should try out some exercises to help get your groove going.

 

One of my favourite exercises to practice structural length and transition is to grab 4 measures from one composer and 4 measures from another and make a bridge that lasts between 10 to 15 measures, depending on how far the examples are from eachother. So for example, grab the first 4 measures from some random Beethoven sonata and some 4 measures from the middle of something from, say, Faure. Then try to bridge both things in 15 measures, see what happens.

 

And you keep doing this, trying out different composers/pieces until you start to "feel" how long your ideas need to be. An eye for structure is not something you're born with, you gotta work for it like everything else about composing, and I have a feeling that's where your problem lies.