How do you guys get inspired to compose?

When I compose, I just can't get inspired to compose something, because I'm afraid that, the song will either sound too close to something already written or it just won't be good enough, I simply lack the inspiration to write music. For instance, I'm composing for someone's game and he gave me a request, but I just can't get inspired to write based on what he told me,"Slow and romantic". Another one of my problems is, I'll start composing a song, but won't be able to think of a good melody for it or, I can think of an introduction, but after that, I'm stuck. So yeah, I want to know what you guys do to get inspired, because at the moment, I just can't think of a good melody for the song.

you can start by changing your rather arrogant display name.

But as for your question: I think you need talk a walk or something. I normally never get inspired...i just sit down and write.

Oh! and also...listen to music...that always inspires me. Try some of the pieces here on this forum!

Listening to real music also kind of distracts me from composing, for instance, I'll start writing a song and then be like, "No, this sounds like...", then I'll erase the song and start over. But yes, I'll check out some of the pieces on this forum though.

Well he could be a prodigy of the sax, or math or anything else.

ahhhhhhhh.........

A melody is nothing more than a series of pitches arranged in a rhythmic fashion. This is the key to writing melodies. If you find pitches that you think flow together nicely, then keep them.

You don't need inspiration. Inspiration is one of those nice little extras. The bulk of composition is forced invention. Take sounds that you like. Imitate them. Change them. Experiment with them.

Inspiration makes a nice story. It rarely makes nice music. Only in a few cases does inspiration cause flawless sound. In most cases, you'll have to go back and edit anyway.

Also, inspiration is nothing more than improvisation. Practice improvising, and inspiration will surely follow.

true. You should really post some of your music, Mike. We would love to hear it.

Hi Young Prodigy, Welcome.

For inspiration:

What you could do is listen to music playing backwards (must be an available computer filter I guess)- PCDJ FX - http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ seem to do it

Don't be affaid to copy something by accident. It happens. Only in commercial settings it could be a problem.

http://www.angelfire.com/mech/srwuniverse/AsianFantasy.mid <--- My attempt at creating an asian inspired piece, didn't go so well.

http://www.angelfire.com/mech/srwuniverse/sampleupbeat.mid <--- Started composing this, but then I remembered hearing a BGM on Jimmy Nuetron, simular to this and dropped it.

Post attachements.

Also, no matter what you write, it will always sound like something else.

As far as inspiration goes, for the game you might want to play throught he level. Slow and romantic can be anything, but that specific level of that specific game is going to call for somehting specific, not generalized like the description game programmers invariably give you.

*yawn* Do people still get inspired? I will admit I do get random urges to composer grand masterful pieces but in truth, I rather eat glue.

The truth is not every is cut out to be a composer. You can learn all the theory and techinque but you'll never been able to compose. It has to be something in you. No one can teach you how to write a good melody line, that is something you must have inside. The truth is, if you have difficulty in doing so you should find a new hobby. Also it requires a lot of patient. Your first composition will be terrible, so you must revise edit revise edit destroy and submit! It takes time and experience.

However, if you feel like going on and composing, I suggest listening to a lot of music and mocking it. After you get a hang of how all the instruments work together, begin to be you.

your compositions are very fine and really interesting! it is a pity you dont go ahead with them. i think that your only problem is that wish of being absolutely original. any music resembles other ones, because there is a general language on the air. do you preffer to write NO music than to write some pieces which vaguely sound like others? when you are a fully matured composer than you could claim to compose extravagantly original pieces, but even Mozart in his beginnings wrote music which was hardly differenciable from that of all composers of his time. should you be greater than that celestial genius and start from the very beginning being a world revelation? please be patient while your voice is developing!!! there is a quoting from the Gospels saying: "who is faithfull with the little later will be faithfull with the greater". maybe that could be a good thought to you meditate on.

keep up your work, and nurture your talent, they deserve attention and a loving care. all the best !

*yawn* Do people still get inspired? I will admit I do get random urges to composer grand masterful pieces but in truth, I rather eat glue.

The truth is not every is cut out to be a composer. You can learn all the theory and techinque but you'll never been able to compose. It has to be something in you. No one can teach you how to write a good melody line, that is something you must have inside. The truth is, if you have difficulty in doing so you should find a new hobby. Also it requires a lot of patient. Your first composition will be terrible, so you must revise edit revise edit destroy and submit! It takes time and experience.

However, if you feel like going on and composing, I suggest listening to a lot of music and mocking it. After you get a hang of how all the instruments work together, begin to be you.[/b]

Nah, dude, I've been studying music far too long to just 'find a new hobby'.

your compositions are very fine and really interesting! it is a pity you dont go ahead with them. i think that your only problem is that wish of being absolutely original. any music resembles other ones, because there is a general language on the air. do you preffer to write NO music than to write some pieces which vaguely sound like others? when you are a fully matured composer than you could claim to compose extravagantly original pieces, but even Mozart in his beginnings wrote music which was hardly differenciable from that of all composers of his time. should you be greater than that celestial genius and start from the very beginning being a world revelation? please be patient while your voice is developing!!! there is a quoting from the Gospels saying: "who is faithfull with the little later will be faithfull with the greater". maybe that could be a good thought to you meditate on.

keep up your work, and nurture your talent, they deserve attention and a loving care. all the best ![/b]

So you're saying that I should start off composing lightly and go on to more original things once I've developed my skills? That's actually pretty good advice if that's what you meant, thanks dude.

i wanted to say to you just dont be too much critical about your "not-so-original" pieces! take it easy! the negative appreciation is your thinking about them, but other people can think otherwise. i myself loved them. and maybe you have set a too high standard for yourself to be achieved at once, forgetting that every career is built up by steps and not through a single huge jump. think in the future working with the present hability you have in hands. you will develop, for sure, but just if you bear the present unsatisfactory conditions and work to improve your talent, your hability for expressing yourself through sounds. later you will develop a greater skill and will be able to compose much better things. search for the first pieces composed by Mozart or any other great composer, and then compare them with their latest works and you will understand what i meant by patience and steady and enduring faith in your skill, you will see the fantastic evolution all them showed from the fragile first works. if you refuse climbing the first and "neglectable" steps of a high ladder how do you expect to reach the top? be hopeful and work, dont stop working, just that. all things will happen in their proper time.

cheers!

HA I KNEW IT!

(you screw quite magnificently!)

that's just sick

Personally, I always find my best inspiration in the bathroom. There's nothing like taking a shower or brushing your teeth to clear your mind and let the ideas flow.

Well, I was kinda hoping he'd post attachments because I was kinda having trouble accessing the angelfire pagess, but whatever.

Also, I agree about the bathroom thing. It's also the most frustrating, because you can often forget some things.

Some comments posted here were quite wise. The truth is, the vast majority of composition is craftsmanship. That is to say, as you are learning the craft of composition, or even just of how music fits together and what makes a good melody, you might not always feel a rush of inspiration as you are working.

So my advice would be to write as many pieces as you can, or as has been suggested, improvise. Try to tell yourself it doesn't matter how good they are: the point is you will gain experience as you are working with more and more ways of manipulating musical material. Just like learning to speak, you will become increasingly more fluent as time goes by. After a number of years, sitting down and writing a composition will be quite routine---but whether it is well enjoyed by all those who hear it of course is another matter. What truly makes a piece of music good, and enjoyable by many people moreover, is very elusive.

I never "make music", it's not something i can just do, i cant just say "hey, why don't i seat down and write some music?" the inspiration always come to me, i don't ever try to reach for it, some times it's after listening to other composers of music, most of the times, it's because of some feeling, emotions generated after an event, music is a reflection of our humanity, i feel that without real human experiences, i really can write music, so, i guess inspiration comes from everyday experiences.

What is inspiration, I think it's just a fancy word for motivation.

I just write ideas and I try to make a peice.

Hi all, I'm new to young composers. I have a similar problem to young prodigy, but rather coming up with ideas for compositions for assignments. I study music at a uni where they emphasise originality and adaptability as the key to succeeding in composition. Some people in my course have made a lot of use out of music concrete, using sine waves to make up an entire composition, or use Japanese improvised noise music.

I have tried quite a variety of approaches as well the traditional composition methods used in contemporary art music, western classical music and cross-cultural music. My main problem is that by being so broad, it has limited my sense of artistic individuality and has made it difficult to be stylistic. Does anyone else have the same problem in trying to express themselves when they don't know exactly what it is they want to express?

The truth is not every is cut out to be a composer. You can learn all the theory and techinque but you'll never been able to compose. It has to be something in you.

True.

Also, I'm not sure I entirely agree with what Christopher said earlier. I think some people have differing ideas on just what inspiration is. Inspiration is an integral part of the process. You can force yourself to work through period where you have no ideas, but that's only to cut through the weeds to more inspiration.

I'm also very much in agreement with Franz. Prodigy, don't fall into the trap of insisting that from the day you start composing that everything that comes out of you be entirely original. That's nothing but ego. All music is derivative to one degree or another. Skill will help you become more original and develop your own musical personality, but you'll never get that skilful if you don't write, and that means writing derivative garbage sometimes. Take the ideas that God gives you and work with them. If you keep throwing gifts away because they're not what you think you want, they'll stop coming, and that's where it sounds like you are now.

Put another way: there was a time when painters learnt technique by copying the works of old masters. Through this they opened the channels of their own inspiration, and they had the technique to manifest them readily.

If you have a rythem in your head write it out and have a pofeser check it for you. Then you have the bet and the rest is up to you. :P

What is the reason why you want to compose in the first place? If you are composing for money, it is much harder to accomplish goals. With composition, creativity is essential. You need to have an open and expanded mind when composing.

Also, you need dedication and persistence. For the most part, don't expect to come up with something good in an hour or two, unless your goal is to write a short simple piece. A good composition I believe has to have substance and a good logical format.

As for losing ideas on what to write next, especially after an introduction, my suggestion to you is, if you can't think of an idea that "works", scrap your previous section, whether its an introduction, or even page. Or, instead of scrapping it, if it is big enough, try turning that section into a prelude, for another piece. Anyway, there are times where I have to scrap pages of music myself because I just can't think of any "workable" solution that flows smoothly afterwards. I always find that the hardest part is "beginning" a piece of music. Perhaps this is why it is so hard to think of what to write after an intro, or one idea. If the flow of writing is interrupted, I find it very hard to begin a new idea. So another suggestion is, why interrupt the flow in the first place? Just continue on with your flow, and finish the piece. Perhaps it wasn't necessary to even interrupt the flow. Maybe it is time you end the piece?

For inspiration, just listen to your favorite composer. Or try writing music for a special someone.

Also, I think inspiration is over-hyped. The piece you write from inspiration will never be the same as the one that you heard in your head. Inspiration's like a dream - what you remember your dream being is never exactly the same as the one you actually had. Inspiration is a great thing, but it must be controlled by skill.

You know what inspires MY compositions?

Life.

I compose in an over-the-top romantic style, because my life sometimes feels like its over the top.

I'm inspired by love, passion, rage, anger, happiness, sadness, bubbliness, ect.

See, when I sit down and write, I'm trying to express how I feel in a musical way. Not because I just feel like composing. I compose to express my emotions.

You can hear that in the music that I've posted in the major works section though which nobody seems to have bothered reviewing.

exactly