Naming a piece of music?

I am of the school that life is too short to waste time on titles. So Sonatina in B flat IS fine with me. If that what it is and if that is what I planned towrite so be it.

Sometimes I have a title in mind (most of the works I have posted do have them) but I usually like to play with words - for example Patter(n) Recognition. I just thought that patterns poorly handled becomes patter.

BTW - I'd prefer "Sunshine Bunnies in the Toilet"

I would never write a sonata or anything in b-flat.... to me, that sounds amateur

Unoriginal, perhaps. But amateur?

Corbin, you're a soul sister, honey, but we're from different planets otherwise.

There is an advantage of using 'formal' titles and index number, that is organization and reinforcement. What I mean is that you could write, say Spartita no. 1 this year, and Spartita no. 6 ten years from now, the six Spartitas will still form a self-reinforcing, organized body of work. If someone heard "Spartita no. 3" and liked it, he would be motivated to find out about the other Spartitas as well. On the other hand, Spartita no. 5 could be pure crap, but it will still belong with the other Spartitas in a CD (!) or published score. The collection would be 'The complete Spartitas by ____'

There would be no such completist driving force if your compositions have all different titles.

There is an advantage of using 'formal' titles and index number, that is organization and reinforcement. What I mean is that you could write, say Spartita no. 1 this year, and Spartita no. 6 ten years from now, the six Spartitas will still form a self-reinforcing, organized body of work. If someone heard "Spartita no. 3" and liked it, he would be motivated to find out about the other Spartitas as well. On the other hand, Spartita no. 5 could be pure crap, but it will still belong with the other Spartitas in a CD (!) or published score. The collection would be 'The complete Spartitas by ____'

There would be no such completist driving force if your compositions have all different titles.

I think I need to disagree. The first time I heard John Williams' or Yoko Kanno's work, I was compelled to find out ALL the music they've done. So, titles doesn't matter, what matters is the quality of music. ;)

It depends. Like I always pick up the new Book of Angels when it comes out because I like the writing style Zorn uses on those albums. It just sounds cool.

But I don't often do that.

Spoken as a true musician, MidiKareshi.

I'm flattered. ;)

I didn't mean to offend anyone.

I doubt anyone took offence. We're just exploring our views on the subject.

I am of the school that life is too short to waste time on titles.

I enjoy thinking up titles, though, so if it takes me half an hour to brew up a title, then I consider that half an hour well spent (not that it usually takes me that long).

There would be no such completist driving force if your compositions have all different titles.

In my case, since I tend to write my music in a game/movie soundtrack format, I have more than enough motivation to keep me writing. Once I feel I have achieved my goals for one soundtrack, I move on to the next. And it works well for me.

Well, John Cage didn't have the same problems. If in his piece there were 4 peoples playing, the title is 4.

Anyway. I always have the titles first, and than the music about that topic. For example I wrote a piece "Neuron", or now I'm writing a piece with the title "Impedance" :)

1. Get a Bible

2. Open it to the Book of Revelation

3. Put your finger on a random place.

The next 2-5 words are your title. (I prefer exactly four.)

Sample results:

Another from the Altar

Saying to the Seven

Were Crowns of Something

I Saw Four Angels

Thousand Times Ten Thousand

To Eat Things Sacrificed

:w00t:Real funny, Qmwne235.

Normally I try to think about associative "colors", as in "what does this music remind me of?", or "if this were a movie score - what would I see?"

When I can't come up with anything I phone some friends and go like "what does this remind you of?" and play it to them, haha, it's surprisingly productive :)

Omri.

I sometimes also have this kind of worries.When my teacher let me write a composition,I finish it quickly.But the title is my most trouble,I want to let my title unique and have deep meaning.So I rack my brains to creat a title.Nevertheless, things go contrary with my wishes. I once read a story in cartoon77.com. It says the most easy things goes best.So I think the natural thing or the natural topic is the best.This is my first time have a word on this forum.I am chinese,and my English is not very good .So also hope you all can give me much sugestion and help .Thank you .

Say, amy11, do you name your compositions in Chinese? The only reason I'm asking is because though I am Afrikaans I've never given any of my works an Afrikaans title. I almost exclusively name my music in English.

I find that the best way to name a your piece is to think of what context it's in - if it's happy, think of happy words, such as "flowers", or "victory" or "celebration" (Yeah I know, they're cliched, I'm sure you could come up with better stuff).

If the piece is sad, sombre, and a bit depressing, come up with the words that describe it, for example "death", "illness", or "tragedy". (again, come up with something better lmao)

Now fit the descriptive word with the type of piece you have composed. If it is a happy minuet, call it "royal celebratory minuet".

If it's a sad march, (eg. a funeral march) you can call it "Patrol of the Deceased".

Using a thesaurus helps hugely, using the word "march" in a piece which itself is a march isn't exactly creative, nor is the word "sarabande in a sarabande.

Hope that helped.

I don't know how to reply you . Whether I write English title or Chinese according to the works is writing to my Chinese teacher or my english teacher . Because you know ,no matter what kinds of compositions ,you have to create a title for your articals.:)

There are no wrong or right titles in music! Whatever you title your piece .... some will like it and some won't. There are no exceptions to this rule.

So feel free to name your pieces A Magical Sensation of Pleasure that Runs through my Heart like a sea of Flames or A Great Black Plague Doth Descendeth Upon The Merry Corn Fields or Scolding the local Watchman for falling asleep and accidentally sitting on the Family Dog or even The Profound Sufferings of a Peach if you are so moved to do so.

Oh come on, my Bible method is clearly the best. What could be better than using the word of God to create the most ominous titles for your work? Clearly, whatever phrase you landed on, God willed it. :P

In general, the more enigmatic the title, the more you will force the audience to think, even if there was no intent at all behind it. Pick a random word from the dictionary. For example, I have already decided that someday, I will name a piece "Fork". Not following the rules of English grammar also helps.

(By the way, I don't advocate any of these methods.)

I generally like to use non-programmatic titles, personally. If you want to use a programmatic title, please do so in a tasteful and non-kitschy way.