How do you usually start making your own composition?

My cell phone has a feature that allows me to record my own ring tones, so whenever an idea or melody pops into my head, I sing or whistle it into the tiny microphone to be played back at my convenience. The sound quality is terrible, but it keeps me from forgetting ideas.

Like many people here, I also come up with a lot of my ideas while improvising (usually on piano). After a while of improvising melodies over logical chord progressions, I might run into something enticing, and write it down. Later I'll expand it by adding/developing themes and filling in the harmonies.

My cell phone has a feature that allows me to record my own ring tones, so whenever an idea or melody pops into my head, I sing or whistle it into the tiny microphone to be played back at my convenience. The sound quality is terrible, but it keeps me from forgetting ideas.

Like many people here, I also come up with a lot of my ideas while improvising (usually on piano). After a while of improvising melodies over logical chord progressions, I might run into something enticing, and write it down. Later I'll expand it by adding/developing themes and filling in the harmonies.

Unfortunately, I don't have any instrument at home. Yeah I also used my cellphone whenever a melody came out to my head. That's why I usually start making a melody. But now I am trying to adopt other sytle.

Hey

I'm hardly somebody who should post a comment in this thread but anyways:

I usually start by picking my instrumentation before anything (very important!) We'll do full band for now.

Next I think of a single idea of what I want my piece to be about, say for instance I want to make a composition about a trip through time haha.

Now I have my blank paper and my idea...

Now this may sound cliche but it tends to work for me. I usually listen to other compsers works to get a sense of what I want my piece to sound like... not stealing ideas! Just the atmosphere of the piece.

In my case I listen to way too much film music so I would probably listen to several love themes then an action based theme then maybe a mysterious theme.

Now I think I have some tools to help me start writing...

Definitely the shower is where most of my ideas come from. I'll usually be humming a tune that's been stuck in my head, and then start to branch off into my own completely separate idea. My problem is that I can completely hear the way I want the final piece to sound in my head, but I can't seem to get it out when I actually go to compose it. The actual composing slows me down so much that I end up forgetting all the cool ideas I thought I had.

Definitely the shower is where most of my ideas come from. I'll usually be humming a tune that's been stuck in my head, and then start to branch off into my own completely separate idea. My problem is that I can completely hear the way I want the final piece to sound in my head, but I can't seem to get it out when I actually go to compose it. The actual composing slows me down so much that I end up forgetting all the cool ideas I thought I had.

That's also one of my problem --- retaining ideas I have in mind whenever I'll write it on paper. Thanks.

uhm.. in writing...uhm i wanna start when there's no one at home... i mean i want silence.i wanna be alone to think and feel the lyrics myself..heheh so after i wrote everything.. music is next..