Why am I never musically inspired when I'm on the computer?

Okay, let me explain. When I'm alone just chilling by myself, music inspiration comes easy. Like I can think of a ton of different jams and all that type of stuff and it's easy to get inspired. However, once I get in the program and all of that stuff, I use Anvil Studio myself, I just can't get inspired. For some reason the musical inspiration I get when I'm alone doesn't come when I'm finally in the program. I think another thing might be is that once I get an idea I'm too lazy to actually transpose all the parts and crap to midi.

Don't use a computer, then. Apparently it doesn't work for you.

Use paper; I feel that it sparks the imagination and creativity more by FAR

Don't use a computer, then. Apparently it doesn't work for you.

Exactly. This is why I now compose on paper. Things that I composed on the computer don't reach the same emotional and structural complexity as those on paper.

And using paper gives a nice and fulfilling quaint feeling to composing. Seeing pages of scribbled manuscripts is very fulfilling :P. Being able to (to varying degrees) play the compositions is also an added bonus of composing on paper.

:D

Edgar

When creating (writing, playing, clicking...) something, you feel much more motivated, if it is fun to you to play the instrument you use (while the instrument on a computer is not only the VST or library you use, but also the software itself). If one doesn

I had to read that post several times, and I still don't get it.

I'm exactly the same. It took some time to figure out but working within the constrictive natures of notation programs tends to leave me feeling uninspired, and generally slows things down. There's also the temptation to click play and hear it played disgustingly by MIDI, which tended to completely discourage me from working any further. My method these days is to write stuff down, freely and roughly onto manuscript, and copy it into my computer some time after I finish my session.

I think that music is a very visceral thing, both in listening and composition. The primary process is shutting out the external world and hearing the music in your mind. Everything else is a distraction or complication of this.

Those behavioral memory routines--using the keyboard, writing-- are probably more ingrained than manipulating software, which seems wholey incongruous with the process.

Time might eliminate the strangeness, but never completely.

I am practically unable to listen to music in my head, since it's too much chaos and I can't focus. I am dependant on my piano and on Finale + GPO to listen to my things. I am a compulsive play button clicker. xD I need to hear it tons of time to have any idea of what will come next, or at least to locate myself.

I am practically unable to listen to music in my head, since it's too much chaos and I can't focus. I am dependant on my piano and on Finale + GPO to listen to my things. I am a compulsive play button clicker. xD I need to hear it tons of time to have any idea of what will come next, or at least to locate myself.

I still have trouble with that stuff. I hope I can successfully learn how to do it in a way that would help me. I usually try out passages on the piano, to make sure they're 'OK' and make corrections if it's not.

Yep, I'm dreadful when I do my composing IN Sibelius. Everything comes so much more naturally pencil-and-paper-and-piano, and is so much more fulfilling, and I feel like it trains my ear and mind better to not have midi playback at my beck and call. (That comes later... -.-') Plus it's so much easier to get distracted on the computer, with the interwebs and all that... but mostly, I use my computer every day, for all sorts of stuff, but it's all the mundane. It's just not my composing space--my composing space needs to be where I go to write music, and the computer is cluttered with too many other things. (If that makes any sense...?)

Perhaps it is the room you are in.

You may need a different room or different lighting. You may need actual space to pace around and mumble notes to yourself while jumping down at your computer. And you may need a piano right there so you can swiftly jerk back and forth between the two instruments.

Use paper; I feel that it sparks the imagination and creativity more by FAR

I find this as well. While I can work well on finale, it becomes quite tedious. The focus also seems to change... Where as with paper and a piano, you are drawing on all of your musical experience in deciding what comes next, with programs like finale, I often feel like it becomes more "What can I put here which wont sound bad?"

Which isn't a good place to work from creatively.

The big trouble I'm having is that I have very messy hand, so I have to use finale at some point. Generally I'll sketch out my ideas etc and then put them into finale, but as soon as I use finale to compose even one note, it is very hard to go back to the piano and carry on.

I guess the answer is that I have to completely sketch a whole movement before I begin to punch it into finale.

Chris

The big trouble I'm having is that I have very messy hand, so I have to use finale at some point. Generally I'll sketch out my ideas etc and then put them into finale, but as soon as I use finale to compose even one note, it is very hard to go back to the piano and carry on.

I guess the answer is that I have to completely sketch a whole movement before I begin to punch it into finale.

I also suffer from messy handwriting. When I have some time to spare I'm going to make an attempt at tidying it up. Have you ever seen Michael Finnissy's scores? He has some sample ones on his website. His scores are all handwritten, and amazingly neat. If I could write like that then I'd handwrite all my scores too! I can't imagine how time-consuming it must be though.

Sometimes I find using paper is easier just because I'm at the piano, or I don't have access to the computer I compose on. Otherwise, I love you use Finale instead. I think's it's much faster than writing by hand, and I can double check the notes (I just imagine/ignore little stylistic things of the playback) and I use a midi-keyboard so it's still like playing an instrument.

I also have a tendency of playing/singing something until it's completely ingrained into my brain, and then notating it.

I use Finale 09 and love it. Its a great tool. However, it can be very limiting. Even though you can do almost anything with the program, some options are not readily available and you have to be a wiz at the computer to get every possible sound you want out of the program. I find that, if i usually write all of my music, first by playing it on either guitar, piano, or percussion. I find all of my main themes by playing them. Then i sit and write into the program and refuse to settle for anything less than what is in my mind. If it takes me a half hour to get a sound, i work to get it as opposed to settling for something less expressive.

Writing by hand is FAR better for growing in composition and for better expressing your thoughts but i am often too impatient for pencil and paper. I use them when im in class or anywhere away from my computer. I am a much faster clicker than i am a writer.

I would venture to say that you feel overwhelmed when trying to actually write down your ideas that you come up with. Without knowing your musical skill level at all..I would guess that you don't have the best ear training skills in the world (nor do I or most of us here, but I am getting better) I don't personally normally compose new ideas on the computer, but simply input what I hear and then begin noodling with ideas that I perhaps can not hear without a computer (or instrument) to show me. For the long term, I would focus on being able to know exactly how to write down without hearing it (I suggest learning solfege intensely if you do not know it now) Beyond that..you are never going to learn to write things down unless you do it...it takes time and experimentation whether you choose paper and pencil or a computer as your medium...My next advice is to start small...start with smaller groups of instruments and when you write for a larger ensemble, start with a smaller score or piano reduction and map out your ideas. Although I use Finale often, I constantly print off versions of my piece and mark things all over it and then edit...The key thing is: it takes time and effort. If you arent willing/able to do so then you will not get your desired result.

Personally,I don't write music on the comp expecting what the playback is to be my actual performance. I kind of hope that people will actually play it at some point. On the contrary, I am writing for a video game, in which we don't have live performers play it, so I will alter the sounds till I get it right. But otherwise I don't bother. I also think writing on the comp is just as effective as paper, assuming you approach it in a way that accomplishes that. It's just that the computer is faster at writing w/out having to do shorthand :)