Composing at the Desk vs. on an Insturment

At this point, I don't care. Writing by hand just takes longer. Which isn't always bad...

I usually figure out the melody of the piece at the piano, and if I have time, I write out other parts and see if they make resonance at certain points (I like Eric Whitacre CHORDS not his style of composing)

But if I'm at a desk, I'll go through every chord and scale I've used at different parts of the piece, so that I can make it contrast more as I move through.

^^^^^^^^^^^

I don't do that, however, if I don't have the melody figured out. Otherwise, I'll just refine it at the desk.

Neither. I use the computer because writing by hand is too tedious for me. Plus cut-paste is a godsend. So often I write something then decide I want to put something in between measures A and B, which means erasing measure B, putting in the new part, then remembering what I had originally. Or I decide I want to transpose something. Bah, now I have to rewrite it a tone higher. All the work that goes into actually writing this all out impedes my thought process that led to making that decision in the first place. At the computer I can make changes in a snap and still have time left over to second guess or advance.

I physically can't write at the desk as you define it. If worst comes to worst I use my voice as reference to make sure what I wrote is how I hear it. If I'm getting really frustrated, I use my recorder (the flute, not the electronic device... ). If it's a polyphonic piece, sometimes I get fed up and check it on the keyboard. My ideal setting is a table set up such that I can be seated at the piano, improvise something, turn around on the piano bench, and write it on the desk. Since I'm lazy, I'll stay in that position and keep writing until I absolutely need to turn around and use the piano again.

That just seems really lazy. Maybe you should get better at writing and organization

That's one way.

Another is to aim at less precise aspects of music - focusing more on form/structure, mood, colour, texture, energy... the development of which can often be better accomplished away from an instrument.

I believe that's called pre-writing.

I believe that's called pre-writing.

Maybe to you.

:whistling:

For me, it's a necessary (and lengthy) part of my compositional process... In-fact, your so-called "pre-writing" is where 90% of my actual work takes place.

Maybe to you.

:whistling:

For me, it's a necessary (and lengthy) part of my compositional process... In-fact, your so-called "pre-writing" is where 90% of my actual work takes place.

Really?! I wouldn't think that most of the work comes out in the prewriting..

Really?! I wouldn't think that most of the work comes out in the prewriting..

The thing is, I don't make a distinction. Often-times the melodic/rhythmic content is the first thing that comes, and then I have to spend months hashing out the texture or structure. Sometimes I know the structure and orchestration for months before applying actual melodic content in the very last step. It's a constant back and forth, working out, restructuring, re-thinking, re-evaluating, developing, abandoning, sketching...

What you guys call the "pre-writing" is, to me just "writing"

I need to be at the piano in order to write more complex phrase work. Also if I'm first starting a song, I tend to work faster at the piano. However, when I write at the desk I tend to get my best stuff out because I write what looks good on the screen and I'm usually right... It's harder to write what looks good on the keyboard because what looks good on the keyboard to me tends to be too generic or makes no sense at all, it's hard to explain.

The thing is, I don't make a distinction. Often-times the melodic/rhythmic content is the first thing that comes, and then I have to spend months hashing out the texture or structure. Sometimes I know the structure and orchestration for months before applying actual melodic content in the very last step. It's a constant back and forth, working out, restructuring, re-thinking, re-evaluating, developing, abandoning, sketching...

What you guys call the "pre-writing" is, to me just "writing"

Oh oh.... I get it now. It's just writing, not pre-writing. I'll agree on that. :)

I tend to get melody and rhythm at the same time... but not orchestration. I do that after I work it out on the piano.

I just write it as I see it in my head.

The thing is, I don't make a distinction. Often-times the melodic/rhythmic content is the first thing that comes, and then I have to spend months hashing out the texture or structure. Sometimes I know the structure and orchestration for months before applying actual melodic content in the very last step. It's a constant back and forth, working out, restructuring, re-thinking, re-evaluating, developing, abandoning, sketching... What you guys call the "pre-writing" is, to me just "writing"

Everyone knows ''writing music'' is a too static thing to say to describe the music creation process of you jazz cats, you guys are just too down to earth and rustic to say ''oh i'm just imagining and conceptualizing some music'' ;) ;)

While the above may be especially true for many Jazz composers, this is by no means a unique Jazz thing. The point is that in most composers' work processes, there is such a thing as "writing notes on paper", and there is such a thing as composing without writing notes on paper, and often those two things overlap a lot and are not in a strict temporal order. So reducing it to "conceptualizing music" would be just as much a simplification as saying "writing music", so many just stick to the term "writing" to encompass all of it. (Add to that that many steps that have nothing to do with writing notes may still involve writing. A form plan, a textual description of certain sounds, etc. are just as much "written music" as notes on staff lines.)

I'm trying to compose "at the desk", but I find it hard to know what I'm writing at all. I've done it, but only when I'm writing general ideas or tempi, I'm stuck with the piano so far as for having an idea of how it "sounds". I really want to be learn writing at the desk though :)