Show us your process...

I'm curious to see how other people work, and always find it fascinating to look back at the scraps of paper that evolved into a final piece...

How do you do it? Show us your creative process...

Here's how I get from point A to point B... ...some of it's a mess, some not so much. It's pretty random, but it makes sense to me, at the time ;)

rj-process.pdf

Here's how I get from point A to point B... ...some of it's a mess, some not so much. It's pretty random, but it makes sense to me, at the time ;)

Haha, wow. I'd love to see the final product. Is this anything you've uploaded yet?

once, I made a swf about how do I compose, where can I upload a swf so you may see it ?

(I don't have a host now.)

Haha, wow. I'd love to see the final product. Is this anything you've uploaded yet?

Nothing yet.... welll...my Vagabond was a product of this, and I think there's bits of what evolved into Tell The Truth in there....

Esentially, that pdf contains a smattering of fragments and notes for the tunes that eventually became the 8 completed tunes that make up my soon-to-be-released-as-yet-untitled debut record...

haha, robin, reminds me of looking at Beethoven's sketch books. As soon as I find a scanner I'll shall upload my process. :)

i never got how people write scores, is anyone here actually writes something he hears in his mind before he plays on his instrument?

i never got how people write scores, is anyone here actually writes something he hears in his mind before he plays on his instrument?

Certainly not me.... What you see there is the result of many rounds: Robin vs. piano.

I spent a lot of time (obviously) testing, retooling, developing...usually the piano wins....

Eventually, I win!!

i never got how people write scores, is anyone here actually writes something he hears in his mind before he plays on his instrument?

I do. But it's actually a much slower process (and for me, more enjoyable than randomly sketching ideas I haven't taken time to develop in my mind first). Eternal (see my sig) brewed in my mind for probably 8 months before I ever actually started writing it. I wrote my Time Traveler suite thingie dealio dugamaflachi in almost no time because once I had the core theme, I built off of that, taking snippets of material to generate a working model in my mind of how the piece would actually sound (and it helped that I had something to draw from already in terms of a model/form for the piece)... which all happened with minimal sketching or writing of any sort before I wrote the score.

I really do like short-hand scoring, tho. I think it's pretty cool to take a sheet of maybe five or six staff lines (which represent, say, an orchestra) and divvying out ideas to different sections. Ear training helped me learn how to do it, more or less. I'm not sure it's all that helpful, as it is time consuming - even if ideas could just come to you and you be able to work them out independently from a sheet of paper or notation program, it's still "work" that needs doing and takes time. But yeah, I totally do this... a lot!

...Here's how I get from point A to point B... ...some of it's a mess, some not so much. It's pretty random, but it makes sense to me, at the time ;)rj-process.pdf

What would you say to such notes then? :P , Lovely, isn't it?) Btw, it's real work:Moritz von Schwind. Die Katzensymphonien, 1868

As for me, i rarely handwrite notes myself, jotting down spontaneous bursts from time to time. but that's it :)

I usually do most of the work in my head first and then put it down on paper (I don't like to notate and transcribe more than once). I also tend to work on multiple music pieces at the same time. I find that when you hit a writing block on one work, usually if you switch gears (and tempos and time signatures and keys and moods) by working on a different piece, you end up making progress on that one and when that one gets blocked it is usually because original writer's block is now open. This way, you are always productive.

I can keep track of all this because I have a SATB 4-6 voice staff permanently built into my head. So, I see it like you would on Sibelius 6 or finale. Except, in my head, it's not a visual music staff; It's a kinesthetic one. It's kinda hard to describe. Again, it's a bit like watching the playback on sibelius 6 except I feel the lines and spaces of g clefs and bass f clef kinda like grooves or raises on a surface; And the movement of each note for every voice is like the feel you you drive a manual transmission cars (driving a stick). It's funny, I know, but it works well. And the neat thing is anyone can learn how to built one in there brain. If you want one, I can show you how to make it; I'm a certified Neuro Linguistic Programmer, in addition to a choral composer, so I've actually helped musicians install one inside their heads dozens of times.

Anyways, that's kinda my own process. :) :)

I'm a certified Neuro Linguistic Programmer, in addition to a choral composer, so I've actually helped musicians install one inside their heads dozens of times.

For anyone not sure what NLP is, here's some info: http://www.skepdic.com/neurolin.html

Tee-hee.

Reminds me of Reiki Practioners.

I trust pencil & paper a lot more than any fallible human mind - programmed or otherwise.

If it's not written down, it could disappear forever.

For me it depends on what exactly I'm working on and what techniques I'm using. When I first started dabbling in serialism, I went from taking very little notes and making a few sketches to taking LOTS of notes and writing LOTS of sketches. Generally, I'll come up with a kernel or small motivic idea and then expand upon it in various ways in my head - sometimes writing them out. I'll determine how I want to set, develop, expand, and present the idea. Then I'll just write.

For anyone not sure what NLP is, here's some info: http://www.skepdic.com/neurolin.html

Tee-hee.

:lol: Ok. So, wait a minute, let me see if I'm understanding this correct. You went to a website of people who, as can be seen from just the web address, natural disbelieve and are cynical about every topic that they post about, to get clear and unbiased information?!? lol. Ok, whatever floats your boat for you. But, that kinda seems like going to the NAZIs for information about the JEWS.

Ah, well...... :lol:

:lol: Ok. So, wait a minute, let me see if I'm understanding this correct. You went to a website of people who, as can be seen from just the web address, natural disbelieve and are cynical about every topic that they post about, to get clear and unbiased information?!? lol. Ok, whatever floats your boat for you. But, that kinda seems like going to the NAZIs for information about the JEWS.

Ah, well...... :lol:

... or going to a website that has a track record of being skeptical about pseudo-science, which this clearly is.

Honestly, Nazis? GTFO.

I made some pictures. I work rather not-structured. You can call it even messy. The most difficult is creating the transitional sections between the ideas/blocks/sections that are finished.

Sketches, and a Matrix

Drawing board, trying some rhythmical ideas

My desk I

My screen - Finale in Ubuntu

Looks like this will be a different way to "show" my process, but I created a swf about it some years ago, I still have the flp, I couldn't find where to upload it so I exported it on photo.

in the flash the details appear onmouseove, but here they are:

Details 1: Music I hear in my mind or ideas I simply receive.

Details 2: Analyzing what sounds good, what sounds bad, how other composers work, and reject the unneeded.

Details 3: Filtering things that had been used many times, obvious ideas, and clean good material of very known similarities.

Details 4: Pre-Built Material Factory: Building usable material doing combination of content, changing copied stuff :D finding content by pressing the piano keys randomly, playing improvisations, and discovering things accidentally.

Details 5: Large Pre-built Material Library: Rhythms, Chords, sequences, tonality strategies, and different kind of materials including all have been used in previous works.

Details 6: Start thinking about the character of the work, the possible length, movements yes or no, character of each movement, instrumentation.

I created that flash about 5 years ago, so I've changed on my process a little, for instance I should now include the "posting in YC to see how could be improved" ... but more or less, that's my process.

I only add that I write directly on Sibelius most of the times, I rarely use paper.

That diagram is a keeper. Non-musicians would love to see that

and have a lecture on it.

I'm not sure. Of course I'm not knocking anyone's precomposition style, but I don't think a flowchart is the best way to represent my process. I'm so capricious with what interests me and what is the main thrust of the piece that I'll skip, ignore, or double steps if it makes sense...

i'm not a 'my' proccess guy. i take each and every woman as she presents itself to me. there can be no proccess for an amateur as a lover. there are only endless encounters, timings and spacings of this relationship.