Composition Diary Mk II

After months of not posting, I have decided to reevaluate my goals and start composing regularly again. Given my reasons for creating this blog, I can understand how the lack of entries appeared as a sign of me abandoning composing altogether; however, this was not the case. It was more my attitude towards composing that changed during this time. I became too concerned with achieving the end result and lost sight of why I commited to doing 40 mins of composing a day in the first place.

The main problem was trying to sequence the ideas I already had into a bigger piece. I became very frustrated when the individual sections didn't join smoothly and ended up dreading the whole composition process because of this! It is very easy to become uninspired trying to work through a composition from start to finish. Your unconscious mind does not work like that. The whole point of the 40 mins is to give the compositional part of the brain a workout and to train it to generate states of flow and inspiration automatically. It is a time to get as many ideas down as possible without thinking about whether or not they're up to scratch. Chances are they are all up to scratch. You should thank your critical mind for all the fantastic unique work it has helped you create in the past and ask it to find new ways to help you that are less negatively stressful during any creative process.

I am now looking forward to composing often and approaching it with a sense of fun and adventure, integrating all aspects of my life (=learning) and noticing the states of inspiration as they come more frequently with practice.

Matter over mind - Piano composition

On Monday, Craig Cavanough and I set up to record another section for our composition. We spent a long time trying to expand on the very first riff that I started playing, before we realised that it was weak material. What ended up being recorded in the session came out pretty quickly and was more complementary to the bit we recorded last week. Craig also re-recorded his drum part from last week, to account for his drums being tuned differently.

I tried to do some composing on the piano Monday night, but I was feeling lost away from my usual set up. I spoke to Gail about it on Tuesday and explained how I felt more comfortable translating the notes I heard in my head with the guitar. She suggested that I should try composing on the piano using cells (I can't explain the difference between cells and motifs, if there is one) and concentrate more on the physical nature of the instrument, rather than getting too carried away with notating what is in my head. It is possible that what is going on in my head is too complicated a lot of the time, and the visual nature of the piano might help me to take a step back and start composing more efficiently.

I still place a great deal of importance in being able to write without an instrument. It may not be the most ideal situation all the time, but it is certainly a useful skill to have. It would certainly make commuting to Sydney by train - as I am inevitably going to have to do soon - a more productive way to use 2-3 hours of the day. I trialed the journey today attending a job interview. I managed to write some lyrics for the composition with Craig Cavanough, start notating a few ideas for my arrangement of Benjamin Kunkler's Theatre of Cruelty, and give some thought to the overall structure of the Benjamin Britten arrangement.

Mobile composing

After several composing sessions with the manuscript paper and pencil, I have gotten to know the notes pretty well. This is handy at times when I have nothing to occupy myself with, such as on the weekend when I was waiting for someone. I started to try and play the individual parts in my head from memory and then to try and hear them all together. Then, all of a sudden I was actually hearing ideas for what could come next! I didn't write them down, but I didn't have any trouble remembering them either. I found that I was much quicker when I sat down to write this evening, as the composition is starting to enter my mind more often when I am away from it.

I haven't forgotten about the Mahler reviews. I will aim to complete these by the end of this week.

Goal setting and spotting gems

I read a great article in Computer Music magazine today that explained the importance of scheduled composition time. It referred to the composition process as an exploration of musical fragments, where the composer has to sort through them and decide which to accept and reject. The idea of composing regularly is to practice this sorting process and become quicker at it over time. In other words, the more composing you do, the easier it is to find the ideas you'll want to keep. Inspiration comes with training.

I did some goal setting today using Aleks Srbinoski's Fulfilling Happiness (I composed the music for this program- to hear some: follow the link, scroll down and click "Sample 1"). It is overwhelming to discover how planning a few major outcomes for the near future can influence so many factors in the present. The main thing for me to keep checking is that the goals are achievable and the process of achieving them is enjoyable.

The most relevant goal to this blog is that I reach a point with the Britten arrangement where I can start seeking out people to perform it in July. I am thinking this point will be a complete movement of at least 10 mins in length. I want to compose more movements, but I figure if rehearsals begin earlier I will be able to uncover major problems and write more efficiently after developing a rapport with the players. I will be repeating this goal to my close friends so that they know come July whether I deserve my birthday drinks or not.

Guitar fretboard workout

It has been almost a week since I last worked on the Britten arrangement; however, I have been participating in the creation of some new Tetanus Rig material. During these group writing sessions I have noticed the positive influence of piano lessons and composing by hand. I feel like I already have more of a grasp of the theory and a greater sense of the potential for note choices. It makes sense that composing and playing music more often is an effective way to study theory.

I spent about ten minutes figuring out what the Britten arrangement thus far would sound like. After convincing myself that it was okay, I wrote some more of the guitar chords with a vague idea of the direction that I wanted the melody to take. It is a familiar trait of the guitarist to strum some chords first and come up with a melody second. I feel the need to break away from this, although in a way I have already started with piano lessons and composing by hand. Already I am becoming much more aware of the actual notes on the guitar fretboard.

Pitch lessons and Bach

I finally got to composing at around 10.30pm this evening, after returning from my first rehearsal with the Illawarra Choral Society for the year. We began hectic preparations for a performance of Bach's Jesu, Priceless Treasure and some of the chorales from his St. Matthew Passion. I also started learning some Bach pieces on classical guitar at my first lesson back this year. Why all this Bach? I see it as an important part of my musical education. What better way to learn about four-part harmony and the twelve-tone system than to analyse a Bach score? I haven't done any analysing yet, but already I am suprised with how my sight reading has improved from singing Bach tonight.

I have decided to dedicate 40 mins a day to composing. This might not seem like much, but if I didn't do this I would compose for 3 hours one day and none the next. Self-discipline has to take precedence over the delights and dangers of creative flow ("flow" is a psychological concept that is worth looking up). I didn't make much progress tonight. I got stuck on trying to work out the dynamics of one bar and when I finally got to composing the notes for the next one, my time was up and I had to force myself to stop.

I had some thoughts while listening to Mahler's 5th today. I wondered if his dramatic genius had something to do with his unique ability to synthesise vastly opposing themes and motives, so that the rivalry between them became the foundation for a movement. This could be an idea to keep in mind for both the overall structure of a piece and the orchestration from bar to bar; however, I don't think it works without having an advanced understanding of texture and detail. I have the feeling this ties in closely with visual arts as well.