# How do you look for composing inspiration?



## verandai (Dec 10, 2021)

Hi,

I guess most of you have your own methods to set yourself in the right mood for receiving inspirations.

Of course these methods won't work for everyone, but I'm just curious: Did you find some tricks or habits to increase the chances for inspirations?

I found out that I get the best inspirations, when I spend a day on the move in the nature (either cycling or hiking). It works best when I'm on my own and don't meet many people on the route. It took a while to find out the best method to collect the ideas (I can't remember them until I'm back home). But the best way for me is to record a sketch of the idea on the cell phone (by whistling, humming and tapping/beatboxing).

I guess this only works for me because I enjoy cycling/hiking anyway.

The hike / cycling route should be moderately challenging, so that I'm not too focused or exhausted and the thoughts can float around freely.

Which methods work best for you?


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## composingmusic (Dec 16, 2021)

I find that if I know what I want in a piece, that helps a lot. The first phases can take a long time – I'm floating around, trying to figure out what I'm doing. It's a matter of working out what the landscape of the piece is and how the musical language of that piece works. Having a clear idea of what I'm doing also means I can make something coherent and keep a train of thought going through the whole process of writing the work. 

As for inspiration, it does come but I don't wait for it – usually it takes some work for me to figure out what it is I want to do, and then the inspiration will come once I figure out how to tackle a problem I've been mulling over in my head for some time.


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## dko22 (Jun 22, 2021)

for a time, most of my works were directly inspired by the ideas in other works (often not very well known ones) which started things off after which things just developed spontaneously in their own direction. In others there may be a concept or simply I felt it was time to write another symphony, quartet or whatever. In the case of my most recent work, it was inspired by the sounds in a specific virtual library -- actually the second time this has happened. 

I often find the first 2-3 minutes of a work I'm blundering around aimlessly but then usually often quite suddenly, I get a clearer idea of how things are supposed to progress and then write fairly quickly. Sometimes I have ideas in my head or a dream but often as not, I simply work out themes on the keyboard. Once I know exactly what I'm trying to say emotionally, the music more or less writes itself


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

I'm not a composer of music, though I do like to write and have been told I'm not bad at it. I write in a capacity where I have to meet deadlines. When I have a writer's block I put it down for a while, take a walk, play chess, do crossword puzzles, cryptograms, anagrams, listen to music (classical, of course!), and just when I think I won't make the deadline something comes to me, sometimes in the middle of the day and other times in the middle of the night; and it's weird to me how something that started off so difficult can start to come together so naturally. Then the editing process is also hard work but it's not as stressful because the ideas and the form of it have already been established. I don't know if the same experience can be applied to musical composition.


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## Owen David (May 15, 2020)

verandai said:


> Hi,
> 
> I guess most of you have your own methods to set yourself in the right mood for receiving inspirations.
> 
> ...


No rules about this really. Or perhaps there is only one rule - you need to make (or have) the space where inspiration can get through. So personal anxieties, irksome work, family duties and so on are probably not that great for creativity. I would say waking up in the morning with the beginnings of a tune is a nice way to move into composing. Strangely I have often found hangovers quite conducive to composition. Routine repetitive housework is OK - space for the mind to find a melody. Probably for me, just being in free flow at the keyboard is the most productive. A little phrase catches your ear and then being at the keyboard you can develop it very quickly. Obviously a work by another composer can often be a good starting point. Chopin was inspired by Beethoven, so why not?


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

I always like to find some definitions first off, ones that may help to create a soundworld. That might be something like extracting as much musical inference from a chord as I can get, or perhaps work with bespoke scales, or sets of notes and see if I can extract any useful material. Once done I then like to improvise and generally grub around in the musical dirt, a) to get a feel for the space and b) to see if I can find anything that will set off a spark or some kind of intuitive recognition. Nothing is really set unless I get a sniff of an idea. Well that's the idea in theory, in reality it can be damn well messy and often is especially when ideas start to come and dictate otherwise.
Either way I'm a firm believer in not waiting around for inspiration, if it's going to come, it will only do so if the ground is already part set.

A composer once said (I can't remember who it was and I'll have to paraphrase somewhat too), that one should never bother composing unless the not composing becomes bothersome....wise words ???


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## dko22 (Jun 22, 2021)

mikeh375 said:


> A composer once said (I can't remember who it was and I'll have to paraphrase somewhat too), that one should never bother composing unless the not composing becomes bothersome....wise words ???


excellent philosophy!


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## verandai (Dec 10, 2021)

Sometimes I also have to respect deadlines (f.e. for a concert), but of course they are not that strict like for professional assignments.

Then I also force myself to be creative - either by improvising on a keyboard, or by lying down on a couch and imagining the music in my head. But the results are usually better if I can take the time for a hike or a cycling tour. Of course this method takes longer, so I use it only for the initial ideas, or when I'm stuck somewhere and need different ideas.

When I'm stuck it sometimes also helps for me to hear the new piece in a loop while doing something completely different (like my normal job as a software developer).


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