# It just seems to me when I compose...



## Bored (Sep 6, 2012)

Is it just me, or is it when I compose, it sounds nothing like my improvising that I do in my mind. For instance, when I make up a song or a piece on the spot, it sounds beautiful, but when I compose on the actual instrument, it turns out to be a random mixture of harsh melodies and soft ones!


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## Ramako (Apr 28, 2012)

Hmmm. Are you taking about transferring what's in your head to paper? I prefer in general starting from the sounds (improvising on an instrument) and keeping a good hold on real sounds as I go through with much maligned Sibelius sounds.

However, when I do compose in my head, I have found that it often has too little consistency, and wanders around a lot. It doesn't spend long enough on one idea etc. However, now, by separating myself from the sounds in my head I do much better; by rationalising and baring in mind proportions etc. it becomes much more ordered. In other words, I no longer improvise in my head, but compose. Hopefully I will improve in the future. Still I prefer to keep in close association with sounds.


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## crmoorhead (Apr 6, 2011)

Ramako said:


> Hmmm. Are you taking about transferring what's in your head to paper? I prefer in general starting from the sounds (improvising on an instrument) and keeping a good hold on real sounds as I go through with much maligned Sibelius sounds.
> 
> However, when I do compose in my head, I have found that it often has too little consistency, and wanders around a lot. It doesn't spend long enough on one idea etc. However, now, by separating myself from the sounds in my head I do much better; by rationalising and baring in mind proportions etc. it becomes much more ordered. In other words, I no longer improvise in my head, but compose. Hopefully I will improve in the future. Still I prefer to keep in close association with sounds.


This is the same with writing. I have a million ideas for characters, plots, connecting threads, subtle references and metaphors, but getting it from my head into a cohesive written form is far from easy. Working with the physical tools of expression, whether that be the limitations of the instruments involved or the clumsiness of words, tends to transform the idea from its imagined form to one that is altered through the act of labour. Sometimes that is a great thing, it leads to more ideas. Sometimes it is frustrating, but we can only try in the hope that things will become easier with practice.  Even the greats struggled with expressing themselves.


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## Clump (Sep 5, 2012)

Probably because improvising on an instrument mixes in a bunch of muscle memory and randomness with any actual inspiration. I do it to get the musical part of my brain working, but improvising on an instrument doesn't seem like a good way of actually composing.


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

try composing without the instrument. Direct to paper, or silicone


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