# Ideas and inspiration



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

I thought it would be nice to start a thread (perhaps even make it a sticky thread) where we can share ideas and inspirations for compositions that we want to create. Compositions in embryo form, only existing in our heads. 

Having seen two relatively modern cello concertos as well as an abundance of contemporary Finnish music I have been very inspired to compose more orchestral music....and I have envisioned a cello concerto of my own! I've been thinking about a small orchestra with maybe around thirty musicians. Tell me what you think of this:

Flutes 1,2 (dbl picc.)
Clarinets 1,2 (dbl bass cl.)
Horns 1,2
Percussion (1 player: crotales, vibraphone, tubular bells, triangle, cymbals, bass drum)
Solo cello
Violin 1 (6)
Violin 2 (6)
Viola (4)
Cello/bass (4,2)

It might end up being around 15 minutes long if I ever compose it. I've been really into writing miniatures also, so it might be full of quite a few short movements. 


Now, tell us about your latest ideas and inspiration. Anything from a sound or motif you kinda like and want to include in a future work to pretty much a fully planned piece of music! Anddont forget to tell us what made you get these ideas.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

I don't want to share my ideas before I put them on paper because I'm paranoid about people stealing them.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Too much of a share fest of dreams not yet realized to interest me.

Instrumentation: _____ _____ _____ ____
Duration: _____
Number of segments ________

I mean, sincerely asking, of what interest is that generic plan of a piece, as yet to be made and in all likelihood of being modified along the way to its actually being done?

ADD: if I had wanted to share ideas on that plane, I would have become a writer, not a musician who composes a bit


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

violadude said:


> I don't want to share my ideas before I put them on paper because I'm paranoid about people stealing them.


I don't want to share my ideas because they're usually terrible and only become worthwhile when translated into actual music.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Crudblud said:


> I don't want to share my ideas because they're usually terrible and only become worthwhile when translated into actual music.


Ya there's that too...

I've found this to be really true actually. I was in a composing for string quartet class this semester and we were required to talk about how our pieces were going (how the process was unfolding, what our plans were ect.) and I found trying to talk about what my piece was like without it being fully realized was a really grating and uncomfortable experience.


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## ricardo_jvc6 (Dec 8, 2010)

Crudblud said:


> I don't want to share my ideas because they're usually terrible and only become worthwhile when translated into actual music.


Crud, you are not alone... Sometimes I have trouble to compose with my ideas because I think my ideas are unfit, or either sounds to cliché or seems too simple as joke... That is why I don't share ideas because my ideas are supposed to be what I vision it to be and often other composers don't like them.


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## SottoVoce (Jul 29, 2011)

PetrB said:


> Too much of a share fest of dreams not yet realized to interest me.
> 
> Instrumentation: _____ _____ _____ ____
> Duration: _____
> ...


Beethoven actually did this quite a bit, far before he had composed, or even begun to compose, a piece. Obviously, the plan drastically changed as the realities of composition unfolded. He constantly fantasized about the instrumentation and duration of a work (for example, the 10th symphony), in written word. Of course, it's only interesting to read because Beethoven is Beethoven; however, this could, for a certain temperament, be helpful for the creative process. It is, generally, not so for me.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

SottoVoce said:


> Beethoven actually did this quite a bit, far before he had composed, or even begun to compose, a piece. Obviously, the plan drastically changed as the realities of composition unfolded. He constantly fantasized about the instrumentation and duration of a work (for example, the 10th symphony), in written word. Of course, it's only interesting to read because Beethoven is Beethoven; however, this could, for a certain temperament, be helpful for the creative process. It is, generally, not so for me.


Mapping out a plan, even one of dimension, orchestration, a set structure or structural premise, musical process, before having any actual idea of the pitch materials, etc. is anything but a bad idea. Formalists tend to think this way, the medium coming right along with the idea, or triggering the appropriate ideas.

There was a bit of that floating about between peers when I was a comp student, though I don't recall really hearing any worthwhile input given, but the listening recipient more as 'an ear to just listen' when the person with the idea wanted to talk about it

But a helpful process and a stimulating one it can be.

The one thing I cannot imagine, whether you are the chicken or the egg, is not determining almost immediately from the shortest first draft of an idea, what the instrumental registration is to be, and in what numbers.

As a teacher of mine said, "If you have a plan, then at least you have something to deviate from."


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## juergen (Apr 9, 2012)

Last year, when the 50th anniversary of the famous "I Have a Dream" speech by Martin Luther King was, I had the idea to set this speech into music. Not the words of the speech itself (the words of the speech are still copyright protected), but only the melody of the speech.

If you listen to the speech thoroughly, you will notice that its speech melody already is music. There are calm, almost lyrical moments, then emotional outbursts. Fierce and consiliatory sections. This whole aura should be captured by the piece of music that I had in mind.

I was thinking of a piece for piano trio (at that time there was a composition competition for piano trio at the Munich Conservatory). The cello would play the role of Mr. King. Piano and violin were some kind of accompaniment.The accompaniment could capture the reactions of the crowd and at calm sections it could intimate the song 'We shall overcome' that was sung before the speech. Individual melodically concise sentences of the speech could act as leitmotifs that appear repeatedly.

I had already started working, but then found out quickly that I was overstrained by this task. The cello part would need to be microtonal but I'm not proficient enough with microtonality. I would have difficulties to harmonize such a thing and to achieve a reasonable interaction with the piano. In addition, I didn't have enough time. I have estimated that it would take at least six month to do it fairly reasonable, maybe more. Eventually I'll return to this idea in a few years.


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