# For active composers, how hard is it to compose music?



## Bob516 (Nov 2, 2018)

I know nothing about composing music. I ask this question as someone learning about the craft of writing in the literary arts, and in comparison to the visual arts.

One of my of my teachers recently said in class, "Writing is hard, writing well is really hard." He suggested that was true for all writers. A friend of mine who is a visual artist does not have that experience. He says there is an ease to his work when he gets into "the zone" and is working intensely on a painting.

What is the typical experience with composing music (if there is a typical experience)? Is it really hard to create a piece you are satisfied with, or is there an ease to it once the composer really gets going with the process?


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## Knorf (Jan 16, 2020)

Harder than braiding the rays of the sun, easier than pickling carrots.


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

My published works are for young concert band and young string orchestras so my writing has an educational goal. Sometimes it's easier when you have SOME guidelines set for you. However, whether a piece is successful or not depends on what your definition of success is. Some of the pieces I've written that I am completely satisfied with sold really well, others didn't. Some of the pieces I've written on the fly because we needed to "fill a spot" in the catalog ended up selling, winning awards, being selected for recommended repertoire lists, etc.

The people at the publishing company I compose for are always looking for patterns as to what sells and what doesn't. Truthfully, though, you can never tell until you put it out there.


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## Bob516 (Nov 2, 2018)

Olias said:


> whether a piece is successful or not depends on what your definition of success is.


Good point. I should've said "Is it really hard to create a piece you are satisfied with."


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## Bob516 (Nov 2, 2018)

Knorf said:


> Harder than braiding the rays of the sun, easier than pickling carrots.


Fascinating phrase, never heard it before.


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## Knorf (Jan 16, 2020)

Bob516 said:


> Fascinating phrase, never heard it before.


It's possible that I composed it. (And thanks!)


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

In contrast to writing literature, composing and being able to perform one's musical work, when taken together, require using one's senses, spatial thinking, physical technique, complex technical knowledge, and much, much more patience. They seem to take your whole body in addition to your emotions and intellect. It is also a different mixture of solitary and social activities. Imagine a composer having to deal with anywhere from several to a hundred professionals in order to get the art across to the audience. It also requires dealing with logistics, such as the availability of instruments, skill of the performers, etc. Not to mention larger expenses, whether one wants to purchase a professional level bundle of sound sample libraries, or hire an ensemble and a recording team. Books also have publishing costs, but I don't think they come close to that.

As for similarities, writing good songs or other melodies takes skills in meter and the art of speaking/singing, so it is somewhat akin to writing well structured poetry. Writing dramatic music also requires a fair bit of symbolic imagination, and a storytelling ability. Additionally, writing skills can be very, very helpful to a composition student, who has to deal with instructional material and insights ranging from scientific to downright esoteric - or to a bunch of question marks - and put them together into his/her own personal understanding.

Literature requires several orders more topical research, but research for books is very straightforward compared to the technical hunt for solutions in works of past masters, where you have no idea what shape or form will the solutions take.

Of course literature can get much, much more semantics across to the audience than a piece of music. That's what it is. The most efficient conduit for transferring information to another human being ever devised.

Edit: the final thing I would say is that even a great novel only has one line of symbols - and a symphonic work can have 30 or more parallel lines of symbols. As for length, a score to Star Wars is over 800 pages. "Difficult, even just in logistical terms" as John Williams said in 1999.


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## Open Lane (Nov 11, 2015)

I arranged a couple 4 min-ish string quartets within a week of learning the fundementals of counterpoint. I was considering writing a sonata but wasn't successful. Have more fun maneuvering in my own contexts


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

*Objective answer*
The easiness ratio of composing music = *'number of people who have made up any little song or phrase'/'number of people who have touched an instrument.'*
It's incredibly easy, about 95/100.

*Subjective answer*
The easiness ratio of composing good music = *'number of people who you think wrote good music'/'number of people who have touched an instrument.'*
It's almost essentially impossible to write a 10/10 piece, according to many professionals.


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## Bob516 (Nov 2, 2018)

Ethereality said:


> *a 10/10 piece*


*

What is a 10/10 piece?*


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

Bob516 said:


> What is a 10/10 piece?


I would normally say 10/10 means your favorite piece, and I've written something and suddenly it's my new favorite music, primarily due to the profound sense of potential felt during the creative process, it feels like you're discovering fire or unlocking a new world that's just all in your head. You fall in love with the idea, but the execution isn't there, or visa versa. I think Tchaikovsky had better ideas, but Brahms had better execution.

Instead 10/10 means 'the best' ie. a work that would often be performed even a century after you die and other composers aspire to do like you do: how do I justify that definition? Well, what if only you alone believe your own composition is 9/10, 10/10 quality, and others aren't seeing it yet? The answer may be, as a composer, I usually can't evaluate _how much_ I like my music, I just know I do or I don't. The true timeless quality is up to others to judge.

Beethoven would write, write, and rewrite. Perhaps he wanted to make sure it was the best possible it could be because there's no way he could tell if it could make history.


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

Knorf said:


> It's possible that I composed it. (And thanks!)


oh I dunno Knorf, I detect some influences there. I see even you doubt it's original......(.....)
To the OP...it's hard, it's easy, it's a nightmare and a dream. It can be a bloody waste of time and it can sometimes get me into trouble with a neglected wife, especially when I'm not listening to her. If the clocks ticking, it's a job. It's an obsession and an imperative, It's also a damn fine reason to open a beer.


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

mikeh375 said:


> it can sometimes get me into trouble with a neglected wife


LOL! Tell me about it. Mine, begrudgingly, leaves me alone for the hour or two I'm composing each day, but there are those occasional verbal jabs she gives me about not being at her beck and call because I'm writing. And still she'll sometimes pop in my office to tell me something regardless that I'm trying to stay focused on creating.


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

Vasks said:


> LOL! Tell me about it. Mine, begrudgingly, leaves me alone for the hour or two I'm composing each day, but there are those occasional verbal jabs she gives me about not being at her beck and call because I'm writing. And still she'll sometimes pop in my office to tell me something regardless that I'm trying to stay focused on creating.


lol back at ya Vasks.
I get that too. Right in the middle of a promising train of thought (well promising to me anyway), I hear wafting from the real world..."did you put the sausages in the freezer?...hello....hello..."
(door slams shut)
She does however support me to the hilt.


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