Composing and overcoming writers block

[PIANOMUSICIAN1991 0]

Recently I have started to compose more but I am also 'throwing more out' so to speak. I am finding that I can't produce the goods at the moment.

If there are any other composers out there, if you have ever had a kind of writers block, what are your methods for overcoming it?

Lewis

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I don't know about composing, but I hit some bad writer's block (fiction) a couple years back. Still haven't fully recovered, but it's a working progress.

[mark_rayen 0]

Maybe you have "overused" your musical vocabulary, or have satisfied your expressive needs through previous works. If the former is the case, perhaps you should put your long term ambitions aside and do some smaller excersizes that might help you expand your technique. If the latter, your in a luxurious situation. Perhaps the best thing then is to slow down, catch your breath, and try to redefine yourself both musically and personally before you dive back into it!

[tharpdevenport 4]

I found playing around with muscial instruments, just to hear the sound, especially ones you've rarely used, or never used, can even produce ideas.

Playing around with three different ones lead me to create this, for example:

[Datameister 2,044]

I definitely wouldn't be the right person to ask, but the best advice I could come up with is to keep composing anyway. In a recent article, John Williams revealed that he still spends most of each day composing when he's at home, regardless of whether he likes what he ends up creating. Just...know what kind of music you want to write, and then hear it in your head and write it down, and keep at it until the good stuff starts coming again.

Now, if someone can tell me how to write music without unintentionally ripping off others' work all the time, I'd be much obliged...

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

I've had this trouble too. Get yourself out of a funk by pulling yourself out of your comfort zone, away from what you know and love and into something different.

Actively and passively listen to different genres of music. Listen to a Miles Davies solo and hear where his melodies go; how he pushes the boundries of harmony and consonance. Listen to a progressive/metal band, like the Mars Volta - you may not like the sound of it (I don't know your taste) but consciously listen for the interesting things like their soundscapes, rhythms and time signature changes. Heck, listen to a pop tune that you enjoy and figure out what you like ab out it. It opens your mind to different ways of approaching music, and the more listening you do the broader your mind will be. Even if you compose in a specific style or genre it can free your mind of a block.

If you play an instrument, record yourself improvising over a simple progression (or even single chord) that you like. You may come up with some great ideas.

Arrange all or part of a pice of music you know really well into a completely different genre or style. This will force you to think of different conventions and stylistic devices and bring them to the front of your brain.

Hope this helps; the above techniques work well for me so hopefully they do something for you.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Unfortunately, it means that you've exhausted all possible ideas and avenues that you are capable of; recovery is impossible. Sorry.

[airmanjerm 78]

I've had this trouble too. Get yourself out of a funk by pulling yourself out of your comfort zone, away from what you know and love and into something different.

Actively and passively listen to different genres of music. Listen to a Miles Davies solo and hear where his melodies go; how he pushes the boundries of harmony and consonance. Listen to a progressive/metal band, like the Mars Volta - you may not like the sound of it (I don't know your taste) but consciously listen for the interesting things like their soundscapes, rhythms and time signature changes. Heck, listen to a pop tune that you enjoy and figure out what you like ab out it. It opens your mind to different ways of approaching music, and the more listening you do the broader your mind will be. Even if you compose in a specific style or genre it can free your mind of a block.

If you play an instrument, record yourself improvising over a simple progression (or even single chord) that you like. You may come up with some great ideas.

Arrange all or part of a pice of music you know really well into a completely different genre or style. This will force you to think of different conventions and stylistic devices and bring them to the front of your brain.

Hope this helps; the above techniques work well for me so hopefully they do something for you.

I love these ideas!

Another one I've used in the past is to sit down and write a simple 4-8 measure melody...a bonafide antecedent and consequent. Don't try to re-invent the melody "wheel," and don't try to write the next great movie theme. Just write something that's pretty simple, like a second-semester sight singing exercise. All diatonic. Then after you've got something decent, write variations of it. You can try rhythmic variations, harmonic/modal variations, or whatever you like. I can't tell you the number of times I've actually done this simple exercise and then ended up using something later that I got by doing this.

Another exercise:

Write a simple rhythm; no pitches, just rhythms. Be sure they flow and make sense...tap or clap them or something so you can really hear them (not just imagine them) and make sure they sound OK. Again, they can be simple, like a 7th-grade intermediate band rhythm exercise. Do about 4-8 measures. After you've got that down, sit at the piano and use the rhythms but now put pitches to them. You can make them anything from diatonic to polychords, just use the rhythms you've already created. And of course, if something comes to mind that requires changing the pre-determined rhythms, then so be it.

I doubt you'll write the next great work by using just these ideas, but they get your creative juices flowing (again) and by doing them you are stimulating your creativity. It's kind of like doing push-up to improve your bench press!

Good luck!

[alainmayrand 22]

Use models that force you to learn new things, follow new paths, explore new avenues and grow. Do not always rely on what you know, but stand on the shoulders of giants.

For example, find something you like, analyze the crap out of it; harmony, melodic structure etc... then write something that fits that model but that is your own.

[bruckhorn 105]

I concur with getting out of your comfort zone. When I was stuck on a piece that I didn't want to write (if I didn't do it, I wasn't going to graduate) I finally got to the point of playing a little joke with the piece. I varied the melody to the point it was a twelve tone row. I had repeatedly told my composition teacher that I wanted nothing to do with twelve tone music and would never compose a piece that used one. If he noticed what I had done, he didn't say anything.

Normally, I write every note down and consider the entering of it into the computer as a second draft. I write left handed, but use the mouse in my right hand. Two years ago, I wrote a suite for strings, but didn't write a single note on paper-- it was all done directly into the computer. A couple of friends said that it was unlike anything I've composed. Maybe it was due to using my other hand when "writing" it.

David Raksin said that he was stuck working on a theme for Laura when he took a letter from his then-wife and improvised at the piano while reading it. He said that it was when he got the gist of the message ("Get lost!") is when his hands played that famous theme for the first time.