Composing Music: It's a Process
A question I often get is, “But how do I compose a piece of music?”
My answer is always the same, it depends on the intent and having no expectations other than learning through experimentation.
These days my process almost always begins with inspiration and devising a plan to work through my musical ideas. A plan encourages me to set boundaries and make meaningful decisions, all the while being flexible enough to use the eraser, or even delete it if the spirit says it’s not right. With a plan comes the opportunity to bear witness and not be hindered by ego. It is necessary to recognize that not every musical idea is meant to be engraved, recorded, or even remembered. It’s about the journey and the experience of having witnessed it and to know it is possible. With that said, I would encourage starting the process by taking a 15-30 min walk, noting all the sounds that you receive, either by hearing, feeling, or seeing.
When you return to your space, make sure the vibe is set. I do this by clearing my space of clutter, organizing it so that I can be efficient when improvising or brainstorming ideas. Almost always, there’s a ritual of burning incense, palo santo, and lavender. After the ritual, I draw a triangle onto a piece of paper. I use a triangle because with regard to construction, it is structurally sound. As you may know from geometry, the triangle is a shape with 3 sides, and 3 vertices. So, I draw the triangle with each side representing inspiration (i), process (p), and form (f). Here’s where the groovy application of math comes in, i + p + f = a whole ass vibe.
For example, If have an idea i.e. inspiration, but I have no clue how to best flesh it out, using the triangle realness, the formula my look like i = p + f. Now I have to make a decision, what’s the process that governs my inspiration and what is the form/structure. More specifically, if my musical idea consists of three pitches, do the pitches go up, or down? Do they go down, up, and back down? Can I use this pattern as a process to navigate my way through developing the musical idea? Can it be sequenced?
What form am I using to contain these ideas? Is it a strophic form meaning the same idea repeated with subtle variation. Is it binary (AB), or Tertiary (ABA), Rondo, Theme and Variation?
So, my formula could look like. i = 3 pitches Step up, leap down + AB.
I also examine the behavior of the rhythm, or timbre, to help determine the process and form. If I am not careful I will be inundated with options, so I have to consider three more concepts, balance, authenticity, and intent. This where I check in with the spirit element, gut instinct.
Be forewarned that your intuition and your ear are not on the same team.
What sounds good isn’t always the best way to go about making decisions. Try to think in terms of tension and release, call and response, letting the spirit guide you.
Composition Prompt
Take a 15- 30 min walk. Write down all the sounds you hear, feel, or see.
When you return to your space, prepare it for work.
Take a look at your list of sounds
Now write down all the sounds you might have missed
Using the list of ‘missed sounds’ recite them aloud taking note of the rhythm of the word when spoken
Create a short piece using the triangle method. The inspiration is the list of ‘missed sounds’ the process is clapping the rhythm of each word, the form is through composed. However if the spirit moves you, you may choose to repeat the rhythm.