4 Tips on Starting a New Musical Composition

When you sit down to write a new piece of music, is it inspiration or perspiration that gets you the end result?

Sometimes we are inspired; a melodic idea comes into our head or we hear a rhythm that suddenly unfolds into a new composition.

However, inspiration only carries us so far. It’s the perspiration, or the hard work after that initial burst of inspiration, that results in a new composition. So here are 4 tips when starting a new piece of music to make sure that the inspiration doesn’t fizzle out into nothing.

1. Improvise.

This means that you start with the small picture. Do you have an idea for the melody? Is there a chord progression you really like? Take these small ideas and improvise around them.

This can happen in a few different ways, but here is the gist of improvising:

Play the compositional idea (either on a piano or your chosen instrument/computer program). What would happen if you changed the melody a little? What would the harmony sound like if you used a different chord? Let your fingers wander and let your mind actively listen to the sounds you are making.

Why is this important?

Improvising when beginning a new composition helps get the juices flowing. It allows for you to stay in the bounds of your original idea while generating new material for thematic, harmonic, and rhythmic development. Don’t limit yourself! Improvising on your theme can result in musical ideas for you to use in your piece.

2. Write down your ideas.

So you just spent some time improvising and listening to your creativity, and now you need to record your new ideas. Keep some staff paper at the piano or set up an audio recorder while you are improvising. If you don’t record your compositional ideas, you won’t be able to build on and expand them!

Also, if you keep a record of your musical ideas, you can return to them in the future.

3. Compose every day.

If you leave your composition to collect dust on your shelf, chances are good it probably won’t get finished (at least anytime soon).

Also, if you don’t compose every day, you won’t get better at composing! Just spending 5 minutes a day working on your musical ideas can help you develop a knowledge base and the skill for future projects.

Remember the musical material you generated when you improvised around your melody? Because you wrote down your ideas, you can now implement them in your music. Spend some time every day working on them.

An important note to stick in here is to listen to the music of other composers. Their music can inspire and inform your own work by introducing you to new sounds, teaching you about how to write for specific instruments, and inspiring thematic ideas for your own pieces.

4. Work hard.

This is where the idea of perspiration over inspiration comes in at full force. You have your basic theme. You have materials generated for development. You’ve been working on this composition for a few days.

So now you keep going.

Play around with different musical ideas. Always be working to make your composition better. Evaluate your work by asking yourself critical questions:

Does this musical idea add to or detract from the atmosphere of my composition?
Does this thematic idea make sense?
Is my theme relatable?
Am I happy with how this sounds?
Am I pushing the boundaries or am I playing it safe?

These are just a few examples of questions you can ask yourself as you evaluate your music.

If you work hard on your composition, that hard work will show in the final product. Audiences can always tell if something was thrown together last-minute.