- Does it take inspiration to make music that I will be personally satisfied with?
- If so, is there any way to seek this inspiration or come up with an inspiring idea?
- Would it be better to steer clear of inspiring ideas and become better at working with ok ideas to make them good technically?
"Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration."What exactly is inspiration? Here is part of what the current Wikipedia article has to say about it:
Inspiration refers to an unconscious burst of creativity in a literary, musical, or other artistic endeavour. Literally, the word means "breathed upon," and it has its origins in both Hellenism and Hebraism. Homer and Hesiod believed that inspiration derived from Gods such as the oracle of Delphi. Similarly, in the Ancient Norse religions, inspiration derives from the Gods. Inspiration is also a divine matter in Hebrew poetics. In the Book of Amos the prophet speaks of being overwhelmed by God's voice and compelled to speak. In Christianity, inspiration is a gift of the Holy Spirit.It seems that inspiration is often seen as something of a mystery. How do we get great ideas? Where do they come from? How do we create the circumstances under which inspiration can arise?
My take on this is that the feeling of being inspired is a wonderful thing, but it is fruitless to wait for 'inspired moments' in order to create something good. In essence, I agree with Edison on the relationship between inspiration and perspiration in the creative process.
Here's another question:
What does it mean if something comes easily to you?I can only answer for myself, and say that lots of times for me that answer is (b).
(a) You are inspired; or
(b) You are working within your comfort zone, not really trying anything you haven't done before.
Something I have said in class is that it helps to think of composition like a job. If you were a film music composer, and a director said, "we need x minutes of music for a chase scene, y minutes for a love scene, and z minutes for a scene where the protagonist is verging on madness... Oh, and we need all that in 24 hours!", you would probably get busy and write all that music as quickly as possible, knowing that if you failed to do so, or if the music wasn't very good, the director would find someone else to do the job.
In other words, you would work extremely hard (perspiration), and not sit around waiting/hoping for inspiration to magically appear. Deadlines often provide all the inspiration you need.
I find it helps to think of ALL composition projects that way. Some will end up being more personal than others — they will have more of you in them — but it is often easier to finish a composition if you think of it as a job that needs to be done, as opposed to, say, thinking of it as an opportunity to reveal your inner psyche through music.
And, by the way, all things you create will have at least some of your DNA in them, whether you are aiming to do this or not.
Perspicacity — defined by the Compact Oxford Dictionary as "having a ready insight into and understanding of things" — is part of the equation in this way: If you understand the potential of the musical materials with you are dealing, you are far more likely to compose something good than if such were not the case.
Understanding the potential of musical materials that you create, and knowing what to do with these ideas, are all part of the craft of musical composition. It is safe to say that no matter how inspired you are, you are not likely to compose something really good until you have a mastery of this craft. And again, the only way to gain such mastery is to work very hard at it.
I have written about ways in which this can be done in other blogs, most notably the entire nine-part series on Composition Issues that were the very first posts to this blog. I will paste the links to this series at the bottom of today's entry.
I will leave you for today with a provocative statement:
Good composers are good by virtue of the fact that they work hard; mediocre composers are not as good because they do not work as hard. If a composition is not considered to be very good, it probably indicates more about the composer's laziness than it does about talent or inspiration.Okay, have at it! What do you think?
→ Composition Issues (9-part series) ←
1. Originality and Quality of Initial Musical Ideas
1.1. The quality of ideas may not matter very much in determining the quality of the complete composition that emerges from them; and
1.2. The degree to which these ideas are original may not matter very much.
2. How do you Develop Compositional Craft?
2.1. Study the music of others.
2.2. Compose as much as you can.
2.3. Invite (and be open to) criticism from others.
3. Understanding your Musical Idea
3.1. Live with it for a while.
3.2. What's it about?
3.3. Does it change character?
3.4. What is its function within the context of the piece?
3.5. Structural Analysis.
3.6. Harmonic (or Pitch, Scale, etc.) Analysis.
4. The Pros and Cons of Development
5. How to Extend or Develop Musical Materials; Specific Suggestions
6. Balancing the Old with the New, the Expected with the Unexpected
7. More Dichotomies to Ponder…
7.1. Less is more, vs. More is more.
7.2. Always leave them wanting more, vs. Give them what they want.
7.3. Don't treat the listener like an idiot, vs. There's a sucker born every minute.
7.4. There can be 'too much of a good thing,' vs. If you have a good idea, then stick with it!
7.5. The George Costanza approach.
8. I think my idea has run its course. Now what?
8.1. The three models for composers' roles.
8.2. Mastery or Mystery?
8.3. The value of a plan.
8.4. Getting stuck, and possible workarounds.
8.5. Don't obsess!
8.6. Challenges = Opportunities for inspired solutions!
9. Taking your inspiration from wherever you find it
1. Originality and Quality of Initial Musical Ideas
1.1. The quality of ideas may not matter very much in determining the quality of the complete composition that emerges from them; and
1.2. The degree to which these ideas are original may not matter very much.
2. How do you Develop Compositional Craft?
2.1. Study the music of others.
2.2. Compose as much as you can.
2.3. Invite (and be open to) criticism from others.
3. Understanding your Musical Idea
3.1. Live with it for a while.
3.2. What's it about?
3.3. Does it change character?
3.4. What is its function within the context of the piece?
3.5. Structural Analysis.
3.6. Harmonic (or Pitch, Scale, etc.) Analysis.
4. The Pros and Cons of Development
5. How to Extend or Develop Musical Materials; Specific Suggestions
6. Balancing the Old with the New, the Expected with the Unexpected
7. More Dichotomies to Ponder…
7.1. Less is more, vs. More is more.
7.2. Always leave them wanting more, vs. Give them what they want.
7.3. Don't treat the listener like an idiot, vs. There's a sucker born every minute.
7.4. There can be 'too much of a good thing,' vs. If you have a good idea, then stick with it!
7.5. The George Costanza approach.
8. I think my idea has run its course. Now what?
8.1. The three models for composers' roles.
8.2. Mastery or Mystery?
8.3. The value of a plan.
8.4. Getting stuck, and possible workarounds.
8.5. Don't obsess!
8.6. Challenges = Opportunities for inspired solutions!
9. Taking your inspiration from wherever you find it
Posts
12 comments:
I agree that hard work can make a piece, but I find I'm only ever really satisfied with a piece for which I have had inspiration of some sort. It might be because I've had more fun writing it that I like it so much, or just because that inspired feeling leaves a residual glee when the piece is finished. I find it hard to even begin a piece unless I've got an idea for it- this is why programmatic music is a lot of fun to write- otherwise I'll be working at writing the piece, rather than playing with different ideas.
In my opinion inspiration is something that one should never sit around and wait for. Since I started writing music (about 3 or 4 years ago) inspiration has certainly been the seed for many ideas, but music is too ambiguous of a thing to rely on a single approach. When it comes to deadlines you've got to work with what you know best, and chances are waiting for an epiphany is going to get you nowhere. But isn't that the beauty of inspiration? It's there when you least expect it! It's there because something new or exciting has peaked your interest and you feel motivated, refreshed, enlightened, inspired. But how does such a situation come about in the first place? There is a good chance that if you've been inspired, you've engaged in an inspiring activity (reading, listening to music, exercising, friendly conversation). I think too many people have the wrong idea; at the end of the day it is up to us to inspire ourselves.
Having inspiration is always nice, however I think you have to work hard and work at things outside your comfort zone to get inpired. I find most of my pieces have not been inspired, and I find I write the best stuff when I have no ideas and I sit down and just write werid random stuff and play around with ideas. If I have an inpiration I find it hard to get it actually out on paper and the piece ends up a complete 180 from the original inspiration. I agree with Justin in that Inpiration is great however don't sit around and wait for it.
I think as much as inspiration comes to you, through hard work (perspiration) you are able to find inspiration in what you create. There are lots of times when I am writing and I feel stuck but then I take a moment and look at what I have and within a few minutes of tweaking and analyzing I find (or create) something that I love. This is how I am able to fin inspiration through hard work.
I definitely agree with Thomas Edisons quote, I firmly believe that success is the result of hard work that paid off. Anything that ever came to anyone has only been through hard work and perspiration.
So for me inspiration is a product of my own hard work and I believe the harder you work on something the more personnel it will be.
I've always held the belief that good composition is the product of hard work.. though some may be more naturally gifted or creative than others (like anything else), hard work and understanding is what really will make a good final product. too many people do seem to think that it comes out of thin air (a spark of inspiration) or that some people are just compositional geniuses.
on another note, I have a bit of a problem when it comes to broadening my horizons.. Dr. Ross mentioned something coming easily is either from a) inspiration, or b) working within your comfort zone. my problem is that ideas within my comfort zone are usually what inspire me to do more with them. the reason my comfort zone is my comfort zone is because there are elements of music that I like and am familiar with and have become pretty good at working with. in the end, the music is often something that I personally enjoy and I can still see why it excited or inspired me at first, but then I'll think, it sounds kind of like a lot of my previous work. My tastes and comfort zone are ever changing and if I compare music now to music I wrote years ago, they would be quite different.. but if I look at my compositions in 2009-2010, I wish there were more variety.
this blog entry makes me want to take initial ideas that are not within my comfort zone at all, and thus, probably won't inspire me that much at first. theoretically if i've developed my compositional skills and work hard enough, I should come up with something that is still up my alley with regards to taste, and may sound totally different than anything I've done before. NEAT-O!!
I agree with what has been said. I am easily inspired so I usually do not have a problem just letting the music flow. But there has been times when what im writing just doesn't feel right. Thats when you just have to sit down and write as much as you can! then go back and slowey begin to edit your ideas. Find things that you can work with
"I will leave you for today with a provocative statement:
Good composers are good by virtue of the fact that they work hard; mediocre composers are not as good because they do not work as hard. If a composition is not considered to be very good, it probably indicates more about the composer's laziness than it does about talent or inspiration. Okay, have at it! What do you think?"
I don't completely agree with the fact that if something isn't "good" then it's because of possible laziness. There are so many styles of music out there that if someone doesn't like a piece that someone else wrote, it doesn't give them the right to classify the composer as lazy. Maybe they worked very hard on their piece, but they didn't have their "best" ideas due to their current atmosphere, inspiration, the music they were into at that time. I don't think it's fair to say they were lazy unless we actually know that that was the case.
The quote at the end of this blog is very interesting. 'Good' is a very relative term, and someone could completely love a piece, and another person could completely hate the same piece. Putting work into a piece definitely has a strong impact on how polished it sounds, but I've heard some great student and professional compositions that I know didn't have a huge amount of work put into them.
Sometimes I spend hours on a few bars until I'm satisfied, and other times I whiz through a page in half an hour. I think inspiration has a lot to do with the growth and coherency of a piece, but hard work is definitely needed as well.
Kim and Kate both picked up on the subjectivity of the term "good" in connection to a composition, and I mostly agree. After all, there are plenty of compositions that some people find good and others don't, and given this subjectivity, it is unfair and harsh to classify those composers as lazy.
But I don't believe the evaluation process for art is completely subjective — there is widespread consensus on what some of the "great" works of art have been over many centuries, so there must be something that is objective about it too.
In fact, I think that the evaluation process for art is more objective than it is subjective, which is why there is so much agreement on what these "great" artworks of the past have been, and why when students perform their works in progress for one another in our classes, often times several people will pick up on the same thing in making their comments about a work.
As to the "laziness" thing, the "provocative statement" was (a) deliberately using somewhat inflammatory language to provoke a response, and (b) referring to "laziness" more in the amount of work a composer had spent learning her craft than in the amount of work spent on a particular piece.
But great comments from all, and thanks for making them!
Inspiration is a very interesting thing. When I sat down with the Concert Band project, I initially thought that I was in over my head. I thought, o geez, what the hell am I going to write? I've never written for such a large ensemble!
It seemed impossible to get off the ground, so I thought I'd look for inspiration. I am very familiar with playing in a concert band (I've done so for many years now) but I wasn't very familiar with the extent and content of different rep for a concert band.
So I thought I would try to listen to as much wind ensemble music as I could. When I found a half dozen pieces that I really liked, I began to ask myself why I liked those pieces. What about them made them interesting. What was the band doing to MAKE it interesting. What were the textures, dynamics, balance, melodies/harmonies?
Recently, the MUN wind ensemble had been recording it's rehearsals, so I also used those to get an idea of what they were doing.
When I got all of these ideas and thoughts in my head, I didn't find it as daunting to get started.
Although I ran into a few hurdles and speed bumps along the way, it felt like I was losing my initial inspiration or idea for the piece. I just had to sit down, and redo a couple of the steps that I took to get the piece started in the first place.
Once I did that, new found inspirations started appearing, and the compositional flow would flow much easier.
Post a Comment