[From a 9-part series for my introductory composition class.]
1. Originality and Quality of initial musical ideas
Everyone who has ever played a musical instrument or sung has probably come up with their own musical ideas (a melody or melodic fragment, chord progression, rhythm, etc.) at some point. Sometimes, this gives rise to the impulse to create a complete musical composition, but I have heard people say that they did not follow through on this impulse because they felt their initial musical idea was 'not good enough,' or 'unoriginal.'
If you have ever felt this way, I would like to suggest two possibly radical concepts to consider:
1.1. The quality of musical ideas does not matter very much in determining the quality of the complete composition that can emerge from them; and
1.2. The degree to which these ideas are original may not matter as much as you think.
While it would probably be a better plan to start with a high quality, original idea, a good composition can start with an uninspired, not-particularly-original idea!
• Consider both of these ideas; can you think of any examples of good music with uninspired or seemingly mundane initial musical ideas, and/or or ideas that are not particularly original?
What I would suggest is:
→ The way in which your musical ideas are extended and developed into complete compositions matters more than the quality/originality of the ideas themselves.
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Composition is a craft. The harder you work at developing your craft, the better your ability to compose the kind of music you'd like to hear.
Tags: compose, composing, music, how to, thoughts on composing
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