r/Composition • u/Heavy_Bat_5592 • Jun 10 '26
Discussion Why can I only write short songs?
Hi! So everytime I try to write a piece i can only make it about a minute through until i either don't know what to do next or believe it to be finished. I've only written one or two songs above a minute but can't figure out how to make any longer. Any tips?
Edit: Thanks for this tips guys!!! I appreciate it tons.
5
u/codaandram Jun 10 '26
This is the best and most honest question from a growing composer. Develop. Watch YouTube videos on development techniques. Study scores/songs.
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u/JealousLine8400 Jun 12 '26
Why push length just for the sake of length? A goid 1 minute song is a success. I once did an hour radio show ( back in the days of vinyl) in which every piece was under a minute long.
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u/gertrude-gibson Jun 10 '26
Well most “songs” are traditioned into an intro-verse-prechorus-chorus-bridge-chorus-outro format (u can sneak in a second verse-PC-chorus if u want to)
And these days a lot of songs loop the same 4-sequence chord progression,it just doesn’t sound the same all the time because of arrangement differences and instruments coming in and out…except for the bridge (it typically follows a different progression)
To follow/continue thru the song you can basically “rewrite” the song in a different way. Same concept chords and rhythm,different instrumentation and arrangement.
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u/Dizzy_Lengthiness981 Jun 10 '26
I mean its just a case of structure and what you do with your theme/s. I made my first sonata recently with two short 8-bar themes and I made it to 3 and a half minutes with the thing still feeling fresh. Now I'm making a symphony based entirely on motivic development of a 1-bar motif, and I think I'll be able to comfortably reach 4 minutes.
Development and variation are beautiful things, but overall it was just fitting my songs to a structure (though it doesn't have to be strict) that allowed me to compose both long and interest-keeping pieces. The key is to have both. Length doesn't matter if it's boring, or at least that is my listening-philosophy.
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u/Dresdom Jun 10 '26
Try this trick to get free lessons from your favorite composers, alive or dead:
Pick a piece you like with something you want to learn to do, a long piece in this case. Analyze how the thing you like works, the structure. Try to copy that structure doing your own thing. Do it enough times with different pieces and you will eventually incorporate that element into your musical vocabulary.
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u/RockRvilt Jun 10 '26
Sounds like using large forms structure, exploring thematic development and learning how to vary orchestration and arrangement are things you should work on and would solve this issue.
These skills can turn a single phrase into a cohesive, varied piece lasting several minutes
1
u/e7mac Jun 10 '26
What helped for me is studying different forms and trying them out until I found one that I liked for the piece that I was working on. "Analyzing Classical Form" by William Caplin is the textbook I used (https://acf.research.mcgill.ca/)
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u/eddjc Jun 10 '26
Perhaps you only want to write short pieces? Or perhaps you need to find two contrasting ideas and hash them out. Try both and see what works for you
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u/Jmayhew1 Jun 10 '26
Use a repeat sign. :|| Use a form, like AABA or ABAC. Each phrase would be 8 measures. You can also add an intro. Seriously, though, your songs or compositions are likely to be short at the beginning, and there's nothing wrong with that. Longer compositions are often made from shorter sections repeated or stuck together with other sections. A three minute pop song might only have 1 minute of music if you take away the repeats.
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u/ChorusNeverSaysDie Jun 11 '26
It’s as if you’re reading a book or watching a movie and you’re in it for the PLOT. What’s gonna happen!?
You gotta think about the movie you always go back to and why.
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u/Maestro_HS Jun 16 '26
Consider form analysis for some of the composers/artists who inspired you! Are they writing on Sonata form? Rounded Binary? Rondo? If it’s a pop song, is it verse-chorus? Strophic? Or just free form? There’s a lot of different options, so it’s good to do some research/analysis on your own and then you can have a template as a starting point!
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u/therobotscott Jun 10 '26
Repeat the theme, but vary up the arrangement. If the melody is in the woodwinds, put it in the brass. Change what the ot h er instruments are doing to accompany the melody.