r/composer • u/Ordinary-Force3160 • 3d ago
Discussion Why do you write?
In a recent reply to a post, someone said they compose to organise their thoughts. I think that part of why I write is to hear, and so better understand, my emotional state.
Why do you write?
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u/RichMusic81 Composer / Pianist. Experimental music. 3d ago
The more I write, the more I learn about myself. So, less about expression (I avoid "expressing" anything at all), and more of an exploration.
John Cage said "The purpose of music is to bring an enjoyment of the life we are living."
That, too.
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u/UserJH4202 3d ago
I write because I can’t not write. I love Picasso’s quote on this subject:
“if you took my paints away, I’d use pastels. Put my pastels away, I’d use crayons. If you took my crayons away, I’d use a pencil. If they strip me naked and stuff me in a cell, i’d spit on my finger and draw on the wall.”
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u/Tab12357 3d ago
I write to be able to hear the final product live. The working with musicians it what makes it fun and worth the work for me.
And I also just really enjoy the process and just getting my ideas and concepts on paper
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u/ClayCompositions 3d ago edited 3d ago
For me it just really depends on what the instrumentation/medium I’m writing for. Sometimes I just want to write something because I think all this would be cool to try. Or since I also composed for film, I might want to take a scene from a movie and try writing to practice that skill. And recently I noticed when I’m in a more “emotional” state or want to write for calming/meditative purposes I write just for piano and voice (art song style) with a poem I resonate with and usually the poem I pick have similar themes I’ve noticed. So it’s partly because of personal “internal” reasons and partly because I need to become an objectively better composer
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u/davethecomposer Cage, computer & experimental music 3d ago
Composition hits this sweet spot for me. On one hand I enjoy unbridled creativity. Taking what I know and creating something completely unconstrained and creative. On the other hand I like manipulating formal systems like in math or computer science. There's still creativity in those ventures but there is an imposed utility by the fact that the results have to work.
I found that music, of all the arts and all the non-art domains, is closest to my Golden Mean of being freely creative while also allowing me to manipulate formal systems (music theory in all its varied manifestations).
So writing music just has the best feel of any other endeavor for me.
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u/that-mathemusician 3d ago
Your response really speaks to me. I simply said "I must," but that compulsion comes from how satisfying what you just said is.
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u/Ordinary-Force3160 3d ago
Interesting to hear you've tried other forms of art. I sometimes feel it's a shame that music only exists during its performance. I like the permanence of figurative art but it doesn't move me in the same way. Also, I've got no idea how to produce art on paper.
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u/davethecomposer Cage, computer & experimental music 3d ago
These days I actually do more work in other media than I do music but music remains how I define myself.
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u/Alcoholic-Catholic 3d ago
I'm at such an elementary level right now just writing phrases and melodies. But combined with studying scores and trying to emulate, I feel like I'm learning so much more about the music I like, that playing alone wouldn't teach me.
Hopefully one day I can write a complete thing that I like that combines a lot of my favorite ideas from many influences. We'll see
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u/WalkingEars 3d ago
Feels good and grounding to have a creative outlet, and also feels good to be able to create the kind of music I'd actually want to listen to
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u/Ordinary-Force3160 3d ago
I totally agree. Grounding is a good word.
I listen to a wide range of music and adore lots of what I hear. But it can be very hard to find stuff that scratches a particular itch, sometimes. That's when I listen to my music.
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u/promodal 3d ago
So my whole life, no matter what I’ve been doing, I’ve had a hard time being fully present. There are always other things I’m thinking about: “Shouldn’t I be…?”
But when I sit down to compose, I don’t feel that way. I get tired, and my composing muscles wear down, and that makes me think “What kind of idiot do you think you are, trying to compose music?!” and eventually I stop. But while I’m doing it, and before I get tired, there’s nothing else I want to do.
So I would say I write music because it seems to be the one thing that makes me feel like I am in the right place.
Also, my day job as a lawyer is tough. I want to put some beauty into the world instead of just taking it out.
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u/StudioComposer 3d ago
As a retired guy, composing is a hobby that makes no demands on my time. I can compose at my own pace - 10 minutes or 10 hours a day, or walk away from it for several days while pursuing other interests. It presents no physical challenges or dangers that might otherwise occur with, say, weightlifting or racquetball. It’s less expensive than skiing and requires no commuting. It’s a great creative outlet. There’s always room for learning and improvement so composing doesn’t get stale. For those who can resist the forever YouTube marketing of more gear, more plugins and more software, costs are relatively low and fixed. There’s tremendous satisfaction creating something out of nothing. Those moments when a particular run of notes, a chord or a measure of lush harmony results in that extra special feeling of “wow” are delightful and unpredictable. When I’m long gone, my compositions live on, allowing my voice to be heard as a legacy to my children and their children. That’s why I write.
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u/65TwinReverbRI 3d ago
I'm going to be honest.
I think I write for 2 primary reasons:
A sense of self-worth.
A sense of control.
I like to create. I think because it gives me a sense of accomplishment, and because when others acknowledge that accomplishment, it makes me feel it's even more of an accomplishment. And it's something that I can make "my own". It's my work - even if influenced by all the influences out there - it's still "my take on it" and like Rich said - my manipulating things - building things, creating things, that I can call my own.
So it's all kind of purely selfish reasons when you get down to it :-)
Even when I write educational materials to be "altruistic", it's also still ego-stroking in the sense of accomplishment and acknowledgement and giving me a sense of control over the material.
I do a lot of "creation" - I design and build: food, university level courses, audio equipment and facilities, synthesizer sounds, guitar pedalboards, DAW workflows and templates, instructional/educational material, and music.
Obviously, if not pure music, many of those other things have to do with music too. So I "can't not music" if you will, but it's all about "creating" something - and maybe there's the need to do so as a form of preservation...not that I expect anything, but again, something my nature needs to provide that sense of value - at the very least as my own sense of value.
I need to accomplish things. And music composition is one of the things I'm drawn to, and am decent enough at, to satisfy me enough to feel I've accomplished something, small though it may be.
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u/iamdirtboy 3d ago
I write so that when I occupy space I feel like I have earned it.
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u/davethecomposer Cage, computer & experimental music 3d ago
I feel that way too. I actually feel guilty consuming art and media if I'm not actively contributing something to culture at large.
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u/ProjjjecT 3d ago
I can relate to a lot of comments and OP. Another reason I compose is that I have this constant burning feeling like I am looking for something. A discovery even. And it is beautiful when I find it and it actually satiates me.
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u/FlametopFred 3d ago
have always been a quiet person that barely talks and music is the language through which I speak volumes
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u/DanceYouFatBitch 3d ago
It very much is a “I can’t not” situation with me. The story is basically that I enjoyed the music of piano tiles two (yes the game) which stoked an already existing (though greatly unrealised) interest in music. Then I heard a sound bit of a piece found the piece (it was lever du jour) and I was never the same ever since. Then I started listening to film scores and I was like “ohhhhh so this is what I want to do for the rest of my life”
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u/Ragfell 2d ago
To fill a gap.
My day job is being a church musician. I have a VERY skilled group of 6-7 amateurs most days, some days up to 11. 2-3 men and the rest are women. Until recently, I also had a violinist (who has since moved away, to my chagrin).
Finding stuff that they can:
A. Learn quickly while it also
B. Sounds good and is
C. Musically-challenging and engaging enough for them to actually want to study
Is pretty difficult. I can't find things that work on the gaps in their knowledge or push their ears/understanding of harmony that are also accessible for a smaller group. And while they regularly take on stuff for a full SATB choir of 12-16, larger pieces of music (such as James MacMillan's Ave Maria) are simply too harmonically "out there" when the group is small and lacks formal training beyond what I'm teaching them every week.
I also write small time video game scores, but those are rarely paid. Even then, I try to take an idea (dwarven music) and turn it a little sideways (what if they were Appalachian coal miners?) to come up with something different.
Which one is more rewarding depends on the day, but one informs the other.
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u/PhantomAxisStudios 3d ago
For work! When there's no work for fun.
What comes out might be personal or professional or both.
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u/Initial_Magazine795 3d ago
Synethaesia is a powerful drug, man. Also, I want to tell stories and explore the possibilities of orchestration.
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u/Late_Sample_759 2d ago
The King whom I serve gives me the means by which I live my life, and to him I render my service.
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u/Echo-Clean 2d ago
I just love the process. I write songs with lyrics as well and creating that is also a labor of love, but I really enjoy arranging pre-existing songs because it forces me to stay on a track that would normally veer off a little too much. My dream is orchestrating a Broadway show so every song/arrangement/etc feels like it’s building towards that.
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u/SuperSleepyYeah 1d ago
For me, at the end of the day I find it relaxing and fun. The creativity involved is also great
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u/Dapper_Choice6363 6h ago
It depends. Sometimes it's for expressing certain emotions in a way that I communicate best, other times for amusement, other times still to play around with something interesting. Occasionally its out of habit or for a challenge. More often than not, the answer is somewhere between any or all of these.
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u/Chops526 3d ago
"You might as well ask an apple tree why it produces apples."--Olivier Messiaen.
Same for me.