Each of us has creative routines.   Are you in your music studio at your keyboard,  playing music patterns ,  jamming & recording?

Some Of Us sit at our piano with manuscript.   Deep into our thoughts  -  working out an idea  – variations,  melody,  rhythm,  textures, chord progressions.

How you create has a lot to do with what you create.   The goal is to avoid getting  locked into the same creative techniques, same melodic patterns,  same music structures.

The ways you listen to your musical ideas can guarantee that your song or piece is a winner!   Create music that will grab our attention!

I recommend that you keep a notebook handy and make comments on what you do when you create.  What if you created the ending first?  Or first created the entire chord progression first?  You’d always know where the music is going?  Do you have a strong rhythmic riff?  Improvise bits of melody over & over with it.  Try chordal attacks in both hands with it.  Try singing 16 bars straight through  – ad lib words, with a few simple chords. Forcing an idea to go somewhere new makes your creative mind go into hyperdrive.  Allow yourself to get scared sometimes.  Did that really come from me?

The way you create determines waht you create.

Duane

Back To I Write The Music Index Page

Hi Everybody!

I Write The Music Blog is about composers , songwriters &  music improvisers.

Creating Music is a skill we all have to various degrees of talent.  What’s important for you is keeping it fun , even with your serious intent to learn & grow as a musician.  Let your mind have a seeking spirit. Open your heart to the release of your life’s stories through your own powerful, personal music.

Study music theory.  Learn the elements of music .  Practice your scales.  Polish your music reading and playing skills at your keyboard.  Always try exploring web pages that help you to more deeply understand the magic of music and how it is all put together.  The more you  know , the more your own music grows and reveals yourself better.  The more your playing improves , the greater is the range of your self-expression.

Try to do something with your music each day. Sometimes only 5 minutes , other times an hour.  When you can , try to write your ideas into music notation into your music manuscript book.  Small ideas are ok at first.  Some of them will combine into musical phrases.   Later , entire songs & music pieces will come from you and be shared with the rest of us online.  We all encourage you to explore and create.

For those of you who are well along to becoming professional ,  this blog aims to offer you news about composers, songwriters & improvisers.  New music 2.0 web services , software & hardware creation tools. Let’s explore together and stretch your imagination and music skills.  And let’s get your music career on a fast track to success!

Keep It Fun!

Duane

1. Don’t call me a messiah | “Thomas Adès talks to Peter Culshaw about his thrilling new work and about the burden of being seen as the saviour of English music” | Telegraph.co.uk
2. Definition of a great composer – Dr David C F Wright PhD
3. An introduction to the Symphony | by David Wright
   
4. The Living Composers Project
   
5. Bach Bibliography
6. 20th Century Composer Profiles | About.com | Leonard Bernstein, Olivier Messiaen, Witold Lutoslawski, and Aaron Copland, by About’s Music Education Guide, Espie Estrella. You’ll find information about their influences, muical styles, famous works, and more
7. I love to work out after a hard day composing | Ivan Hewett | “Tansy Davies is one of a new generation of composers who are redefining classical music.” | Telegraph.co.uk
   
8. Score Reviews: Film Composers
9. British Composer profiles | MusicWeb
10. International Composer Pages | MusicWeb
11. Top 10 Symphonies You Should Own | From Aaron Green
12. Top 10 Classical Works You Know, but You Don’t Know | From Aaron Green
13. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | From Aaron Green
14. Ludwig van Beethoven – Your One-Stop Beethoven Resource | About.com
15. Discover the history behind many famous and not-so famous classical composers in the biographies that follow. | About.com | Charles Ives: A Profile of Charles Ives | Newman, Thomas: A Profile of Thomas Newman, Film Composer | Mahler, Gustav: A Profile of Mahler | Handel, George Frideric: A Profile of Handel | Haydn, Franz Joseph: A Profile of Haydn | Brahms, Johannes: A Profile of Brahms | Dvorak, Antonin: A Profile of Dvorak | Chopin, Frederic: Profile of Chopin | Profile: Vivaldi, Antonio | Profile: Richard Wagner | Profile: Johann Sebastian Bach | Profile: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Ludwig van Beethoven – The Magnificent Master | The Mozart Project – Biography | Antonio Vivaldi | J. S. Bach Home Page | A Biography of Chopin |
16. Kalvos.org | Essays By Composers | K&D Broadcast Archives in RealAudio/MP3 | Composer Index | The Living Composers Project |
17. Wikipedia | List Of Composers | List of lists |
    

    
    

It’s happened to every creative musician!
The ideas are flowing, then suddenly…an impasse!

So, what do you do?

First, get up and walk around.
Empty your mind for 30 seconds.

Go back your instrument and play
a fragment of your music. Then stop.

Play it in another key. Play it upside down.
Repeat it in a sequence -
(one step higher, up a scale tone).

Add 1, 2, 3 new notes to your fragment.
Keep mixing it up.

Play it your other hand. In octaves.
As parallel 3rds, 5ths, 7ths, etc.

Play it randomly throughout your instrument.
Change its rhythm.
Give the other hand a new accomp pattern.

Try singing it. Make up lyrics.

Now play the music you’ve created
up to this point.
As you play, try not to think
self-consciously about your composition.

When you get to the end-point,
make the playing continue.

If it’s not to your liking, go back
a few measures and try again to go beyond.
If you’re onto the right idea(s),
stop a few seconds,
then work it out in new ways,
repeatedly, in white heat!

Add “wrong” notes! Art Tatum, jazz pianist:
“There is no such thing as a wrong note.”

Begin at different points;
allow your subconscious mind to take over.
Let it be easy.

You may need to stop to
notate sketches in your mind.
If you are using midi sequencer software,
try saving each sketch as a small file.
Listening to your composition
played on your computer
may allow your creative mind to hear it fresh
and the Aha moments may suddenly appear.

Have you ever wondered why teachers ask you to
play scales, arpeggios and sequences?
It’s all about knowing your instrument.
If your fingers find the notes of a scale quickly
then your mind and fingers find the music in that scale.

Practicing the rhythm patterns in a musicianship book
make lots of patterns easy and in your music memory.
That makes it easy for your sub-conscious to mix them up.

Inspiration comes to musicians who play often.
Try improvising music freely if you have an impasse.

The magic moments of creating music will always be yours.
Keep building your musianship skills and
keep finding new ways to play your riffs or ideas.

Your music identity will come from always finding
odd or incorrect notes and rhythms.
Feel the larger form of your music,
so that it all feels right toogether.

The way out of any creative impasse is to
find new ways for your music idea to grow or develop.

Your love for the music will bring
new music “children” into being.

When your composition is finished,
you will suddenly feel a strange separation.
What was living and breathing in you,
now has a wonderful life of its own.
Ready to make friends with other musicians.

And you will have a deeper
feeling and understanding
of your music creation powers.

Smile and be proud!

Creating music is a lot of fun! It’s also a continous learning process. Music theory and musicianship skills allow you a greater understanding of your music; a natural flow to your creative thoughts. Music teachers & schools will help you gain the skills you want. Songwriters offer tips about the songwriting process. The creative process in music is an exciting learning adventure! This posting (The Creative Process 01) is the first in a series. What follows is a list of books you might find useful. The list is deliberately random to keep it fun!

• Beethoven and the Creative Process | by Barry Cooper
• Beethoven: Studies in the Creative Processes | by Lewis Lockwood
• The Muse that Sings: Composers Speak about the Creative Process | by Ann McCutchan
• Songwriting: And the Creative Process : Suggestions and Starting Points for Songwriters | by Steve Gillette
• Controlling Creative Processes In Music
• In Their Own Words: Songwriters Talk About the Creative Process | by Bill DeMain
• Encyclopedia of Rhythms: Instrumental Forms of Harmony : A Massive Collection of Rhythm Patterns | by Joseph Schillinger
• Chopin’s Work: His Inspirations and Creative Process in the Light of the Sources
• Songwriting: Essential Guide to Lyric Form and Structure: Tools and Techniques for Writing Better Lyrics | by Pat Pattison
• Mahler at Work: Aspects of the Creative Process | by Colin Matthews
• Practical Approach to the Study of Form in Music | by Peter Spencer
• Sonata Forms | by Charles Rosen
• Ear Training: Volume I Scale Forms through Six Basic Tetrachords | by Elvo S. D’Amante
• Anthology of Musical Forms | by Leon Stein
• Musical Form and Musical Performance | by Edward T. Cone
• The Listening Experience: Elements, Forms, and Styles in Music | by James P. O’Brien
• The Technique of Canon | by Hugo Norden
• Creative Chord Shapes: Guitarist’s Guide to Open-String Chord Forms
• Da Capo Best Music Writing 2002: The Year’s Finest Writing on Rock, Pop, Jazz, Country, & More | by Jonathan Lethem
• The forms of music | by Donald Francis Tovey
• Form and Content in Commercial Music | by Christopher P. Gordon
• Larger Forms Of Musical Composition | by Percy Goetschius
• The structure of music;: An outline for students | by R. O Morris
• Music of the Twentieth Century: Style & Structure | by Bryan R. Simms
• Jazz Guitar Structures | by Andrew Green
• All About Chords: A Comprehensive Approach to Understanding Contemporary Chordal Structures and Progressions | by Elvo D’Amante
• The Structure of Music: A Listener’s Guide : A Study of Music in Terms of Melody and Counterpoint | by Robert Erickson
• Ear Training, Capturing the Basic Chord Qualities: A Comprehensive Approach to the Systematic Study of Melodic and Harmonic Structures in Music | by Elvo S. D’Amante
• The Structure of Atonal Music | by Allen Forte
• Music of Yes: Structure and Vision in Progressive Rock | by Bill Martin
• African Polyphony and Polyrhythm: Musical Structure and Methodology | by Simha Arom
• Structure and Analysis of the Modern Improvised Line | by D. Zinn
• Writing Jazz | by Nicholas Evans
• The Analysis and Cognition of Basic Melodic Structures | by Eugene Narmour
• The Rhythmic Structure of Music | by Grosvenor Cooper
• Creating Melodies: A Songwriter’s Guide to Understanding, Writing and Polishing Melodies | by Dick Weissman
• Harmonic foundation for jazz & popular music: The Amadiean creed, a unique method for creating chord voicings and harmonizing a melody : text and workbook for individual or class instruction | by Jimmy Amadie
• Inside Classic Rock Tracks: Songwriting and Recording Secrets of 100+ Great Songs | by Rikky Rooksby
• Song: A Guide to Art Song Style and Literature | by Carol Kimball
• Musical Improv Comedy: Creating Songs in the Moment | by Michael Pollock
• Composing Music: A New Approach | by William Russo
• The Craft of Lyric Writing | by Sheila Davis
• Songwriting for Dummies | by Jim Peterik
• How to Write Songs on Guitar: A Guitar-Playing and Songwriting Course | by Rikky Rooksby
• Songwriters on Songwriting | by Paul Zollo
• Melody in Songwriting: Tools and Techniques for Writing Hit Songs (Berklee Guide) | by Jack Perricone
• Successful Lyric Writing: A Step-By-Step Course & Workbook | by Sheila Davis
• The Craft and Business of Songwriting (2nd Edition) | by John Braheny
• Tunesmith: Inside the Art of Songwriting | by Jimmy Webb
• The Songwriting Sourcebook: How to Turn Chords Into Great Songs | by Rikky Rooksby
• The Songwriters Idea Book: 40 Strategies to Excite Your Imagination, Help You Design Distinctive Songs, and Keep Your Creative Flow | by Sheila Davis
• How to Write Songs on Keyboards: A Complete Course to Help You Write Better Songs | by Rikky Rooksby
• The Songwriter’s Workshop: Harmony | by Jimmy Kachulis
• Songwriting: Essential Guide to Lyric Form and Structure: Tools and Techniques for Writing Better Lyrics | by Pat Pattison
• Tori Amos: Piece by Piece | by Tori Amos
• Songwriting: Essential Guide to Lyric Form and Structure: Tools and Techniques for Writing Better Lyrics | by Pat Pattison
• Writing Music For Hit Songs, Second Edition | by Jai Josefs
• 88 Songwriting Wrongs & How to Right Them: Concrete Ways to Improve Your Songwriting and Make Your Songs More Marketable | by Pete Luboff
• And Then I Wrote: The Songwriter Speaks
• Off The Record: Songwriters on Songwriting
• Chord Progressions for Songwriters | by Richard J. Scott
• Inspiration for Songwriters: Tips and Tricks to Unlocking the Muse | by Stan Swanson
• Making music: The guide to writing, performing & recording | by George Martin
• The Musician’s Guide to Reading and Writing Music | by Dave Stewart
• Melody: How to Write Great Tunes | by Rikky Rooksby
• Roy Orbison: Invention Of An Alternative Rock Masculinity | by Peter Lehman
• Inside Songwriting: Getting to the Heart of Creativity | by Jason Blume
• Confronting Silence | by Toru Takemitsu
• Money Chords: A Songwriter’s Sourcebook of Popular Chord Progressions | by Richard J. Scot
• Instant Songwriting With the Piano | by Charles Segal
• Inside Songwriting: Getting to the Heart of Creativity | by Jason Blume
• 500 Songwriting Ideas | by Aschmann Lis
• Lead Sheet Bible: A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Lead Sheets and Chord Charts
• The Complete Singer-Songwriter: A Troubadour’s Guide to Writing, Performing, Recording and Business | by Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers
• The Songwriter’s Handbook | by Tom T. Hall
• The Composer’s Handbook: A Do-It-Yourself Approach Combining “Tricks of the Trade” and Other Techniques
• Songwriting: A Complete Guide to the Craft | by Stephen Citron
• Songwriting: And the Creative Process : Suggestions and Starting Points for Songwriters | by Steve Gillette
• Songwriting Made Easy | by Russell Robinson
• Creating Melodies: A Songwriter’s Guide to Understanding, Writing and Polishing Melodies | by Dick Weissman
• The Secrets of Songwriting: Leading Songwriters Reveal How to Find Inspiration and Success | by Susan Tucker
• The Blues Lyric Formula | by Michael Taft
• The Songwriter’s Hook Book | by Jon Batson
• Musical Composition in the Twentieth Century | by Arnold Whittall
• Everything You Wanted to Know about Songwriting | by Cliffie Stone
• Melody and Harmony in Contemporary Songwriting | by Ricigliano
• Songwriting For Beginners | by Miriam Davidson
• The art of songwriting | by Maury Deutsch
• The Billboard Book of Songwriting | by Peter Pickow
• Master Class in Songwriting with Molly-Ann Leikin | by Molly-Ann Leikin
• Songwriting: A Structured Approach | by Robert Alan Berger
• Songwriters Playground: Innovative Exercises in Creative Songwriting | by Barbara L. Jordan
• The Songwriter’s Workshop
• Write Songs from Scratch | by Christopher Norton
• How To Play By Ear : A Guide to Chords and Progressions for Musicians, Songwriters and Composers | by Jack Hatfield
• Songwriting Secrets of the Beatles | by Dominic Pedler
• Basic Music Theory: How to Read, Write, and Understand Written Music | by Jonathan Harnum
• 101 songwriting and composing techniques | by Jack Wheaton
• Basic techniques of songwriting country style | by Ramsey Kearney
• How to write songs: The songwriting process | by Oscar Riddel
• Songwriting for Beginners an Easy Beginning Method | by Miriam & Heartwood, Kiya Davidson
• More Songwriting and Composing Techniques: Making Something Out of Nothing | by Peter L. Alexander
• A course in professional songwriting | by Bill Springer
• Modern Jazz Voicings: Arranging for Small and Medium Ensembles Modern Jazz Voicings: Arranging for Small and Medium Ensembles | by Ted Pease
• Bass Lines in Minutes – An Easy Method for Creating Bass Lines | by Kris Berg
• The art of improvisation: Creating real-time music through jazz improvisation | by Bob Taylor
• Creating Music: A New Approach to Piano Improvisation | by Elly Wilke
• Studying Rhythm (3rd Edition) | by Anne C. Hall
• Rhythm Riffs: Over 200 Riffs in All Styles Hal Leonard Guitar Method | by Greg Koch
• Note Grouping
• Melodic Rhythms for Guitar by William Leavitt
• Rhythm & Meter Patterns by Gary Chaffee
• Egyptian Rhythm: The Heavenly Melodies | by Moustafa Gadalla
• Unlocking the Groove: Rhythm, Meter, and Musical Design in Electronic Dance Music | by Mark J. Butler
• Harmonic Rhythm: Analysis and Interpretation | by Joseph P. Swain
• Thesaurus Of Scales And Melodic Patterns (Text) | by Nicolas Slonimsky
• Scale Patterns | by Don Latarski
• Creating Music: A New Approach to Piano Improvisation | by Elly Wilke
• Jazz Improvisation for Guitar: A Melodic Approach | by Garrison Fewell
• Melodic Studies & Compositions for Guitar: A Reading Workout for Serious Musicians | by Fred Hamilton
• The Melodic Bass Library | by Jimmy Haslip
• Melodic Improvising For Guitar Developing Motivic Ideas Through Chord Changes | by Bruce Saunders
• Bebop Licks for Guitar: A Dictionary of Melodic Ideas for Improvisation | by Les Wise
• Connecting Chords with Linear Harmony
• Modern Chord Progressions | by Ted Greene
• Contemporary Chord Khancepts | by Steve Khan
• The Songwriting Sourcebook: How to Turn Chords Into Great Songs | by Rikky Rooksby
• Chord Chemistry | by Ted Greene
• Piano Chords & Progressions:: The Secret Backdoor to Exciting Piano Playing! | by Duane Shinn
• Jazz Piano Chords | by Misha Stefanuk
• Chord Master: How to Choose and Play the Right Guitar Chords | by Rikky Rooksby
• Harmony and Voice Leading | by Edward Aldwell
• Voice Leading for Guitar: Moving Through the Changes | by John Thomas
• Melodic Improvising  |  by Andy Middleton
• Jazz Piano – The Blues & Melodic Improvisation  |  by Herb Drury
• Pianists Guide to Blues, Jazz, and Melodic Improvisations  |  by Herb Drury
• Style and Idea: Selected Writings  |  by Arnold Schoenberg
• The Songwriters Idea Book: 40 Strategies to Excite Your Imagination,    Help You Design Distinctive Songs, and Keep Your Creative Flow  |  by Sheila Davis
• 1,000 Keyboard Ideas  |  by Ronald Herder
• Essential Computers: Composing Music on Your PC  |  by Robert Beattie
• The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Music Composition  |  by Michael Miller
• The Perfect Wrong Note: Learning to Trust Your Musical Self  |  by William Westney
• Simple Composition  |  by Charles Wuorinen
• The Craft of Musical Composition: Theoretical Part – Book 1  |  by Paul  Hindemith
• Compositional Process of J.S. Bach  |  by Robert L. Marshall
• Techniques of the Contemporary Composer  |  by David Cope
• The Computer Music Tutorial  |  by Curtis Roads
• Sonata Forms  |  by Charles Rosen
• Creative Music Composition: The Young Composer’s Voice  |  by  Margaret Lucy Wilkins
• Songwriting: Essential Guide to Rhyming: A Step-by-Step Guide to  Better Rhyming and Lyrics  |  by Pat Pattison
• Melody: How to Write Great Tunes  |  by Rikky Rooksby
• Composition in Retrospect  |  by John Cage
• Tonal Pitch Space  |  by Fred Lerdahl
• The Thematic Process in Music  |  by Rudolph Richard Reti
• Fugal Composition: A Guide to the Study of Bach’s ’48′  |  by Joseph  Groocock
• Anatomy of Melody: Exploring the Single Line of Song  |  by Alice  Parker
• Creative Music Making  |  by William L. Cahn
• How to Write a Melody  |  by Alexander Borisoff
• Learning to Compose  |  by John Howard
• Computer Composer’s Toolbox  |  by Phil Winsor
• Tones into words;: Musical compositions as subjects of poetry  |  by Calvin S Brown
• The Guitarist’s Guide to Composing and Improvising  |  by Jon Damian
• Basic Atonal Theory  |  by John Rahn
• Interpretation for Flute: How to Shape a Melodic Line
• Structure and Analysis of the Modern Improvised Line  |  by D. Zinn