Creating Music: A Literary Approach
When reading a novel, your mind connects words with images, these images into a scene. These scenes begin to connect, come to life. Meaning is drawn from your past experiences, interpretation, and unique soul. As the author of your own music, your job as a composer is to connect with your audience by way of sound. Authors have words to convey meaning, you have flutes, violins, timpani, and tubas.
As great authors have extensive libraries; therefore composers must expose themselves to all genres of music. As authors expand vocabulary; the same is in music. Listen to all music. All great music conveys meaning and emotion. From Hildegard to Bruno Mars—listen to them all!
Notes are words; phrases are sentences; timbre is the tone of voice, and chapters are movements. Music theory is grammar. Know the rules so you will know how to break them with artistic integrity. Writing music is intimately connected to literature.
As you compose, let your own experiences be guided by where your notes want to go. You own them. You are creating them. Trust your intuition. A melody or harmony will want to convey something. That something is birthed out of your mind. Tell the story.
Sometimes, your sentence will not make sense. Sometimes, your intuition may fail. Keep writing. Keep creating ideas. Have a book of ideas (or folder if you’re the computer-composing type). Never discard an idea that shows a glimmer of potential, perhaps it is a part of another story.
Create characters, not harmony and melody. As you compose, ask yourself, “What is this Oboe line saying?” “Does it connect to what was just said by the French Horns?” “What is the euphonium adding to this scene?”
Create a plot, not necessarily a work that is 100% true to classical form. Create something that hasn’t been done before. Work responsibly, but without constraint.
Create stories. Write a story that hasn’t been told before. Interpret a current story in your own unique way. Know where your music is currently, is going in the future, and where it has been. Let the music transcend itself. Will it lead your audience to tears, or laughter, or even existential contemplation. Let your story make your audience feel. Convey your meaning to them. It’s at that moment where you let go of all control, trusting your audience to experience.
Lastly, remember that music is created to be shared. Whether your ambitions are to perform your own music, gift it to someone, or put it out on the open market, remember that your music has the power to connect people to emotions, events, and ultimately each other. As a composer, be responsible for this power. So go. Write for people. Write for yourself. Write for the story.
Cheers,
