Pencil and Paper…
Posted by KenleyAug 9
Wow, long time since our last post, eh?
Lots of big projects on the go, so I promise that you’ll be seeing some exciting updates and behind-the-scenes work! But for now, a little bit on composing and some ideas that I’ve been thinking about.
One of the projects that I have on the go isn’t a musical one, but involves a lot of writing. I used to just do everything in a word processor: Type it, edit it, push it out. But over the last few months, I’ve really been into doing everything the ol’ fashioned way – with a pencil and paper. As for recently, I’ve really put that into my composing too:
It may be messy, but it sure does work
I’ve been putting everything into a basic SATB-framework (that’s “Soprano-Alto-Tenor-Bass,” or musical ranges from average-highest to average-lowest*) and, when you do that, you see where all of the voices are in relation to one another before you start doubling or transposing. You see the relationship between the Soprano and Bass especially, seeing that, at times it moves in 10ths (octave+3rd) or in 6ths; sometimes in converging/diverging/oblique motion, or sometimes just doing two different things.
When you sit at the piano and just hammer the parts out in your head, you’ll get some weird harmonies or run out of space in your middle voices (because “what’s in your head” sometimes doesn’t work in practice), or you just voice things in an awkward way. They sound good in your head, but all of a sudden, you have nowhere to put half of your instruments because you’ve mashed your Soprano/Bass too close together!
I know, I’m not writing Renaissance polyphony, but if you approach your modern writing with that SATB approach, you’d be surprised with what the music gives you. THEN, when you write it in your notebook or sketchbook (Moleskine makes a great one), you have a chance to revise or edit before it even gets on the page.
NOW, the great challenge is this: Is what you wrote on the page what you hear in your head? When those two ideas work in tandem, the product can be simply beautiful That’s what I’m working toward.
Some homework/commentary for our creative types:
- How much do you prepare before beginning your first draft?
- How do you get your first ideas down? What is your method? (I love hearing how creators conceive/transcribe their first ideas!)
- After you’ve transcribed your first ideas, how do you move them into your first draft?
Discuss! Can’t wait to hear your ideas!
Cheers, mates!
Kenley!
*I say “average-highest” and “average-lowest” because I can still go up to Sopranino or down to Contrabass, but it’s not really useful for of my purposes and isn’t really convention for a lot of writers to use in organizing their parts.
One comment
Comment by Marcos Gaspar on August 9, 2010 at 11:33 pm
Ah, good keep up the pencil-paper writing, I’ve found that to be so much better than using a program when writing. It’s easier and MUCH faster.
When writing music I’m usually at a piano with some notation paper and a pencil on hand. Methods on how I write music depends completely on what I feel like writing at the time. There are times when I want to write exciting music, pompous music, or just a random tune. I’ve taken a liking to 6/8 time and created some waltz-like feelings in my pieces.
A short piece I wrote for a composer concert is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz3_T8sH3ng . Which is the beginning to a programmatic concert I hope to do and have performed before I leave college.
Piece is in 6/8 and was created at a keyboard. This piece however was created on finale first, but corrections were made by hand later on. Finale took an hour to write this short piece, corrections took about 30 seconds.
I believe I should answer the questions asked above more specifically, eh? haha. Well I answered the 2nd one (Starts at piano with paper and pencil on hand).
I prepare probably nothing when beginning a piece. It’s a spur of a moment and comes out how I was feeling at that moment in time. My music captured my emotions at the moment of time, so you’ll get a sense of how I am when you do hear my music.
After I get my idea in my head and on paper. I stare at it and play it back. If it doesn’t sound appealing I add ornaments and other dynamics to it. Unfortunately more than half the time I end up disliking the piece I’m working on and trash it. I don’t like being a perfectionist, but man I can’t stand something cheesey or really out of place if it’s not what I was looking to do in the beginning.