Why do you compose?

[KrazyKatz]

Hey Folks.

Well I was planning on actually asking "Who do you compose for?" and seeing if people choose to compose for themselves or for others. But I thought that that might be too limiting as people may have other reasons behind their muse.

For me, truth be told, I've never really been able to compose for myself. I've always wanted other people to experience what I feel, so I make the music for them to enjoy.
Sure that gives me enjoyment, which means you can argue that at the end of the day I'm doing it for myself, but if I don't have an incentive to compose for others (IE: Someone hiring me, a competition, etc..) I find that I can almost never finish a piece. So the enjoyment I derive from other peoples enjoyment is more of a windfall as opposed to the "why".

So why do you compose?

[LPChip]

I mainly compose for my own needs. I love making music and once I have made a new song, I listen to it like 500 times.

I do share my songs and when other people like them too (which surprisingly happens often) I enjoy it even more.

There are some projects where I compose for someone else, and most of the time I do enjoy it, but if the person I'm making music for isn't 100% satisfied (which will happen if your previous work was better and they have high expectations) it does hurt. Obviously I will improve my work, and that does make me feel better at the end too, so I kind of have mixed feelings there.

When I compose for myself I do it too, but its differently. I make music, and I enjoy it, then after listening it for the 50th time, I decide it can be better and I improve the song. Same result, but no pain

[Saga Musix]

Mostly what LPChip said. I started composing for my computer games mostly, but obviously this has been extended to composing for my personal pleasure as well (and these days I rather tend to outsource game music, though the last game I did was more than three years ago). When I have made a new tune, I also often enter it into competitions at demoparties, and if a demoparty is nearby but have no tune read, I try to make one anyway - so competition is also a (smaller) reason why I'm making music. I make music so I can enjoy it, if others do so as well, that's a nice bonus, but it's not necessary.

[Pizearke]

I write music because often times I feel like there's nothing better to do and it feels good being able to work on something and, arguably, being good at something.

And I suppose impressing people sometimes is cool too.

[psishock]

Music is hardwired to my blood for many years (well almost a couple of decades) now,  its a part of my lifestyle. Most of the times when i do daily stuffs or think about something, i compose structures, sounds, drum sessions or melodies simultaneously in my head. Its like having a portable, embed tracker with me all the time. So when i get to my PC and finally start writing down the compositions that i made, i filter all the gathered good ideas that i can think of that time, then start polishing, mixing them together, etc, until im satisfied with the results. When people listen to my music, they basically listen to my life or my personality in a very abstract way. I adore music and i like sharing good stuffs with people, so naturally i want others to experience what i feel too, and make them happy or inspire them with the energy of it.

But that is only one side of it. I want to develop and push forward the possibilities of sounds and music even further than most artist did till this time, and im seeing this as one of my primary missions in life. That is one of the reasons why i tend to get very detailed, precise and technical with my compositions. I want to show people how beautiful structures can the human mind build if there are no physical limitations (unlike with live instruments for instance), and with recent hardware and software technology power, i can render my ideas in a fairly complete way.

So im turning the question backwards, because i would most likely only need reasons why should i not compose whenever i got a chance to do so, rather than why am i doing so in every given moment in my life.

[Oliwerko]

I compose for myself.

The music I do is not particularly popular nowadays. If I had to rely on popularity, I wouldn't compose at all. I'm not saying people don't like what I do, most of them are quite pleased with the music, but as I have no advertising or anything, it's quite hard to get into the world.

I like hearing my tracks over and over again, remembering how I did this and that, and I love hearing improvement. And of course, I know only of a few similar feelings like the one of accomplishing a track after long hours of work.

(psi - I admire your ability to construct music in your head. Did you build this in time? I have plenty of time everywhere, but unfortunately I have to be at the keyboard to do something.  Maybe this comes with experience?)

[Keruba]

Well, i think it`s overrated to say to produce for yourself and not for others.

For me it`s just a constructive hobby, like for anyone else it is to collect shoes or play with some model railroad.

I was infected with Techno in the nineties and had some feelings on that music i can`t describe till today and that was what i wanted to do in my tracks too. (It works sometimes, more or less.)

The only thing i could do after that was starting making my own sounds and creating my own vision of music.

What i always have a problem with is the pressure i`m making myself in sounding awesome but that goes hand in hand with destroying the creativity of my workflow.

So to say, i still have to improve a lot in my way of thinking, feeling and making music and going back to the roots where playing with an old Drummachine was the best feeling ever and not that the inner judge that is sitting behind you and waiting for hearing a mistake in the song.

To create something is always a winner, if it is in paintings writing a book or doing music.

In fact i do think that to be creative is what humans were made for and in the end you do it for yourself and for others.

Thats all i have to say.

Cheers

[psishock]

(psi - I admire your ability to construct music in your head. Did you build this in time? I have plenty of time everywhere, but unfortunately I have to be at the keyboard to do something.  Maybe this comes with experience?)

Yep, definitely. The basic rule is simple, you'll start from 0 as everybody and get better with it (and great eventually) over time. You can start doing it by doing sort(er) sessions and (very) simple structures. Also layer the channels in your head, as you would do with the tracker too, work on separate times on the melody, bass, percussion, etc. One of the most awesome fact about this technique is, that you can create about any sound you can imagine in an instant (yea, reproducing it with synths afterwards needs further sound engineering technical skill). Also you can try many takes, editing and experiments with songs or on the part of them, over very short amount of time, without any "workarounds" that you would do while tracking. So after you found the flow that work best for you, you can write it physically on the tracker, saving you a considerable value of production time. Over time, you will be able to "hear" the sounds that you create more saturated and crisp, you will learn how to modulate them, also you will able to build and change song structures faster, and layer more parallel channels.

Lets see.... a good exercise would be, rather than starting from scratch composing, is to try and reproduce any of the song that is already made, as accurately as you can. Try to remember how those sounds in it sounded like and mimic them, do the same with the structure. You dont have to focus on all the layers, just try to get roughly close. If you are satisfied after a couple of tries, then try to change something on them (sound or structure wise). This simple little trick can ignite a creative rush easily.

A different, but related technique (that i'm using sometimes) is to use your time when you dream to compose while you can. When we're dreaming, our brains works a bit differently than in waked state, so there is a good chance that you will figure out some good melody or song structures that you wouldn't think of otherwise in normal state. Our brain focuses a lot more to basic emotions also while dreaming, thus making it easier to ignite that creative spark that you may be looking for at that moment.

Yea, our mere natural bodies are a terrific technical tools in a lot more ways that one would think of, even in this modern world. I'm using modern world technology only to aid me with composing, and help me able to reproduce, record that i've imagined over time, as accurately and fast as possible, and not trying to replace in any way the already given natural (and mobile) ability, that our brain functions can provide.

Good luck!

[Saga Musix]

Sometimes you sound more like a composing robot rather than a human being to me.

[uncloned]

Composition has become a way to write a diary, a way to deal with stress, a way to make (a little) money, a way to make someone happy (I've played retirement homes), a social occasion (a concert with friends and acquaintances), a way to demonstrate an idea from the concrete to the abstract. I would think a lot of us have many reasons to compose music. Its cool to share music, but it isn't my main motivation because I was doing this long before I had any audience but myself and a couple friends - now with the internet there is a audience and its fun to share and though I like positive response I find it almost impossible to predict the audience reaction. I've also learned that music I write that may be reviled in one internet community often is greeted with accolades in another. 

I see this topic has been idle for a long time - I hope no one minds me bringing it back to life. It is an interesting question.