Setting Realistic Writing Goals

To be clear:, I’m incredible at setting goals; I’m terrible at setting realistic goals. Maybe you’re there too. We get all of these amazing ideas in our heads.

I’m starting a composition #100daysofpractice or a #100daysofwriting whatever you want to call it - I’d just like to be more consistent. Well, I need a plan of some sort for where I’d like to be at the end of the 100 days (sometime in June) - and that’s where the problem lies. So, I thought “what if a student had asked me that question?” And well, we will see how it goes but here are three things I’ve come up with for setting realistic composition/songwriting goals.

1. Figure Out Appropriate Pacing

Take a look at your recent writing output. How much have you written over a certain period of time? You can probably expect your output won't be significantly more than that. Perhaps you finished 1 piece/song last month. You're probably not going to suddenly write 10 this month. Set a goal of finishing one piece/song, and if you get to more than that - Great!

If one of your goals is to be able to write more/write faster - then start where you are and work your way up incrementally. You can do this by setting Input Goals: "I will write 30 minutes each day." And if you want to build up incrementally: "Each week, I will add 10 more minutes to my writing time." Of course, all of that depends on your schedule and how much time you can actually devote to writing.

2. Factor in things that are writing adjacent.

I'll often work all day editing a manuscript and then feel like I didn't write at all that day. Which isn't true. These things that are associated with writing are critical parts of the writing process. These are things like Freewriting and Experimentation - where you are just playing around but not actually making progress on a project. Or maybe it's studying the work of another composer for their use of techniques. Or, practicing new techniques on your instrument - or figuring out with players what is physically possible or comfortable. Or perhaps like I mentioned, editing and revisions. All of these things are crucial, but they take time, and we need to factor in those things for setting realistic goals.

3. Set goals that are consistent with your long-term goals.

I have had periods where I wrote what I felt like I was "supposed to" write. If there's no one commissioning you to write a piece, there's no reason to spend time writing a piece you don't want to write. Make sure the things you are doing on a daily basis actually line up with your desired trajectory as a composer and songwriter. What can you write today that will serve as a stepping stone to where you want to go? Don't chase after every opportunity just because it's available. Set goals based on what is going to fulfill you artistically, and what is going to help you in the long run.

So, that's where I am today. Day 1 of 100. I'll be documenting this journey so make sure to follow along from now until June, and we will see where I end up.

Anyone Can Write Music

Writing music is a craft. It's not a rare gift only given to a select few. And because it's a craft - all musicians can and should write music. And today I’ve got an exercise for you to help you get started.

Writing Music is like Writing Language

Let's think about language for a second. That's what I'm using right now to communicate with you. I could have chosen to communicate with you through a series of colored dots - but that wouldn't have been as effective.

In order to communicate with language, you need to be familiar with that language. I can put together sentences of words and you understand them because I know a lot of words and their meanings, I know sentence structure, and I know what it is that I want to communicate. I'm not inventing any new words to communicate this with you - but I am writing. Well, speaking in this case - but I did write it down in the script before I started speaking. Well, and actually before I wrote this script I spoke these thoughts into my voice memo app. And before that, I actually wrote these... [It cuts off, I start the camera over] You get the point - these are thoughts that I am communicating, and I am capable of that because I have learned English. And these particular thoughts do not require me to revolutionize linguistics.

In the same way, all musicians have within them the ability to communicate through writing music - because they know music.

Composition is Just Expression

Just because you have it inside you, that's not to say you'll immediately be good at it. That seems logical enough. My daughter when she was learning to talk would put together sentences like "me want doing swing", but she kept practicing and now she knows that "I would like to swing" better communicates what she wants.

All composition is just a musical expression. And you "getting better" at composition is you getting better at communicating that expression. And like with everything else in life, that happens through practice.

There's never been more resources

And you'll need to practice quite a bit. But it's worth it. And you might say "I have no desire to compose for a career." But I think literally every single musician can and should regularly express themselves by writing their own music. I write a lot of English all the time despite not being a career Novelist. My goal in writing in English isn't to have my books read by the whole world. I wrote a text message a few minutes ago, and it doesn't mean that I have intentions of become Geoffrey Chaucer.

You've got a lot of resources to help you - more than there have ever been. Countless videos and courses on the internet that you can learn to write music. I had none of that 20 years ago when I was learning to compose.

Not only that. But there are so many resources for you to experiment and learn on your own. With DAWs and Instruments and what not. Spitfire Audio has a free version of their BBC orchestra library that gives you access to practice with a full orchestra. It's Crazy.

I've got a free resource for you today. I've heard from a number of my composition students that keeping track of the whole process of writing a piece is often overwhelming. So, I've got this interactive PDF that outlines the composition process step-by-step. It's got links to 16 additional resources that I think you'll find useful.

A Writing Exercise

If you're still thinking "well, that makes sense - but I already know that I can't write music," I want you to try this exercise. It's going to feel awkward. Fight against that feeling. Composition is messy. And here’s the thing. Our goal today isn’t to write a whole song, or a whole piece. The goal is to just write something. Here’s what I want you to do:

Step 1. Take out your phone, and find your voice memo app.

Step 2. Hum something to yourself. Anything. Long or short, doesn't matter. Don't worry about whether or not it is good. Don't overthink it. Just hum something.

Step 3. Do it again. You might as well leave that voice memo going - you never know what's going to happen. Try to get up to five.

Step 4. Listen back to your voice memo. Let's go ahead and quickly come to terms with the fact that it isn't a Radio quality recording and move past that.

Step 5. What do you feel like each snippet is expressing? Happiness? Confusion? Hunger? If composition is expression, what do the melodies you've come up with express?

Step 6. Identify some fragments that you really like. You're looking specifically for something you could build off of. Again, don't be too critical. You're looking for something that you like, not something you think is good. Or, even what you think other people might think is good. Your identification of things you like is a proof of concept that you can write music.

Step 7. Repeat this entire process quite a lot. Hum to yourself all the time. Eventually, humming a melody will be much easier. You'll end up liking more of what you came up with. And you'll better be able to say what your melodies are expressing.

I'd love to hear from you: do you compose music? If so what kind of music do you write? How did you get into writing music? And if you don't write music - do you want to? What obstacles do you see that keep you from it?

Planning Out Your Next Song

[Note: This is post #2 in a five part series on the composition process. If you have not read the introduction post, you can do so here. If you would like a free PDF of the material we’re covering, you can get your copy here.]

Now that we have an overview of the process, let’s zoom in and take a look at each of the phases - starting with the Planning Phase. Planning is a crucial part of the composition process, and it can set you up to have a much smoother writing experience. Maybe planning is something you do every time, or it may not be something you’ve ever thought about. I’ve got four steps, and they should help you stay organized in the writing process.

The Importance of Planning

First things first, let's talk about why planning is so important. By taking the time to plan your composition, you can:

• Create a roadmap for your music

• Stay organized and focused throughout the writing process

• Create a cohesive and intentional piece of music

• Avoid writer's block and other creative roadblocks

• Improve your productivity and efficiency

• Avoid creating problematic music, that you might have to go back and fix all of those mistakes later.

Without a plan, it's easy to get lost in the creative process and lose sight of your goals. I sometimes get caught up in just writing, and almost inevitably I end up having to go back and come up with a plan so the piece isn’t a complete mess.

Other times, you might hit a wall and have no clue where to go with the piece next. But, with a plan, you can always go back and check the map. Having that plan will usually improve your efficiency in writing the piece. 

Collect Musical Materials

Before you start planning your piece, collect musical materials that will serve as the building blocks for your composition. Maybe you’ve had an idea in your notebook, and now you’re getting around to writing it. Maybe you’ve got sketches all over the place (on napkins and whatnot) and they need to be consolidated. By collecting these musical materials, you'll have a pool of resources to draw from when you start planning your piece.

I used to try starting from absolute zero with a plan, and then I realized that was a terrible idea - at least for me. It’s definitely better to have some materials that you can use to create a plan with. 

If it’s a song with lyrics, I will at least have some of those lyrics on hand for this planning phase. You don’t have to have all of the lyrics completed, just enough for you to know the central ideas of the song.

Purpose of the Piece

What kind of music are you creating, and what's the goal of the piece? Is it a pop song that you want to pitch to a record label, or a cinematic score that you want to use in a film? Defining the purpose of your piece can help you stay focused and ensure that your composition aligns with your goals. Of course, not all music has to have some greater “purpose”, it can just be music. Also, if you’re writing for a performer or ensemble, they might have some purpose for the piece (like an anniversary, or the dedication of a new auditorium…something like that)

You might also consider what sort of meaning the piece has. Is it a love song? Is it a piece about the grandeur of nature? Is it a piece that represents some scientific or mathematical principal? Again, music doesn’t have to have a “meaning”, but if it does, the planning phase is a good place to figure that out. 

Scope/Instrumentation

Next up, it's time to consider the scope and instrumentation of your composition. What instruments do you want to use, and how will they work together to create a cohesive sound? How long will the piece be? Is it multi-movement? Is it a single song, or an idea for a full album? 

Sometimes this is really easy. You’ve been asked to write for a particular ensemble, and that ensemble has given you some parameters. Like this piece I wrote for a percussion ensemble. It was for 4 performers, and I was told to keep it under 15 minutes long. Furthermore, because of the nature of this ensemble, I was asked to only use metallic percussion instruments. So, those decisions were made for me; which means in the planning phase, I wasn’t deciding which instruments to use, so much as how I would use them.

Other things to consider here (and it’s okay if you don’t know them just yet): What key will you be in, and what tempo will you set? Consider the genre and style of music you're working with, as well as the emotional journey you want to take your listeners on.

Emotional Journey

Speaking of emotional journeys, it's important to think about the emotional arc of your composition. What kind of mood or atmosphere do you want to create, and how will you achieve that through your musical elements? Consider how the melody, harmony, and rhythm can work together to evoke different emotions and feelings in your listeners. You might even want to create a musical map that outlines the emotional journey of your piece, from the opening notes to the final resolution.

Timeline on an 11x17 paper

I like to start all of my pieces with a timeline, that I put on a single 11x17 sheet of paper. You basically start on the left with the beginning of the work with the end of the piece on the right. I like to start by marking time (in minutes and seconds). Then I’ll place the materials that I know I have where I want them (major themes, melodies, etc). You can also mark down emotion words, and colors, and energy levels - all the stuff you just figured out in that emotional journey section.

The Resources I Use

So what do I like to have on hand to plan a piece of music? Honestly, all you really need is a piece of paper and a pen to do what I have suggested above. But. Here are some items that I have found very handy in this process.

1) Like I just mentioned, I like to work on 11x17” pieces of paper. It just gives me more room for ideas. 8x11” is totally fine too, if that’s what you’ve got on hand.

2) This is my sheet music book of choice. It’s got 18 staves, so it’s great for working with a lot of instruments at once. If you want something more notebook sized, this is a good choice.

3) This is a pen that has 5-points so you can draw a music staff on a blank paper. Very handy.

4) I like to have a ruler on hand for marking straight lines and edges.

5) You might also find it helpful to have an instrument nearby - but honestly, I like to do this stage of the process without an instrument so that I focus on the planning, and not on the writing.

Final Thoughts

Planning is an essential part of the music composition process. By taking the time to collect musical materials, define the purpose of your piece, consider the scope and instrumentation, and create an emotional journey, you can create a cohesive and intentional piece of music that aligns with your creative goals. Plus, by creating a timeline to guide your composition process, you can stay organized and productive from start to finish.

But. Here’s the other extreme - that I’m also guilty of: you can spend so much time planning the piece that you never actually get around to writing it. At a certain point, you’ve got a good enough plan, and you’ve just got to start writing. The piece will become something you never intended - but that’s okay, you’ve also got to be willing to listen to what the piece wants and where it wants to go…but that’s a completely different blog post.

So - if you’ve never done it before - the next time you sit down to write a new piece of music, take the time to plan it out. It may seem like an extra step, but in the long run, I have found that it will save you time, energy, and headaches.

Next time, we will talk about the actual writing phase of the composition process. I hope you’ll join me. Make sure you’ve got your copy of the Beginner’s Guide to the Composition + Songwriting Process.

further reading

Introduction to the Composition + Songwriting Process

Why have a Process?

There are a lot of steps and a lot of moving parts when writing a song, or a piece of music. This is why it's really easy to get stuck and frustrated, or even to abandon a project entirely.

It's much easier to accomplish anything if you've got a plan. And for years in my own writing journey, I would constantly get stuck. Whenever I would begin a new piece, things would start off great, until I hit some sort of a wall, and it was like trying to reinvent the wheel every single project. So, I finally had to sit down and write out my personal process for writing a piece of music. Anything that I did that made writing a piece easier, or anything that if I didn't do - I'd have to come back later and do it anyway. Take all of that and put it in a nice linear format, and you've got yourself a bit of an algorithm for writing music.

Of course, it doesn't quite work that nicely. Composition is a messy art. It's not linear, and that's exactly why you need a map. Something you can go back to when you end up lost off the beaten path and unsure which way to go now.

Each and every composer needs their own personal process - we each have a different brain. Our field is an art. This is not a McDonald's, where the goal is to put out an identical product each and every time. We each have our own voice, and our own personality, and our own workflow which produces the results that we want.

However, I think there are four phases to the composition process, regardless of the composer; regardless of the style of music, or era of history.

This is the start of a Five Part series, taking an in-depth look at the composition process. Today, I'll just give an overview of the four phases, and then the next four posts will look at each of them in more detail.

What makes it a composition?

Let's start by defining a composition. There are many ways to write music, and a composition is a specific type of written music. All of the types of written music are valid and good, I'm not trying to elevate one over another, I'm just trying to focus all of us on the same idea. Disclaimer: These are the definitions I'm giving for the sake of this series, other musicians might have varying definitions.

1. A Composition is Original

A composition is a work of music that is new and original to the composer who wrote it. This distinguishes a composition from an arrangement, or a cover. With arrangements and covers, (generally) another composer wrote the source material, and you are just putting your own spin on it. This takes a great deal of skill and consideration, but it's not what I'm talking about in this series. Maybe we'll do a different series on how to do a cover.

So, a composition then, is a work that all of the material is original to the composer (or composers, in the case of a co-write). That's important for our purposes because it gives a composition its own specific process.

2. A Composition is different from an Improvisation

The fact that a composition is planned separates it from an improvisation. You'll often find musicians who have a propensity towards one or the other. I am on the composition side. I have very little ability to improvise. I find that it is very similar to those who can stand up and give a rousing speech of the top of their heads, versus those who do much better to sit down and carefully craft a novel. It's often two separate skill sets.

There's also no editing an improvisation - you know, by definition. Once you've played your saxophone solo, it's over - there's no redo. Of course, once you get into the recording studio with jazz musicians, the line between composition and improvisation starts to blur.

But here we are talking about a planned, crafted, and edited work of music - known as a composition.

One other note: Some might make a distinction between a composer and a songwriter - but I do both and they both have the exact same process for me. So, these four phases apply to both songs and instrumental compositions.

A Free PDF

For this series, I've made an infographic PDF of the entire composition + songwriting process that we're talking about - and it's free when you sign up for my email list. It's also an interactive PDF, so it has links to 16 additional composition resources. You can get your free copy of it here, and follow along as we go the next four posts.

The Four Phases

So what are these four phases? You can break the composition process into the Planning Phase, the Writing Phase, the Editing Phase, and the Transferral Phase.

Planning Phase

Like I mentioned earlier, a composition is planned. Even if you start with a template (say "Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus"), that's still a plan. You're deciding a number of things about the piece before you actually get into the writing of it:

- What's it going to be about?
- What instruments are involved?
- What compositional techniques are you going to use?
- How long will it be?
- What emotions do you want to portray?

And maybe you don't know the answer to some of these things to begin with, but I have found deciding on some of these things before I start writing makes the process go a lot smoother.

The planning phase can look vastly different depending on the style of music. If you're writing film or video game music, the planning phase is very different than a piece that is not written for picture.

Writing Phase

Once you've got a pretty good plan, it's time to start writing. I have found this to be the least linear phase out of the four. I often like to think of the steps in this phase as a checklist rather than a progression. I'll work on a lyric here, a melody there, go back and work on that lyric, then oh, I just had an idea for the B section. It's a rather messy endeavor. This particular section is the place where I get lost most often - but that's why I developed a process. I can always go back and look at the process, and I can also go back and look at the plan I made during the planning phase.

The goal with this phase is to end up with a first draft. I tend to not try to do any fixing during this stage - just get it all out of my head as quickly and as orderly as possible.

Editing Phase

Three main things happen for me in this phase.

1. A music edit. I go back and listen to see what isn't working. A horn part that is not playable. A section where the pacing is too slow. A lyric that's clunky and a little cheesy. A transition that was too abrupt. Those sorts of things

2. Go look for feedback. Composition can be a lonely sport. You've been in your own head the whole time, it's time to bring some other brain into the process.

3. A Notation edit. Unlike the music edit, I'm just looking for things that are out of place in the score this pass. That dynamic marking is in the wrong spot, these two staves are too close to each other. Are my page margins wide enough? Super tedious stuff. Also, something that you may not need to worry about if your goal is to recording.

Transferral Phase

This one might need a different name, but it's the best single word I could find to describe this part of the process.

So we have our final composition - there are typically one of two goals:

1) Record it for audiences to listen to
2) Write it down to hand to players who will perform it for an audience to listen to

Obviously, this particular phase might depend on which style of music you're writing for - as more classical music tends to be the second option, and more popular music tends to be more of the first option.

Of course, there's always that third option where you're going to both write it down, and record it.

The point in all three of these options is that you are taking this idea that was in your head, and you are turning into something that can be understood by another human.

The Series continues...

So, that's a quick overview of the composition process.

Stay tuned for the next four posts where we will look into each of the four phases in detail. Starting with Planning Your Composition.

In the meantime, make sure to get your copy of the Beginner's Guide to the Composition Process.

How To Start (Over)

I’m trying to start writing music again - after about 6 months off. 

I didn’t mean for it to happen…but sometimes life happens. And I think we have to be okay with that. 

It’s an interesting to be working through. It’s not like I’m doing something I don’t like, or even learning something new.

This is a journal entry, of sorts, into my journey of starting over. I’ve got three thoughts that I hope will help you if you are in the same place.

1. Start Small

If you’ve been on an extended hiatus from composing, you might want to just try jumping back into your old routine. Let me tell you from my recent experience - it doesn’t work. It’s like I was a marathon runner and then I did nothing but sit on the couch and eat potato chips for five years…and my first day back I tried to run 20 miles…at my old pace.  

Taking a break is fine, a slow start after a break is fine.

So, I’ve been trying to write for 5 minutes a day. Only 5 minutes. Whatever I get done in that time is what I get done. I’m going to stay at 5 minutes until I feel like I can write longer.

As you can imagine, not much can get done in 5 minutes. And that’s okay. But, it didn’t take many days until I had forgotten about time and I was going for 10 - 15 minutes.

So - give yourself the grace to start small.
2. Establish a Writing Routine

Once you’ve gotten back in the habit of showing up every day and writing - establish a writing routine.

Now. A quick caution here. If you had a writing routine before your hiatus, it might not work this time around. Your life situation may have changed, the amount of time you can devote may be smaller. And also, this is just the second step after ‘write for 5 minutes.’ So, establish a writing routine that will facilitate your composing where you are right now.

Establish when and where you will write. How long are these sessions? What do you want to accomplish? Remember to be realistic. Your answer here shouldn’t be: “three hours, and I’m going to write a 30 minute concerto today.” But maybe like, “a 30 minute session where I’ll write the A theme for a solo piano piece”

3. Find a Community

Composition can be a lonely sport. You just sit at your desk, just you and your thoughts. It can be very isolating. You also might have the pervasive thoughts:

“I’m the only one going through this.”

“Maybe I just don’t have it anymore”

“Everything I write is garbage”

I promise, there are other composers are feeling this. (I’d also like to say parenthetically, your identity as a composer isn’t based on productivity) A really good strategy for combatting this is to find a community of musicians and composers who are trying to learn and get better together.

That’s what I’m seeking to create with my new YouTube channel. You can check out more about that here.
There are also a good number of online communities that you could plug into. The /r/composer subreddit is a pretty good one - you can ask all of your questions, ask for feedback on your work, and see that there are others who are in your boat with you.

So, if you’re trying to start over, don’t get discouraged. Try these three things. And remember, it takes time.

Remember why you fell in love with composition in the first place. And just write.

Embracing Chaos in the Writing Process

The composition process is not a straightforward process. It's quite messy.

But we often want it to be streamlined and efficient. "If I just do x, y, and z; I'll have a piece of music." It's even more frustrating when we look at other composers, and it seems effortless for them. You hear stories of songwriters that wrote a song in 15 minutes, while you're sitting there dealing with writer's block, and you think there is a problem with you:

"Maybe if I was just a better composer, I wouldn't be struggling with this"

The problem is not your skill level, but your expectations. The chaos in the composition process isn't a flaw, but a feature. The goal isn't to get rid of the mess, but to use that mess to our advantage. After all, you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, right?

Here are three ways that we can embrace the chaos in the composition process.

1. Write What You Know First

Notation Softwares, by their nature, force you into linear writing starting at measure 1.

Recording softwares do as well. When you open up a new project, there is a clear expectation that you are working from left to right, and you need to know what you're doing every single measure.

But that's not always what you know. You may only have a lyric fragment or a motif, and you don't know exactly when you're going to use it. Don't give into the temptation to start at measure 1. Write what you know first, and then work your way out from there.

That's one of the reasons I like working on paper - I can work more freely in space. I will either work on large orchestra paper where I can spread out my thoughts, or in a little moleskine notebook that I can carry on the go with me. Both of these options allow me to sketch out ideas without needing to polish them. And they are both helpful when it comes to [starting a new piece].

2. Get To The Double Bar

Speaking of polishing an idea: Don't worry about perfecting any one section - get to the double bar. What do I mean? As quickly as possible, sketch out the entire piece (without having every single answer to every question). Think of this as scaffolding which is set up so that real construction can occur.

Before you start this, it can be nice to have a plan. A rough outline of the structure of the work. I will usually do a timeline before moving on to the short score (where I sketch it out from end to end). Note, with this sketch, I will still work outwards from what I know, filling in the gaps as I figure them out. Still don't feel the pressure to work from left to right.

Don't disrupt the flow of getting your ideas out of your head by tweaking minute details. It's difficult to just let this happen: "what if that idea doesn't make sense? what will the cellos play in that section? How is the voicing of this chord?"

All of this can feel very chaotic - almost like you have no control anymore. But it's a good thing - you are making progress, even if you've made a mess.

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3. Let the Piece Tell You Where It Wants to Go

Which brings us to the 3 way to embrace chaos: let the piece tell you where it wants to go.

Your original idea might not be the best for the piece. You've got to be willing to toss out the playbook if the piece tells you it wants to go somewhere else.

There's a saying in writing that you need to be willing to cut your best ideas if it isn't what is best for the project. Even if it's the idea you thought this entire work would be based on.

I once wrote a piece and I wanted this big climax, followed by this one particular chord progression that would be a very soft pianissimo - it's the first idea I had for the piece, and I thought I was working everything else up to this one moment. But, when I actually finished the work and listened to it - I knew immediately, it didn't work. It was really difficult to cut it from the final score - but it was best for the piece.

Often, one of the reasons that the writing process feels chaotic is because we are demanding order where there is none.

further reading

Scaling the Wall: A Composer's Guide to Overcoming Writer's Block

Check out my new eBook!

Even though there’s probably not any hard research on it, I feel pretty confident stating that exactly 100% of composer’s throughout the course of history have experienced Writer’s Block. Put it right there on the list of inevitables with death and taxes.

I know this is a topic on a lot of composer’s minds. Almost every single masterclass or lecture I’ve given to a group of composers, one of the questions at the end is always about dealing with writer’s block. It’s perhaps the question I get asked most often.

I have certainly dealt with it more times than I would like - I feel like my ADHD might impact the frequency. And somehow, each and every time it feels like reinventing the wheel to get out of it. So, for the last few years, I’ve been meticulously documenting exactly what has happened when I fell into writer’s block, what I did to get out of it, and what I did to maintain creativity.

And today, I’m excited to announce that I have compiled all of those strategies into a step-by-step guide, and I’ve put that guide into an eBook for all composer’s to use the next time they inevitably fall into writer’s block.

We’ll look at 1) how to get out of writer’s block, 2) the importance of mental health and creating a healthy relationship with your work, and 3) strategies for maintaining creativity.

All of the things in this eBook are strategies that I personally use in my daily life as a composer, and I think you will find this guide immensely helpful.

So if you are stuck in the pit of writer’s block, desperately looking for a ladder to scale the wall, check out this guide.