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#composing

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A thing that keeps happening with this large piece I'm #composing: From time to time, to go forward, I need to zoom out, think about the large scale plan, and decide what harmonies, events and points of arrival I'm aiming for. So I dig out my background sketches... and discover that I already came up with a very good plan last time I did this. But I haven't been following it, and I've written sections I like that contradict it. So I make a new plan, which I'm sure I'll forget too. @composers

Yesterday I was listening to Franck’s D minor symphony, and it struck me how easily he sneaks modulations into other keys under the listener’s nose. I decided to have a look at the score (as a piano reduction; thanks, IMSLP!) and there are more key changes than I ever realized. I plan on doing some in-depth analysis in the hope that it can make my own compositions less bland. #ClassicalMusic #composing

When I'm composing, I find meaning in the act of challenging myself, and/or to make some kind of a puzzle for myself that I have to solve in the music. Oftentimes, I make up rules for myself that I have to follow, like for example when I'm using the knitting pattern for Thordis' fichu as a basis for my compositions (I'll post one of those compositions in the comments - the Finnish Sähkökitarakvartetti playing Hyrnan IV). As you could imagine, this does not make my work simple or easy, or maybe I'm just not clever enough to be able to do this easily in a way that I would be happy with, so - hard mode it is!

When I'm composing with the knitting pattern, I do a lot of experiments and sketches, and then I choose the bits and pieces I like most, and try to make something out of those. It can be really complicated to put the sketches together in a way that makes sense for me. Therefore, while I'm working on the composition, I have to get used to everything sounding terrible before it starts to sound better, and keep chiselling away at the heap of awfulness until something I'm happy with starts emerging.

#CreativePrompts #jazz #improvisation #improvisedmusic #contemporarymusic #composition #composing #icelandicmusic #icelandicjazz #guitar #bigband #compositionalstudies #jazzguitar #compositionstudies #creativity #art #sahkokitarakvartetti #electricguitar
Mistakes have the potential make your art more interesting. They might also ruin everything, but sometimes - sometimes they add interest, because without them the piece might be too “slick” or too regular, or too predictable. My last creative prompt was about creating something endless. While I was working on an “endless” idea recently, I made a small mistake in the process. It resulted in making my "endless" melody much much more interesting. This tiny mistake was so delicate and fell into the tapestry of what I was making, so I let it stay there and it created endless new possibilities for my composition.

#CreativePrompts #jazz #improvisation #improvisedmusic #contemporarymusic #composition #composing #icelandicmusic #icelandicjazz #guitar #bigband #compositionalstudies #jazzguitar #compositionstudies #creativity "art
For as long as I remember I’ve been fascinated with “endlessness” in art, and in life for that matter. Sometimes things appear to be going somewhere but in reality they are not, or maybe they are but there is no start or end to them. In music, we have things like “Shepard tone” and the “Risset rhythm”. I have played around with ideas that have the potential to be “endless”, for example in my composition “Hikk!” for flute, clarinet and bassoon (see comments for link). There I used a kind of a walking bass melody that walked endlessly, switching between walking up a major third and minor second, jumping up and down octaves where practical. The whole piece is derived from this small idea.

I wonder how you can play with similar ideas in poetry, photography, visual art, dance or other art forms. Feel free to try, and let me know in the comments what you come up with.

One more thing - I would love to get prompts and ideas from you, dear creative people of the internet. Tell me about ideas, interesting books or pieces you think I might enjoy.

#CreativePrompts #jazz #improvisation #improvisedmusic #contemporarymusic #composition #composing #icelandicmusic #icelandicjazz #guitar #bigband #compositionalstudies #jazzguitar #compositionstudies #creativity #flute #clarinet #bassoon #woodwindtrio