Balancing Time To Compose Music - Tips
This blog is about the struggle that many composers like myself have. Balancing extra activities outside of music that can cause a set back while trying to pursue a composing career. I myself have a part-time job and I’m also in my final year in university studying for my bachelors degree in music. These two extra activities alone take up the majority of my week which is problematic when trying to find time to learn new skills and write music for a portfolio for a professional career. Luckily for me studying music at university and specialising in composition, gives me time to compose music but it is not always the music I want to write(Film/Game), as a lot of the time I am writing contemporary style music for assignments. This can be a set back as when I go to sit down and try to write music for my next track I am usually trying to write when I don’t want to because I am tired but “I feel like I have to because I will have no other time”. This can be the case for many composers and it is a problem that can cause you to become very discouraged when trying to compose because the material you are writing is not up to your usual standard. Therefore you are forcing yourself to compose when you might not feel like it and in my experience my writing and creative process is quite negative when I feel like this and I can come across a lot of writer blocks. So as someone who struggles with these problems I am hoping I can share some small tips I have found that help me overcome these set backs tips that might help you with finding time to compose
your music.
1 - Create a Composing Schedule
This idea might seem simple and very obvious but a lot of people don’t do it. If you are like me and have a very busy week, try to find however many days or even hours you have free and plan at least one day or a certain amount of hours, that you will sit down and compose. This will get you into the routine of composing on that day and you will have something to look forward to during the week. Instead of forcing yourself to compose at random times when you might not be as productive.
2 - Record Your Melodies on the Go
This is a new approach I have begun to use, when I am not at home I will use my smart phone to record melodies so I do not forget them. This can be very useful and can save a lot of time, so you don’t have to mess around in your DAW or at a piano to try write a new melody. Simply sing a melody into your phone and save it then once you get home transfer that file into your DAW. The DAW I use is Logic Pro x and when you import an audio file you can convert that file to midi data so you can now edit that audio and use it as midi ready for your next track.
3 - Always Save Unfinished Tracks
This is one tip I did not use when I started composing. If I was starting a new track and I was not liking the direction the track was going I would sometimes get frustrated and get a writers block and end up scrapping and deleting the track. Always save your unfinished tracks as you never know when an idea might strike you to go back to that track. There is no worse feeling when you get a new idea and you realise that track is now gone. In my opinion I would say also keep an unfinished track saved for a certain amount of time just incase you might want to go back to it at some other
point.
4 - Always Try to Learn Something New
This once again might seem obvious to most people but it is something I have found to have a positive effect on my own compositions. Try to not always reuse the same chord progressions or not to use the same musical style. I have seen many composes become predictable with their music as they don’t try to change or progress as a composer which can hinder them in the long run. So try new approaches to your tracks, whether this means trying new chord progressions, new instrumentation that you don’t usually use, or learning new effects to use within your DAW. Even though sometimes learning these new elements might cut into your schedule for composing, but it is worth it in the end as you develop new skills that will benefit you to improve your music compositional skills and the tracks you go on to produce from this.