Top 16 How Long Does It Take To Compose Music Trust The Answer

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How long does it take to compose a music?

Most major artists will be looking at between three and 30 months to write all their tracks and usually with a great deal of help. Some of this writing may be done in the studio as part of the recording process though too.

How fast do composers write music?

Most composers get to comfortably write a mean of 2 minutes of music per day, scores with few instruments and lots of relaxed music can be written faster, busy action or comedy sequences might get along slower so there might indeed be a span between 20 seconds to 10 minutes a day (which could also happen on the same …

Is it hard to compose music?

Composing takes a lot of hard work.

In fact, you have to have some serious intestinal fortitude to make it through. But the payoff is great at the end. Discipline will also allow you to write a lot of music, which is a key ingredient to becoming a better composer.

Is composing music easy?

Composing has some unique challenges, and it’s important to understand what you’re up against. Many of these will probably be familiar to you: There is too much to learn, not enough time to learn it, and it’s hard to understand on it’s own. Endless possibilities make starting pieces easy, but finishing them difficult.

How long does it take for Taylor Swift to write a song?

Most of the time, songs that I write end up being finished in 30 minutes or less. “Love Story” I wrote on my bedroom floor in about 20 minutes. When I get on a roll with something, it’s really hard for me to put it down unfinished. What’s the story behind “Love Story”?

Is 2 minutes enough for a song?

The length of a song on an album doesn’t matter for anyone except for the artist and fans, but a song that hopes to make money and be played on the radio simply has to be a certain length. Either that, or radio stations will edit the song down to the standard, making it three to four minutes, just like the 45.

How long did it take Beethoven to write a symphony?

Beethoven was already growing deaf when he started his fifth symphony in 1804. He began working on it short after finishing his third symphony. Even so, he was working on so many other works at the time, it took him four years to complete it.

How many hours do composers work?

During busy periods, a composer might work over 100 hours a week while rushing to meet deadlines. Compensation for this type of work varies widely.

Is composing music a talent?

Is composing music a talent? There is no question that to become a Composer requires a certain amount of talent. But it’s also true that just about everyone who can hear and appreciate good music probably has enough talent to at least take a stab at writing some music.

Can anybody be a composer?

Yes, anyone can learn to compose music.

Unlike what people think, most composers are not geniuses or prodigies. And the most genius and prodigious people are not necessarily the best composers.

What skills do composers need?

Composer skills
  • Attention to detail. When writing their pieces, attention to detail can help composers ensure they include every aspect of the music musicians need to know in order to perform the piece correctly. …
  • Industry knowledge. …
  • Creativity. …
  • Musical ability. …
  • Communication. …
  • Visualization.

Can kids compose music?

Anyone can be a composer! Though it may seem intimidating at first, composing music does not have to be a difficult thing – by the end of this post, you’ll already have composed your first (and perhaps second and third) piece of music.

Why is it hard to make a song?

Why is songwriting so hard? Songwriting is a creative process by nature. As such, there isn’t a specific formula to come up with the answer like there is in algebra, for example. Songwriter’s imaginations can get derailed by outside distractions making it difficult to create song ideas.

Do you need music theory to compose?

So, Can You Compose Without Theory? Technically yes – if for instance you surround yourself with very competent musicians that can transcribe what you sing, find the chords to that melody, create the sounds that you have in mind, etc… then yes, you can definitely compose without knowing theory.

How long does it take to make a professional song?

Professional Songwriters Can Finish An Entire Song & Demo In A Day Or Two. When I’ve written with professional writers, we usually have a full song by the end of the session. Depending on who you’re working with and their process, you may have a demo by the end of the day as well.

How long does it take to compose a symphony?

but i suspect for the average it would probably be around 8-10 months. Some needing only 8 weeks. A forum community dedicated to classical music musicians and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about arrangements, collections, techniques, instruments, styles, reviews, classifieds, and more!

How many hours do songwriters work?

When facing a deadline, they may have to work more than eight hours a day or 40 hours a week. Also, songwriters are generally responsible for recording their own demos and must pay for recording studio time, studio musicians, and production expenses.


How Long Does It Take To Become A Successful Composer???
How Long Does It Take To Become A Successful Composer???


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What is an adequate time frame for writing the score?

The main problem often lies in the fact, that originally the time frame for the music might be set quite comfortably but due to the natural delay of most departments before the music (as music is quite at the end of the production chain) but the release date not being changed that time window shrinks often to nerve-wrecking few days or weeks.

To get a proper understanding of what is adequate time frame for your composer, you need to know his/her working speed.

Most composers get to comfortably write a mean of 2 minutes of music per day, scores with few instruments and lots of relaxed music can be written faster, busy action or comedy sequences might get along slower so there might indeed be a span between 20 seconds to 10 minutes a day (which could also happen on the same movie, depending on the scene that is being scored). However the mean of two minutes per day is a good standard. So let’s say you have a movie that needs 60 minutes of music. This would mean that your composer would need approximately 30 full working days on it. On a 6-day week this would mean 5 weeks. However if you also want demos, your composer will be slowed down needing to produce them, which might end up in a mean as low as one minute of music each day. Unless you offer enough budget for him to outsource this job (or outsource the writing of the score sheet, depending on where he feels more comfortable) you might need to be prepared for this speed. Another slowdown will be rewrites which will happen on most projects, so depending on how picky you are, you might want to add another 1 to 2 weeks as buffer for that. Additionally to the writing time you have to plan in time for him/her to actually come up with the material (like themes, motifs) and the overal language of the music (which instruments, which special musical devices to make it original and unique). A comfortable frame for that might be two to three weeks. In this time he/she can also demo themes for you and do a few revisions until you agree on the material and tone. Another time factor to be added is what happens after the composition is finished. The score sheets need to be copied and prepared for the musicians, the musicians/orchestra has to be recorded and mixed. On a 60 minute score, copying will take about 2-5 days, the recording will take probably three days and the mixing another three days. With a bit of buffer time in between (travel time for the composer) you end up with additional 2-2.5 weeks.

So at the scenario where your composer has the chance to outsource the demo production or score sheet writing and can actually compose two minutes a day, with the usual amount of rewrites and the regular time it takes to prepare, record, mix you would end up on a production frame for the music of your 60 minute score of 12 weeks or 3 months. This is a comfortable time frame and can be shortened if you make more budget available. The composer might be able to outsource more tasks like orchestration, might be able to book a huge copying company which can copy the parts in 1 night etc to shrink down that time frame. Of course, he/she can also work through nights and raise the composing speed to 3 to 4 or even more minutes per day but it will make the quality suffer. There’s an old saying between film composers which goes “Do you want it good or do you want it now?”

Keep these figures in mind when you plan your post production.

Can You Learn How To Compose Music?

Learning How to Compose Music – Chasing a Dream?

Learning to compose music is a funny thing. I seem to hear a lot, and read a lot, that composing cannot be taught. Why is it that so many people think this? Is it true that composition can’t be taught?

Throughout the article, I’ll keep a tally of what can be taught and what cannot. Hopefully, at the end, the number is greater on the “can be taught” side.

The Skills, Resources and Knowledge of a Composer

First we have to look at what is involved with learning how to compose music. It is a little more than just teaching people to be creative. What skills do composer’s possess? Were these skills intrinsic in them?

Learning to Read and Understand Music Notation and Theory

Obviously the first step should be a basic understanding of music notation and theory. Yes, you can compose without knowing how to read and write music. But your growth as a composer will be short lived. If you don’t understand what you are writing, and what others have written in the past, then you will quickly find your inspiration drying up. You may listen to a lot of music, and figure out some of the stuff you like by ear, but good luck figuring our an entire Mahler symphony by ear.

Can they be learned? Yes, music notation and theory can be learned. Tally 1 for “Can Learn How to Compose Music.” 0 for the “Can’t Learn How to Compose Music” crowd.

Discipline

I list this as the second skill, because once you start composing, and learning music theory, you’ll find that discipline is vital. Composing takes a lot of hard work. You may be struck with inspiration to write a symphony, but can inspiraton carry you through the process of writing out each part, listening back, checking for errors… Probably not. In fact, you have to have some serious intestinal fortitude to make it through. But the payoff is great at the end.

Discipline will also allow you to write a lot of music, which is a key ingredient to becoming a better composer. Look at the greats, they have all put out a ton of music.

Can discipline be learned? Not as much learned as cultivated. But every time you practice discipline, you get a little bit better at it, until, voila! You are disciplined. Tally another one for “Can be learned.” Still 0 for the other guys.

Creativity

This is a tough one. I have yet to hear a great definition of what creativity is, especially in connection with composing. For things like novelty, seeing things in a different way, perspicacity (big word, basically being mentally sharp, and more specifically with composing, being able to spot your good ideas), these are things that can be improved. But for now, I am going to give this one to the can’t be learned group, simply because, if you don’t know exactly what creativity is, then how can you learn it?

I’ll am in the process of doing more research on creativity, so I’ll get back to you on this one.

Tally:

2 – the good guys

1 – can’t be learned

Inspiration

Recently, I read a very interesting book on inspiration. The book, The Voice of the Muse: A Study of the Role of Inspiration in Musical Composition, by Louise Duchesneau. It is a great book minus one thing, half of it is in German or French, neither of which I speak.

Inspiration, kind of like creativity, is hard to pin down, but I think she does it well. She basically puts inspiration into three categories.

Inspiration from Above – From God, the muse, etc. Inspiration from Inside – Dreams, visions, daydreaming Inspiration from Outside – Musical influences, art, literature, science, nature, etc.

I won’t go into detail about inspiration in this post. I think it is a very interesting subject, and I would like to go more into depth in a later post.

Can inspiration be learned? No. If it could, then we would all be inspired all the time. I think what can be improved though, is our ability to recognize what the inspiration is, and how capitalize on it. What do I mean?

Well for example, if you think you’ve been inspired to write a Symphony, what inspired you? Was it a melody you heard? Was it a vision of a peaceful lake? Was it from God? Is the inspiration something concrete, like an actual melody, or is it just a passion to write?

And then what comes when the inspiration goes away, which eventually, it will, if only temporarily? This is where discipline comes in.

So another one for “Can’t learn how to compose music.” Not looking so great. But wait… there is one more thing.

Connection

I think the best thing that you can do to learn how to compose music, is to start connecting with other composers. We have this image, mostly from the Romantic era, of the “lone composer,” struggling by candle light to compose his masterpiece alone. He hasn’t eaten for days, and all he’s had to drink is a glass of wine… blah, blah, blah. It’s not really true. It’s more of a fantasy.

Once again, all of the great composers of the past, have been in places where there were other composers. Most of them cultivated relationships, and critiqued each others music. Just look at the correspondence between Mahler and Strauss.

Connecting once again, is a skill that can be learned. Sometimes you have to force yourself, but when you do, it will improve your composing. It may not be through direct “criticism,” either. It may be the ethereal “Inspiration,” or it could just be a kick in the pants to start composing again. In fact, almost anything can be improved by connecting with other composers.

The Final Tally

Can learn how to compose music – 3 Can’t learn how to compose music – 2

So the good guys won. Yay! Seriously though, don’t let anyone bring you down by telling you that composing can’t be learned. Just keep at it. Look at it like anything else, learning to paint, type, or even drive a car. You will get better the more you do it.

It doesn’t matter that you cannot learn inspiration or creativity. They will come. Everything else can be improved. Everything else must be improved. Its all preparation for when you do get inspiration and feel creative. If you have not prepared, then when inspiration comes, you will not be able to capitalize on it.

What do you think? Can you learn how to compose music?

Jon

How to Compose Music

What does it take to learn composition?

The fastest way to learn composition is to memorize small fragments of music, and then learn to change and combine those fragments in very specific ways.

The process of changing it, actually forces you to understand it.

When I started Art of Composing in 2011, I had a loose idea of the things I needed to learn. But it wasn’t very clear in my mind.

So I set out reading just about every music theory or composition book I could get my hands on. And I blogged about it at the same time.

What is your motivation for composing?

Since launching my original free composing course on youtube back in 2011, I’ve asked many of the 35,000 people who’ve taken it what their goals are for composing.

If any of these describe you, keep reading.

You want to compose music that clearly expresses yourself and your emotions in a way that others understand. You want to create music mostly for yourself, but you’re interested in film, TV, and video games. You want to write down what you hear inside your head, and from that create longer works, hit songs, or just a good piece of music. You want to understand how music works, but your music theory is a little bit… shall we say… sketchy.

Your goals may be slightly different, but in the end, we all want some of the same things. To express ourselves, to bring joy to others through music, and to just simply create.

Learning composition is a process that will take time. There is a lot you don’t know, and that’s okay.

Composition is rewarding because there is no end to learning and growing.

You Already Have Listening Experience, and Background Knowledge

We all come to music with a lifetime of listening experiences. I grew up playing trumpet in wind bands and jazz bands.

Others may have had no experience playing at all.

We also learn little tidbits about music along the way. Confusing quotes like “Music is the space between the notes,” which happens to be simultaneously attributed to Miles Davis, Claude Debussy, and Mozart.

This is your background knowledge – everything you’ve learned about music until this very moment.

You then focus on one specific composition skill at a time. This could be something as small as writing a note correctly by hand or as big as a symphony.

Starting with small skills makes the whole process flow better.

A composition skill should be a repeatable process.

Harmony, melody, form – these are not skills. They are categories.

A composition skill should be repeatable, and have a clear goal.

So here is a goal for you. Compose a one note piece of music, right now.

Let’s accomplish this very basic composition skill together, and through this, I think I can show you how you’ll approach learning composition in general.

Grab a pencil, staff paper, and compose with me right now.

Download staff paper here. It will open in a new tab.

Step 1 – Set some restrictions for yourself

Let’s be deliberate about this. Your goal is to compose for me, a 1 note piece of music.

So let’s start with laying out the boundaries.

Restrictions will help to open up our creativity, because they filter out unnecessary ideas from your brain.

For instance, you can throw away any ideas you have that are two notes or longer.

Right now, I just want one note. But we’re going to make it a great note.

Pick each of these before we start sketching and write them down in the corner of the paper.

The tempo. The time signature. The key signature. What instrument or instruments will be playing the note.

If you want, you can just watch me do it.

I pick a slow tempo, about 60 beats per minute, also known as 1 beat per second. The time signature is, 4/4. I don’t want to overcomplicate this. The key signature is C major. Because… it’s C major. The instrument I choose for this example is the violin.

Pretty simple right? Now that we have the boring stuff out of the way, let’s get on to the good stuff.

Step 2 – The process of composing, in one note

Let’s imagine your note for a second. Now you don’t need to hear the note before hand in your mind. You can start to get closer to the note you want, without hearing.

Is it a high range note, middle range note, or low note?

Is it loud or soft?

How should the note change over time?

How long is the note?

Here’s what I can imagine.

I hear a note, it’s middle range. The note is… soft. Very soft. In fact, it is as soft as the violin player can play. Yes, I see the violin player. Heart pounding on stage. The conductor, about to give the upbeat. And the note begins. With the lightest touch of the bow, the string begins to just barely scratch out a sound. But as the second beat hits, the note gets louder. The player puts more pressure. It gets gritty. By the third beat, the note is very loud, and then suddenly without warning, the violinist accelerates the bow, to leave the ring of an open low G string.

Now, write that down. A low G, 3 beats long, starting very soft (pp), and getting very loud (fff).

Hopefully, you could see and hear in your mind what I just described to you.

It’s a little bit like a story, and you have the ability to imagine music in your head with the same clarity. It also develops and changes as you create it.

Now imagine doing this for more than just one note.

What do we mean when we say “compose music”?

It’s always helpful to have a clear definition when learning a new topic. Music composition is no different.

Musical composition is the process of making or forming a piece of music by combining the parts, or elements of music.

Composing isn’t about being totally unique. The search for ever more novelty has lead to a lot of incomprehensible music.

It’s also not about just copying the past.

What Composers Actually Do

We create music based on our past experience and shared musical vocabularies

Composers don’t create something out of nothing.

Take for example, this very famous piece, Pachabel’s Canon in D.

This chord progression and melody, are actually a commonly used chord progression called the Romanesca.

Here it is being used by Mozart in The Magic Flute”.

This is just one of many examples of composer’s learning from, and borrowing from other composers.

Our goal is to eventually create something new and unique, but not before we master that which has come before us.

How then, do we go about learning to compose music?

The Unique Challenges and Goals of Learning to Compose

Composing has some unique challenges, and it’s important to understand what you’re up against. Many of these will probably be familiar to you:

There is too much to learn, not enough time to learn it, and it’s hard to understand on it’s own.

Endless possibilities make starting pieces easy, but finishing them difficult.

It’s difficult to compose without inspiration, which doesn’t always strike.

You can’t accurately transcribe what you hear in your head, which means your music sounds different than you imagine.

Your music theory knowledge is weak and you’re not sure how to apply it.

You waste a lot of time trying to put together a coherent path to understanding composition.

Finally, it’s really difficult to see how it all this can come together.

Too Much to Learn, Not Enough Time to Learn It, And It’s All Connected

At a basic level, learning to compose is overwhelming because there is a lot you need to know for things to click into place, and work together.

For instance, in order to harmonize a melody, you need to understand how harmony works. But in order to understand how harmony works, you need to understand how melody effects it.

The simple way around this is to give you very specific exercises which only require specific decisions to be made. For instance, how to write a melody over a chord progression that you already have. Once you can do that, you learn to write chord progressions alone. And then you combine the two skills.

Two separate composing skills become one.

Endless Possibilities Make Starting Easy and Finishing Hard

Endless possibilities make expressing your emotions in an original way challenging. Combine this with a small dose of perfectionism, and you’re stuck worrying about following rules, never finishing pieces.

There are so many great composers creating unique and interesting things. This in itself can be overwhelming.

This amount of freedom also makes it difficult to judge your own work and progress.

Once again, there are specific ways to address this so that you finish pieces. Namely very specific restrictions or boundaries that you choose not to cross. More on these later.

Inspiration Doesn’t Always Strike

When inspiration strikes, new composers usually don’t have a problem coming up with ideas. It’s committing to ideas and using them logically.

The problem is, inspiration doesn’t always strike.

It’s important to save your ideas when it does strike, but the real skill is knowing how to use those ideas to create finished pieces.

You Can’t Accurately Transcribe What You Hear In Your Head

But let’s be honest.

Occasionally inspiration strikes, you’re motivated to write, but you can’t take full advantage of it.

To express what you hear in your head, you have to be able to identify what you hear first. It’s not enough to just get close.

Ear training isn’t exactly fun though, and it isn’t really enough either. You want what you write down to actually sound like what you wanted to write down.

To do this you need a reliable process for hearing and experimenting with your ideas.

Your Music Theory is Weak, and You’re Not Sure How to Apply It

Music theory may not be your strongest point.

But you still want to fill in the gaps in your knowledge and learn how to apply the theory to actually writing music that expresses your emotions.

Theory is really just people trying to explain how music works.

So if the theory has good explanatory power, I like to learn it and use it. That’s the kind of theory you’ll learn here.

Music theory is not limited to college textbooks

A lot of music theory is boring, confusing, and doesn’t really help you to compose.

I basically skip that stuff.

Some music theory is extremely valuable for understanding why the music has the emotional effect that it does, by focusing on the critical elements of the music:

Melody – the effect of the single line and how composers have tended to handle the problems of writing melodies. Harmony – how notes and lines sound together at the same time. Form – how any section of your piece can sound like a beginning, middle, or end, and therefore how you can organize it in unique ways to tell your unique musical story.

There is obviously much more to it, but that’s for later on.

Your Wasting Time Trying Finding Good Composition Lessons

Many composers endlessly fish youtube for self-learning resources, trying to figuring out what to study and how to organize it.

But without clear explanations of how composers actually work, the random bits of information seem to fall flat.

I have specifically designed courses to help you put all your random bits of composing knowledge into relationship to each other.

You Have Trouble Seeing How Musical Ideas Work and Should Fit Together

For your ideas to flow effortlessly from your mind to the paper, you need to understand why your ideas work, and how to best use them in order to turn those ideas into finished pieces.

How to Learn Composition

The first step in learning to compose, is realizing that you are just beginning, and not to place too heavy a burden on yourself.

Our job as composers is not to create masterpieces, but instead, piece together a master.

The Grammar of Music

So we begin by learning fundamentals, the grammar of music. For anyone serious about learning composition, it is key to learn the language.

You need to be able to read music notation.

There are many resources for learning to read music out there, and a quick google search should point you in the right direction. You’ll quickly find there isn’t all that much to reading music. The challenge lies more in becoming fluent, than becoming familiar.

But also part of the fundamentals are the basics of music theory. Things such as scales, triads, and seventh chords. These are your building blocks. If music notation the alphabet, these are your words. And much like a child, you probably already have an aural knowledge of these “words”. You know what a major chord sounds like, or what a minor chord sounds like. But as a composer, your knowledge needs to go beyond the aural and superficial level. You need to understand exactly what they are.

If you can read, the next step for you should be to sign up for my free beginner’s composing course, which explains in about the fastest way possible, what all of these basics of music theory are, and how to use them in composition. You’ll receive one email a day, with guidelines, worksheets, and a video.

The Logic of Music

Once you can read and write in music notation, and you know the basics of theory, such as scales, and triads, the next step is to learn how these combine to create small scale, simple music. That is in fact exactly what my free course. The Vocabulary of Composition teaches.

Music’s apparent logic, comes from the fact that most of the music we hear follows the same guidelines. These guidelines become ingrained in our ears, and we expect to hear them. These expectations are built into the music.

The logic is in understanding how to use these expectations.

Start Composing Now by Following My Journey

This series of articles was written for the beginner composer in mind. Where do you begin to learn music composition? What kinds of stuff do you need to have? Do you need a computer, a piano, or a pad of sheet music?

So you have finished reading the how long does it take to compose music topic article, if you find this article useful, please share it. Thank you very much. See more: what do composers call their first attempt at a song?, how long did it take beethoven to write his 9th symphony

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