# What's your main reason for composing?



## Guy Bacos (Aug 19, 2009)

What is your *MAIN* reason for composing?


----------



## The_Dark_Knight (Aug 19, 2009)

To serve humanity. . . 
And build new form of music.


----------



## Thonex (Aug 19, 2009)

I put down #3, but when I started out, it was because I was bitten by the composer bug. I would compose and compose because it's what I loved to do. Then, when I started making a living at it, deadlines kicked in. Now I compose because it's my job, but if I was given time off.... I'd surely take a break from composing. But I'm sure after time I'd get that composing "itch" again.

Good poll. Very soul searching.

AK


----------



## rJames (Aug 19, 2009)

None of the choices really fit very well.

I compose because I have to.

I like to play with the notes to see what will happen. When I compose to a task, I like to figure out how to do use my creativity to fit what the project needs. It is always a puzzle and a learning experience. That's what draws me to composing.


----------



## Guy Bacos (Aug 19, 2009)

Seems to me that would be #3, No?


----------



## rJames (Aug 19, 2009)

I have to compose because of an inner drive to solve puzzles and have learning experiences. Not because I have a job. (because, frankly, I don't)

its complicated...


----------



## Christian Marcussen (Aug 19, 2009)

#3, when I compose. 

But I have a 6 month self-imposed leave now while writing my non-music-related master thesis.


----------



## bryla (Aug 20, 2009)

Because as a music student going through the whole educational system, I got the feeling that I could do something a little bit extra besides playing other peoples tunes.

Now it's #2 for me


----------



## lux (Aug 20, 2009)

choice 3 is very funny and had already 3 votes


----------



## bluejay (Aug 20, 2009)

Love!


----------



## johncarter (Aug 20, 2009)

The thing I love in music and especially in film music is how one music can touch you and make you feel emotions. And that's the main reason for me to compose. I want to touch people


----------



## germancomponist (Aug 20, 2009)

"Composing because its my job #3" doesn`t work here. 

Because I compose I get many jobs. 

So I voted a bitch of ease. :-D


----------



## david robinson (Aug 20, 2009)

hi Guy,
been a composer all my life.
much easier now with computers and such, but mostly is still do it the old fashioned way - pen and paper.
David R.


----------



## Ian Dorsch (Aug 20, 2009)

I compose to crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and to hear the lamentations of the women.


----------



## Guy Bacos (Aug 20, 2009)

lux @ Thu Aug 20 said:


> choice 3 is very funny and had already 3 votes



Why Lux?


----------



## midphase (Aug 20, 2009)

You know how in Close Encounters Richard Dreyfus is compelled to make a mountain out of mashed potatoes and shaving cream? 

I'm like that, except with composition!


----------



## Niah (Aug 20, 2009)

germancomponist @ Thu Aug 20 said:


> So I voted a bitch of ease. :-D



I don't think that option is in the poll


----------



## Stevie (Aug 20, 2009)

Niah @ Thu Aug 20 said:


> germancomponist @ Thu Aug 20 said:
> 
> 
> > So I voted a bitch of ease. :-D
> ...



I think it's leading towards to #5 then.


----------



## Guy Bacos (Aug 20, 2009)

2 guys do it for the chicks, no one does it for the money. When Burt Bacharach was asked what was his incentive in writing music, he answered: "Money!" 

Maybe Piet will chime in and say "Burt never said such thing!" Just kidding Piet  

But I'm afraid he did say that.


----------



## _taylor (Aug 20, 2009)

I voted for hot chicks because, well, is there any other reason?

:twisted: :D 




Oh and the fact I am completely obsessed with creating music and feel like if I don't write my heart will explode... alas, that was not an option.


----------



## Niah (Aug 20, 2009)

Ian Dorsch @ Thu Aug 20 said:


> I compose to crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and to hear the lamentations of the women.



hahahah that scene rocks 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PQ6335puOc


----------



## Rob Elliott (Aug 20, 2009)

...cause it is the one thing I'd do for free (shhh, don't tell anyone.)


o


----------



## Ed (Aug 20, 2009)

I voted with my deluded hopes. 

No. 5. 


But i dont do the kind of music hot chicks get all sexed up over.


----------



## Stevie (Aug 21, 2009)

Niah @ Fri Aug 21 said:


> Ian Dorsch @ Thu Aug 20 said:
> 
> 
> > I compose to crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and to hear the lamentations of the women.
> ...



I'm so glad I saw this movie synchronized in German. 
I would have laughed my ass off with that ridiculous
voice of Arnold. Makes you lose any respect of barbarians.


----------



## Hal (Aug 21, 2009)

None
its because this is what i love doing
i studies a lot of stuff but i worked in music
composition is freedom
i love sitting on the piano and play what i feel,put my self into sadness or romance EVEN if i am on a project i can change my mood or compose somthing else out of the project just to change ideas.

so you know actually even when i take a break from composition,i compose


----------



## Ed (Aug 21, 2009)

Hal I think that fits under 2...


----------



## germancomponist (Aug 22, 2009)

Stevie @ Thu Aug 20 said:


> Niah @ Thu Aug 20 said:
> 
> 
> > germancomponist @ Thu Aug 20 said:
> ...



Ha Ha Ha :D


----------



## Niah (Aug 22, 2009)

well it wouldn't surprise me if people voted as a joke as well  

composers are lab rats who live in their studios, much like directors or writers, people may know their names but don't even know how they look like although that may be changing now with facebook, youtube and the sorts

At least I remember that for me, years ago names like john williams, or elfman or zimmer or whatever were just names on a CD cover 

but it's a completely different scenario IMO when it comes to actors or other stage performers. I still act now and then and I am talking mostly about my experiences so don't know how it is with you guys

but whenever I meet these "chicks" in person I always get this reaction "oh I thought you were some old man with a baton...like john williams or something" ~o) 

hopefully Brian Tyler will change everything for us :lol:


----------



## mf (Aug 22, 2009)

I understand this thread is in good fun, but the title question is one of the most serious composers have to face. The answer options seem to be only two: appreciation (money, fame) or self-gratifying fooling around with sounds. But since the second hardly works with the title of composer (because otherwise a cat on the piano is a composer, is it?), there really is no option there but one commandment: get rich or die trying.


----------



## Niah (Aug 22, 2009)

now wait a minute

like others have confessed I really am in this for the love of the game

music is probably the only thing in the world where I don«'t need any extra motivation like money or a boss 

I wake up and go to bed thinking about music, not jobs, gigs, clients, projects....but music

If I don't do music I am miserable, but if I am not happy with the music that I am doing I am also miserable


----------



## Frederick Russ (Aug 22, 2009)

"What's your MAIN reason for composing?"

Smith: Why, Mr Anderson, Why?
Neo: Because I choose to.


----------



## groove (Aug 22, 2009)

"You shoot I score !" 

I'm not sure who said that..perhaps J Williams talking to S Spielberg ?

I just love composing and it became my job 8)


----------



## poseur (Aug 22, 2009)

not being disingenuous, here:
i think my complex motivation to compose doesn't have very much to do
with "reason" and/or "reasons".

d


----------



## _taylor (Aug 22, 2009)

Guy Bacos @ Fri Aug 21 said:


> I can't believe the hot chicks got 3 votes, it was almost a joke option, at least people are being honest. I don't composer for the chicks but love performing for them




Hot chicks... a joke??? never! Blasphemy! 


ps. This forum needs a :sarcastic: smiley.


----------



## lux (Aug 22, 2009)

Guy Bacos @ Thu Aug 20 said:


> lux @ Thu Aug 20 said:
> 
> 
> > choice 3 is very funny and had already 3 votes
> ...



well because being a professional composer is already the result of the application of a composing and motivational process. The answer comes before the question here. Saying that you compose because youre a professional composer is more or less saying that you drive a space shuttle because youre a professional space shuttle driver. It just doesnt make any sense.

Its what makes you a composer that is the reason for composing. No one decides to be a professional composer instead of being a bank worker. I never met one. People decides to fuck off the bank work and dedicating to being a composer. But being a composer is all they always wanted to be. Always.


----------



## mf (Aug 22, 2009)

Excuse the direct question, but no one else here writes shit for money?


----------



## Niah (Aug 22, 2009)

mf @ Sun Aug 23 said:


> Excuse the direct question, but no one else here writes [email protected]#t for money?



nope


----------



## autopilot (Aug 22, 2009)

1 and 3 are different sides of the same coin depending on where cashflow is that month.


----------



## poseur (Aug 22, 2009)

mf @ Sat Aug 22 said:


> Excuse the direct question, but no one else here writes [email protected]#t for money?


i def get paid for writing (and, yeah: i suppose that some of it is sh•t.
but, that's certainly not my "main reason" for composing.
nope.

d


----------



## Guy Bacos (Aug 23, 2009)

lux @ Sat Aug 22 said:


> Guy Bacos @ Thu Aug 20 said:
> 
> 
> > lux @ Thu Aug 20 said:
> ...



3- I compose because that is part of my job as a professional composer

Here the key word is "job" which implies you not just do it for the love but as a duty, and meeting deadlines. You don't compose just for the fun of it, you do it when you have work only cause that's how you decided you would manage your compositional skills. It's comparable to a 9 to 5 job, I know someone who actually composes from 9 to 5. So it basically implies a more discipline way of composing. If you look at the other options, you could see the difference. Check out Andrews answer and frankly I thought that option would of crushed the other ones.


----------



## lux (Aug 23, 2009)

i still think that 3 is not related to motivational processes but to actual personal situation of every member here. 

Its how one becomes a professional composer the key.

anyway...its your poll after all :mrgreen:


----------



## Guy Bacos (Aug 23, 2009)

lux @ Sun Aug 23 said:


> i still think that 3 is not related to motivational processes but to actual personal situation of every member here.
> 
> Its how one becomes a professional composer the key.
> 
> anyway...its your poll after all :mrgreen:



But Lux, doesn't a personal situation motivates you do function a certain way?


----------



## Stevie (Aug 23, 2009)

I refuse to give my vote.....cos.... I CAN


----------



## david robinson (Aug 23, 2009)

Guy Bacos @ Sat Aug 22 said:


> I wish I'd get as much interest in my music as my polls! :?



Dear Guy,
have you tried releasing some CD's?
might help.
David R.


----------



## Ned Bouhalassa (Aug 23, 2009)

Thonex @ 20/8/2009 said:


> I put down #3, but when I started out, it was because I was bitten by the composer bug. I would compose and compose because it's what I loved to do. Then, when I started making a living at it, deadlines kicked in. Now I compose because it's my job, but if I was given time off.... I'd surely take a break from composing. But I'm sure after time I'd get that composing "itch" again.
> 
> Good poll. Very soul searching.
> 
> AK



Exactly la même chose for moi.


----------



## TheoKrueger (Aug 23, 2009)

#2

So many reasons, all compressed to a single one would be:

I enjoy music!!!


----------



## Jaap (Aug 23, 2009)

bryla @ Sun Aug 23 said:


> Good luck!



Thanks


----------



## Ed (Aug 23, 2009)

Folmann @ Sun Aug 23 said:


> Composition is partially about creating- and/or recreating patterns, so there is a cognitive satisfaction to it. I believe the individual components in music (ex. rhythm, chord, melody, silence) each represent a subset of dimensions of incredible complexity.



I'd like to add to that by saying I approach music through probability based composing and luck. So when I happen to put two lines together and they sound good, its very satisfying. I go, hey that works really well. Or, putting music against a picture and it works well, its satisfying. I like being surprised it worked. I dont think of myself at all as a great composer when that happens, its simple and subtle but addictive.


----------

