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Writing knowing you'll throw it away

Llama Butter

Llama Butter

New Member
Like the title says, every so often I'll sit down and tell myself "I'm going to write for however long, and when I'm done I'll hit delete". I consider it an exercise in not being precious about material.

I got the idea to do this while reading The Sandman comic series, one of the characters has a library of every book that was never written.

I know it sounds silly but I really think it makes me more creative and a better composer. Do any of you have similar ideas you incorporate into your process?
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Llama Butter said:
Like the title says, every so often I'll sit down and tell myself "I'm going to write for however long, and when I'm done I'll hit delete". I consider it an exercise in not being precious about material.

I got the idea to do this while reading The Sandman comic series, one of the characters has a library of every book that was never written.

I know it sounds silly but I really think it makes me more creative and a better composer. Do any of you have similar ideas you incorporate into your process?
Click to expand...

Sandman is excellent, my ex actually hired Vince Locke for her project.

Exercises are essential in one's comprehension of melody, harmony, counterpoint...everything. My problem? I have tons of exercise projects I need to delete (probably because more than a few ideas I come up with for exercises turn into something good). I delete exercises about half the time (probably need some anti-clutter training).
 
I often mess around re-orchestrating things on paper while eating lunch or whatever, just for fun. Can't say I compose with an eye to never seeing it through though.
 
This reminds me of a book I saw in a music store, called something like "How to write better music". Normally I wouldn't pay much attention to a book like that, I assume that it's mostly fluff. But I flipped through it and was reading a chapter that said, go ahead and try to write a bad song. Intentionally write something awful.

The idea was that when we're trying to write big, epic, and awesome we trip ourselves up because nothing is ever that good when you just start it. End up not happy with anything you write. But trying to write bad music saves you from your own expectations and releases you into just having fun with it.

I ended up not buying the book, but I always remember that thought. What you're saying is kinda similar.
 
R. Soul said:
Deleting your compositions is more like competing in the NY marathon, only to quit half way, just because participating is more important to you than finishing.

I'm not precious about my tunes, but I really don't see a point deleting them when they could provide me an income.
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Yeah, don’t delete anything. Finish it up and send it off somewhere.
 
I absolutely agree, Llama. Writing pieces simply to practice is essential. It improves skill. I write everyday, I don't write 365 songs a year. I have a folder with hundreds of practice sessions for reference. It's the same for any musician who plays everyday. Composition doesn't always improve craft because sometime it moves too quickly, whereas practicing allows one to slow down the process, since achieving a finished result isn't the goal, learning is, and this allows one to focus on specific technical and theoretical elements to improve ones own ability.
 
The main problem with saving everything is clutter. I usually try to be honest and ask myself if I really will ever take the time to open the project again.
 
Parsifal666 said:
The main problem with saving everything is clutter. I usually try to be honest and ask myself if I really will ever take the time to open the project again.
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True, I render practice tracks to wav files for future reference and delete the associated projects, while saving only projects of songs I plan to finish. Making the distinction ahead of time is usually necessary.
 
Akarin said:
I go in the complete opposite direction: whether it's a test, a sketch, a fun activity, I always find a usable part in it that I spend 30 mins to mix and master...

...and then dump on Pond5 and Audiojungle.
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I wonder whether that's the reason the market is over-saturated? Because people "dump" 30 minute compositions on music selling sites. It's interesting to think about. Do you make money from them?
 
I have a folder (actually an album on my iTunes) where I save all my 30 second~2 minute practise pieces, which I usually spend about 3~4 hours on whenever I have time. I number them, rename them Sound Test 89 etc and load them into my iTunes so I can listen to them on any device. These are all the musical equivalent of thumbnail sketches which, after having been properly archived, I will eventually go back and listen to afresh.
I’m inexperienced and have only generated about 2 hours of ideas this way, but it feels like a body of work nonetheless.

I like the idea of trying unexpected techniques to improve composition and I recognise that knowing the piece will never be heard could inject a greater sense of freedom into the creative process. However, I feel like if I worked hard on it, I would want to hear it again!

However, I have spent countless hours at the piano, improvising and turning over ideas without any intention to retain or repeat anything. I have found that to be a valuable technique that improves composition. I consider this the same thing but without developing carpel tunnel syndrome in persuit of microeditting velocity values and having nothing to show for it!
 
BeneJ said:
...a body of work nonetheless...
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I agree, I consider my folder of practice tracks a documentation of my progress and it's interesting to see how my work has developed. It's similar to how some artists keep books of sketches.
BeneJ said:
...countless hours at the piano, improvising and turning over ideas without any intention to retain or repeat anything...
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I too improvise on the guitar and piano often. It's all good practice.
Akarin said:
...whether it's a test, a sketch, a fun activity, I always find a usable part in it that I spend 30 mins to mix and master...
...and then dump on Pond5 and Audiojungle.
Click to expand...
I think that's useful too, since mixing and mastering a track to a finished state helps develop certain skills and improves ones ability to achieve a mix closer to perfection, rather than the relaxed rendering of practice tracks.
 
You guys shouldn’t be deleting anything. At least render it to WAV and save it in a cloud database. You could end up with enough material to bundle together and sell as a sound library for other people to use. You could be making money from those noises!
 
Ledwick said:
I wonder whether that's the reason the market is over-saturated? Because people "dump" 30 minute compositions on music selling sites. It's interesting to think about. Do you make money from them?
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If people listen to something I put on there and think it's worth money, I don't see how the saturation comes into play. There are libraries with a lot more quality material that are less saturated. It's a choice that I have as a composer and that people have as customers. I often hear the "saturated" comment from people not having sales.
I make money that is on par with the time I spend on it (aka "not that much"), an average of $80/month.
 
Ledwick said:
I think that's useful too, since mixing and mastering a track to a finished state helps develop certain skills and improves ones ability to achieve a mix closer to perfection, rather than the relaxed rendering of practice track.
Click to expand...

That. I just take the extra step of uploading it somewhere rather than let it die on my disk.
 
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