[PopTodd]

I got together with my bandmate to play some music last night. Wasn't sure what we would work on, as I haven't really written anything in a long time. Turns out to have taken a twist.
We played a couple of instrumental pieces that I wrote, and began working them into a suite.
We're writing a brief passage to link the 2 parts, and David is composing some piano melodies for the second part of the suite. Also talking instrumentation.
It was interesting and cool and fun and it's something that I haven't really done before. We may even have the parts actually transcribed, which is something that I definitely haven't done before.

Any of you all write a piece of classically-inspired music?

To be fair, this is more jazz/light classical than true classical/romantic/baroque/whatever.
But I can definitely see it in a movie soundtrack.

[tone]

Hey Todd

I did! I took a big holiday from songwriting last year and wrote an album of instrumental music. It was a huge amount of fun, not to mention a huge learning experience. I fully plan to do another, just not sure when yet, but it's the perfect companion to songwriting in my opinion. Different enough to feel like a rest, but with plenty of common ground. Plus, your arranging skills go through the roof!

You can have a listen if you're interested https://soundcloud.com/anthony-lane/sets/piano-orchestra-album

Enjoy, and don't forget to share the music with us when it's done

[Wicked Deeds]

Me too. I wrote an instrumental called 'A Time To Reflect' then Nooms got involved and wrote wonderful lyrics for my composition which I had intended to be an instrumental only. I applied the same writing process for a whole album of musical compositions and then Nooms to my delight, crafted them all into songs with the addition of lyrics. I think they work so well - it allowed us both to do something different as I did't write tradional song structures and this in turn, this encourages nooms to simply follow the flow  of the music to create something which I believe is quite unique.

https://soundcloud.com/noomsvasey

Paul

[PopTodd]

Nice!
I will check those out. Thanks!

So, do you all have good theoretical knowledge? Like… music theory and all that?
Do you know how to transcribe/write your music and arrangements?
I do not.
I am relying on my writing partner and a computer program that he has to actually put the notes on paper. It's strange for me, since I've never done that before.

[tone]

Dunno about good, but I have enough theoretical knowledge. I could score out my compositions if I had players to play them, but it would be a lot of work and I'd be really slow, and constantly referring to my text books to get it right.

When I first started making instrumental music, I did a lot of learning and reading, specifically orchestration. I can highly recommend Walter Piston's book 'Orchestration' as a complete guide. Everything else is just picking up what you can where you can.

As far as creating the pieces goes, I wrote them as I recorded them, playing each part into my DAW on my midi keyboard.

I hope some of that helps

[Wicked Deeds]

Quite similar to tone. It would take time to score my compositions. I have an advanced Diploma in music and I knew a great deal  of theory when I studied but not so much now. It's a bit like getting a little out of shape as the years pass and you always promise to regain the fitness that you've lost but then life gets in the way making it hard to spend time on the things that you love to do.  I find it easy to write music and express my ideas especially using Logic Pro.  You can even get logic to score your compositions but I'm not really interested in that. I know enough theory to help my compositional skills but really the emotion that I communicate in my writing comes from deep within. That's something that I've learned to convey over many years. I also think that when I play a virtual instrument, for example a clarinet on my keyboard. The instrument guides you, let's you know what is acceptable to play. Be critical - ask yourself does the part that you have created fit. Your ears should tell you yes or no.  Hope the above helps. Good luck!

Paul