The Process of Composing a Symphony

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    M U S I C C O M P O S I T I O N M A D E S I M P L E

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    You are here: Home / Form / The Process of Composing a Symphony

    The Process of Composing a SymphonyOctober 31, 2011 by Jon Brantingham — 17 Comments

    The Emotional Process of Composing Music

    Do you have that desire to compose something great for the

    world? Did you experience something that you cannot explain in

    words? Mu sic is an incre dible thing, that can express the

    “inexpressible,” but how does that happen? How do you get fromemotion to music? What is your process of composing?

    It All Begins With Experience

    “Only when I experience something do I compose, and only when com posing

    do I experience anything.” Gustav Mahler

    I am a rm believer that wisdom only comes with experience. There are some things that

    cannot be learned from a book, they have to happen to you. One of these things is

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    emotion. Emotion cannot be described to the point of experience, it must be felt.

    But music offers something different. It is one of the few things that can convey emotion.

    When you hear Beethoven’s 7th Symphony, 2nd Movement, you feel his emotions.

    My Motivation to WriteI, like many others, dream of writing a Symphony. It was something I attempted in my

    teenage years, but I failed. I never nished. Maybe because I didn’t quite get the form, or I

    just didn’t have the patience to see it through. But more than likely, I didn’t have theexperience. Not necessarily in writing music, although that plays a part, but denately I

    didn’t have the Life Experience.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uOxOgm5jQ4

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    Life HappensBut something funny has happened to me over the last 10 years. I grew up. Life

    happened. I graduated, joined the army, went to war, got married, became a Dad, went

    through ups and downs, lost some family and friends. I have lived.

    So this is where I believe my desire to compose a symphony comes from. It is more a

    desire to express my life through music. So how is this done?

    The Process of Composing a Symphony –PlanningAs with most things, I attempt to be methodical about everything I do. My process for

    composing a Symphony may seem a little dry, but I think it will prove to be very helpful. I

    wish I could say that I envisioned the entire Symphony in a ash of genius, and am just

    writing down that revelation. But it’s not true. So I am planning it out, each step, in detail.

    This will give me a plan – a map.

    The process of composing in writing (like writing a book or essay) is very similar. You

    create an outline and you ll it in.

    The funny thing about plans, they don’t always go to plan. But as we say in the army:

    “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Mean Old Army Guy

    The Traditional Symphony as a Roadmap

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    We have to start somewhere, so let’s take a look at the Symphony overall. I realize this is

    not every Symphony. I am not going to worry too much about what a “Real Symphony” is,

    or if it should be three, four, or ve movements. I am just taking a General Symphony

    Outline and building from there.

    A symphony traditionally has four movements

    1. First Movement – Tends to be in Sonata form (also commonly called Sonata-Allegro

    form, to differentiate it from the Sonata Cycle). I will stick with this, as the Sonata

    form gives you a great vehicle for development. An excellent example of this is

    Beethoven’s 5th, 1stMovement.

    2. Second Movement – Tends to be something slower, and can be in many differentforms. Sometimes this is swapped with the third movement, which we’ll talk about

    below.

    3. Third Movement – Tends to be a Minuet and Trio or a Scherzo. We’ll talk about

    these forms more in depth later on down the road.

    4. Fourth Movement – Once again, this can be in all shapes and sizes, but it usually has

    a much more “nale” type of feel to it. I am thinking of doing a rondo for the last

    movement, but I haven’t made up my mind.

    For my purposes, I am going to swap the 2nd and 3rd Movements. I’ll explain in later

    posts.

    My MotivationSo with the overall view of the symphony down, I will approach it from an emotional

    direction rst. I want to make sure the symphony conveys an emotional journey. What

    better to do that then to use the last few years of my life to map it out. These are the “life

    experiences” I am going with.

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    First Movement – Going to Iraq

    Second Movement – 15 Months in Combat

    Third Movement – Meeting My Wife

    Fourth Movement – Coming Home

    With those four topics, I have about a million different emotions to convey, so I will have

    to be selective, but this is a good starting point.

    First Movement – Sonata FormGoing to Iraq. I won’t get into the details too much, at least not here, but in a period of a

    few weeks, I went through an emotional roller coaster:

    I prepped for going, a good friend got shot down in Iraq

    I was in a car accident, my car was totalled

    I said goodbye to my family (for all I knew was the last time)

    I partied in Scotland (thank goodness for “crew rest,” the airplane crew had to take

    the night off)I stepped off a plane in Kuwait, into what felt like a hairdryer all over my body

    “Crossing the Berm” into Iraq

    It was a crazy time.

    So with this in mind, I have tried to capture the emotions I felt in a logical way, that will

    help me compose the Symphony. This is what I came up with. It’s basically an outline.

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    This is a picture of my troop, just before taking off for Iraq. What a crazy time.

    Outlining the SymphonyTo start, I listed the movement, wrote my inspiration, and then wrote down all the

    emotions.

    Next I mapped those emotions along a shell for a sonata form. The sonata form can go

    through various keys, but it is usually rmly rooted in tonic for the exposition and

    dominant for the development. I’ll go over the sonata form in a later post in much more

    detail, like I have with the small themes. Please forgive me for not writing complete

    sentences in the outline, it was more stream of through type stuff.

    1. First Movement:

    1. Inspiration: Going to Iraq

    2. Emotions: Uncertainty, Pain, Excitement, Anticipation, Vulnerable, Sadness,Missing my family, Feeling pain in my heart for the chance that my family will

    have to miss me. Uncertainty. Relief after rst ight was over. Feeling of

    accomplishment.

    3. Form : Sonata-Allegro

    http://1g9v9u38ad6lxfzmd1t5auit-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Composing-a-Symphony-is-like-going-to-war.jpg

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    1. Introduction: In America, week before leaving, car crash, friend gets shot

    down. Packing up. Arrival to Kuwait, funny, odd, camels, sand storm, late

    nights, lots of work, preparation.

    1. Key – Dominant (this is the typical key for introductions in classical

    form).2. Slow, ominous in America, Odd in Kuwait

    2. Exposition

    1. Key – Tonic, maybe minor for uncertainty

    2. Main Theme

    1. Depart for Iraq

    2. Flying around Bagdad, Tigris, Euphrates, Palm tree groves,

    landing, safe.3. Subordinate Theme : Defeat, death of more friends, moving to

    Mosul.

    3. Development : Finding my place in Mosul, new job. Direction coming.

    1. Key – Dominant

    2. Re-transition – Focus on Dominant 7

    4. Recapitulation – Tonic, major

    1. First Theme

    2. Transition/Secondary Development

    3. Subordinate Theme.

    I plan on posting my exposition very soon. I want to make sure I put up something good.

    That is it for now. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. What is your process ofcomposing music?

    Am I being too analytical?

    th

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    Jon

    Filed Under: Form , Musical Inspiration , Symphony of Enlightenment

    Tagged With: Composing a Symphony , How to Compose Music , process of composing ,

    sonata form , Sonata-Allegro Form , The Symphony

    About Jon Brantingham

    I have been composing since the age of 12. I am not a theoryprofessor, nor do I have a degree in music. I just love composing,

    and teaching composition, and I want channel that into great

    resources for anyone learning to compose music.

    Comments

    Reece Wagner says

    March 1, 2016 at 7:09 pm

    Very interesting piece – I have a musical theory background and share your

    desire to write a symphony, but I felt overwhelmed reading your composition method – I

    don’t have the classical or technical understanding of music that you seem to. Where did

    you learn about traditional symphonic structure, and does it need to adhere to a formula

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    to be considered one?

    Reply

    Jon Brantingham says

    March 2, 2016 at 12:14 pm

    Reece,

    I in fact, decided to hold off on composing the symphony. As I started to learn more about

    the subject, I realized there was a lot more that I needed to know in order to write a

    Symphony that is of merit.

    As far as the structure, most symphonies rely heavily on classical form techniques. I am

    actually reading a book right now on Mahler’s use of Sonata Form. So composers even as

    recent as Mahler (and in fact many after him as well) have used traditional formal

    structures, such as Sonata Form, Minuet/Trio, Large Ternary, etc.

    If you read around my site, you’ll nd many articles discussing these forms.

    The beauty of the forms, is that they allow for a lot of exibility. The forms are based in

    the idea that you can represent temporality with specic techniques. For instance, you

    can represent “beginning” by using stable harmony, less surface rhythmic activity, and a

    generally slower harmonic rhythm usually focused around tonic harmony. Compare that

    to representing “middle” – which often has unstable harmony – ie. lots of modulations,

    increased surface rhythmic activity (more notes per bar), faster harmonic rhythm,fragmentation, model-sequence technique, and so on.

    These are just some of the concepts that come together to make up musical form.

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    Reply

    Nadine says

    February 18, 2016 at 6:49 pm

    PLEASE GO ON I AM SO LOOKING FORWARD ON READING THE REST

    PLEASE PLEASEE

    Reply

    Deborah Weiler says

    January 16, 2016 at 11:04 am

    I am looking for someone to help me put on paper the nished song. I need

    musicians, choirs, composition writers … . I don’t need to do this by myself, will be glad for

    the help. I have a good song and I live in southeast Virginia if there is a possible

    collaboration.

    Reply

    Anna says

    November 18, 2015 at 7:22 pm

    Hi Jon,

    I’ve just read your story. You sound like a very organized person . I wonder if you have

    managed to nish your symphony yet?

    Was wondering what is your opinion on a different composing method. What if I just

    have all the music in my head already. No plan. No structure like you. Just music. Ready.

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    There. Waiting. Just putting it straight down onto the paper/computer. What if my

    composing is spontaneous, natural?

    Have u ever tried it?

    A.

    Reply

    Jon Brantingham says

    November 19, 2015 at 9:28 am

    Anna, I actually decided to hold on the Symphony for a while. As I got further in

    my studies, I realized there were a few things that I really wanted to understand on a

    deeper level rst – primarily large scale form and orchestration. I am planning on comingback to the project soon, but right now, I have been working on other projects – such as

    scoring lms.

    As far as spontaneous composing – yes, there is nothing wrong with it, and in fact it is

    generally how many good ideas come up. But I think you’ll nd, a lot of “spontaneous

    composing” is really just people relying on things they’ve done in the past with a slight

    change, or they are just feeling around in the dark. I’ve found that spontaneous ideas

    generally only take me so far … usually a theme but no more. After that, it is work, plain

    and simple to make it longer and more substantial.

    None the less, composing is always a mix of spontaneity and diligent planning, even if the

    planning isn’t written down, you still have to have an idea of where you are going, and go

    there.

    Reply

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    Kevin Pfaff says

    February 12, 2015 at 9:50 pm

    I too have been composing music since 1968, Jon. I started out writing down

    little classical instrumentals inspired so much by Bach and Beethoven.. Over there years

    I have composed 2000 pieces of music–mostly rock songs. But I have composed 14 fulllength fugues. Again, like you I am not professionally trained. just read a lot of books

    about it. so now I am nally writing my rst serious symphony at age 57. it is hard. I have

    all the themes from all those years and I can still use them. It’s just getting hard starting.

    Reply

    Jon Brantingham saysFebruary 24, 2015 at 9:51 am

    That is hard, as is developing the piece, but it’s worth it.

    Reply

    Paul says

    December 29, 2014 at 10:20 pm

    Fantasy is a place where things of the magnitude of Beethoven’s Opus 131 can

    happen, reality isn’t. You will nd yourself with something bland and insignicant if you

    base your music in the mundane, Jon.

    Reply

    Jon Brantingham says

    December 31, 2014 at 2:13 pm

    I would say, my experience in war was anything but mundane.

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    Reply

    Clayton Riegger says

    January 16, 2014 at 7:44 pm

    I’m really excited for you to post this; are you nished? (not to be rude, but it’s

    been over two years and it sound very interesting!) If not, when are you going to?

    Best of luck with the Symphony!

    Reply

    Jon Brantingham says

    January 31, 2014 at 9:28 am

    Clayton, thanks for the encouragement. I actually moved on to different things

    since then, but I plan on getting back into this in the next year, when I start going to a lm

    scoring program. I still have the original ideas written down, so I can go back to them and

    see if I like them.

    Reply

    thomas says

    November 17, 2013 at 1:46 pm

    hey jon, to be honest ive never attempted to compose a symphony let alone even

    thought about it till last night. recently i decided to start community collage to study

    music theory and pretty much every thing else music wise looking over the course i saw a

    sec. that said composing symphonies, no i have been playing guitar for over twnty years i

    play mostly rock music and writing a rock song is very simple, rst come up with some

    lyrics then build 3 or 4 chord that t very well with those lyrics then i tend to use the

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    circle of fths for these parts i nd the scale and keys that contain my chordsthen i look

    through at the chord degrees in each scale/key then picking the one i like most and i take

    the rest of the chord in that scale /key and i nnish writing the chord progressions,

    normally i will have intro and choruses in one key an verses in another jus tochange it up

    some and with a nother key comes another 7 chords to choose from so well thats mywriting technique for rock songs any ways but im going to attempt to write a short small

    symphone now fshort and small for my rst attempt so im looking for as much info as i

    can get my hands on haha

    Reply

    beerski says

    July 17, 2012 at 10:21 pm

    Very moving story man. You certainly have been through a lot. God bless you

    and your loved ones and thank you for serving your country. I enjoyed reading your

    thoughts and views on writing a symphony as I am currently working on my 4th piece.

    The rst 3 are not traditional symphonies. They are more like one progressive movement

    but in my 4th I am learning how symphonies work but studying people’s ideas like yours

    and listening to LOTS of music. Dvorak and Mahler are my favorites right now but I love

    Tchaikovsky and others. I’ve been a musician for over 15 years but I don’t know music

    theory so I write from the heart, not by the book. Seems you do both. I have no idea how

    to tell what key a musical piece is in. Anyway, learning as I go. Thank you.

    Reply

    Jon says

    July 18, 2012 at 8:21 am

    Thanks for the kind words. I am nding out that a Symphony really is no joke. If

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    you want to do it justice, there is just so much you have to know. I am write now, really

    getting to know musical form, so that I understand, not just the way music has been put

    together in the past, like sonata forms, but WHY it was put together that way. Then I can

    make better judgements about the way I will put my music together. As I continue to

    write articles on this site, and compose more, I am coming to the conclusion that I mustlearn as much as I can, and then when I sit down to write, let my subconscious take over,

    and not over think things. It is a constant back and forth. If you’ve got any of your music

    posted online, I’d love to hear it. Send in a link.

    Jon

    Reply

    Chakshum M says

    July 2, 2015 at 6:15 am

    hey i m 12 right now and i have composed two piano sonatas and one symphony

    Reply

    Jon Brantingham saysJuly 2, 2015 at 4:06 pm

    Great job Chakshum. It takes a lot of determination and effort so I commend

    you. If you keep composing and studying, you can become a great composer. They say it

    takes 10,000 hours of dedicated, deliberate practice, but with that kind of focus, i’ll bet

    you could do in 9,000

    Reply

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