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How does a composer come up with ideas?

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Black and white photo of a young Peter Sculthorpe composing at a desk.
Peter Sculthorpe working on The Fifth Continent c. 1969.

The creative process — it's a thorny subject. Does a new work appear out of nowhere, as if by cosmic intervention? It’s the explanation many composers have given throughout the history of music.

Giuseppe Tartini famously woke up one morning, brushed his teeth and remembered a dream — he’d made a pact with the Devil for his soul, and in return the Devil played the violin for him (as you’d expect). The music the diabolical being brought forth — well Tartini wrote it down over his toast and coffee and it became a new sonata — The Devil’s Trill.

Other composers seem to have drawn from more auspicious sources for their inspiration. Bach frequently said that he felt the hand of God helping him compose.

So composing — you just sit and wait for the Devil or God to dish you out an idea and write it down?

Well other composers have explained that it’s a practical, pragmatic craft that you apply yourself to — just like any other activity, it requires more persistence and effort than a flock of angels for the finished result.

I wanted to get to the bottom of this and break apart the legends and tall tales to find out how it’s actually done. Australian composer Nigel Westlake helped me out with some answers.

So — it's 2019, we live in a practical, scientific age. Surely composing these days is all about hard work... not so according to Nigel...

“Look, the creative process does remain a mystery to me. One way that I like to kick start the process for writing a new work, is to imagine the musicians for whom I’m writing, coming onto the stage. I’m seated, in my imagination, in the concert hall. It’s a form of meditation actually! I see the musicians come on stage, they pick up their instruments, they tune up, and they start to play. And what are they playing? If I listen very carefully, I might get some sense of what they’re doing, and where they’re going to go with it. And that — surprisingly enough — can be the catalyst for commencing the process!”

I remember hearing Peter Sculthorpe in an interview talk about something similar.

“I do believe in inspiration. You’ve got to start off with an idea. Getting the idea — that's the most difficult part. I can read books, look at pictures. When I’ve got the idea in place, that’s the hard part beginning. Well getting the idea is hard! But the rest is just hard work.”

For Elena Kats-Chernin, it is about the hard work. For her, composing is all about activity.

“It’s a very practical thing to compose. It’s not just all kind of ideas and ghosts through my head. It’s actually a purely physical activity.”

So ideas — they can come from inspiration or just from pure hard work. But what about the next part? As Peter Sculthorpe said, that’s the hard bit. It must be tricky taking your ideas and making sense of them for a performer. Nigel Westlake again.

“Not as tricky as one might imagine. I basically ask myself — I've got a germ of an idea, or maybe two ideas. What do I need to turn this into a piece of music? Once you’ve got the ideas and the shape of work, the process of putting it on paper is quite practical actually. I use computer software to lay it all out nicely on paper, then I print it out, look at it, go through it in your mind, make adjustments in pencil, go back to the computer. But sometimes the process can be a mystery, that you have a vision of the complete piece in your head.”

Russell Torrance presents Classic Breakfast on ABC Classic (Monday to Friday, 6am–10am). In this weekly series, Russell Torrance gives his take on your burning questions about classical music.

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