Composition Challenges

I recently watched another intriguing video by the popular music YouTuber (and fellow bassist) Adam Neely, called “5 Composition Games (To Play With Your Friends).” However, it wasn’t what I expected. He meant, games to spur musical moments, whereas I expected challenges meant to provide fresh motivation to compose. It might seem like it’s pretty much the same thing, so figured I would provide some examples.

Composition is like many other things in music, it is a skill you can develop. Some of us specialize in songwriting, improvising, evoking emotions, playing fast, playing complex, and so on. None of these tend to just happen, they are nurtured and perfected over time with repetition. So what if you’re wanting to improve your songwriting but are having trouble starting?

One of the obvious ways to improve is to just do it every day. Presenting the ubiquitous 30-day challenge. Write something every day for 30 days. Don’t worry about whether it’s a surefire hit or a certainty to end up on a setlist. Set parameters, like length, if you like, but this is just a way to get yourself used to writing. One of the biggest benefits is removing a lot of the fear surrounding writing. Also, you may end up with a couple of pieces you truly love.

There’s a challenge on the other end of the spectrum I’ve heard friends talk about. They were in an online group in which someone would post the front and back artwork for an album no one had heard of. The only rule was that you had to compose and record that album without hearing it. The members of the group would post their versions on the due date. There weren’t any other rules (e.g., stating that the styles had to match), which meant the results could be all over the map.

These are meant to get the ball rolling. Do you think you’d try either of them? I’d love to hear of some more challenges, so find me on social media and give me some more ideas.

Thumbnail Photo by Dayne Topkin on Unsplash