wilko said:
I think you must be angling for a point here.
I'm not angling (fishing?) for anything. I just thought he summed up what I was feeling very, very well.
If you have a whole composition in your head it certainly is a song to you but obviously not to anyone else.
Of course.
I write songs and use my 8 track to aid writing the song, as I chop and change it, rewrite it etc, and to me, the song is not finished until my singer has sung it and it is recorded. But if composing in your head works for you then great stuff!
Well, many times I'll sit down and just play around with the guitar or piano and let my imagination flow and not have any particular song idea in mind. That's certainly the way a lot of people do it.
However, I also can sit and compose a song strictly in my head using whatever instrumentation or vocals I imagine. Composing in my head allows me instant access to rewrites, instrument changes, arrangement modifications and so on. I can test out any idea without the limitations presented by physical equipment. I can change anything instantly, as it's playing. This allows me play with an infinite number of musical arrangements, instrumentation, production and mixing ideas live, on the fly.
Try that with even the best studio on the planet.
This is why I, personally (just my opinion) consider creating compositions in ones head to be a superior method of writing. You can achieve great results either way, but the freedom afforded one in their mind is truly limitless. Ever had a lucid dream?
On this thread I often see lyrics posted and I find it very hard to critique them as to me they must be accompanied with a melody and music. Until then it is poetry.
I tend to personally look at songs as more something involving music, but by definition it can be a poem.
But like I say, if it works for you then keep at it!
It works better for me because many times I can hear a complete overview of the song and know right then and there how it will sound once completed vs. only playing something on guitar or piano and having no idea how it'll sound with drums or bass or whatever.
Do you ever write music strictly in your mind, that is before ever touching an instrument? If so, how clearly are you able to hear it? Does it sound like what you'd want on tape or do you have difficulty imagining all of the instrumentation/production?
Lots of musicians write songs in their head, or at least I don't think I'm alone in this regard.