just wondering, cuz i'm thinking of making one

It really depends on your abilities and the type of piece you're making. The first composition I made was an arrangement of Zelda music for full concert band that was 11 minutes long. This took me at least 100 hours but I did the majority of it over 10 days so I guess it wasn't that long. On the other hand, if I know where I'm going with a piece now I can get a small ensemble (3 or four parts) piece done in two or three hours.

in 2 or 3 hrs?!?!?! that's quick. i dunno know what type i'm good at... i geuss i'm good at fast, flowing songs but i wanna try something a lil different

2 or 3 hours is really only for very simple pieces like the one I contributed for the CMA. Most of the time I'd say for a good piece it would take 10 hours of reasonably complex music. If I'm doing a full concert band piece though I know it won't be done in less than 50 hours.

Composing the song, for me, can take a few weeks. I work a bit on it everyday, and change stuff around. Its writing it down that takes a while.

Most of my medieval songs take only 2 hours at most, the end result being a recorder quartet (sometimes with cello) and possible light percussion... Different types of songs take different amouts of time. I've taken ages to do concerti before, none of which I'm very proud of... But, oh well. I've become fast at recognizing which chord progressions would be best at which points, thus making my harmonizing a whole lot easier. :P

If Bach used to have a deadline and he didn't have anything composed, he'd just pen something down in a half an hour and come out with a brand new Chorale for the church hymdall... :P

With time comes ability and speed. Combine them together and you'll go far. But sometimes the tortoise does really win th- err, I mean compose the better song. :)

Originally posted by Elite666@Sep 1 2004, 11:42 PM
2 or 3 hours is really only for very simple pieces like the one I contributed for the CMA.
wow. It took me 10 days to compose the piece for CMA.
but I agree it only takes me about 2~3 hours to get down the main theme.
the part that takes most of the time is editing, adding extra stuff and fixing bugs for the composition.

Your piece is very different then mine though. Mine is slightly minimalistic and decidedly simple (only htree parts) whereas yours is broad, epic and better. Also, I had spent the last week playing around with various chord progressions and melodies so you could probably add at least three hours of work onto that time if I was starting with nothing.

I can't vote, because the time I spend varies with each song . . . very simple songs take me around 3 days. Complex songs can take at least 1 week up to 1 month or so. But there are so many factors involved, like how much time I can actually devote to it, my procrastination (that is, when I'm not busy with other stuff), my mood, my inspiration/creativity, stress (mainly due to a deadline) . . . I really can't tell, hehe.

what kind of compositions are you best at? (to all)

Well, it depends.. I put 1 to 2 weeks but only because I slack from it and do other things. If I worked nonstop on it, I would most likely finish a 30-40 bar piece within a few hours (2-3). Um, I don't have much composing experience since I've just discovered layering on my Casio keyboard (woohoo!).

I made a 1 min 30 second song (33 bars) in about 2 hours. You could say it's simpler when you have a keyboard with multiple tones but I had quite a bit of trouble keeping the beat with each layer. I'll post the song once I'm able to record it on the compy. So anyways, in conclusion, if I went on and off the piece I would usually take about a week to finish it.

Usually a couple of hours, overall that is. I don't try compose something right away, I often play the keyboard for about 10 minutes and then go and do something else. :mellow:

Depents on what kind of song it is... I'm best in writing piano themes. Most of the time composing I'm sitting in front of my piano and write down the notes by hand. Thinking about the mood and style of the piece, mainly how to continue the melodie, pay attention not to drift away from the flow of the song. I'm writing for the last 3 week on my new song and I am half way through. I'm pretty slow, heh? :lol:

okay... i'm starting my compo now... wish me luck :sweatdrop:

Good luck, and I hope it's decent too.