symphony??

Question

I want to write a symphony and I've gone through the basic ideas of what I want certain intruments to do but how would I go about the next stage?

would it simply be writing it down?

Answer 1

Nowadays you can write an orchestral work and call it whatever you want -- even "symphony" -- but many folks are going to expect certain things when you use that word.

Therefor it might help you to know what a symphony actually is. Are you familiar with the sonata-allegro form? If not, I would research that, look at various examples of the genre, and perhaps decide if that's the route you want to go.

If you are not interested in casting your musical ideas into such a restrictive form, my advice would be to call it something else, just to avoid confusion.

What to do next?

Well, everybody did it differently.

Brahms wrote his works out in duo-piano format and then orchestrated the work later. Beethoven and Mozart wrote their orchestral music right onto the score -- whole sketches of B's works that were never used are fully scored. Of course, Mozart, Schubert and Shotakovich had everything worked out IN THEIR HEADS before they wrote a note -- the show-offs.

Stravinsky wrote everything at the piano, and then meticulously scored it.

Everybody's different.

Do you already have your musical ideas, with a general plan of how you want to present them, in what order, and some idea of how to get from one to another? Then start writing. If not, then start sketching!

I can't wait to hear it -- best of lluck!

(I've been working on mine for 14 years -- sigh).

Answer 2

They used to just write them down!

There is a story about Mozart. He was visiting the city of Linz in Austria and was asked if he'd conduct their orchestra in one of his symphonies. It turns out he was only there for 3 days and there wasn't enough time to get sheet music delivered, so he wrote a symphony just for the occasion. In 3 days! His no. 36, the 'Linz' symphony. That includes copying all the parts! (But maybe they had people to do that.)

Today if I was going to write a symphony I think I might do it on a computer synthesizer, just to hear how it sounds. But that's just me. Consider that Beethoven wrote one of the greatest (and most complicated) symphonies ever, his 9th, when he was completely deaf!

Answer 3

You may want to get some music software for your computer and program it in. Writing it down is a good next step, and you'll need to write it down at some point, but if you program it into a computer you can get an idea of what it sounds like, so you can tweak it if necessary before committing it to paper for the first time.

Answer 4

Save yourself a lot of time and trouble by purchasing either Sibelius 5 software or Finale Allegro.

The other way to do it is just to get out a sheet of manuscript paper and stare at it until your forehead bleeds.

Good luck.

Answer 5

GO FOR IT!!!

Computer makes you lazy. If you have strong enough ears, do NOT use computer.

Best Wishes,

al_debussy

Answer 6

it is my problem too