Composing classical

[Luisrah]

Hey everyone, I play the classical guitar, and I would like to compose some stuff. I've had a few ideas, but mostly just finals (since it's easy to imagine them due to the chord progression of V and I)

I'd like to ask you how are your methods to composing. Are you just doing your normal life and suddenly a song comes to your mind and you must write it before you forget, and then later you add up the details?
Do you hum a melody randomly, and then add the chords to it, or do you choose some random chords and then imagine a melody between them?

Thanks in advance :)

[Fawkes]

I don't do much composition in the realm of classical music, but my approach to it really varies depending on the situation. There are times where I will have an entire song and all of its parts/instruments created in my head before writing anything down, there are other times where I'll just have a little snippet of an idea and write that down then work from there. Really just depends on what's going through my head I guess. However, the majority of the time, I have whole songs in my head before writing anything.

[Meridian]

I'd like to ask you how are your methods to composing. Are you just doing your normal life and suddenly a song comes to your mind and you must write it before you forget, and then later you add up the details?
That rarely happens for me, but I think it differs from person to person. Occasionally I will have a melodic, song-structural or rhythmical idea, and then if I have time I will sit down and write it out on a piece of paper or computer.

Usually, though, I come up with parts in the process of making music. So I sit down, either with an instrument or without, and start some simple random melody, or go at it with a special rhythm in mind. From there I find it much easier to branch out and shape it according to what type of feel and orchestration I want and think the song needs. Most parts are based on other parts.

[Dumb]

I just screw around with random chords in the key of E minor, or with random notes when tuned to open E minor, until I get something that sounds good.

[Fawkes]

Another thing with me is that, even though the ways I compose/write a song vary greatly, one commonality is that there is always a central theme(s) or idea behind it. In other words, I'll approach writing something with the intention of creating something jarring and sardonic or contradictory and confused, and then from those mindsets/emotions and thematic intentions the actual structural elements come through. That's the only real strong consistency with me though, other than that it tends to be all over the place. So basically, I never really create a song for the sake of creating a song, there's always something more weighted than that behind it. Whenever I try to just crank out a song with no meaningful foundation (which I don't really do anymore), it comes out really contrived, generic, and boring, there needs to be a conviction there for me.