Composing Quotes

“To be a composer is to be a kind of provocateur.”

“It is not hard to compose, but it is wonderfully hard to let the superfluous notes fall under the table.”

“I believe a composer is not only an architect but also an acoustician.”

“I try and find a sound world that is particular to that film.”

“I never really thought about being a composer. It just kind of happened.”

“Orchestration is a huge part of composition. It’s not just about the notes; it’s about what instrument plays those notes.”

“My main desire has always been to compose music, to be a composer. The synthesizer was a tool to do that.”

“I care about the music. I'm not a performer. I'm a composer.”

“You compose because you want to somehow summarize in some permanent form your most basic feelings about being alive, to set down... some sort of summary of your life experience.”

“The main thing is to get a theme, a theme that is not too obvious, that can be used in a number of different ways.”

“Film scoring is a completely different muscle. It's like being a painter, but you're painting on a canvas that's already moving.”

“I think the most important thing for a composer is to have a voice. You have to have something to say.”

“A lot of composers I know hate temp music, and I understand why, but I don't.”

“Listening to the seemingly endless flow of music, it is easy to forget that composing is a crisis-ridden activity.”

“One of the most difficult things is to write a good title.”

“Composing is a very lonely business. It’s you and the paper.”

“Composing is a procedure, and it is a nightmare.”

“For me, the desirability of composing is directly related to the desirability of not composing.”

“I write as a sow piddles.”

“The most important thing for a composer is to have an identity.”