Creating something that never existed

The title comes from a question a younger cousin of mine once asked me a few years ago. His first question was "what do you do?", I replied "I compose music". He acknowledged my answer and then raised his head again with wide, admiring eyes and said "So, you create something that never existed before?" - it seemed both a question and a statement. I was surprised by the depth of his simple words.

Creating a piece of music can start through many ways and it is a question that I get many times from non-musicians and by composers who are just starting. However, the most important part of it isn't how you start but what comes after it.

The process of music creation does not only apply to music composition. I believe it applies to anything that involves problem solving: art, business, technology, law... Although people tend to separate one another and think of them as complete opposites, it's impressive how many similarities they actually share when it comes to the process of creativity. Everything that involves problem solving requires creativity. Either you need/want a new composition, a new business strategy, find a new way to produce energy or even create a new dish at a restaurant, you need to use creativity, build the puzzle, solve new problems that are raised throughout the process, readjust, try again, erase it, start all over... until you get to the final product. It can be a short or long process.

There are several ways a new composition can be born:

• An idea Something little comes to mind and you loop it countlessly until you get somewhere where you can jot it down or record it and start working on it.
• Through improvisation Improvise and improvise over a specific situation until something makes you intrigued.

"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'eureka!' but 'that's funny...' - Isaac Asimov

• Brain storming Analyze what you have and brainstorm over it. The "cannot"s will be extremely helpful.
• Research Analyzing what other people have done in similar situations is a good way to evoke some ideas. Just make sure to make it your own! Steve Jobs was amazing at putting ideas together and then making them his own.

The most important thing to have in mind in the Film Scoring world is that there is no time to wait for inspiration to strike you because you have a fixed deadline. As Mychael Danna jokingly said in an interview (composer of Life of Pi) while explaining the importance of deadlines: "It doesn't have to be good but it better be there".

Often, you will get the movie later than predicted because the production got delayed due to some unforeseen circumstance. This means less time to compose which means you have to have great time management and adaptability skills. You have to be comfortable enough to shift mindsets. It might mean that you have to simplify everything without loosing effectiveness. Also, after composing, you still have to record the players, mix it, master it and dub it with the SFX.