Composing Quotes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“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.”

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

“For me, writing music is a very solitary process. It's just me and the piano.”

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

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

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

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

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

“Silence is a score as well.”

“When I write a score, I am always trying to find a new way, a new sound.”

“I don't need a piano to write.”