Composing

A Fun Composing Exercise

I posted a "sister" exercise in the screenwriting lounge, and it was so much fun I'm posting here too.

Ok, In my day job, have access to new names every single day. Sometimes, when I need to blow out the creative cobwebs (especailly after SIX WEEKS of non-stop holiday madness)...

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A Fun Composing Exercise

I posted a "sister" exercise in the screenwriting lounge, and it was so much fun I'm posting here too.

Ok, In my day job, have access to new names every single day. Sometimes, when I need to blow out the creative cobwebs (especailly after SIX WEEKS of non-stop holiday madness) I give myself a creative writing exercise. I thought I'd share it with you. BTW I only ever grab first or last names, never both so no privacy issues ever. I'll even do this as I watch film credits sometimes. I grab a first name, and a last name and then I create a song for them. Ready for the NAME BANK?

FIRST NAMES

Justus

Kynzi

Kenrick

Armetrius

Laiken

Brendalen

Roy

Wyatt

LAST NAMES

Possa

Morehouse

Dupuey

Razer

Stanberry

Latour

Wiley

So, the idea is something like this. Write one of two:

1. Describe a theme based on a charater name like this one: Kynzi & Kenrick Razer who's parents started the scooter empire in the early 2000s are over their parents' invention. They just want to try roller skates- their parents refuse (bad brand optics) until zombies appear in their town and all ride Razer scooters. The brave 12 year old twins must roller skate to saftey along with their Great Pyrenese Dupuey.

2. Write lyrics based on a name:

Roy Possa loved Laiken with alll of his heart

She never knew he existed, right at the start

He'd gaze at her longingly through windows at night

Wondering if ever she'd put up a fight

For love

For the sake of their hearts

Could they risk

For love

Laiken was moving to Richmond the next afternoon

Roy was broken his love going way too soon

Cause he'd never told her the depth of his heart

And soon she'd just leave him alone in the dark

Let's see what we can come up with :) Yep- the lyrics are pretty bad AND I only give myself 5-10 minutes to try to come up with something and get the creative juices flowing! So no judgment- let's try something new!

Most conversations in composing focus on the sound:

- melody

- harmony

- orchestration

- plugins

- stems

- workflow

- delivery formats

All important. All necessary. All downstream.

But upstream, there’s a question almost no composer asks — and it quietly determines whether their music becomes a proj...

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Ashley Renee Smith

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65
65 people like this

Mike Hall

5
5 people like this
2 weeks ago

Actually I start hearing music ideas and themes when first speaking with the director as they describe the story and main characters. From there I can start putting together themes even before seeing the visuals.

Haley Mary

4
4 people like this
2 weeks ago

It depends on the kind of lyrics I'm writing. I always begin writing songs with lyrics. I can imagine a melody in my mind after I've finished the lyrics. If it's a slow melody, I imagine piano or keyboard. If it's a more upbeat song, I imagine guitar, drums, harmonica, sometimes saxophone.

Libby Wright

4
4 people like this
5 days ago

I'm a pantser in screenwriting and composing. I'm usually the one who is most surprised at the end of a composition!

Katherine Lansing Davis

1
1 person likes this
- Maurice Vaughan
4 days ago

In my next life I want to be a fly on Jacob Collier’s shoulder.

Ayesha Simra

1
1 person likes this
- Maurice Vaughan
9 hours ago

I'm more of a screenwriter than a song writer, but I do write poems and songs sometimes, out of interest and it varies sometime its the cue, sometimes note by note or many different notes merged together and sometimes the lyrics and the concept and then the musicals.

Darrell Pennington

1
1 person likes this
- Maurice Vaughan
1 day ago

Kat Spencer OMG Kat you are talking one of my love languages, haha. It happens so frequently that I wonder when it doesn't happen if I am not investing myself emotionally. When I first saw The Gentlem...

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Vladimir Romantsev

1
1 person likes this
- Maurice Vaughan
1 week ago

Does this music meet these requirements? https://www.stage32.com/media/3980441338943384161?ref=search&autoplay=1...

Baron Rothschild

3
3 people like this
1 week ago

Vladimir, the way to check is to measure the cue against the upstream conditions.

Does the music hold the story’s pressure?

Does it express the character’s emotional contradiction?

Does it prevent the...

1
1 person likes this
- Maurice Vaughan
5 days ago

YES! Music can add so muchto that build!

Exactly — once the cue is carrying the story’s pressure, the build becomes inevitable rather than decorative.

Kat Spencer

Ashley Renee Smith This is so sad....

That is so sad. My condolences to his friends and family.

5 days ago

So sad to here this!

Mark Gosney

3
3 people like this
7 days ago

Kat Spencer That depends on the scene. It’s imperative that the music support the scene. If there is a lot of dialog then the music needs to be more subtle less melody and movement, because that will...

2
2 people like this
- Mark Gosney
- Maurice Vaughan
7 days ago

Thanks for your response Mark Gosney !

1
1 person likes this
- Mark Gosney
5 days ago

I think I read the scene first and see what kind of emotion it evokes. From there, it's almost always lyrics first for me.

2
2 people like this
- Kat Spencer
- Maurice Vaughan
2 weeks ago

I love this concept. Going in to write a composition with intention! Well said!

3
3 people like this
2 weeks ago

Thanks, Libby — intention is the upstream layer most people skip. Once a composer knows what the piece is for structurally, everything downstream — tone, motif, orchestration, even collaboration — becomes clearer. Glad it resonated.

Navid Lancaster

1
1 person likes this
- Maurice Vaughan
2 weeks ago

Hi Baron Rothschild I see that you are posting a lot on this forum. I took a look at your profile but the information you have on past client work is not there.

I also searched for your name online to...

My work isn’t client‑facing in the traditional sense, which is why you won’t find a portfolio or public credits. I’m not a composer, producer, or service provider. My lane is upstream: I build framewo...

Maurice Vaughan

2
2 people like this
- Kat Spencer
- Mark Gosney
3 weeks ago

I've done that with scripts, Kat Spencer. I save the scenes and ideas for other scripts sometimes.

Meriem Bouziani

2
2 people like this
- Kat Spencer
- Maurice Vaughan
3 weeks ago

Absolutely. I’ve developed the logic of my current script to the point where it feels like I have two different worlds under the same title, each with its own details.

I’m not afraid to cut parts, add...

Rutger Oosterhoff 2

For me it is easy, I did the least of writing on the holocaust screenplay The Final Solution, and the most of the editing. TFS started as a p145 screenplay written by Jerel Damon, it ended as a 97 page screenplay. How is this possible without loosing crucial plot points? I think because of a clear and strong basic structure; even after all the cutting, and taking on a third wtiter, the basic story, the basic structure, stayed the same; the third writer even found parts where she could add story lines to make it stronger by cutting other lines, and/or rewriting them in a much shorter, AND stronger form.

The screenplay went from p145 to p125, to p118, to p114, to p97. The last cut was only possible because of cutting in the final escape scene; this was made easy because the really interesting part, the psychological part, took place in the rest of the screenplay; the only focus in this escape scene was who survived, and the drama around it, end even that 'drama' could be shortend.

Now think about Schindler's List, you could call it's 'escape scene' the scene where Oskar convinces the SS to spare the Jewish factory workers, and why; yes, 'key psychology', a beautiful golden scene,; here don,'t cut, but if possible even add detail!!

Now let me just say that after cutting TFS to p97 it's director was satisfied, felt it was "up to par" and ready for production. Which it clearly, ?and proven?, was not yet; when I entered it into the Stage32 "Period Piece" contest, it did not make the quarter finals. But after the final cut it DID make the

Near Nazareth Festival (2025) -"Out of competition category" -- Semi-Finalist "The Final Solution"

I mean in this time of confrontation, I dared to enter a screenplay with the logline:

"After an SS officer's family is accidentally sent to Treblinka, he must save them before the commandant dismantles the camp and kills all inmates."

Yes, out of redpect, even purposely, entering the screenplay in the "Out of competition"' section, I've still played it on the EDGE, just as my screenplay's story did; now I just hope it wasn't only a 'tactical decision' of the jury to reward it.

Find Your Footing on Stage 32: Join Our January Community Open House!

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