Inspiration

How does this differ from traditional composing
and what musical talents are required?

Truly, the inspiration for this must come from inside you. You begin with a feeling which lends itself to a musical form or mood. The keys, notes, rhythms, harmonies, and instrumentation all stem from that original idea or feeling.

Most often, the beginnings of a piece start with a first take played on the keyboard using a particular instrument sound that most broadly reflects the idea. Traditionally, this is done at the piano with the composer transcribing lines over to various instruments of the orchestra. What sets computer music apart from this is that one is able to hear the sounds and voicings of the instruments as the notes are entered.

It quickly becomes a long and drawn out process of adding or correcting notes, along with adjusting dynamics and phrasing. You literally have to become not only the composer, but the conductor, and all the players. In my piece titled String Adagio, expression and realism is enhanced by playing the piece rubato. I made extensive use of the Tempo track in Cubase for that.

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