How to get your creative flow for composing at the piano

4/19/2022

by Jenny Leigh Hodgins

If you struggle with tapping into your creative flow, I have a few ideas I fall back on. These will help you connect with your true self and an open heart—both crucial for expressing yourself through music.

In today's Tuesday Piano Tips LIVE inside the New and Returning Piano Learners Facebook group, I go in-depth to share three things:

Tips for setting your creative mindset.
Two approaches for composing at the piano.
My creative process and a few specific examples.

What moves me?

Life events, friendship, nature, love, and loss.

How do I compose music?

I approach composing by listening to let the melody lead me.

Alternatively, I let chord progression dictate where I'm going. But I allow my creative voice to lead me by listening for what I hear next versus making a sound first.

An example of my composing process is a piece I wrote for my dad, Ocean Waving. I wanted to bring the ocean to him, so I emulated ocean waves by overlapping improvisational melodic lines from guitar and piano over a looping repetitive chord progression.

For my friend, Kay, I composed Sun & Bloom and Finding Spring. I wanted the music to be a cheerful expression of gratitude for our friendship. I aimed to evoke a spring or early summer bright day with an enjoyable comrade.

For my late friend, Tina, I composed On The Wings of Faith, using piano and strings to build a climactic crescendo with an ascending range of notes to symbolize her beautiful life state and the eternity of life.

I used a familiar pop song form or lyrics as a template for composing some of my musical theatre songs. This provided a ready-made template or structure for me to follow as I composed a melody set to the lyrics or set up a chord progression based on the form.

I allowed the story to be my guide when I composed music for a film. The story and characters helped determine a tonal template, instrumentation, range, and/or a soundscape versus writing a melody or using a musical form.

Spring Piano Solos by Jenny Leigh Hodgins

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This collection of two lighthearted contemporary/classical piano solos, Finding Spring and Sun and Bloom, expresses the pure joy and warmth of spring and friendship.

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Simply You Piano Solo © 2011 Jenny Leigh Hodgins

$5.99

Simply You Piano Solo © 2011 Jenny Leigh Hodgins

Simply You is an emotionally dramatic contemporary/classical piano solo sharing the simplicity, safety, and depth of true friendship.

Buy my piano sheet music!

Sun and Bloom Piano Solo © 2016 Jenny Leigh Hodgins

$5.99

This lighthearted contemporary/classical piano solo, Sun and Bloom, expresses the pure joy and warmth of spring and friendship.

Buy my piano sheet music!

Finding Spring Piano Solo © 2016 Jenny Leigh Hodgins

$5.99

This lighthearted contemporary/classical piano solo, Finding Spring, expresses the pure joy and warmth of spring and friendship. This solo is the first of a 2-part composition, including it's final movement, Sun and Bloom.

Buy my piano sheet music!

Karmic Thread piano solo © 2014 Jenny Leigh Hodgins

$5.99

This emotive piano solo, reminiscent of Ravel and Debussy's dreaminess and full use of both range and dynamics, dramatizes the karmic thread of our life-to-life connections.

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My Weeds piano solo

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My Weeds piano solo

My Weeds is a powerfully dramatic contemporary-classical piano solo sharing an intimate vulnerability in the battle against one's inner doubt. The musical journey is ultimately transformative through unrelenting resolution.

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You've Got My Heart is a gentle, intimate contemporary-classical piano solo reflecting the tenderness between poetic hearts.

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Let me know if these suggestions are helpful or if you have more tips for tapping creativity by leaving a comment below!

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