So, let’s say you have a client, who’s going to pay you to make a song. Hurray! But then you run into a problem. When you ask them “What kind of song do you want?”, they answer “I don’t know… you’re the musician.” Uh oh.

This is one of the classic problems that any artist has when they’re working for clients. Clients frequently don’t know what they want, and if they do, they don’t know how to communicate to artists. But, if you don’t get some information about this song, you can’t possibly hope to make something they’d like, and you won’t get paid!

Time to make this situation less painful… here’s my list of questions that are guaranteed to give you more information about the song you need to compose:

1. Is it like a song that already exists? This is, in my experience, the most important question you can ask. Even the most tone-deaf people seem to have at least a few songs they like, even if they’ve never attempted to describe why they like them, and if a client is wanting a new song, comparing it to a song that already exists is likely the easiest way to get the conversation started. From here, you can ask things like “What is it about this song that you like?”, which is a perfect way to launch into the following questions. ¹
2. What mood should the song have? Music is the “universal language”, not because you can easily translate words into other languages with it, but because you can describe a mood or a feeling to any culture with it. A sorrowful violin solo or a cheerful flute will convey an emotion to almost any listener.
3. What message should the song convey? This is very similar to the last question, but it’s a bit different because it goes beyond mood. If you listened to “Flight of the Bumblebee”, without even being told what the title was, you could probably guess that the song had the story of “a very busy creature is frantically doing something”. Sometimes, if the client’s message is simple enough, it can help with the creation of a song.
4. Are there graphical elements that go along with the music? If there is a picture that the music will be played along with, try as hard as possible to get your hands on that picture. A picture, after all, is worth a thousand words, and something about that picture might just jumpstart your song. In Disney’s Mary Poppins, the song “Chim Chiminee” was directly inspired by an early sketch of a chimney sweep character before that character’s actor had even been cast. I was once given the task of creating a song for a scientist’s lab, and when I saw the concept art for the lab, a hydraulic pump in one corner was enough to give me a good rhythm to start with. ²
5. What instruments make sense? Occasionally, a client will have one or more instruments in mind for a song. This is helpful, but sometimes not as helpful as you might think. Non-musicians don’t always have the right instrument in mind when they mention an instrument… for instance, they might be thinking of a trombone when they say a trumpet. Use this info wisely.
6. What is the song’s tempo? Is it fast-paced or slow? How do you move to it? This helps mostly in determining the speed of the song and the role of the percussion section. If the song is to be a march, for instance, you immediately know that the time signature will be 2/4, because that’s what all marches are. ³ You also know that the speed will be something you can march to (120-140 bpm, most likely). If the song is to be a waltz, it will be 3/4, and if the song is dance music, it will probably be 2/4 or 4/4.

These six questions, and any other comments the client gives about the song, should be enough to get you started on the piece. ⁴ If the client isn’t able to answer any of these questions, then chances are he doesn’t even know what he wants. You have no hope of helping him. Just walk away slowly.

One last thing: these questions are useful for helping any client… including you! Sometimes I’ve been in situations where I’ve really felt like making a song for fun, but haven’t had a clue what to make. In that case, you just modify the questions a bit and ask them to yourself:

• Do I want to make a song similar to one that already exists?
• What mood or message do I want to keep in mind as I try to compose this song?
• Is there a piece of artwork that I’ve seen that inspires me to make a song?
• What instrument(s) have I always wanted to compose with?
• What tempo would be fun to compose with? Should I try to make a song with an unusual time signature like 7/4, just to see if I can?

If you yourself can’t answer any of those questions, then maybe you should jam for awhile with the Record button turned on and see what happens. Or, just step away from the instruments and do something outside. There’s nothing like mowing the lawn to make you really wish that you were inside composing music instead.

Next: Chapter 5: Truth To Materials
Previous: Chapter 3: The Equipment You Need

Footnotes: