If you’re a composer out there who has ever had trouble thinking of a good title (or any title) for a recently finished piece, raise your hand. If you’re not raising your hand, please contact me immediately and tell me your secrets.
I hate coming up with titles. And lucky for me, I am about to finish a piece soon (hopefully) that does not have a title yet, as usual. I have a few ideas, but none of them are good. Example: for some reason, I wrote down “There’s a Sunflower Seed on the Stairs” as a possible title. I think I thought it was funny at the time… but it’s really not. And I have no idea why it would work for my piece.
What are your strategies? Which do you do first, write the piece or come up with a title? Does the title have anything to do with the piece, or is it just something that has to exist? Do you use titles such as “Untitled” or “String Quartet Number 1”?
I have had numerous strategies for generating titles over the years, my favorite being the google method. It only really worked once, but those were some great titles (and that was for a piece with five movements plus an overall title!!). It was particularly fitting with this piece because it was a set of miniatures, and each movement was sort of “about” something- the first movement had very short motives and a lot of quick, short staccato notes. It ended up being called “Thread of Dots.” (Thank you, Google.) The longest movement was very slow moving with long, slow harmonic changes and I called it “Infinite Distance.”
Unfortunately, the Google method doesn’t always work. In my case it only worked once (but please, if you end up trying this method, let me know what you come up with!). Other methods I have used, mostly unsuccessfully:
- opening up a random page in a book and looking at the first few words, and other variations of this method (every third word, first line of each paragraph, etc.).
- Brainstorming/listening to a midi recording of the piece over and over and hoping that something will come to me that makes sense with the music (has worked once, maybe).
- Trying to find the strangest words possible on this website that might have something to do with the piece (also known as the Obscure Thesaurus Method).
- Taking a cue from something that "inspired" the piece (only works if you had some sort of external inspiration, and even if you did, you don't necessarily want to name your piece for it).
- Asking other people for suggestions (a hit or miss method, but has worked well for me on several occasions).
There are many discussions on title-creation and the meaning of titles- here’s one of my favorites from NewMusicBox by composer David Rakowski. Some composers spend a lot of time searching for meaningful titles; others apparently couldn’t care less. What do your titles say about you? Do they describe the piece in some way or tell the audience something? Do they try to sound extra wacky just so people are curious? One of my professors told me that he thinks of a title as a marketing device, which may help alleviate some of the pressure associated (at least for me) in coming up with a perfect title… at least for artistic reasons.
Any creative ideas out there? How do you come up with titles? I’d love some new suggestions!
*The title of this post is not to be confused with Title of The Song, which is a pretty funny song you should all listen to if you've never heard it.
Posted by Sarah
Have you ever played your piece for a non-composer musician friend (or writer/photographer/artist -not that there is anything wrong with composer friends!) and then have them write down/talk about the "mood" or "feel" they get from the work? Then after they listen to it, you can tell them what you were "doing" in the piece (be it pitch class manipulation, larger form ideas, timbre stuff). And finally perhaps have them ask you questions and then brainstorm titles depending on what you want and their impressions.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting post/problem. -Morgan
Thanks, Morgan! That's an interesting idea- I have actually tried that before with non-composer friends, and sometimes people tell me they're getting things from a piece that I never would have thought of, which is pretty cool. I can't remember if I've ever done that with a title search though. Maybe I'll try that next time. :)
ReplyDeleteGlad you're reading and thanks so much for posting!
--Sarah
After reading your post I thought of a film I watched recently, The Lonesome Dove. I watched some of the special features and one was with the writer, Larry McMurtry. He explained he developed the idea in the 1970s with the title, The Streets of Laredo for a feature film that John Wayne and others would star in. The film was never made. Ten years later he tried resurrecting the screenplay into a full-length novel but was having trouble. He had written several versions but none were working for him. He felt he needed a title to finish a version he would like. One day he was driving in Ft. Worth, Texas and saw a church with the name, Lonesome Dove Baptist Church. And then he wrote the Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Lonesome Dove.
ReplyDeleteThat story reminds me of a book I read Henry Miller's, On Writing. He suggests to artists and writers to schedule in time each week to visit museums and get out and see things for inspiration and ideas.
I also thought of Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring, the ballet he composed for Martha Graham.Though he did not have a title he referred to it as Ballet For Martha. Shortly before the premier Martha suggested the title Appalachian Spring, a phrase from a Hart Crane poem, The Bridge. That story is a bit in line with Morgan Rich's comment about someone else commenting on your work.
I recently composed a trombone-piano piece for my partner, Jeni, who turned thirty-six. It has thirty-six measures. I titled it Thirty-six For Jeni.
Can you explain your Google search method for me?
Thanks for your post. I enjoyed thinking about it and reflecting.
Hi, Billy! Thanks for reading and for your comment. I completely agree that it's important for composers to get out there and not be secluded with our composition paper/pianos/pencils/computers/etc. all the time. One of my favorite piece titles is "Truckdance"- which came from the opening motive of the piece that I got from a garbage truck driving down my street. Not super romantic, but that's what happens when you live in a city. :)
ReplyDeleteI didn't explain the Google search method very well in my post... here's what I've done in the past: think of words that describe your piece to yourself, whether it has to do with your process or method, inspiration, moods you get from the music or really just anything peripherally related to your piece. The more words the better and the more specific the better. Google these words in different combinations until you come up with a title you like based on one of the results! Obviously this method doesn't always work, but it can be fun.
Enjoy, and thanks again for reading! Come visit us again soon. :)
Sarah