title

yes

yes

no

But I have made things that make music just because I felt like it

started, yes
finished, probably not

i have never made music because i felt like it. I am forced by my cruel stepmother to make music. send help

A-zu-ra ( ﾟ^ﾟ)'d the above post and the post above the above post

i am compelled

i dunno

what does a music feel like

I write a lot of stuff just because I have an idea chasing around my head and I just have to get it down on a score

Of course

What Sinc-X said

no

that's most of what I do, however it sure is nice to have incentive/obligation when I'm not >___>

Isn't it always "because they feel like it", when a person starts composing for the first time?

wtf no

everything i make i make because i feel like making it. if i didnt feel like it i wouldn't be doing it at all.

yes

ok

Always

elaborate pls

I feel like we didn't all understand the question in the same way, I'd also like to ask for clarification =|

The first chiptune I ever made was just because I felt like it.

I have music doodles in my head all the time but I haven't developed the skills to realize them yet so they just fade away. All the other songs I've actually made have been for botb or for games. I only make music when I feel like doing other things that require it.

Evidently that doesn't happen a lot >:

Can't elaborate, need more info on what music and feelings are D:

i know a lotta (mostly asian, lol) people who were forced into taking piano/violin lessons when they were kids, wonder if any parents have ever made their kid take composition lessons from a young age

elaboration: making music without a goal in mind, including but not limited to
- music for video game
- submissions to a timed compo
- music for an album release

Honestly, parents forcing their child to compose doesn't really happen in the chiptune world, does it? Except maybe if you have nerd parents who force you to look at your computer screen :P

A-zu-ra, the only time I make music with absolutely no goal in mind is during these little 10 or 15 minute sessions that happen about everyday where I feel like sitting down at the piano and just playing. And for no other reason than "I feel like playing right now"

My piano is in the living room, so I walk by it all the time. Sometimes I'll play cos I'm feeling frustrated or irritated or stressed. I have these pointless sessions a lot during long study sessions to decompress and break up study stress(I seriously hate studying). And sometimes I'll play simply cos I walked by the piano and feel like sitting down and banging something out.

It's worth noting I always improvise during these things, and I don't ever record or write down anything that happens. It's just stuff that comes and goes in the moment.

Other than that, I definitely always have some goal in mind with music. It's an entirely different topic, but musical utility is an important subject to discuss!

yes

i'll write down anything that comes into my head and develop it as much as i can until i either lose motivation, get it to sound good enough to come back to later, or finish it lol

i think for me it's more of an inspiration thing. when i "feel" like writing music it's because i'm motivated or inspired i guess, does that count as feeling like making music? i usually don't have a goal when i'm writing something unless it's for a compo/release/whatever; i'm making something i want to make and hopefully i'm becoming a better composer in the process as well. that being said, most of the time i guess i'll start a doodle because i feel like it -> something comes up where i can make a song for a compo/release/Whatever -> end up finishing the doodle with a set goal to release the song there. i guess i'm in the same boat with sinc-x lol

pug i am glad you still name all your files doodle

oh are we playing this game now

i dont understand what the alternative is

golgi they are doodles!

for me compos are more a catalyst to finishing things than they are an impetus to start

to actually answer the question yes I have, but it's very variable and inconsistent. often I'll be walking somewhere and an idea will spontaneously pop into my head, and if I think that idea is good enough then I'll write it down and develop into a full song later, but sometimes they have to sit around in my head for a few days or more before I feel ready to write it down. (i've also dropped countless ideas bc they weren't 'good enough' which I kinda wish didn't happen but, eh)

nowadays the majority of the stuff I do is for competitions or compilations or projects but before a few years ago when I wasn't active here it was mostly for fun without any thoughts towards making The Great American Longplay Album or anything

also does it count if I wrote a song that subconsciously was towards a goal? I read a jazz theory book and then a few days later wrote a jazz song for fun that didn't directly apply any of the techniques I learned in the book but I don't think I would've written it if I hadn't read that book

Of course I have, in fact it is much harder for me to write music on the rare occasion that I don't feel like making it. The problem with always wanting to make something though is that I'll make a ton of works in progress and probably finish less than half of them because sometimes in the middle of making one thing I'll get an idea to start another lol.

Outside of botb, I sometimes will open up a tracker in order to try a new technique, or work with certain sample(s), rather than wanting to write a song that sounds a specific way. Then if it goes somewhere good, it can become a finished piece :) Haven't done this much in the past few years though.

can you actually remember what all those doodles are? i probably have a hundred unfinished/unreleased modules but they're all called words and not numbers.

i guess zan might have done the same thing based

on

their

meeps

i know a handful of them because there are many i like to go back to and listen to a bit. doodle 57 is the First module in the series of modules sent between me & coda for the aibomb remix, and it had a different bass that i still like to listen to the sound of (lol). doodle 75 is a 1 minute Sick D&B Riff That I Can't Expand Upon So It's Just Stuck There, doodle 122 is a cool samba loop that i hope i can make to a full song one day but idk music is hard........ some doodles are even full-fledged songs--doodle 140 is plastic waltz, doodle 127 is [REDACTED] for [REDACTED], doodle 109 is rainy meadow... and then there are doodles that i have that are Before those doodles that are just practicing out some chord progressions with certain instruments and sounds. i like to go back and listen to doodles a lot just so see which doodle is what. sometimes i catch myself like "oh yeah, i made this one night and i totally forgot it existed since": o P

so tl;dr i can remember a handful by the numbers, otherwise i go back and listen to a lot of them to see which doodle is what haha

on one hand I'm like "wow" but on the other hand I'm like "but is my system of naming wips random related words any better"

probably if u can effectively describe the doodle in the title well enough to know what it is before listening to it lol

i number them for the sake of just archiving them chronologically

the solution is to find a compromise and name everything like "doodle 332 sick wubz cute anime.it"

a history of my naming scheme for random music "doodles" that I used

####
(but then i got tired of not knowing what # corresponded to what so)
#### - description of doodle
(and then fl studio 12 fucked everything up so)
12_#### - description of doodle for projects made in fl12

Yes, I started because it was fun. I almost quit because it stopped being fun..There was no internet to put music on, I recorded to cassettes.

tbh i only make music when i ohb.

Who doesn't? I usually write a lot of stuff that would be unfinished because I tend to forget my composition ideas a lot. I would use them as reference for future stuff later on. (maybe several months after)

yes

never, fun isn't allowed.

i write something i think is really good all day

and then the next day I look at it and go "what the fuck was I thinking?"

have you ever had a dreams thats that you um you had you you would you could you'd do you would you you wants you you you could do so you you'd do you could you you want you want him to do you so much you could do anything?

I didn't understand the intent of the question either until A-zu-ra's follow-up post, because I also fall into the "I only make it if I want to make it" camp. Perks of music being a hobby rather than a profession. :P

For the more specific form of the question, the answer is "still yes." It's a pretty random bag, and sometimes stuff made for no reason ends up in a major or a (planned) album, or vice-versa. The line blurs.

Nope, i only write/listen music to counter tv or radio as i do not good with them, also to remember happy stuff when i feel the need of it; some music also makes me feel better at certain moments

used to. now my music is always made for something specific. deciding when to start is still a matter of when i feel like it of course

yea

yes

Rarely. Like some others have mentioned in the thread, I usually have no problem starting random things whenever I feel like it, but without a compo I don't really have motivation to finish them.

to elaborate:

i think i've written about 7 hours of "finished" or released music, if you include time-limited single-session competitions (OHBs and the like).

• about 1 hour of that was just because i felt like it.
• about 2 hours of that were for no specific purpose but came from a Dark Place that i wouldn't describe as "just feeling like it".
• about 1 hour of that had at least semi-serious artistic intent fueled by some combination of discipline, inspiration, and hypomania.
• about 2 hours of that were for one- or two-hour battles.
• the last hour is probably stuff that doesn't clearly fall into one of those categories.

edit: i had a couple additional notes here, but psychology and semantics can be hairy topics in combination. i'm just leaving the relatively dry information above as-is.