My main instrument is the guitar. One day I felt like playing but not really practicing or writing new material per se. I also wanted to watch a movie and escape reality for an hour or so. Being the multi-tasker that I am I decided to do both. I sat down with a guitar, electric and unplugged, popped in a movie and just jammed along with the soundtrack. Almost immediately I noticed a few things at play. No pun intended. It opened up a new world of melody, tempo and song structure. It was an exercise in improv and on-the-spot mimicry. It pushed me out of my normal wheelhouse of rock/'radio' song structure i.e. verse, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, etc. I had to think outside the box to keep up and maintain sonic cohesion with the soundtrack. This idea has become my main happy fun time practice regime when I watch a movie now. This practice idea is also one of the reasons I play 8 string guitars now. I encourage any musician to give it a try. If your a vocalist, hum along with the soundtrack. If your a guitarist/ bassist grab that instrument. Drummer, tap those fingers. Any musician can adopt this practice idea to fit their needs. Atleast give that soundtrack a deeper listen next time you watch a movie. You would be surprised where you can take inspiration from.
Composing : Unique and Fun Practice Routine by Chris Chapman
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A great idea to do a 'play along'. As a musician myself, I have two more things to be quite useful for both my creative juices and to learn new techniques or material. The first is to play along with recordings (most of us learn that way how to enhance our techniques). Pick a genre that is out of your comfort zone - perhaps way out - such as Zydeco, Gospel, Tejano, or even Polkas or Ragtime, etc. Anything to either play with the melody or as you say to just improvise. Beginners should start by just learning and duplicating the playing of famous players of their instrument. As a guitarist, for example, you have likely played along with hendrix and clapton but also Wes Montgomery's rendition of Misty (65). (Don't you just love the way Wes uses his well known octave doubling technique! :) )
But also consider (2) transcribing existing material. So much better imho than just analyzing lead sheets or scores. Among various benefits (a) it directs you to look at the structure, flow of the piece - both the chordal and melody progression, and (b) has you consider how to write for and analyze instruments which you are not familiar.
Here is a great 'education' example of doing something for 'fun' and a great learning experience. My primary instrument is piano/keys. But I was tasked with taking the well known Cozy Cole hit "Topsie, part ii" from 1958 and rewrite it to be performed by a full 'big band' (that is multi part sax, trumpets, trombones and a rhythm section). You may find that 'reverse engineering' (or as we say 'transcribing') provides you with a whole new outlook on things you should consider for your own original material. And in addition, I can only speak for myself but when I don't score for film, I score for live performance (in my case often jazz) - its another way to get a 'music high'.
Check out this class performance (and if you want go to youtube and compare it to the original). Again, I wrote / transcribed all the parts and left room for improvisation and added some original material.
https://youtu.be/JtnK13OGXj0
Chris Chapman Very interesting. I do most of my absorption through books (for example Hanon), Youtube channels, lots of podcasts and other means. Then I write.
Ohh, this is a great idea - very interesting indeed. I love it!
edit: I am watching Masters of The Universe right now. I'm going to give your excercise idea a go
What an interesting idea Chris! Learning by jamming is an interesting idea. Definitely can be part of deepening our understanding of our instruments and our scoring craft.
As a guitarist, my early years of playing were learning scales, chords and other artists songs, and even now, playing covers with the occasional band. Once I had the basic songs structure down, intro, verse, verse, pre-chorus, chorus etc., or the few variations in between, I had to find a new and interesting outlet for creativity. Thus the jamming along with soundtracks instead of Sabbath, Zeppelin or Pink Floyd. It did expand my musical thinking. Getting in a room and jamming, say something bluesy, with other musicians and jamming with an orchestra are apples and oranges. For my personal musical ideas, I take inspiration from any where it presents itself. Life, books, a line in a movie, etc.
Music or the expression of or the energy and 'vibes' of it are all around us, and in constant motion....like a love song...!