Inspiration to Composition: How I Write a Tune

A question that’s come up at several gigs recently is how I write a tune.  

Tools of the Trade

To start with, I always write my fiddle tunes with my fiddle in my hand, and I make use of my voice memo to record ideas.  I sometimes write harmony parts just at my computer with my theory knowledge, but honestly I like the harmonies better when they come through my fiddle.  All my tunes get notated later.  

Where the Inspiration Comes From

The process for how I write a tune varies depending on the day:

Messing Around: Sometimes I just mess around with my fiddle and see what comes.  Often these tunes remain nameless for a while.

Storytelling: Sometimes I have a story or theme in mind.  A person that I want to write a tune about, an event, a certain kind of weather, and then I write with that in mind.

Analysis: Sometimes I think about tunes that I love.  I then analyze them to see why I love them and then try to incorporate that particular technique into my own tune.

Breaking the Rut: Sometimes I notice that I have gotten stuck in a rut (writing a lot of jigs in E minor for example), so I give myself an assignment of writing say a hornpipe in the key of D.

Evolution of the Tune

Sometimes the tunes come as a whole thing, and sometimes it is just a snippet that gets developed later.

When I am writing a tune about someone, usually there is something that makes me think of them.  The tune that I wrote for my father (“The Legacy”) was in the key of Eb because he loved tunes in flat keys.  My tune about my friend Bear (“Bear the Tinker”) had a gypsy sound because he travelled in a horse drawn tinkers wagon.

Sound and Feeling

Sometimes I like to play with the sounds like “Spring Peepers” where you can actually hear the frogs peeping.  Other times it is more just a feeling like in “Lazy Sunday Afternoon” where I just wanted to give the impression of one of those days where nobody wants to do anything.

Naming Sessions

I have wonderful memories of naming sessions with my husband, where I would play a bunch of tunes for him and he would tell me what they made him think of.  We’d often come up with names for the tunes that way.

You can also follow along on Patreon, where I’ll be sharing bits and pieces of the tune writing process as I work on my next album over the coming months: https://www.patreon.com/cw/katherinemollermusic