Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Composer's Lounge Picking titles

Ive been playin piano for bout 8 years.....Its what I love.....I love composing music.....it comes easily....and Ive been recording them....but unfortunately....coming up with names for them does not come so easily....I have so many of my compositions saved in my computer....and because I cannot come up with anything, I have just been naming them according to the dates on which I have composed them....just temporarily.....so getting to my point

How can I come up with interesting...yet fitting...titles?

I have come up with a few....but only one title satisfies me......the others just dont seem to fit what I'm playing......I sit there all day playing the peice....tryin to figure out what it sounds like....and next fall semester I have senior project....and for it im goin to make a cd......but im gunna need titles......If U have N-E ideas....let me know......THANX

I'd have to listen to them and/or see the score to think of a random title. Since I'm a writer (with words, not notes) I'm usually pretty good at that sort of thing. Let me know.

DC Shoes:

AHA! Another composer using the DATE TITLING METHOD.

All of my music up until about a year or so ago, I also just dated. Problem is, you can't tell them apart from one another when they are only dated.

After playing some of my pieces for Terrytunes and BeeLady, they naturally asked what they were called. I was at a loss. Since then I've been giving them titles (felt kind of funny at first...) But I digress...

What I do... Whenever I come across words or a phrase that sounds like it would be a good title, I write it down. I now have lots of titles to choose from.

Whenever you have a piece to title, just pull out your notes and see which title fits.

I imagine this is similar to what songwriters do - when they think of ideas for lyrics they write them down to work on.

Jeanne W

I title my pieces with the same freedom that
I write them in the first place. My compositions
are done without a lot of struggle or structure,
they just flow as I relax.
Then I just notice what kind of mood they
evoke...bubbles? color? weather? childhood...
I remember one that was like perking coffee...
So I just title them obviously to start with.
They are written for myself and titled for myself.
Anything that gets beyond that point, I figure
I can always rename later if it has a "greater
life" than my first impression.
Its just a way...by no means the only way.
It seems many people on this site are much more
serious in the way they approach music than I
am. I do it for fun, relaxation and expression.
To use an analogy...my approach to music
would be as a child picking wildflowers as I
walked through a meadow.
I think some approach their music like a
formal floral designer putting together a
million dollar wedding...it just has to be
perfect!
If I have to be perfect I can't do it at all.
You might even ask a child to name your
stuff...what do you think it sounds like?
I'll bet you'd have some neat answers that way.
Smile.
Its fun to think about these things.
Good question.

Why not a numbering system like Beethoven, Mozart, etc. had? If the master composers didn't always had to have a title, why do we think we always need one. If something is written in a certain form - Rondo, Sonata, a dance form, etc. a numbering system would make it easy to find. We all kind of like to throw those numbers around when playing works or listening to works as if they are really important, like, "I'm playing Beethoven's Sonata, Op. 2, No. 1. or Muczynski's Six Preludes, Op. 6 for Piano". It sounds really prestigious. If you have a work, you could title the work and assign numbers to each piece in the work.
I think of Kabelevsky's Preludes, Bach Inventions, Beethoven Sonatas, etc. Maybe you could lump some of your pieces together into one work, title the work and number each piece.

If one wants a title, just tell oneself, if I'm creative enough to compose all these works, I'm certainly creative enough to come up with a nice title.

Sarabande:

Your idea will work well, but what if you don't really know what format your piece of music, or it doesn't truly *fit* any particular kind of music? i.e. it cannot be categorized as a Rondo, Sonata, etc.

I'd really rather title some of my music the way you are suggesting, but I've had no formal training in composition and, therefore, do not know if any of my music can be named this way.

!!!

That being said, I do think it is easier to IDENTIFY a piece of music with a title. Trying to remember Sonata #27 from Sonata #15 can be a bit trying!!!

Just my 2 cents.

Jeanne W

Thanx guys, this helps me alot, I very much like Jeanne W's suggestion, cause I randomly come up with interesting titles....but of course not at the right time when I should be thinking of a title, so I just forget about it, but i will do that......I have thought of your idea before, Sarabande but it is a little more difficult than that......like Jeanne W says,So I had to give that up.

I generally just chose whatever I think is fitting to the song. Some titles of my songs:

-Carmen Culpae
-Impressions in the early night
-Song about love (or lack thereof)
-Free Astronaut Adam's Blues Project
-Waiting to Fall

It really depends on how you see your song and what it means to you.

I remember once titling a piece I wrote, "Son of a..." and it ended with a firm fist pounding the keys right around the middle. I was young when I wrote it (even younger than I am now), not quite ripe, and a little wet behind the ears...and it was over a girl. So, I suppose you understand my motives? :p

Derelux:

It was a passionate piece of music, then?



Or ANGRY?

Jeanne W

Sometimes obvious titles sprind to mind and sometimes not. I certainly do not feel obliged to think of titles; the music ought to speak for itself. Music is just abstract sound, and if it provokes different images in different people, then so much the better as far as I am concerned. That is part of the magic of music.
In that sense, a programme imprisons as much as it liberates.

Generally I have found the urge to title things has markedly decreased with age.

Ted:

A LOT of things "markedly decrease with age", don't they?



Jeanne W

Jeanne:

Indeed, in my case mostly things I am well rid of !

I hope it wasn't me you sent things to without a reply. Since they put MailMarshal on my work computer all sorts of things haven't reached me at all. In general, if anybody here wants to send me mp3s or scores, it is safer to use my home email, which I can provide using a private message.

Hi, Ted: No, it was someone else! I sent it to someone who knew it was coming, was expecting it to arrive.

You live in New Zealand? That's an outrageously beautiful country. Enjoyed seeing what we could see of it in the Lord of the Rings movies.

Oops. That has nothing to do with MUSIC or PIANOS.

OH, WELL.



Jeanne W

Well, we had just broken up...so I'll leave it to you determine which type it was.

Where's a band name generator when you need one? Oh yeakh, here's one.

http://members.aol.com/Valdes379/EmoGame.html

Here's another;

http://www.bandnamemaker.com/d/

and another;

http://www.angryblue.com/bandname_generator.shtml

Here's a band and song name generator;

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=home/s=funzone/fun/bng/

Here's another;

http://www.techism.com/cgi-bin/band_name/generator.pl

and another;

http://www.leonatkinson.com/random/index.php?SCREEN=band


Of course I don't use these because when I write music I usually have a concept in mind of what it is I'm expressing. But playting around with these is certainly fun and just maybe you'll get something that's useful. Good luck.

The Archers of Scooter?! WTF? :p