A Beethoven "composing game"

My dearest tortured composer,

Happy Day Before Thanksgiving!

If you've got some additional time today and through the weekend to sit down and compose, perhaps hiding from relatives or avoiding kitchen duties…

I've got an exercise that could help you finally finish something.

Let me share something I recently stumbled upon in a Beethoven biography that gave me one of those "why didn't I think of this?" moments.

The following is a passage from a book that Beethoven studied, and one that he clearly took inspiration from:

"The composer would do well to imagine some person, or a situation or passion, and exert his fantasy to the point where he can believe that this person is ready to speak... he is never to forget that music that expresses no kind of passion or sentiment in a comprehensible language is nothing but sheer noise. [Later Beethoven said that all his music was written with some idea, story, or image in mind.]"

The biographer noted: Beethoven claimed ALL his music was written with some specific idea, story, or image in mind.

This seems so blindingly obvious when you read it.

Yet how often do we sit down to write with absolutely no target in mind?

We try to write "something good" or "something in D minor."

It's like trying to cook Thanksgiving dinner with no recipes, just hoping food appears.

Now, I should mention: not every composer works this way.

Some claim they write purely abstract music. And perhaps they do.

But for those of us regularly paralyzed by blank manuscript paper, having a specific target changes everything.

Here's a “composing game” you can play:

Instead of "write a piece," try:

• Write the awkward silence after your drunk Uncle's mildly offensive political comment

• Write your dog's confusion when you leave for work

• Write the sound of this particular painting (score it, come up with ideas that fit the mood, like a film/game composer would)

Suddenly every decision has PURPOSE.

But here's where it gets even better.

I recently discovered a YouTube channel that showed me how to make this process almost mechanical.

The creator was demonstrating Chopin-style preludes, and he said something brilliant:

"Beginners always tend to overcharge themselves by trying to organize foreground level elements and harmonic decisions at once in the same workflow."

Translation: You're trying to juggle while learning to walk.

His solution? Write your harmonic skeleton FIRST. Just chords. Then add everything else.

Here's your weekend game:

Step 1: Watch this video (the chord progression stuff starts at 2:00). Copy the chord progression EXACTLY onto a piano grand staff. Just the chords as he plays them. This is your harmonic skeleton.

Step 2: Set up your manuscript. Below that piano staff with the chords, add another set of staves for your chosen instrumentation. Could be:

• Another piano grand staff

• A string quartet (4 staves)

• A flute and cello duo (2 staves)

• Whatever you want

Keep the chord progression visible above so you can reference it while composing.

Step 3: Pick your first image. Maybe "arriving at Thanksgiving dinner." Now compose a melody and accompaniment in your lower staves that expresses this image, using the chords above as your harmonic guide.

Step 4 (The Modular Magic): Keep the SAME chord progression. Keep composing in your lower staves, but now shift to a completely different image. Like "discovering the turkey is burned."

The confident arrival melody transforms into panic. Same chords underneath. Completely different emotional story.

What this looks like on paper:

• Top staves: The chord progression from the video (your reference)

• Bottom staves: Your actual composition based on those chords

You're essentially using the top staff like a harmonic map while creating your own music below it.

You could even make this a Thanksgiving suite:

• Measures 1-16: "Arrival" (hopeful)

• Measures 17-32: "The Political Argument" (tense)

• Measures 33-48: "Escape to the Bathroom" (relief)

• Measures 49-64: "Pie Makes Everything Better" (transcendent)

All using the SAME harmonic progression, just with different melodies, rhythms, and textures in your lower staves.

A Warning:

In the video, the creator admits to writing parallel fifths and says he doesn't "give a f***" about strict counterpoint rules.

He points out that Schumann did the same thing in his Circle of Fifths prelude.

The Counterpoint Police can arrest us after the holiday.

For bonus points: Transpose the whole thing to a different key. Not mechanically, but functionally (thinking "what's the subdominant in my new key?").

You're not trying to write "good music."

You're trying to write "the sound of your mother asking when you're getting married" followed by "the sound of your third glass of wine."

Or don’t go Thanksgiving themed if you don’t feel. Come up with your own.

Try that exercise 7 or 8 times and you’ve got an album, a demo reel, or a really bizarre gift for an ex.

The world is your stage, my dear tortured composer.

Happy Thanksgiving.

And always remember…

The world waits for your music…

-Luke

P.S. - If you have questions about the process, feel free to reach out and I can help.

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