Experimentation and Growth in Composing

I recently started writing small and simple works intended for use in video games and have realized some valuable things from this.  None of these are meant to be masterpieces or for profit in anyway, and it took the pressure off of me to just play around with different musical elements.  This has made me realize how powerful it can be to have a venue where you can experiment with an art form without fear of restrictions or a need to be "perfect."

The first thing I noticed while doing these compositions was that I felt more able to play with compositional elements I had been afraid beforehand to explore.  For example, in two rock-like compositions, I started using some different rhythmic devices I have never before tried to use.  One piece uses a different meter super-imposed in the drum set over the melody's meter.  The result was pretty satisfactory, but even if it hadn't turned out to be, I wouldn't have minded so much.  Another idea I played with were some different harmony and chord structures and different "special effects" elements within the music in those harmonies.

This has made me consider on how important it is to be composing often, but not necessarily on major works.  I know for me that my main focus has been on whatever major compositions I've had lined up and working on, but it has been both fun and refreshing to take diversions from those and write with less stress and worry on other pieces, and most especially to play around with different elements in these to start to become more confident in their use in other compositions.

This has also made me ponder on the history of music, how eras would go through these phases of experimentation and of growth and then develop those experimented ideas more fully.  I feel that these elements also apply on a smaller scale, with composers individually.  For my own compositional growth, I hope to be able to do more with experimentation.

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