Catching up: Compositional Barriers

So this blog will begin a series of blogs, serving to hopefully catch me up with the rest of the class. I consider myself to be a slow composer. It seems I have A LOT of trouble keeping up with the rest of the class, and how fast they compose (or at least how fast I perceive that they compose). I find that even if I have a general idea of what I want to compose, or in which direction I want to take my existing composition, it still takes me about 2 or 3 hours to get into the compositional headspace and start writing things that I will actually keep for my composition. I'm not quite sure why that happens, but I'm trying to strategize on how I can cut down this time span between which I start, and I actually compose. I haven't tried any of these ideas yet, but I will the next time I'm having trouble (i.e. the next time I compose). I might try reading some of the blogs which Dr. Ross has posted on this topic. I think this would help to get the "compositional juices" flowing. Something else which I have tried, and found effective, is to not write everything that I'm thinking before I finish a compositional session. I find if I leave something to write next time which I've already thought about, it kind of gives me a point to jump off of and gets me headed in a direction, so that I have some form of momentum before I start. I think with even just these couple of strategies, I'll be able to cut down on my compositional time.