I like to encourage my writing students to leave our lessons with a plan.
What are you going to write this week? What is it going to sound like?
I encourage specificity, and as much details as they can give. They might leave with a list that says
- homophonic
- slow tempo, but lots of eighth notes
- melody in the altos and then in the tenors
- open-voiced chords
- 8 bar section that moves through the circle of fifths, ending with a modulation to A-flat
But I always want it to be perfectly clear – this is a plan to ignore.
The music has its own ideas about what it wants, and if what the music wants disagrees with your plan, then guess what? The music is right and you’re wrong.
Make a plan: definitely. Follow the plan: not necessarily.