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In music
Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
, precompositional decisions are those decisions which a composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
 decides upon before or while beginning to create a composition
Musical composition

Musical composition is:* an original piece of music* the musical form of a musical piece* the process of creating a new piece of music...
. These limits may be given to the composer, such as the length or style needed, or entirely decided by the composer.

Precompositional decisions may also include which key
Key (music)

In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a certain key, such as in the key of C or in the key of F-sharp....
, scale, musical form
Musical form

The term musical form refers to two related concepts:*the type of composition *the structure of a particular musical piece .There is some overlap between musical form and musical genre....
, style, genre
Music genre

A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music....
, or idiom
Idiom

An idiom is a phrase whose meaning cannot be determined by the literal definition of the phrase itself, but refers instead to a figurative language meaning that is known only through common use....
 in which to write, to use techniques such as the twelve tone technique, serialism
Serialism

In music, serialism is a technique for Musical composition#A musical composition that uses Set to describe Aspect of music, and allows the Permutation of those sets....
, or not to (consciously) use a system at all.






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In music
Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
, precompositional decisions are those decisions which a composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
 decides upon before or while beginning to create a composition
Musical composition

Musical composition is:* an original piece of music* the musical form of a musical piece* the process of creating a new piece of music...
. These limits may be given to the composer, such as the length or style needed, or entirely decided by the composer.

Precompositional decisions may also include which key
Key (music)

In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a certain key, such as in the key of C or in the key of F-sharp....
, scale, musical form
Musical form

The term musical form refers to two related concepts:*the type of composition *the structure of a particular musical piece .There is some overlap between musical form and musical genre....
, style, genre
Music genre

A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music....
, or idiom
Idiom

An idiom is a phrase whose meaning cannot be determined by the literal definition of the phrase itself, but refers instead to a figurative language meaning that is known only through common use....
 in which to write, to use techniques such as the twelve tone technique, serialism
Serialism

In music, serialism is a technique for Musical composition#A musical composition that uses Set to describe Aspect of music, and allows the Permutation of those sets....
, or not to (consciously) use a system at all. Other examples may include isorhythm
Isorhythm

Isorhythm is a musical technique that arranges a fixed pattern of pitch es with a repeating rhythmic pattern. It consists of an order of durations or rhythms, called a talea , which is repeated within a tenor melody whose pitch content or series, called the color , varied in the number of members from the talea....
, ostinato
Ostinato

In music, an Ostinato is a motif or phrase which is persistently repetition in the same musical voice. The repeating idea may be a rhythmic pattern, part of a tune, or a complete melody....
, passacaglia
Passacaglia

A passacaglia is a musical form that originated in early seventeenth-century Spain and is still used by contemporary composers. Its character is usually grave and it is often, but not always, based on a bass-ostinato and written in triple-meter....
, chaconne
Chaconne

In music, a chaconne is a musical form whose primary formal feature involves Variation on a repeated short harmonic progression.Originally a quick dance-song which emerged during the late 16th century in Spain culture, possibly from the New World, the chaconne was characterized by suggestive movements and mocking texts.....
, rhythm
Rhythm

Rhythm is the variation of the length and accentuation of a series of sounds or other events....
s, or chord progression
Chord progression

A chord progression is series of chord s played in order. Chord progressions are central to most modern music and the principal study of harmony....
.

Precompositional decisions do not necessarily, and almost always do not, preclude compositional decisions, and may actually allow the initial consideration of the choices to be made. One might say that, "thus, while it liberates imagination as to what the world may be, it refuses to legislate as to what the world is" (Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, Order of Merit , Fellow of the Royal Society , was a British people philosopher, mathematical logic, mathematician, historian, advocate for social reform, and pacifism....
, Our Knowledge of the External World). Thus precompositional decisions do not necessarily ease the compositional choices.

On the other hand the concept of precompositional decisions is unclear as it is often impossible to determine which decisions occur before or during a composition.

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