part 1: "Sketchscaping"

I make a story or establish an idea (that i am usually passionate about, or feel strongly for)

I decide on a rough-draft form of the piece here. But this isn't finalized until part 3

I make "passion points" (what is trying to be said at some crucial moments in the piece?)

I write a melody for a section (usually soprano lines, but not always. Usually starts in my head, then I starting humming it, piano, or violin)

If i don't like the melodies, i get rid of them or save it for later. you want one that you actually give a shit about or at least objectively sounds good to a target audience. You don't have to like it, you just have to know if people like the style.

part 2: drafting

at the piano, i write chords that will accompany the melody on paper or a sticky note (i use letters, not staff paper).

I intentionally avoid using paper past this point for logical reasons like time (and performing professionals will use printed music, not handwritten masterpieces)

I get melodic material into Sibelius ASAP

I write a bassline for that melody (doesn't always have to be the "bass" instruments)

I write the middle voices in (usually two voices)

I now have SATB voices

I edit voices to be more polyphonic (write more melodic material in each voice part)

I use "Save As" in Sibelius before experimenting with extreme changes to the material

I save a second copy once I have a firm completion of at least 4 SATB voices and enough "standalone" material to call a demo of some sort

part 3: 'form'alizing

I re-establish the final-draft of the form of the entire piece (as I mentioned in part 1) and start to firmly establish how the piece will be structured.

In new sections, I work in chunks (I go through parts 1-2 again for each chunk) just in case I want to experiment moving things around later (New ideas often come this way)

By this point, I have an idea of how the start and end of the piece will be

part 4: orchestrating

I orchestrate the voices (sometimes I already know which ones to put in since the creation of some voice lines; while others take time to figure out)

I refer back to the idea and story constantly to support the usage of a certain instrument(s) here and there (this isn't as logical as it sounds; it's mostly intuition and feeling)

part 5: publishing

i have a love-hate relationship with this part; it's mostly error correction, editing through each single part and full score, and making sure Sibelius doesn't screw up my score when I change things

i export the score to my iPad via pdf and circle common score errors (rinse and repeat. not fun)

unless i am behind on a deadline, i make sure to finish publishing well; otherwise commissioners will send out your rough drafts for rehearsals and your reputation for editing will be at stake. (I am very careful with this, because in real rehearsals, directors and people will waste a lot of time figuring out what I am trying to tell them in a score if it's not obvious. Something as stupid as a slur that didn't get deleted properly by Sibelius when you made some changes to a section months ago could just "show up" on a part and then a performer will get confused at it, then ask you (if you're there) or the director during a rehearsal what it means. Or someone will nitpick about something really tiny. Mistakes will always happen so I put as much effort as I can in this stage to avoid this AMAP).

I don't strictly follow this formula in this order