TITLE: Hope Dawning
ARTIST: Midieval (Jeremy Gilbert)
URL: http://www.mp3.com/midieval/
E-MAIL: reiver@reiver.net

Use with general MIDI (not the "Fanatic Set 01.sf2").

Something I learned writing this piece was use of tempo.  The song starts on 60 bps, making the song slow, dramatic.  After the first few bars, the song suddenly shifts to 120 bps, and, although it's playing (almost) the exact same notes, the song sounds incredibly more upbeat.  Those striving to create a certain mood in their song should always pay careful attention to their tempo, keeping it just the right pace for the feeling they're trying to create.
Also, never let limits stop or discourage you.  In this case, the limits were the predefined patches to use.  Some might look at the patch selection and say "Yeah, right, what can I do with those?" (and others might find those patches perfect, on the other hand) and shrug the project off, but I say, look at the limits as something one less choice to make.  Something to make your job easier.  Let's face it, the GM set itself is limiting, what with a pretty small selection of synths and such.  It just means you don't have to worry about what instruments to choose, and what instrument would sound good with what other instrument.  Just take what you're given, and run with it.  Granted, this is a pretty unique example, since most musicians wouldn't be confined to such a small selection of patches, but even when you're limited to which genre to use or something like that, look at it in a positive light.
Finally, the biggest problem I usually face when I'm writing a song (and this song was no different) is "What next?"  Sometimes, writer's block can strike in the middle of a piece; you simply can't think of what you can put on to the current material to complement what's already there and merge seamlessly (unless artistically adding a drastic change).  One trick I do is just to listen to what I've written thus, and sing along with it, and then continue singing when the song is over, and often times you'll find some new melody that you wouldn't have thought of otherwise.