These are good tips John. It had occurred to me to take notes whilst listening to Beethoven, but more often than not I get carried away by the music! I think some discipline is required here!
As for song structure this is definitely something I have never really considered. I tend to go with the flow. But when the flow stops that’s when I end up in trouble.
I like the idea of drawing out a song structure first, it kind of provides a framework and guidance as to what one should be striving for next, rather than doing things completely ad-hoc.
I have a lot of listening and learning to do, to try and determine what the common structures are and try to write one for this current piece.