Composing Resources

This is a list of great composing resources I have found, that have helped me with my composing.

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links and I will earn a commission if you purchase through those links. These are all things that I have experience with that I am recommending because they are helpful, not because of the commissions that I may earn from you using these products. Please do not spend money unless you feel it’s for something you really need and will help you reach your goals.

The World of Composing

• The Composer’s Site This site lists out most of the composer competitions that are coming up. A great opportunity for anyone.
• American Composer’s Forum
• New Music Box Dedicated to new american music.
• www.leonwillett.com – This is a really good blog by a film and game composer named Leon Willett. He has some great advice and great examples.
• The Composer Next Door – Just a great place to find out about other composers.

Composing Forums

• Young Composers A good place to talk about composing.
• Composers’ Forum There are a lot of awesome composers here.

Sample Libraries

• try-sound.com You can try out different libraries online with your own music. Pretty sweet.
• Symphobia Awesome sounding orchestral library here.
• East West/Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra another awesome sounding orchestral library.

Notation

• musescore.org - This is the best freeware notation program that I have found.
• musescore.com - You can post what you write on musescore to this website. Great tool for sharing your work.

Music Theory

• Understanding the Fundamentals of Music by Professor Robert Greenberg - This is a great course on basic music theory.
• Fundamentals of Musical Composition - My favorite book about composing.
• Classical Form - By William Caplin, This is my new favorite book about composing, although it is a pretty deep theory book, it has, by far, the best explanation of classical form that I have seen.
• Harmony and Voice Leading - If you are going to get one book on harmony and voice leading, this is the one. I used it in college. If you have the drive to make it through (it can be a little dry), you will learn a ton.
• Music Theory Online
• Ricci Adam’s musictheory.net Good overview of basic music theory.
• Teoria A very good overview of music theory.
• One Minute Music Lesson Quick theory lessons when you’re short on time.

Orchestration/Arranging

• Instrument Studies for Eyes and Ears - This is a really cool website where a guy has recorded real players using different techniques on their instruments.
• Fiddlerman – Excellent resource for learning about how violins play
• Vince Corozine Music - This link was shared by another artofcomposing.com reader, Allen. Vince has put together a bunch of info on arranging and composing. Worth taking a look at. He even has a book published with Mel Bay on arranging.
• Modern Cello Techniques – a site that goes over some different aspects of more modern ways of playing the cello. Pretty cool stuff.
• Orchestration Online – Great videos by a professional orchestrator.

Sheet Music, Scores for Study and Free Music

• The International Music Score Library Project This is probably the best site on the web for composers, that is, after my site.
• The Juilliard Manuscript Collection This site is awesome. It has a bunch of original manuscripts from great composers. It’s like looking directly into their creative process.
• Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Some great free public domain music to be listened too.