The Art of Composing Music
This post is going to be the first in a series of post that will cover how to compose music. Having a personal process of composing music can be just as important to composing well, as knowing music theory. If your process is disjointed, or even worse, you don’t have a process, then you probably won’t get into the right frame of mind for creativity.
So we will start off this series by first talking about the composing mindset.
The Composing Mindset
Composing music is a joyful act of creation. But sometimes it turns out to be a frustrating act of wasted time. Why is this? Is it because you don’t have that special “spark” that the greats had? No. It is simply because of your mindset approaching the composition.
Start Off With A Beginner’s Mind
The first step in learning to compose music is to approach each composition with a beginner’s mind. This can be easier said than done sometimes, but remember, if you expect to come out sounding like Mahler or Beethoven, or the Beatles for that matter, chances are you will become frustrated.
Beginner’s mind is basically approaching the process of composing without an expectation of being great. By just doing this, you will find that you probably come up with better, more flowing melodies and harmonies, as well as enjoying them more. It’s taking away the instantaneous self-criticism that prevents out true inner musical genius from coming out.
There Will Be Plenty of Time for Self-Criticism Later
Trust me, you will have all the time you want down to road to re-look your compositions and determine whether they are good or bad. But you have to have the composition first before you can make that decision.
Be a Prolific Composer
Just look at the examples below to see how you match up. You have to just write a lot of music to find the really good stuff.
- Mozart – Well of 600 Compositions including over 40 Symphonies.
- Bach – Over 1100 Compositions.
- Beethoven – 345 Catalogued Compositions, actually over 400.
I am sure there is a lot of Beethoven, that people really won’t listen to much, as well as Mozart and Bach.
I was obliged to be industrious. Whoever is equally industrious will succeed equally well.
Johann Sebastian Bach
So Go Compose Music
So go, right now, and compose something. It doesn’t matter if it’s going to change the world or not, that is not really why you are doing it. And approach it with a beginner’s mind.
As usual, let me know what you think.
Jon
|
How to Compose in 7 Lessons
Over 250 people have taken my free beginner's composing course, and so can you. The best part is, its absolutely free. Just sign up below!
|
|
About Jon
Dear Jon,
My name is Michael Schwab and I very much would like to be a composer. I am going to take two musical courses next year in high school. I have composed many compositions and many people believe that i’m great at what I do. What I also know is that I have competition. I would like to learn something. Please respond.
Sincerely Michael-
PS- You can call me Schwabie
Schwabie,
Its good to see you are working towards improving your composing. As long as you are continually improving, and not getting impressed with yourself and your accomplishments, you will have no problems becoming a great composer. As far as what you learn, you can read the articles on the site, or sign up for the beginner’s composing course I offer for free. Feel free to send me a sample of your work or post a link to something like soundcloud where you host your music, so we can listen. Sometimes its best to just put your music out for the world to hear.
Jon
hi my dear music friend. I was invented a scrap music art. According this art i was using only our daily used household things. And i will play all type of musics at this scrap things. So how i will make this type of my own art? And how i make my music knowledge:-):)
I am a new learner persion & intrested music composition i can sang song and harmonium also can made some tune pl give necesury advise me thank
Vishu,
Keep reading the site, and hopefully it will allow you to develop as a composer. Welcome.
Hi Sir John ,
I have this problem , everytime I compose music I always get stuck at one part and fail to finish it. Like my imagination is trapped at one thing , maybe because I dont have a process.
Thanks.
Mike,
Sadly, I think everyone has this problem every once and a while. I actually read something quite funny today. It was basically that, we can’t be too upset with ourselves because we start more than we finish, simply because the inverse can never be true. You can’t finish more than you start!
There are a few things though, that I would recommend.
First, write something short, that you know you can finish. This will help the mental block and emotional baggage of knowing you haven’t finished anything in a while.
If there is something that is really blocking you on a piece, don’t be afraid to discard the piece. Sometimes this can hurt a little, but in the long run, if you are not staring at the same into, or main theme, you will begin to get new ideas.
Finally, you may just be a little burned out, or you may be acting to hard on yourself. Sometimes its just good to take a break from the things you love. It doesn’t mean you don’t love composing anymore, it just means you need a break.
Jon