Let's learn to compose together.
Welcome to my blog. These are all the articles I've written over the years about composing and music in general.
I've often taken a survey of my own compositional capabilities, and come to the conclusion I have one truly great weakness. That weakness: Counterpoint. Counterpoint as Evidence of True …
Continue Reading about Counterpoint Part 1: Why You Should Learn Counterpoint →
I've begun reading the massive tome that is the Mahler biography by Henry-Louis De La Grange. The first volume is roughly 1000 pages, so there is quite a bit of gold in there. First off, the prose …
Quite often, when we attempt something difficult - we fail. This causes a lot of pain and suffering because this failure seems to attack this internal vision of ourselves, and our abilities. So what …
Episode 8 of the Art of Composing Podcast. In this episode, find out why you need to learn about musical form, and what exactly makes musical form so powerful. We also analyze the 1st Movement to …
Welcome back! I hope you enjoyed the last discussion on direct modulation. If you haven’t seen it you can check it out here. Today we’re going to be taking a look at technique used by composers …
Continue Reading about The Art of Modulation, Part 2: Common Chord Modulation →
Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to Beau Simpson. Beau is a film composer out here in Hollywood, and we've been talking for quite a while about having him join the Art of Composing team, which at …
Continue Reading about The Art of Modulation, Part 1: Direct Modulation →
Episode 7 of the Art of Composing Podcast. In this episode, we look at creativity - what it is, how to find it, and how to explore your creative boundaries. What is in this …
Episode 6 of the Art of Composing Podcast. In this episode, we look at what it takes to find a mentor and how to get the most out of the experience. What is in this episode: Support the …
Continue Reading about The Pathway to Mastery, Part 3 – Beyond the Apprencticeship →
Episode 5 of the Art of Composing Podcast. In this episode, I cover the next stage of your pathway to mastery, the apprenticeship. Find out about why an apprenticeship is so important, the different …
Continue Reading about The Pathway to Mastery, Part 2 – The Ideal Composer Apprenticeship →
Episode 4 of the Art of Composing Podcast. This episode is all about starting on the pathway to mastery. What is mastery? Well, it is the state that you achieve, where you have almost magical powers …
Episode 3 of the Art of Composing Podcast. In this episode, I talk about what it takes to start composing immediately. What is in this episode: Resources and Links Mentioned in this …
Episode 2 of the Art of Composing Podcast. In this episode, I talk about my music composition process. The goal here is not to have something complicated and strange, but to layout how I structure my …
Well this is exciting. This is the very first episode of the Art of Composing Podcast. You want to know something funny? This is actually the 4th - 1st episode. That's right. I have recorded, and …
The hardest part of composing is staring at a blank page. It is easy to get caught up in the nothingness and find yourself completely out of ideas. So here are a few tips for generating melodic …
Continue Reading about Melody Writing – Part 3: Generating Melodic Ideas →
When composing a melody, you have to be able to simultaneously comprehend all of the different aspects of a melody, while at the same time, push them out of the active working part of your mind, so …
Continue Reading about Melody Writing – Part 2: The Tools of Melody →
Voting begins now, and ends next Friday, October 4th, 2013, at midnight California time. Vote for your favorite composition! …
Continue Reading about Composing Challenge #1 – Voting Begins! →
Hear ye! Hear ye! http://youtu.be/hjE2sxCQ_rU I'd like to announce the official start of the first Art of Composing Challenge. For this challenge, you will be required to write a piece, based …
http://vimeo.com/35901438 What courageous decision are you avoiding, that you know will change your life? So most of the time, I like to talk about composing on this site, and for good reason... …
