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Musical form is a tool that has been used by every great composer from Bach, to Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mahler, and even living composers. But what is musical form, and how does it work? In this episode learn the fundamentals of classical musical form.
Effective modulation is one of the skills that sets apart great composers from amateurs. In the 2nd installment of the Art of Modulation series, learn all about common chord modulation, and what it can do for your composing.
For many people, music theory is a dry, uninteresting subject that is painful to learn, and hard to put into practice. I have never been cursed with this mindset. In fact, I have always enjoyed learning about music and the theoretical aspects behind it. But I am always on the lookout for other ways of […]
Painting by Mark Chadwick Voice leading is important. There is no doubt about it. But why? Why should we spend the time to become familiar with this seemingly unconnected side of theory? How many people have come out of college music courses, taking several semesters of elementary harmony and voice leading, but have been unable […]
Diatonic Harmony – A Game of Chance? Do you feel like your understanding of diatonic harmony is missing something? On one hand, it makes sense. I mean, heck, it’s only seven chords… right? On the other hand, some composers seem to be able to take those chords and do incredible things with them, while you […]
Completing the Musical Form Puzzle – Small Binary Form The small binary form is another one of those musical forms that is heard all over the place. Used for hundreds of years and still in use today, it gives you great flexibility. But there is some controversy. Sometimes the lines between small ternary and small […]
Small Ternary Form and Small Binary Form Musical themes don’t just stop at sentences and periods. If that was the case, we would be severely limited on the scope of music we could write. There are two other theme types I want to talk about before we move onto bigger and better things. They are […]
Musical Periods Like me, you have probably been frustrated composing phrases that sound “off”. Maybe they feel like they ended too soon, or don’t sound complete. If this has happened to you, keep reading. This week’s post is all about musical periods. Understanding the period will help you further your knowledge of simple themes and definitely make a […]
Should I Start With the Melody or the Harmony? This is a common question when learning to compose music. The answer is a simple one. You need to start with both. How Do I Start with Both Melody and Harmony? Let me stat out by asking you a question. If you were to write a […]
Why should you learn music theory? You may have many of your own reasons, but here are just a few to get you motivated. Reason 1: Being Able To Write Down What You Hear In Your Head First, and most importantly, it gives us the ability to describe what we hear in our head on […]
I am trying to come up with a structure for how I approach learning to compose, or really, re-learning to compose. While driving to work, it dawned on me that learning to compose is similar to learning a language. More accurately, learning to write in a language. Listening First When we first learn a language […]
