So where to begin. Composition is a huge field, spanning hundreds, if not thousands of years. What do you learn first.
Well for this I will turn to some of the ideas from the past in terms of what we should be learning.
Writing Down What You Hear in Your Head
I assume your goal in composing music is similar to my goal. You want to be able to write down what you hear in your head. This on the surface seems pretty simple. If you play an instrument, then you can probably read music.
(I say probably, because for the first two years that I played trumpet, I would write the fingerings below the notes, in an attempt to not learn the names. When I finally got a trumpet teacher, he was not happy. He was from Austria by the way, and not the softest personality, I was 11, so you can imagine how much I liked my lessons at first.)
If you can read music then you probably have a good idea about how to write down what you hear in your head. And you can probably sing what you see, right?
This is just one example from Paul Hindemith’s Elementary Training For Musicians.
Elementary? Now this is by no means the hardest thing I’ve ever seen written down, and it is definitely not the most difficult in the book, but it is tricky to look at and immediately understand.
So what’s my point? I am rusty. I am rusty on my musical understanding, ability to sight read and sight sing, tap rhythms… you name it, if it is basic, I probably think I know it, but I really don’t.
What Does “The Basics” Entail?
The basics, I’m sure, mean different things to different people. If you grew up learning to play the guitar, and you learned from the internet, probably the basics are the E, D, A and G Chords.
Not really what I have in mind.
And if you learned to play in grade school band, the basics are probably “Hot Cross Buns,” or some other really boring song you never heard of until your parents bought you the “Essential Elements” band book.
No the fundamentals I am talking about getting a true understanding of rhythm, meter, notation, intervals, scales, etc.
The stuff, that normally students pick up one at a time, over the course of years, instead of hard, consistent study.
How can I talk about plagal cadences or neapolitan chords without the foundations of music theory firmly in place?
The First Step
So my first step in my journey towards becoming a real composer, and not just someone who composes blindly, is to take a step back. To reconnect with the “Elementary” side of music. Who knows, I will probably learn something I didn’t actually know, that I didn’t know.
Tell me what you think.
Jon
Pls can I learn. Dnt undastan notes a…an…and d others jst a baby am craving to read, write, compose nd play music. I luv ma fingers whn I play keyboard in d air bt I dnt undastan notes nd d fundamentals pls cn u help.? Tx
If you are serious about improving quickly, then you’ll probably get the fastest improvement in my Composition 101 and 201 courses. But if you don’t have the money right now, I have a stock answer that I send to a lot of people, that think will help you.
Please note that many of these can be done concurrently. For instance, I recommend learning to read music while learning to play an instrument.
On to the stock answer:
I have many resources on this site that are devoted to learning composition:
Get a solid base in reading music and playing some kind of instrument.
I would also highly recommend practicing ear training and transcription. This ability will help strengthen your ability to audit. Audiation is the process of being able to understand music that you hear in your head. This means a melody or chord progression that you imagine.
It comes down to putting in the time to truly understand the craft of composition. If you put in the effort, I can teach you.
Hi jon….
I am a singer. I use a DAW, but without any basic music notation knowledge.
I compose music by ear, and have composed some songs and got good reviews. Whenever I sit on my daw I just start and end up with some successful results.
But what to do now. Do i really need to read and write music for composition or should I continue with my routine?
(I am serious about composition and singing)
Aadil,
You will benefit greatly from learning to read. Music is a very deep subject, and just like you need to understand how letters come together to form words and sentences, you need to know how notes come together to create melody, harmony, and form.
Don’t let it stop you from creating right now, but don’t wait to long to start learning.
Hello Sir, I have been playing guitar for over 4 years now. I would like to start composing music now by working with simple stuff like riffs in pentatonic scale and all, but i don’t know how to read from music staff. I can get the key and chords of songs by listening. Would you advise me in this to learn reading from music staff first if I want to go ahead with composing?
I would recommend learning to read notation. Without that skill, you are very limited in the kinds of music you can compose.
It’s true. Composing really is an art. I started composing digital music in 2005 and listened to a lot of composers during the process. Lately I have been comparing my earlier works with my new compositions and I can definetly hear the inexperienced or “wet behind the ears” novice approach in some songs. But as you said. It takes work and familiarizing your self with the basic fundamentals of music. Today I have a much better knowledge of what it takes to create music in all genres. There are a variety of information sources that teach and demonstrate skill sets that will improve not only your knowledge of music. But also the creative aspect as well.
I’m in middle school and have been playing clarinet for 4 years. I’m really interested in music and would like to compose but I have the disadvantage of only knowing treble and a bit of bass (I don’t read by notes but by distance in bass) and I can’t play anything else but Piano. How should I go about composing if I don’t know what my piece will sound like on other instruments?
Piano is a great instrument for composing. I would work on your reading skills with bass clef, as it will be necessary to really understand your music. I wouldn’t worry about orchestrating yet. Try just writing simple short pieces for piano and clarinet. Make it so you yourself can play both parts. That way you could record yourself playing one, and then overdub playing the other.
You could also use notation, such as musescore (which is free) or sibelius (which is not free). That way the computer will play it back for you.
Hi Jon,
Really cool site!
Do you have any of your compositions available to view/listen to online?
Thanks
Paulo
You can hear some of my music on this page. https://www.artofcomposing.com/my-compositions
Thank you very much for you there and I have found your website.
I’m looking for a real composition class here in Brazil, but never found someone who could accept me as a student because I know nothing about composition.
I’m 45 years old, feeling old and very depressed. I’m really sorry to have let it go so long.
I wonder if, even without knowing English, would follow their lessons.
I would love it to be a student pays for the course, but at the moment I find myself in a situation kind of hard.
I’ve read many things you wrote that helped me a lot to lift his head.
You think I’m old to start?
Thank you so much for everything.
Balbino,
I don’t think anyone is ever too old to start, especially at 45. I would say, if money is tight, attempt to learn as much as you can from the free resources. Be sure to sign up for the free course, and follow the lessons. Read the articles, and get a few compositions under your belt. At that point, if you find it is a good fit, then I recommend signing up for the Academy. At $29/month it is very good value for your money.
Hi 45 year old. I am over 60 and now getting an opportunity. So keep on keeping on.
Michelle D
I want to write program that will be help the beginner composers to create new music. So I need to teach the composing. I am very excited because you said that everyone can teach composing so I hope that computer also can 🙂
Sounds cool.
just started cello 8 months ago and I think composing will help with the ‘physical’ aspects of playing.
thinking of taking folk songs and spicing them up a bit – a ‘flock’ of black sheep instead of just one for example.
regards from Canada;
charles
Learning to play an instrument helps any composer. Especially single line melodic instruments like cello. I have personally learned to play trumpet, piano, classical guitar, saxophone, clarinet, a little bass, a little violin, and I am just learning trombone. My goal is to basically be able to play everything…
Hi,
Okay so I am completely new to composing and essentially music so you will probably think I am utterly insane, but I have found a new interest and desire for film scoring. I would love to be able to one day produce a soundtrack for a film or television show, and attend a college where I can study and perfect the art. I am currently 15, with about zero musical background and I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction? I know this is a long shot but really anything can help.
Thank you,
Nicole
Nicole,
I would say, it all starts with a decent grasp of the fundamentals. I recommend reading through my “start here” page, watching the video at the top, and signing up for the free beginners course. From there, you can start to learn about things that interest you, or if you like the free course, sign up for the full paid academy.
Hi
I love music, music is my hobby.
Tell me more about the genre of music. I want be a totally musician. Both a composer, a singer and a producer.
How is music from composing to production at the studio brought out in total. I need to know, tell me more about music.
Its my talent I want to explore it out.
Can’t wait for your response.
Anticipating.
Tope Michael.
Michael,
There is a lot that goes into it. I would say, start with focusing on the fundamental skills a composer needs – understanding melody, harmony, form and so on. At the same time, if you want to do production music, learn to use a DAW extremely efficiently. My DAW of choice is digital performer, mostly because of the film scoring tools it comes with, but there are many out there. Learn some basics of recording and using sample libraries, and then that will get you started. Getting good at producing finished sounding compositions and songs takes a while, but it is doable.
I stumbled upon your website by doing a simple search for how to compose music. Having composed music in different popular genres and now making a concerted effort to create in a more classical form, has proved a bit daunting. However, your website is a breath of fresh air. Thank you. I’ve always known that an essential basic understanding of the fundamentals are key to creating music, even at the popular music level.
Glad it helps.
I have a grade five certificate of ABRSM music from London school of music in Uk and am teacher of music in Iganga Community Brass Band (ICBB) but what i have is not enough to me because there are some elements which the sturbs in harmonizing a song from given melody so i need methods to any who can feel to guid me thank you
Harmonizing a melody can be rather tricky, but generally, if you follow the guidelines of functional harmony you will be fine.
Basically,
Look at the note, and find the chords that contain that note. For instance, if you have a C in the melody, and the key is C, you have C, F, and Amin. Once you have identified which chords could be possible, you can start to harmonize, as long as you follow the pattern of functional harmony – Tonic, Pre-Dominant, Dominant.
I recommend checking out this article:
https://www.artofcomposing.com/how-to-compose-music-part-six-simple-functional-harmony
I have a lot of interest in music composition.I want to be taken through the basics of good composing
Clement, you’ll get a good start by reading through the blog and listening to the podcast. If you really want to jumpstart your composing skills you can always check out the Art of Composing Academy. It’s a great overview of a lot of the stuff I learned as a composition major in college.
Hiya
I signed up yesterday but have not had the email to access the course. Can you send it again?
Val, i’ll look into it.
Am musician but i do like to get contact with music teacher this is my [email protected]
how do you write music from words to staff notation
Not quite sure what you are asking for. Are you asking about writing music to lyrics?
Hi there Jon! I’m a noobie composer and after a while of auto-learning how to compose music (i know, not the best method at all) I decided to start learning seriously how to make my melodies look like “good music”. I decided to do so because I need some music for the videogames I’m making, and your videos really help me a lot to improve my themes (I haven’t checked all out yet, though); but I have one problem: not really important at all, but if you could help me with this I’ll learn faster, because I’m spanish and it takes me some time to translate what I hear and understand all the lessons. So, if you could please subtitle your videos (in english of course), that’d make things easier in learning from your lessons.
By the way, I have put the songs i’ve made in this comment, so if you could please check it out and give me your opinion that’d be fantastic. But of course, only if you want, I’m not here to demand you nothing 😉
(Only remember that they have been made for videogames).
Thanks for reading this comment, waiting for your response 😀
I’d really like to learn about chords, bars, scales etc. To be honest I don’t know what any of those are but I’m confident that it’s going to be interesting!!! Sign me up 😀
There are plenty of resources for learning the fundamentals around the Internet. I do recommend signing up for my beginners course. You’ll find the signup form at the bottom of each post.
I go over notes, scales and chords. I highly recommend getting a basic music theory course that covers such as the great courses Basic Music Theory course. https://www.artofcomposing.com/fundamentals-of-music-course
Jon, that website appears to be no longer available.
I am looking forward to learn more on composing. I have had teachers and a lot of books on Harmony . Working on an arrangement of, Only Have Eyes For You. But there is a lot of things I knew, but have to be refreshed on. I think you can help.
Ron Gamella