Why compose music

Sure, it helps to know the language. Most composers use it to communicate ideas with other musicians. On the other hand, if you are in solitude, you can use whatever system helps you understand the job. For many people like me, this is indeed a course or two in theory; but for many others, it is more abstract and personal. Ultimately, the two paths lead to the same place. You just need a keen ear, impeccable concentration, and good taste. It is more important to understand the nature of the instrument — how it relates to other instruments and how it behaves when combined with them.

Many famous composers claim to have no proficiency in any one instrument Schoenberg, Elliott Carter. Every job that requires practice to gain success suffers from this ideology: pro sports, acting, teaching… but this is just a silly thing to assume.

Composers possess a desirable niche skill. Musicians and composers are the epitome of success via multiple incomes: touring, teaching, performing, endorsing products, attracting advertisements, and more. Here is a YouTube video from Advanced Music Production about the advantage of multiple incomes as a musician and why the numbers for the average salary for musicians are not accurate.

Multiple Income Streams of the Music Business. It is critical to remember the average person does not understand how music is made. In reality, the expressive world of a piece of music normally sets up the corresponding mood in the listener, if at all, in only the most general way.

A tranquil piece will establish a general mood of tranquility, a furiously fast and loud piece creates a general atmosphere of heightened arousal, and so forth. At these extremes there undoubtedly are physiological consequences too, such as a mild suppression or quickening of pulse.

The philosopher Peter Kivy has elaborated upon these affective aspects of music very helpfully in his book The Chorded Shell. However, there is nothing in the range of such general moods to suggest the specificity and limitless variety of the musical works themselves.

Every piece of music in performance evokes an atmosphere. Emotion is a more or less prominent part of that atmosphere, depending on the piece. The atmosphere of a piece arouses and focuses our interest. What we attend to, however, is detail: Instruments, harmonies, rhythms, melodies, motives, text if there is one , and the innumerable variety of relations that these establish with one another as the music unfolds.

Some of these relationships correspond to the "structural possibilities" that I mentioned before, and a great many of those are susceptible to cool, objective analysis. Many such relations, however, are not. Those intricate relations unfold, develop and close in patterns of motion that embody a vital aspect of human life. We certainly do not know enough about how, or why, this is so; only that it is so.

We know in part because the experience of music is frequently accompanied by feeling far deeper and more important than the affect of the piece.

We do not normally try to describe that feeling, and when we do we reach for words that philosophers find to be notoriously problematic: beautiful, transcendent, sublime, etc. The irreducible essence of the experience of music is a wordless illumination of our humanity.

This is what I believe draws composers irresistibly to their work. The poet Stephen Spender has written of the "high vocation" of poets in ways that apply, with suitable adjustment, to composers. Poets, Spender writes, are "ambitious to be accepted for what they ultimately are as revealed by their inmost experiences, their finest perceptions, their deepest feelings, their uttermost sense of truth, in their poetry.

They cannot cheat about these things, because the quality of their own being is revealed not in the noble sentiments which their poetry expresses, but in sensibility, control of language, rhythm and music.

The poet's faith is therefore, firstly, a mystique of vocation, secondly, a faith in his own truth, combined with his own devotion to a task.

At the same time this faith is coupled with a deep humility because one knows that, ultimately, judgment does not rest with oneself. All one can do is to achieve nakedness, to be what one is with all one's faculties and perceptions, strengthened by all the skill that one can acquire, and then to stand before the judgment of time.

Thus the arts illuminate our humanity in ways that cannot be duplicated by other fields. It is for this reason that a curriculum of higher learning that aims to educate the complete human being cries out for the arts to be included. Two years ago, as part of its fiftieth anniversary celebrations, the School of Humanities and Social Sciences was renamed the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences.

This change symbolized retroactively a change in our academic community of immense significance, comparable to the development of the humanities at MIT after the war. In , 10 years before C. The report argued then in terms that resonate no less forcefully today, overshadowed as we are by the immanent catastrophe of war and other human disasters, for the need to cultivate within our students appreciation of value, humanity, and ambiguity through a full-blown humanities and social science curriculum equal in stature to science and engineering.

This led to the establishment of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences and the development of its distinguished faculty. As early as , Snow singled out MIT along with a handful of other American institutions as an exceptional educational environment because it had already begun to bridge "the two cultures.

The arts represent a third way, of importance equal to science and engineering and the humanities. Through their rigor and discipline the arts reveal for us an essential dimension of what it is to be human that is quite different from those dimensions revealed by the rigors and discipline of science and the humanities. I love the old psalms and hymns and regularly play them in church. We have lots of organ music available, but limited variations around the psalms and hymns for piano.

I enjoy making up variations etc at home, but prefer to play from music when in public. I hope the above makes sense? Looking forward to your response. Kind regards, Rosanne. If you are interested in notation, you can start with Musescore which is free. I use Sibelius and Dorico. Garageband is free on mac, and reaper as well. Windows has some other free ones.

I use Digital Performer. A midi controller is really necessary for inputting notes without wasting a ton of time, although Sibelius and Dorico do have fast notation entry from a regular typing keyboard. I have ideas, i can play music in my mind, i have written few lines say. Nothing is really helping yet. What is a good set of books to cover and their proper reading order basically everything book-related that a typical undergrad music program along the lines of composition, I suppose would cover?

Do any of those overlap? And what is the proper order to cover these courses i. For example, does orchestration build on counterpoint, or vice versa, or can I study them simultaneously? You can start by looking at some of the books that cover the topic overall in this way, like The Complete Musician.

It integrates all of those subjects. Books like this can be tedious to go through on your own though. As a way of bringing things together though, I would recommend copying scores, reading scores, and transcribing music by ear. I am also trying to learn the piano by following the course which was recommended to me by my husband this one.

I will be really grateful if you share some piano learning tips for adults like me which can make piano learning easy. It helps to be able to say the notes and rhythms in your mind, in both treble and bass clef, without having to reference a chart.

Sometimes with denser passages, you need to work slowly at the keyboard, playing through the examples one note at a time until there is a clear understanding of the elements involved. This is actually a critical part of the process, at any stage. I like to copy scores by hand, because the only way to do it correctly is note by note. Otherwise you tend to assume too much, and make a mistake. The benefit is that the whole time, you brain is still trying to fill in the gaps, on a note to note level.

I found this to be the easiest way to compose using midi. There are many DAWs out there. Musescore, a free software for writing music, has the possibility of midi input as well.

From my memory, you have to tell Musescore how it should interpret the input e. Jon, it is and I am wondering what software or plugins I would need to: 1 Compose music and transcribe for other instruments, classical-style music, from medieval through present eras.

Logic Pro? I have the ideas and know theory well enough for what I am planning. I just want the software for input via note-by-note notation or to play it into the score with an instrument and best virtual instruments for playback.

If it is VSL — that is probably out of my budget right now. The big difference in music composition software is between notation software and DAWs.

Notation software is getting better at playback, and Dorico looks particularly promising for the future, as they are adding DAW capabilities, but you are still limited by their playback engine which writes most of the midi data.

A DAW is really performance software. DAWs allow you to perform in your music, and manipulate that midi data in many different ways. This allows you to craft the sound of your pieces.

Think of MIDI as the language that all the sampled instruments and synthesizers to use to trigger the sounds. DAWs usually have weaker notation capabilities and so score creation more difficult. I also personally prefer to work out my music in notation form, so I will usually write in notation, and then move to the DAW when I am ready to get a performance version of the piece. As far as what makes it sound realistic — that is a mix of the quality of the sample libraries you use and your ability to perform with them.

Each sample library has quirks, and you will get used to them as you go. I like the Spitfire libraries, the orchestral tools libraries, but there are many others. There are a lot of sample libraries now. Digital Performer, Logic, Cubase, Studio One… they are all very good at this point, and it becomes about your own preferences.

Thank you, Jon. This is encouraging. It is helpful to see your approach with both Notation software and the DAW, using each for what it is best suited. I was hoping for an all-in-one but I see how knowing both are important. Is there a format you save in, whether in Sibelius or a DAW that allows you to use it with other notation software or other DAWS later, or is that not a concern?

Usually I use midi to go between them. I usually perform it in from the individual parts. The exception is drum parts, which for the most part are pretty straight forward. A little manipulating of the midi data brings a human touch, and you can always still re-perform it in. The other thing that helps, is to perform small chunks at a time.

You can get good at doing 2, 4 or 8 measure sections quickly. Thanks so much for your advice by way of sharing your approach. Once I dive into it, hopefully this summer, I may get back to you. I have not started delving into your lessons, etc,.

Okay Jon, please give me some advice for this. In no way am I trying to insult the program. While it does move rather fast and can be hard to follow just because music theory was never my thing, it is fairly informative.

Being able to play with more chords would give me more freedom while writing, but I need to know what those chords are. Here is a post in my forum about 7th chord inversions. I do think I discuss in one of the early videos about tonic and dominant, but you can also check out my article on diatonic harmony.

If you just started wanting to compose but have always had a passion for music where do you start when writing music? I have been in band for almost 4 years now. I can kinda play the piano. Alicia, I would start with a solid understanding of how composition works. The best place is at my Start Here page on the site.

From there, you can sign up for the free course which should take you through the process in a gentle way. Are there any books to learn music theory like fundamentals of scales,chords,chord progression etc? My courses teach how scales, chords, progressions, melody, harmony, and form all work together so you can compose.

If you need to learn to read music, I suggest starting by looking around youtube. It is customary, or was until not too long ago, to think of the average rock band as 3 guitars and a drum, expertly manipulating 3 chords to create what on the surface sounded like standard outpourings of music that would quickly and easily be replaced with just another catchy tune.

How about that? Faith has an orchestral accompaniment, a string orchestra no less which is reading from a score that has been composed and orchestrated. Listen to the enormous output of the Beatles for example. Each recording is actually a work of art, and while Lennon and McCartney are undoubtedly hugely talented and creative, I think the real genius behind them was someone with the skills of a classical composer because so many of their recordings feature little bits of genius that only a real composer could deliver.

I guess George Martin filled that role. Perhaps all the members of the group were more than just instrumentalists. Is this regarding the notion that the original composition is structurally devoid of any flaws requiring arrangement as in re-arrangement, remixing context? I apologize if that is a fundamentally basic question, but the context in which arrangement is used around me and by me in my life is not relating to remixing.

Arrangement is a term that is somewhat ambiguous. Arrangement can refer to the form, it can also refer to the orchestration, and it can also refer generally to what instrumentation is used, and not how they are used orchestration. Obviously all of those are important, and they are addressed in other articles, and podcasts throughout the site.

I recommend listening to the podcast episodes on orchestration, and form specifically. When writing a pop tune, if you want an instrumental break do you write the accompianment or leave it to the performer to fill in and just fill in the melody with no words. But I also have no idea what instruments a performer will use, or even if s he will change the music style.

These are all very context specific questions. When I write a tune, I usually write a lead sheet. If I want to make an arrangement of that tune, I will go more in depth on parts, but depending on the band and players, it can be just chords, or it can be intricately written out. Copyright is much more complicated than the number of bars. I recommend reading around the internet on trusted sources for the subject to get a better grasp. Bob, I recommend signing up for the free course. It should get you started in the right direction.

Thank you so much for this encouragement via the lesson. In fact, I have been shying away from composing because I thought it was pretty difficult.

I have a request. I am aware of Sibelius and Finale. You can download the free finale notepad to try out the software. It works the same, but with limitations. Hi, I am 25 years old and Right now I am very fond of Music though thats something late to know my interest, now I am learning Piano with a great zeal and love for it. My dream is to compose a song, how long does it take to reach there and I am very confused as whether its too late to enter into music field.

You can learn the basics relatively quickly. But it will take time to master. It is hard to say how long, but it is never too late to learn. First of all, I am impressed with this page yours. In my native language, which is Spanish, there is nothing like it. I write because I am very depressed about my condition, a composer, who does not sing or play any instrument. I feel that I have, already arrived where I wanted. That is, I feel, because, I get songs like those, who always dreamed of composing.

I can compose a song, every week. The fact is, that since, I have many and I want to give them away. I was born with a rare genetic condition that can determine the exact pitch of the notes that make up a chord. Moreover, since I am a child, hear, all singers, detune.

I does not happen with musical instruments but I find them a default tuning, that is, that with my whistle, there paddling. Anyway, I have no way to motivate me to release my songs. Perhaps it is because I am very lonely. I only know that because, I have 50 years and 15 years have elapsed since leaving me songs that give me the feeling, that are nice … very nice!

I understand, which is my subjective judgment. Anyway, do you want them? Starting, I have prepared a They sound like Yesterday, Paul McCartney. That is the style of melody and harmony. The tempo is extremely variable. I gave them finished with orchestration, rock all. Of course, they sound different textures. My email is rinaudoismael yahoo. I also possess the power, if that, I, I would propose, compose, for 15 days, 15 songs. I finish exhausted and must rest a month sleeping 12 hours a day.

But I can do it … if somebody motivate me some words of encouragement. I think the best thing for you would be to get yourself out there, and start getting your music performed. Try to find people that can sing or play an instrument that would be interested in having someone else write a song for them to play. I would also recommend, if not being able to play an instrument is making you feel bad, then learn to play an instrument.

The process is not that daunting. I play several instruments myself trumpet, piano, guitar, saxophone, a little clarinet. It just takes effort and patience. I am intermediate pianist, I only took 4 yrs. To be honest, I am not exactly sure what you are asking. As far as composing advice, I have written many articles on this site about both the theoretical and practical side, and the mental aspects of composing.

I would recommend taking a glance at the archives and just clicking through the blog a bit. You can get some work done in a hectic environment, but I would recommend finding a quite place that you can go to get away when you compose. If you need an instrument to check pitch, then you could start real simple with a pitch pipe, or try to find a place like a school that will allow you to use a piano. There is also a lot of benefit in learning to compose without an instrument.

Try writing down ideas, and then checking them later at a piano or using notation software. You will improve over time. You say you have talent, but you are not an artistic, passionate personality.

But you do need the desire to compose. Sometimes composing is a lot of work… difficult work. Thanks for the reply! Hello, I appreciate your efforts on making us learn more and more about composing music. I have also been playing piano for so long but i have been wondering how i could come up with some compositions and failing.

This is so helpful! Thank you very much for your reply. I felt too old as an adult. I can read music, but there is a lack of connection between the notes and the sounds. I am quite serious about pursing an education, if not a career. Do you recommend I brush up my piano skills before taking ? I have a 49 key keyboard. I would make sure though, that it is a midi controller, with a modulation wheel.

You can take the course without brushing up on your keyboard skills, because most of the exercises are done on paper or in notation software. First of all thank you for the information you have provided here. I have a few questions regarding an education in film scoring. I have no formal training, and have had very little writing experience.

I am a mediocre pianist at best, and have no means of accessing the instrument right now. I do have a guitar at home, but have left it to rust. I barely know how to pluck a chord. I know this is something I want to pursue, but I am simply overwhelmed by the daunting task of diving into the unknown so far.

I have the following questions for you:. Should I be a maestro at any instrument? Or is a certain level of profiency required at least in my case piano? Is pursuing a degree productive if I want to pursue a career in film scoring?

If so, does the institution matter? Is originality or complexity more important when it comes to the compositions for the audition? However, if you are in highschool, then you are still in a good position to pursue, but it will take time and patience. And not just chords, and pop songs.

You need to learn to read music. While it is true that some film composers have been able to make a career without the ability to read music notation, they are the exception. You do not have to be an excellent pianist, but you will need the ability to play in your music into a digital audio workstation DAW.

Once you can read music, you should also learn about the fundamentals of music theory and composition. That is what Music Composition is all about — the fundamentals. But you need to be able to read both treble and bass clef first in order to understand the course. Then it is a matter of practice. Compose as much as you can.

You can do a lot with free resources on the internet. As far as a degree is concerned, that is a very deep question, because a lot of factors come into play — money, time, where you go to school, who you study with there, what your goals are, how serious you are about film scoring as a career. I would first try to emulate your favorite composers, and listen to as much music as possible. Originality will come later. I recommend going through the free course and the free articles on the site.

Try vigorously studying rhythmic dictations. Listening to a rhythm and trying to write it down by ear. I will be using text from the Bible as part of this piece. At this beginning point, I am very confused on what keys for the soloists to sing and as I am composing pieces for classical orchestra not the large current orchestra , I am unsure on how many instruments would be suitable.

If you composed any choral works in classical style, could you maybe give me some handy tips on how to compose a perfect choral symphony? The complexity and cost of orchestral music makes it difficult to get performed, so orchestras tend to be very selective about the music they choose. There is a good book, called choral composition, which would probably answer all your questions about writing for choir. After that, I recommend getting a good orchestration book, like the Samuel Adler book, as a reference.