How to Compose Music
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Composing music has been a part of my life as far back as I can remember. I always loved to compose songs and make a bunch of music parts to blend together to make a piece. I have been inspired by music all of my life and, through this site, I hope to help you to create inspiring music for others.
The starting place for many individuals when composing music may vary, but usually composers like to start by either writing lyrics and choosing music that goes with it, or by composing the melody of a song.
When composing the melody of the song, a composer needs to try many different combinations of notes and try to listen to what sounds the best and fits the piece a composer is shooting for. There are many different things to keep in mind when composing a melody, but the most important involve the basics of rhythm, major/minor sequencing, and where the melody is flowing to/from. Basically what this means is that a composer needs to know what the song "is about", where you want to go with it, what emotions or energy you're trying to stir up with it, a message that wants to be given, if you want the listener to feel energized, emotionally touched, or relaxed, and a composer needs to make sure that the melody will work rhythmically.
After coming up with a good melody to be the base of a piece, a composer generally has a lot of different venues to explore, whether to start with lower toned instruments to drive the piece and the beat, middle pitched sounds to accompany the melody and complete chords, or higher ranged tones to add finesse to a piece.
The key to lower sounding instruments tends to be linked to held notes and quicker notes, such as eighth notes. Basically pull out the bass guitar and lead the chord changes to the destination the piece is going. (Chord changes go with the melody and are the stem of the notes that are played during each certain part of a piece). Lower instrumental parts, of course, can be as creative as the composer wishes, but newer composers like to stick to more basic parts in the lower range.
The middle section is usually where the melody is played in, but it definitely varies and changes in and for each song. Middle tones can be great for adding a melodic third accompaniment to the melody, or may just be the melody itself. A good tip for writing middle ranged parts is to decide what instruments/voice ranges will be making the music and to work from there.
Finally, the upper end of pitches can be great for completing chords as well as doing key change melodies and can help the lower tones to keep the piece rolling. Higher pitched instruments generally are categorized with sensitivity and grace, the flute and harp quickly come to mind, so its good to keep in mind the style of music when choosing upper ranged instruments for a piece.
A big decision, and crucial decision, for composers to make is what instruments and voice types you want to use on a part. Obviously, most composers choose instruments based on the music type that they compose: Classical usually means harpsichord and piano, rock can be attributed to electric guitar, bass, and drums, etc. Think of what style your music is, don't be afraid to try new things, and make music.
Putting many parts together can be a huge challenge at first, but after trial and error, you can compose inspiring music. I currently have a program from a link below to record and edit my music, but there are many strategies to doing so. I like to record one part at a time and then listen to them together instead of getting a band together to help me out, because time managing is easier for me that way. Depending on your musical capabilities, I'd definitely recommend learning a little piano so keyboard usage and different musical instruments via the keyboard will become accessible for you. This will greatly enhance your perception for music and help quicken the trial and error process. I wish you the best of luck on your musical composition journey and feel free to comment and ask questions, I will lend a helping hand.
I currently just use this free recording service but feel free to look for others and recommend what you've come across that works
- Free Music Recording Software for professional results
A guide on how to use free music recording software for professional recording purposes.
- Free recording software | Software4free.org
Download free recording software: we handpick and review the best. Let our recommendations guide you. Guaranteed 100% free.
- Free Recording Software, Audio Plugins and Utilities.
Page contains free recording software, vst audio plugins and audio related utilites that home and pro studios will find usefull.
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Comments
Well, I've got it all written, personalized, and the guitar part recorded so far but I'll be stuck at school for about six more hours. Give me three after that and I'll be set (I'm partly done with the vocals, I just do a repeated guitar part to keep it short and simple, just want to add a few more parts). I just hope I don't offend G-maJohnson with it because I have a certain section of the song...you'll see soon.
Anyways, composing music really is different for everyone and classes sometimes make things appear more difficult or even easier then something really is. Out of experience, composing the stuff for me is a lot easier then recording it because I get nervous and screw up easy stuff, I get too excited. Yeah, if I had to take a music history class, I'd be in trouble because I havea terrible memory and historys not my thing!
Anyway, pretty soon you'll see alittle of my music, rapidly put together, lol. Hope you enjoy :D
P.S., man, in college I need to get me a flute playin nun
Wow that's great news, I'm all excited! But do take your time, there's no need rush and certainly no pressure. We all want it to be pretty special, besides. I think G-Ma won't mind, all you'll get from her are hugs and a "peace" greeting. :D
Lol, idk G-ma isn't even my fan.... :'( Hopefully after the song she'll come on over. I think the song will turn out pretty good, I'm pretty pumped to post it tonight
nice hub and thanks for sharing your passion of creating music. goodluck.
You're welcome, midnightbliss. Thank you and goodluck to you in your endeavors!
I'd like to affirm what you have written above. Anyways, I agree to your words in many ways. Just to add up something, more personal for me, music is an art. Art is not learned as abc's or 123. It is acquired. It injects to our lives or personalities way before we knew it. The only way to excel in such endeavor is to be with it - by all means be exposed to music.
I am a lover of music and I would like to hear some of your works buddy. I surely do look forward on hearing them.
Thanks, mikesyndell! You brought up some great points-music is an art and not just a math equation so to speak.
Wow.. this is really interesting, i knew nothing about music or maybe only 0.01% because of some music lesson in school but almost all of them are theoretical and without application..so sad...i want to try something new or something different, that's why I'm glad i found your hub, actually I made a poem about dream but after doing it, I want it to rock,..rock the emotions and fire up the inspiration or desire of a person to reach for his/her own dream but how could I put notes if I don't even know how...so I guess this will be a million miles journey for me to learn... Anyway thank you for sharing this... and hope you can help me, any suggestion or advice? :)..sorry to bother you... :)
What An AWESOME Understanding !!! Thank you !!!
Now, if I can only find a flue playing nun and Whoopy Goldberg with her guitar, and Kris Kristofferson to sing for me... Wanna come make me a marketable songwriter? God Knows I haven't made much progress. Maybe we can collaborate !!!
Please let me know...
The best link to Rascal Russ "Clic a Pic" YouTube Videos - Russ off the cuff Intros & Singing his own songs:














Cris A says:
8 months ago
You made it sound so easy but I'm sure it's not. Part of my art studies/humanities course were musicology 101 and music histoy and appreciation. Guess what? I barely passed. Good thing I befriended a flute-playing nun in class.
Btw, I'm looking forward to the music you said you'd be making and sharing! Hope you can upload it in Youtube. You don't have to do the works, just the audio would suffice! Thanks :D