Hi all

The last time I composed anything was a string quartet canon for GCSE music, in 1992.

I'd like to do a bit of composition but I don't know where to start. I have the G5 Music Theory in Practice book, as I'd like to get round to doing G5 one day, and I know that has a bit of composition in it...but in a 'non-exam scenario', where does one start?

I know I would like to write something to remember my cat by, this might be an ambitious place to start but it's something I can work towards if it's not going to happen straight off...

But where do I start even making up a really simple little tune?

Thank you
Maizie

Everyone has a different way of working. Some like to start with a melody then harmonise it at the keyboard or from their mind if they can do that. Some start with a chord progression and let a melody emerge from it. Trying to write for a solo (non keyboard) instrument is good practice!

Best thing is just to make a start. You do not need masses of theory which could even hold you back if you get embroiled with it. Do you play piano? If so, grab a pencil and music paper and sit at the keyboard, try out melodies, fragments, write them down as best you can. It may take some time to develop something so stay patient. And never throw anything away so be easy on that eraser! Start on a new page instead.

I sometimes find it helpful to start with some words: they give you a rhythm and often suggest a rising or falling in the melody. If it doesn't seem too obtuse, you can set the words to a tune and then throw the words away!

Don't forget Paul McCartney's original lyrics for 'Yesterday' ('Scrambled eggs...').

Pick (or write) nice poem and have a go.

I recently "wrote" a very simple song for my grandchild in the half hour or so that it took me to fall asleep on night. The problem is I can't remember it now!

Words and melody all gone!

Write things down is good advice.

A

Another way for creating melodies and similar that I've tried lately, is to sit down with a second person and improvise. This sounds absolutely terrifying, if it's not something you've done much before, but if you find someone you can trust and have a laugh with, then it can be an awful lot of fun. (Although maybe not ideal for a memorial tune for the cat... )

I'm lucky enough to have a boyfriend far more musical than me, who tends to set down a pattern of chords, while I fill in the melody (we use a piano, but I guess if you can find a decent guitarist it could work too) We've also done piano with flute.

Not playing the piano, or having a really solid concept of chords and suchlike, I rarely know what note I'm playing at one time, or what chord he's playing. But I can hear what sounds right and what doesn't. Eventually we end up falling into various patterns, and something resembling a tune emerges.

We've yet to write a tune down, but I can see it happening as I start to get more familiar with the layout of notes on a piano and so on, and subsequently the quality of our noise improves. I can see it being tricky though, as we have a habit of slipping into some very odd key signatures...

"Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start . . ."

To learn to write down the pitches that you hear, you could start by learning the sounds of all the common intervals and what they look like on the stave.

On my web site here is a PDF that you are welcome to download. It gives the common intervals in notation in from 15 to 20 different locations on the stave, and for each (except the diminished fifth: for that you have to think of the pitches of the augmented fourth) a tune that contains the interval (usually it starts it).

I use this knowledge whenever I compose and whenever I sing a part from sheet music.

I'm hoping to work as a composer. My main method of composition is a combination of improvisation and theory. I tend to fiddle around on the piano - or in my head, or singing - until I come up with things I like. I tend to make vague notes with all my ideas on, in case they are useful later. I then use a combination of theory, and improvisation/singing ideas, to create the rest of the piece.

No problem there.

Getting paid for it, though, is a different matter...

If you like reading, and arent overwhelmed by musical theory, Norman Demuth has written 4 volumes on composition. They are extremely good, I would reccomend them over the Schoenberg book, which is pretty much trivial. I'm sure any library has them, or you can probably buy them and not break the bank.

You have to remember writing music is like writing a book.
It has an introduction/beggining,a middle,exciting bit,and an ending.
You have to remember with a piano or keyboard,the left hand is the bass and the right hand is the melody.
I tend to start off with a left hand chord or the equivalent in the form of semiquavers in any key,and then with the right hand,you get the melody by playing around with thoes particuar notes.Its been so successful i have already been told its very good by a lot of people and to write lyrics/start a band etc but will be going on "you Tube " in a couple of weeks so you can see what i mean and get more opinions

Plenty of things have the melody in the left hand with a right hand accompaniment part of the time at least.

by the Schoenberg book do you mean the Harmonielehrer? isn't it more of a harmony manual than a composition tutor?

I believe Composing Head meant Schoenberg's Fundamentals of Musical Composition, which I don't think it's trivial at all.

I've never encountered it - any good?

ofcourse -but that comes with practice