Have you heard the saying, ‘practice makes perfect? The same is applied to music composition. Scheduling regular practice sessions, listening to music compositions, learning music theory, and playing an instrument are ways to get better at music composition and have been listed below.
Let’s take a look at what music composition is and some tips and tricks you as a composer should know to get better at music composition. This article is very straightforward and a guide on music composition for dummies so
- Music Composition: Definition
Music composition is a piece of music that one creates on their own, originally. It can be either a vocal or an instrumental piece.
The composition of music is different from improvisation as improvising lacks the factor of originality.
Another vital thing to recognize is that music composition is not easy. One should not equate it to simply playing an instrument. Unlike merely an instrumental from a pre-defined sheet, composing involves talent, precision, and pouring in one’s emotions and technique. It is truly an art.
- 9 Things You Should Know to Learn a Better Music Composition
- Listen To All Kinds Of Music
Simply listening to music can help cultivate your music senses and intuition. It is similar to how toddlers learn a new language in their early days and is quite fascinating how much simply listening can help.
One should listen to the music of various genres and cultures to derive their inspiration from there.
Read And Analyze The Notes.
Reading musical scores on sheet music can help. You may do this along with listening to music or without it.
While reading scores/notes or listening, you should be curious and analyze the tune and its connection with the notes played. This will help you establish the skill of playing along with the notes.
Re-reading the scores/notes helps too.
- Learning The Music Theory
Music theory is a whole curriculum and not just the notes and chords. It is an amalgamation of notes, chords, rhythms, scales, and more complex components such as forms, harmony, orchestrations, etc.
Learning music theory makes you more informed and able to play and compose well. One can take music composition classes in person for that. Another feasible option during the pandemic is to take music composition online courses or watch paid or free music composition online videos!
Playing An Instrument Alongside.
Learning to play an instrument does not guarantee that you will be able to compose well. However, playing an instrument such as a guitar, piano or others can help one get in that creative zone and brainstorm unique music pieces.
You don’t have to be excellent at it; just playing a bit helps too.
- Singing To Train Your Sense of Hearing And Recognizing
Singing is a great way to train your ears to recognize notes. While playing an instrument such as piano involves identifying the notes once the key is pressed, it is quite the opposite for singing.
One needs to know what a note sounds like, then only can they hum a tune or sing a song. Learning to recognize a note beforehand makes a great deal of difference.
- Practice Makes Perfect
While the tips above can help one get better at music composition and compose, you must practice composing. It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece.
Starting off may not be easy, but you must start and keep a music composition notebook to chart and record your good and bad tries. Over time and some failures later, you will get the hang of it.
- Can You Develop Creativity By Practice?
We think that creativity has nothing to do with practice, but creativity won’t come to you out of nowhere. Once you take time out to practice your skill, you will get into that zone of brainstorming and creativity and make use of your skills to come up with original pieces.
Talent and creativity are not enough. Practice makes all the difference.
Get Acquainted With The Software Well
Using software that fulfills the needs of your line of music is essential. With such a variety of software available in the market, it can get confusing to pick the correct music composition software.
Before doing research and picking what’s best for you, one must know the two kinds of software you require for the job. These are:
- DAW: digital audio workstation to produce real sounds and also editing/ mastering or mixing your tracks.
- Music Notation to produce sheet music.
- Work And Practice With Real Musicians
Other than the hacks to improve composition, practice helps too. However, another significant way to learn and put your skill in a more fruitful practice is to play for musicians.
While factors such as type of instrument, level of musician, and time of practice matter, simply playing with a musician can be very beneficial due to their experience and words of wisdom that they have to offer.
Training under them and doing a music composition major or getting a music composition degree can also help composers get good jobs.
- Frequently Ask Questions
- Q: What form of music is a sacred choral composition consisting of five sections?
A: The mass (aka missa in Latin) is a sacred choral composition consisting of five sections: Kyrie, Sanctus, and Agnus, Dei Gloria, Credo.
- Q: Which type of composition is a secular form of renaissance music generally written about love?
A: Madrigal is a secular form of renaissance music generally written about love.
- Conclusion– Music Composition
While music composition may not be a piece of cake, these nine tips and tricks can help one master the art of composing music well. Remember: practice and repetition are key steps in the process. Some virtues to develop while learning music composition are patience, self-belief, perseverance, and many more.
