How I did it: I was a band geek in high school (played flute!), and I've always had an interest in music, but I always played it or listened to it, not created it. I messed around with Finale Notepad but I never finished anything I wrote, and it was very basic. The thing that got me really interested in composition, however, was (geekily enough) listening to the Silent Hill videogame soundtracks - I wanted to create music as beautiful as what Akira Yamaoka creates. Kind of an odd start, but it got me going!

I enrolled in a music theory class at the college I am currently attending, and also in the music appreciation class. I did not realize that I really knew so little about what music is made of before I took the music theory class, despite being a band geek for most of my life. Don't count out music appreciation, though; it really is helpful to just listen and enjoy music for what it is, and can teach you a lot about the different genres and styles of music.

The next quarter I continued music theory, and also enrolled in my professor's piano class which I highly recommend, even if you already play an instrument. It's a lot easier to see music theory in action on a piano versus just writing it on paper, and especially more so than on any other instrument.

I'm still in that last quarter of music theory and piano, actually, but last night I got an urge to write something, and this morning finished a short solo piano composition; the first complete piece I've written :) I'm excited to make another and try something even more complex :)

Lessons & tips: -Do learn music theory!
-Listen to many different kinds of music, even if it's not the genre you are interested in writing.
-Learn piano; you don't have to play brilliantly for it to help you.
-Have patience - you'll probably get stuck and have to rewrite a lot.
-If you are stuck coming up with an original idea, try arranging a piece by a different composer and figuring out the different layers of the song and how they all work together for practice, or even "remix" it.
-If you're still stuck on coming up with an original idea, try to write "for" something. Come up with a theme or scenario and write something that fits it; if you're feeling sad, write the emotion of sadness. Let anything inspire you.
-If you can't figure out where a piece of music is going, it's okay to go back a few measures or even further and rewrite parts of your music; maybe the stuff you wrote will sound better at a different point in the piece.
-Save all your musical ideas! Maybe that little jingle in your head won't work with the piece you're writing now, but it could work for something else later.

Resources: -Finale Notepad
-Classes at my community college

Feb 16, 2009, 05:57PM PST | 0 comments | 1 cheer