Resources & Tutorials for Composing Music

I wanted to create a thread for some videos that are a real help when composing. Lots of people can play music naturally, but overtime I've found some excellent core music theory tutorials that will be of use to most musicians, even if only for review!

A special thanks to Michael New, who has made these series of videos some of the easiest to understand (and freely available) on YouTube. Here is a link to his channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Rhaptapsody

These are in order of what will help you before moving on:

How Basic Chords Work:
(Part One)


Major and Minor Keys:


How to Fit Chords into Keys (Chord Progressions)


How Seventh Chords Work:
Part Two:


Part Three:


Chord Inversions:


How the Roman Numeral System Works:


How to Write Music (Part One) - What You'll Need to Know


How to Write Music (Part Two) - Changing Harmony


How to Write Music (Part Three) - Writing Melody


How Rhythm Works







If you hunt down videos about theory or composing, share them here! They are invaluable to teaching.

BTW, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Composition is the single best book I've found for beginners and intermediate composers. I consult it and study it quite a bit, and it gives you a no-nonsense structure of the entire process of composition, in easy to understand lessons and Chapters. Pick it up if you're interested, it's about $13.


~Sir Holt Ironfell, Grandmaster Bard of Poets' Circle.

 

Not a video but I stumbled across this update on the Pillars of Eternity forum where their audio director breaks down his process for writing the score for that game. I found it to be an interesting read. Good advice on keeping it simple in the early stages of writing to focus on melody, harmony, and rhythm. All things that seem super important for music submissions here as well.

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/66060-update-76-music-in-pillars-of-eternity/

 

These are all great videos, and for beginners, you definitely want an awareness of what Holt shared. But remember this golden rule above all: PLAY music.

Music is a game, and you practice and you play. You can know theory, you can read all the books you want, but when it comes down to it, the best music will come from extended play sessions, heading to the keyboard or the guitar when you have a tune in your head, and wrestling with it and spending the time.

You don't have to know theory, form, or even read music.

 

This is some excellent insight into the process of another composer. Everyone's process is different, but this sort of documentation is invaluable to others. Thanks for finding it Santa Clause!

 

I think where theory and form, and the language associated with music, come in handy is for playing together and collaborating. Music is multiplayer! (one of the mottos of Poets' Circle). It can be very useful to be able to point things out or suggest ideas based on theory to another person who understands it. That said, working solo, Dane is quite right. Don't be intimidated by theory. Playing comes first, the 'rules' of theory simply create a framework for your creative mind to stand upon and explore.

 

I have always been composing by playing, and was in a way avoiding theory. A turning point to me was when one of my music teachers once said, "Music theory is a set of guide lines, NOT rules! If it sounds good, it is right." Theory is a great platform to build upon, and a good resource when in doubt, but don't let it limit you. And I completely agree, if you haven't already, do learn an instrument.

 

The most common instrument for composing these days is certainly the piano, though it takes some wizardry to make a piano sound like a human playing a guitar (I found myself doing this today, playing with note velocities in the editor a lot to make the pattern convincingly human).

There are a lot of 'piano' tutorials out there. Lots. And a lot of people asking you to pay $. I'd like to see some worthwhile videos about piano, but I haven't found the cream of the crop yet, as far as that goes. Hands down, probably, the best thing is a piano teacher and regular practice. But if anyone has some 'piano' lesson links handy, post em!

 

Tutorial for composing orchestral percussion loops:



Part 2:

 

Approaching melodic patterns from a rhythmic standpoint:
(staccato strings example)



Alex Pfeffer goes through a process of how to develop a full string, staccato pattern which can be used as a foundation for an epic orchestra song.