Preface

We have had a huge increase in score sales as of late. Wherever you go, you will find people playing music everywhere. The fact that so many people have opened up to enjoying the beauty of music shows that our world is slowly becoming a better place to live.

However, there are aspects of this trend that are somewhat disconcerting, as the world is increasingly filled with music that is either pitifully generic or not accessible.

The reason might be that many aspiring composers do not know how to write their own music despite the abundance of musical inspirations everywhere. I considered for a long time just how I should deal with such mediocrity of musical output across the board and thought it best to share some of the ways that I have overcome these hurdles myself. I decided to write a book about the things that I have learned throughout my compositional journey, and hope that it will prove to be a helpful resource for aspiring composers.

This book was written for aspiring composers with great potential who have not had the opportunity to study with a great teacher. Many such young talents end up merely regurgitating other music they have heard, so this book is meant to help such students learn to tune into their inner ear.

I do not discuss any compositional techniques in this book. There are numerous techniques in existence, especially of the bards, who continuously develop their own techniques for composition as well as performance. They write so many songs on a regular basis, that it is impossible to keep track of each songwriter. If I start discussing compositional techniques, I could end up spending the entire book discussing techniques, but that would defeat the purpose of this book.

This book will give you guidance in terms of the perspective you should have as an aspiring composer, as well as how you will need to train yourself.

This is a small book, but I hope that it will help aspiring composers find their way.

*Transcribing songs is mere practice.

Transcribing songs that have been passed down orally, and studying the various performance techniques, can be quite rewarding when it comes to studying music composition.

However, one cannot move forward as a true musician by being content with such transcription exercises. At least, not if you are serious about being a musician.

First, you should recognize that as a musician, your job is to move people through this special language. Indeed, transcribing other existing music can be good compositional practice, but a true musician must not see transciption as being equivalent to musical composition.

*Foster your sensitivity to pitch

Music is created by arranging existing pitches in a particular order that becomes a sound capable of moving its listeners. As a result, it is absolutely important that a composer has a certain sensitivity to pitch, which is the main device and constituent element of music.

A composer must consider a variety of questions concerning music, such as pondering about which pitches go well together, which instrumentation produces the most provocative sound, how pitch is affected by the tempo of the piece, which instrument would best carry the theme of your piece, and many other musical devices and means to most effectively communicate one's ideas.

To do this, composers must be able to play an instrument. This is one of the most effective ways to teach them pitch, which is fundamental to every musician.

*Discipline sound through improvisation

Once you have become sensitive to pitch and have expanded the number of instruments you can play, I would suggest improvising. Improvising simply means to perform as you feel, that is without a score, to simply play your instrument in the moment.

By doing so, you can hear the melodies as they come from your heart. You won't remember all the melodies that you are playing during improvisation, but the feelings that you experience during improvisation can inspire future compositions.

*An analytical appreciation of music

Music composition is a journey undertaken by music lovers, but it is hard to make great music when one is buried under the emotions of a piece. It is certainly important to be absorbed in the music you are listening to, but it is even more important to have an analytical position when listening to one's own music, and be able to break down the ways the structural elements and performance techniques come together in the piece. Otherwise, it is highly unlikely that your composition will be anymore than just a familiar tune you feel like you've heard somewhere else before.

The way composers listen to music must be drastically different from the way others do. Of course, approaching music from the perspective of logic and reason may seem like a surefire way to lose the warmth and passion behind music. Such concerns have a reasonable basis as music is not a world that can be created by reason and formulae. However, you must remember that music not filtered through the process of reason cannot have the power to move its listeners.

This is applies not only to music composition but in all areas of the Arts.

*Know the instruments.

I have already discussed that one step in composition involves playing an instrument so as to hone your pitch sensitivity. But getting to know an instrument and playing it are two separate things completely. It is important to learn the physical characteristics of the instrument, so that you, the composer, can know which instruments go together, and the types of sounds that each instrument can make.

There is no need to play all instruments perfectly. However, you must, at a minimum, be familiar enough with the characteristics of each instrument to know which instrument would be best used for particular performances and the types of sounds that each instrument can make for particular types of effects, and so forth.

For this, I would suggest listening to music while paying close attention to the various instrumental timbres and sounds. It is also a good idea to listen to music with instruments that you are not familiar playing with. Once you have fully explored the instrument's characteristics, the musical motif of your soul will find its wings and learn to fly.

In Conclusion

Here, I have reviewed some of the shortcomings of today's composers, and suggested some guidelines, based on my own experiences, for aspiring composers to follow throughout their personal artistic development.

This is both a mentor's guide as well as a record of my own regrets as a composer. I truly hope that you will become a great bard whose work is able to transcend a mere transcription of something simply passed on through generations, and that you can create a truthful narrative of melodies that emerges from the heart.

If any person remembers this book one day as the very source of inspiration that led to his or her rebirth as a great composer, then I will have done everything I had ever hoped in writing this book.