Music Theory and Writing Music PLEASE HELP

[TheBrokenNightmare]

So I know basic music theory, scales and stuff, but anything having to do with actually creating music.... I'm just lost. My voice teacher says stuff like, if you want to have this song sound a certain way, then use this rhythm or this scale, etc. It works great when I'm with him, but I'd like to learn to do this on my own. Does anyone know if there's a website or something with information about stuff like this?

sweatdrop

[Panda L]

Well what are you playing?

[the pancake thief]

well what helps me begin a piece of music to compose is improvising

It gives you a chance to experiment, try recording yourself play or sing (just in case you create something utterly fab and you don't want to forget it)

It's also useful to know what style of music you want to create

I, personally, am a huge fan of the romantic era (Brahms, Lalo, Shostakovich, Dvorak, etc..) but with contemporary music there are no limits when it comes to dissonance and just odd things in general

And counterpoint becomes very helpful when it comes to creating a bass and treble line.

When learning how to create and compose music, the only thing that can really help you is your own imagination. The internet can't really do much but say stuff to you biggrin

Good luck!

[AgentVector09]

First, for the purely theoretical and notation side, go to musictheory.net That site is awesome for memorizing everything from beginning to advanced theory (what note is this to is this song in harmonic minor scales or natural minor scales).

Second, do you play instruments? If you play piano or guitar or something similar, that will help TONS. Trust me.... tons.

Third, do you know your circle of fifths? If you can transpose a song you want to sing into a different key by figuring out the root (or the 1), the rest should be relatively easy.

The biggest help I've ever had is to sing that song so many times, you can sing it cold (that is to say, someone asks "hey, can you sing this?" and you be like "hell yeah!" and start belting it perfectly). From there, you know it so well, anyone can start playing it in any key and you can follow along easily. But that's just me.

Singing a song as written is loads easier than changing the key or feel of a song. It takes practice and patience. There will always be that one song that escapes you, and that's ok. There's a reason music is called an art, not a science. smile

[Ert the wolf]

I always start in a given key, throw down a chord progression and just improvise over it until I get a nice melody going.

I use Pitch Axis theory a lot when coming up with different modal and key changes that fit the idea I have going.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_axis_theory

[PanDah K]

TheBrokenNightmare

So I know basic music theory, scales and stuff, but anything having to do with actually creating music.... I'm just lost. My voice teacher says stuff like, if you want to have this song sound a certain way, then use this rhythm or this scale, etc. It works great when I'm with him, but I'd like to learn to do this on my own. Does anyone know if there's a website or something with information about stuff like this?

sweatdrop

Private teachers are a great source of information and resources. Although the internet is as well, it is not as focused as it needs to be to fully stimulate learning for a student studying a specific term or idea.

In short, ASK YOUR TEACHER. Although I may have the resources to help you, I cannot because I don't know what you are studying or how advanced you are as a student. Your teacher will know better than anyone you find on this website.

If you're worried you'll sound dumb when asking for that kind of help. DON'T! That's what he's there for. It's taken me years to figure out how much help my teachers can actually be for me. Had I known sooner, I would be a lot better of a performer than I am now.

[a porg]

Oh boy...writing music.... >.<

Looking into theory and what chord progressions work best are good. You should also be aware of intervals, since there's quite a few that are frowned upon in the classical world. My theory professor actually takes a letter grade off on our compositions for each of those mistakes.

Some things that I've found helpful:

I and V chords are your friends. Things tend to revolve around them. You can make simple compositions sound beautiful with just those two chords. V often functions as expanding I. An example would be I V I V.

Cadences are also great. If you know where your phrases are, you know where your cadences are. Cadences typically have a typical chord progression. For example:
xxxxxxxxxxAuthentic: V-I
xxxxxxxxxxPlagal: IV-I (This one sounds like Amen in hymns)

If you want chords other than I and V, Try putting a ii or IV before the V! They're predominants and "point" to V.

Also, inversions are awesome, as long as you know what you're doing.

Oh, and keep track of your leading tones and sevenths! Leading tones almost always resolve up and sevenths almost always resolve down. It's a good idea to circle these and draw an arrow point to their resolution when writing.