Piano Forum

Piano Board => Student's Corner => Topic started by: alybaracat on March 20, 2016, 07:38:35 PM

Title: How to learn music composition ? (books, ideas ,..etc)
Post by: alybaracat on March 20, 2016, 07:38:35 PM

For 2 years now, I have been composing music, recording it on my phone, and maybe send it to my sister for feedback, get no reply (I know I will be killed after this post :D) and thats it!! I do nothing with my music afterwards. But latelty I decided to publish my works.

However, I want to learn more about music composition and improve. May you recommend books or ways to learn?

Here is one of my original pieces, I would really appreciate your feedback and comments

Title: Re: How to learn music composition ? (books, ideas ,..etc)
Post by: distantfieldrelative on March 20, 2016, 07:46:00 PM

1: This should be in the audition room.
2: This is not an original composition if it uses the 007theme. It is a variation.
3: How to improve? Lots of pain and anguish and work. Read Fux Gradus and the letters of composers.

Title: Re: How to learn music composition ? (books, ideas ,..etc)
Post by: xdjuicebox on March 20, 2016, 08:20:10 PM

I'm in a loud place right now so I can't really listen right now, but here are a few suggestions. Keep in mind that I too wish to formally study composition; I've learned everything I "know" by reading stuff on Wikipedia and books that I bought

-Music Composition for Dummies (it's not exactly the biggest authority, but it's a great place to get started)
-Learn EVERYTHING you can on music theory. It helps. A lot.
-Yeah learning counterpoint from Fux Gradus is really good.
-Study a lot of compositions you like and try to find techniques the respective composers use. For example, I love Rachmaninoff and I notice like a lot of the cool harmonic effects he achieves are by holding 1-2 voices still throughout a progression and moving another. For example, in the very last part of Rachmaninoff PC 2 Mov. 2, he holds the G# and B constant in all of the voices, and moves the piano melody from E to D# to C#. Find things like that. You need to know what to look for though, so a basic knowledge of harmony/composition helps.
-A TON of analysis. I'm more of a see what people do and learn their tools and use them on my own/develop my own tools kind of a guy.
-Tchaikovsky's book
-Schoenberg's book
-Any other book you can get your hands on do some googling