Should I learn how to write music while ......

[mixdown]

Hi, I am new to forum and was wondering... should I learn how to write music while learning to play piano, or should I wait until after I learn piano to start learning to write music?

Thanks in advance if someone can help me

[glamfolk]

Start writing immediately.   Learn the theory behind each new piece you learn, and  find the counterpoint within each chord change.  Then create variations. Create melodies based on a couple of chords at first, but be as creative as is humanly possible in your learning.  Don't think that writing is only for those who are extremely accomplished.  Speaking isn't reserved only for English majors (or whatever your language of choice).  Plus, you're never done learning piano, so you might as well start composing right this moment.  

[faulty_damper]

Depends.  Music is NOT a language.  It is all about reading.  How so?  Because most teachers/schools don't teach by musical communication but with sheet music.

Did you learn how to talk because your parents handed you books and tried to make you say the words?  No.  They talked to you and you immitated the sounds back and tada!  ~You now know how to talk, read, & write.

So back to music.  Should you learn how to write music?  Let's follow the reasonable order for speech:  Talking, speaking, reading, and writing.  Now for music:  playing notes, reading, playing pieces, writing (maybe).  This is the model for playing classical music; not so much for jazz.  So what is the difference?  With music, you don't communicate to others - you play AT others.  With speech, you speak to others and they speak back - communication!

So to your question: Should you start learning how to write music?  Ask yourself the question: do you know how to communicate with others with your music?(Probably not.  Especially with the piano - it's the loneliest instrument.)  So if you are unable to communicate with others, what does that imply about yourself?  It implies that if you cannot communicate with others, you cannot communicate with yourself in a way that others would understand... - until you learn the rules of which your related others know how to communicate (or communicate AT - or through writing!)

Learn to write: what does it mean?  To be able to put drawings that we consider to be 'notes', 'staves', 'clefs', etc.?  Or to speak, communicate ideas, with others?

If you meant the former: then yes, you can start learning how to put dots, circles, lines, squigly lines, and stuff onto paper.

If you meant the latter: then probably not.  Only when you are competent enough to know how to communicate musical ideas.  However, this is not to say you can not pluck out a few notes that are pleasing to your aural sense and then write it down in a manner that we would understand.  Do so if you can.  

It is the intention of me to communicate that music isn't much of a language.  Language is homogenous.  Music is not for the reason that communication virtually never occurs.  How to you communicate your sadness, happyness, agitation, anger... if you did not have others to communicate it with you?

Compare classical to Jazz:  Jazz is all about communication - playing with your band mates, improvising to someones bass notes - but hardly any writing.  Classical is all about reading, hardly any writing and never communication.  (I'd really like to see a string quartet improvise something on the spot like some great jazz bands.)  The greatest composers have all been dead... but their circumstances allowed them to communicate with others.

I'm rambling.  Why?  Because I know how to write in English very well.  Grammer anyone?  I suck that.  But I really suck writing squigly lines that look like that of sheet music.  But I've been writing English since I preshool.  Never music.

My post in a few words: yes, you should learn how to write.  It will definitely help you with understanding the music of the composers.

Why didn't I just respond like so?  Because writing more gives the impression that I'm more intelligent than those who write less.  Which means I'm more intelligent than glamfolk!    And humour makes me funny.  Unless you don't laugh.  And humoring others is a sign that I have intelligence, no?  Or I'd rather just type than read (music)...  :p

[Lee]

What type of drug or you on man?  I didn't bother reading your whole post, you lost me when you said we learn to read and write by imitating sounds we hear.  Baloney.  
Anyway, mixdown do you mean learn to compose?  You need to gather bricks before you can build a house.  

[glamfolk]

By "writing" I mean composing.  You should be creating with every moment you are at the keyboard.  Music is indeed a language, with all the subtlety and nuance and any language has, and mastering it is every bit as difficult as mastering any language, but it's made easier by immersing yourself in it. Whether you are playing your own music or another person's, you are creating the tones and the emotion of that piece, and it helps to use your imagination.    

If you look at piano as merely pressing buttons in the right order so that your teacher may be pleased, that's pretty sad and boring.  And your playing will have no point.

If you look at music simply as dots on a piece of paper, then physically writing a lot will simply improve only your penmanship.  As a side note (or maybe it's my main point....), classical music is more than just reading.  Just like acting is more than reading.  The written form is the most convenient way to pass along the information, but there's far more to it than just puking the notes back out correctly.  Interpretation is like creating the composer's music, although each of us is a filter.

Now I'm rambling........

[Hmoll]

I think it's easy to make this too complicated.

Is it a good idea to write music while learning piano? Yes.

My daughter wrote stories from the moment she started reading words on a page. That made her a better reader, and writer.

Likewise, it is a great idea to write music from the very beginning. At first you will write within your own competency, but who cares. You'll get better. Also, you will become a better musician.
It's as simple as that.

As an aside, some people mistakenly think taking time to compose music will take too much time away from practicing, which is bull. ("If I didn't compose that fugue, I could've gotten my scales up to 161bpm, instead of 160 bmp." How ridiculous that sounds.) Learning how to compose will enhance you as a musician, as will reading literature, going to museums, etc. Too few people realize this.

[Hmoll]

By "writing" I mean composing.  You should be creating with every moment you are at the keyboard.  Music is indeed a language, with all the subtlety and nuance and any language has, and mastering it is every bit as difficult as mastering any language, but it's made easier by immersing yourself in it. Whether you are playing your own music or another person's, you are creating the tones and the emotion of that piece, and it helps to use your imagination.    

If you look at piano as merely pressing buttons in the right order so that your teacher may be pleased, that's pretty sad and boring.  And your playing will have no point.

If you look at music simply as dots on a piece of paper, then physically writing a lot will simply improve only your penmanship.  As a side note (or maybe it's my main point....), classical music is more than just reading.  Just like acting is more than reading.  The written form is the most convenient way to pass along the information, but there's far more to it than just puking the notes back out correctly.  Interpretation is like creating the composer's music, although each of us is a filter.

Now I'm rambling........

Listen to me. You are not rampling. That was a great post.