Intro to Music Composition

This eight week music composition class will help develop composition skills and creativity by providing students with a solid basis to write their own music. Each class meeting will be divided into two segments. First will be a group lesson on the topic of the week, and second will be time for students to show their work and receive feedback from the teacher and other students. Students may show their work in one of four ways: by performing it live on an instrument, by uploading an image file (pdfs are acceptable) of the written work, by providing an audio file of the work, or by providing a midi, an .xml, or a .mus file (.xml files can be created in various music notation software, and .mus is exclusively created in Finale, a music notation program that is not required for the course.) 

The only requirement for this class is that students have a basic understanding of reading music (pitch, rhythm, etc.) since notating it will be a primary focus. 

After each of the first seven classes, students will have a short compositional project to complete for the next meeting demonstrating what was learned. Our weekly plan is below: 

Week 1: Writing a strong melody

We will look at techniques to write a satisfying melody. 

Week 2: Exploring the modes 

We will learn about the modes and see how they can change the character of a composition.

Week 3: Creating harmony

We will learn how to create harmony from a major scale, and see effective ways to use it in different types of music. 

Week 4: Harmonizing a melody

We will use the structure of a simple melody to begin adding harmony. 

Week 5: Developing a motive

We will see how a short musical idea can fuel new ideas for a piece. 

Week 6: Using form to your advantage

We will learn about popular musical forms to help structure compositions.

Week 7: Student choice

We will discuss concepts suggested by the class.

Week 8: Final composition day

We will continue with student suggestions from the previous week and dedicate most of the time to showcasing student work.