Table of Contents
Introduction 1 About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 2
Icons Used in This Book 3
Beyond the Book 3
Where to Go from Here 3
Part 1: Basics and Rhythm 5
Chapter 1: Thinking Like a Composer 7
Limitations as Freedom 7
Composing as an Extension of Listening 8
Rules as Inspiration 9
You as Your Own Teacher 10
Know what your options are 10
Know the rules 10
Pick up more instruments 10
Understand when to put something aside 11
Get something from nothing 11
Trust your own taste 12
Chapter 2: Tools of the Trade 13
Composing with Pencil and Paper or a Tablet 13
Performance Skills 14
Composition Software 15
Finale 16
Sibelius 16
Logic Pro X 17
Cubase 17
Ableton 17
Pro Tools 18
A Pair of Moderately Well-Trained Ears 18
Knowledge of Music Theory 19
Space, Time, and Ideas 19
A Pack Rat Mentality 20
Chapter 3: Musical Scrapbooks: Writing on Paper and Screen 21
Writing It Down 22
Using Software 22
Computer versus Paper and Pencil 23
File Management 24
Chapter 4: Rhythm and Mood 27
Sculpting Time into Music 28
The Feel of Different Rhythms 28
Speed Bumps and Rhythmic Phrases 31
Mixing It Up: Back Phrasing, Front Phrasing, and Syncopation 33
Back phrasing 33
Front phrasing 33
Syncopation 34
Finding Your Own Rhythmic Phrases 35
Rhythm and Mood Exercises 36
Part 2: Melody and Development 39
Chapter 5: Finding Melodies Where You Least Expect Them 41
What is a Musical Framework? 42
Finding Melody in Language 42
Let’s Eat(,) Grandma! 44
Finding Melody in the World Around You 45
Helping Your Muse Help You 47
Finding Melody in Your Instrument 49
Using scales in composition 49
Using music theory in composition 50
Using musical gestures as compositional tools 50
Exercises 51
Chapter 6: Scales and Modes, Moods and Melodies 53
Major and Minor Modes and the Circle of Fifths 54
Getting Moody 56
Moods à la Modes 58
Ionian (major scale) 58
Dorian 59
Phrygian 59
Lydian 59
Mixolydian 60
Aeolian (natural minor) 60
Locrian 61
The Pentatonic Scale 62
Harmonic and Melodic Minor 62
Exercises 63
Chapter 7: Building Melodies Using Motifs and Phrases 65
The Long and Short of Musical Themes: Motifs and Phrases 66
Building a Melodic Phrase 68
Spicing It Up by Varying the Phrase 70
Rhythmic displacement 70
Truncation 71
Expansion 71
Tonal displacement 72
Exercises 73
Chapter 8: Developing Your Melodies 75
Structural Tones 75
Step-wise and Skip-wise Motion 76
Passing Tones 77
Neighboring Tones and Appoggiatura 78
Other Melodic Techniques 79
Escape tones 79
Suspension 80
Retardation 80
Anticipation 80
Pedal point 81
Exercises 82
Part 3: Harmony and Structure 85
Chapter 9: Harmonizing with Melodies 87
Harmonizing Using Consonance and Dissonance 88
Tritone: The devil’s interval 89
Conflict and resolution 90
Harmonizing Using the Circle of Fifths 92
Harmonizing Using Pivot Notes 94
Exercises 95
Chapter 10: Composing with Chords 97
Chords and Their Moods 98
Major 99
Minor 99
Major seventh 99
Minor seventh 100
Dominant seventh 100
Major sixth 101
Minor sixth 101
Suspended fourth 102
Ninth 102
Minor ninth 102
Diminished 103
Augmented 103
Minor 7, flat 5 / half-diminished 104
Putting Chords Together 105
Rhythmic Movement 106
Chord Progressions 107
“Rules” for major chord progressions 107
“Rules” for minor chord progressions 107
Coming Home with Cadences 108
Authentic cadences 109
Plagal cadences 109
Deceptive or interrupted cadences 110
Half-cadences 110
Fitting Chords and Melodies Together 112
Extracting harmony from melody 112
Using chord changes 113
Exercises 116
Chapter 11: Composing from the Void 119
Composing Using the Movement Around You 120
Composing Using Musical Gestures: “Gestural Space” 121
Introducing Effort Shapes 122
Weight: heavy versus light 123
Time: Sustained and staccato 123
Flow: Bound and free-flowing 124
Space: Direct and indirect 124
Composing Using Effort Shapes 125
Dab 125
Flick 125
Glide 126
Press 126
Float 126
Punch 126
Slash 127
Wring 127
Shaping story and mood by combining effort shapes 127
Exercises 130
Chapter 12: Beginnings, Middles, and Endings 131
A Word About Form 132
Beginnings: Intro and letter “A” 133
The power of titling 133
Starting a piece 134
Chord progressions 134
Middles: Letter “B” 135
Endings: Return of the Chorus or Refrain 136
Exercises 137
Chapter 13: Musical Forms 139
Combining Parts into Forms 139
One-part form: A 140
Binary form: AB 140
Song form: ABA 140
Arch form: ABCBA 142
Classical Forms 142
The sonata 142
The rondo 143
Concerto 144
Symphony 144
Fugue 144
Divertimento 145
Minimalism 145
Through-composed 145
Popular Forms 145
The blues 146
32-bar blues and country 147
Rock 148
Jazz 149
Atonal Music 150
Atonality and form 150
Atonality and instrument realities 151
Atonal Music and You 152
Listening for atonality 153
Exercises 154
Part 4: Orchestration and Arrangement 157
Chapter 14: Composing for the Standard Orchestra 159
Concert Pitch and Transposition 160
Pitch Ranges of Transposing Instruments 161
Alto flute 162
B flat trumpet 163
B flat clarinet 164
B flat bass clarinet 166
E flat clarinet 166
English horn/cor anglais 167
Flugelhorn 168
French horn 169
Piccolo trumpet 171
Non-Transposing Instruments 172
Concert flute 172
Bass flute 173
Bassoon 173
Double bass/contrabass 174
Oboe 174
Orchestral harp 175
Tenor slide trombone 176
Viola 176
Violin 177
Cello 177
Where they all are on the piano 178
Getting the Sounds You Want 179
Stringed instruments 180
Brass and woodwind instruments 182
Chapter 15: Composing for Rhythm Sections and Small Ensembles 185
The Drums 186
The Bass 187
Upright bass 187
Electric bass guitar 188
Acoustic bass guitar 188
The Guitar 189
Acoustic guitar 189
Electric guitar 190
Twelve-string guitar 190
Steel guitar 191
Free Reed Instruments 192
The harmonica 192
The accordion 193
The concertina 193
Chapter 16: Composing for Multiple Voices 195
Story Lines and Instrumentation 195
Writing Multiple Harmony Lines 196
Independent Voices 198
Counterpoint 200
The Five Elements of a Musical Tone 202
Pitch 202
Duration 202
Intensity 203
Timbre 203
Sonance 203
Some Do’s and Don’ts 204
Don’t write more than three independent melodies at one time 204
Don’t cross melody lines over each other 204
Do be deliberate in the use of octaves and unisons 205
Do consider tessitura 205
Exercises 205
Chapter 17: Composing Commercial Music and Songs 207
Composing for Film 208
Working with time code 210
Working with proxy movies 211
Composing for Video Games 211
Composing for TV and Radio 212
Composing for the Orchestra 214
Composing for Yourself 215
Composing Teams 216
Helpful Organizations and Web Sites 217
Film Connection 218
American Composers Forum 218
American Composers Forum, Los Angeles Chapter 218
Film Music Network 218
Music Licensing Companies 219
Musicbed 219
Jingle Punks 219
Marmoset 219
Taximusic 220
Working with Agents 220
Songwriting 221
Deciding on lyrics and tempo 222
Building rhythm 223
Choosing your form 224
In the beginning 225
Making your song moody 226
The hook 227
Making a Great Demo 228
Keep it short 229
Only include the best stuff 229
Organize it 229
Have more ready to go 230
Identify yourself 230
Invest in quality 230
Copyright it 230
Chapter 18: Composing Electronic Music 231
Software and Hardware for Composition 231
Sequencers and digital audio workstations 232
Music notation software: scorewriters 232
Repetition and the computer 234
Sound libraries 234
Composing on Computers 235
Thinking in sections 236
Linear composition 236
Loop composing 236
Computer as recorder: musical scrapbooking 239
The bad news 239
Saving and backing up 240
Chapter 19: Composing for Other Musicians 241
Composing with Lead Sheets 241
Composing with Guitar Tablature 243
The Score 246
Writing for Ensembles 247
Working with Foreign Scores and Ensembles 249
Working with Drums 250
Part 5: The Part of Tens 253
Chapter 20: Ten Career Opportunities for Composers 255
School Bands and Choirs 256
Incidental Television Music 257
Musical Theater 257
Concert Composition and Performances 259
Producer/Arranger 259
Industrial Music and Advertising 260
Business conventions 261
Music libraries 261
Film Scoring 261
Video Game Scoring 262
Songwriting 262
Teaching 262
Chapter 21: Ten Recommended Books for Composers 265
Songwriter’s Market 265
The Shaping of Musical Elements, Vol II 266
The Norton Scores, Vols 1 and 2, 10th Edition 267
How to Grow as a Musician 267
Analysis of Tonal Music: A Schenkerian Approach 268
The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music 268
American Mavericks 269
RE/Search #14 & #15: Incredibly Strange Music, Vols I and II 269
Silence 270
Chapter 22: Ten Platforms for Promoting Your Music 271
YouTube 271
Bandcamp 272
Show.co 273
CD Baby 273
Distrokid 273
ReverbNation 274
TuneCore 274
Spinnup 274
Amuse 275
Ditto 275
Part 6: Appendixes 277
Appendix A: Modes and Chords Reference 279
Appendix B: Glossary 299
Index 305
