Baby steps to composition

What is composition?

• To compose means to come up with something new

• You are completely free to compose whatever you like.

• It must be original and creative

How to compose - some tips to help you think about your composition assessment

• NEVER put yourself down by people's opinions

• If you don't know from where to start, it's always a good idea to revise some of the characteristics evident in Music of the last 25 years.

• Look at works we covered in class and the ideas incorporated within each work - pick a couple of fragments or ideas to draw your composition upon.

• Starting your work with an ostinato, and developing this further isn't a bad idea afterall. Always starting small is a good idea - even with one instrument, and then passing this around to other instruments once you are sure with what you want to create.

• Record your ideas - always notate your ideas and reflect on what you've done as you progress in each stage.

• Consider the following:

• Meter (4/4, 3/4, etc.)

• What instruments you are writing for

• Length or duration of piece - you want to obviously make out the most of your given available time.

• The structure of the song - be very careful here and refer to works studied in class. Look at how composers approached structure. Most of the time, they did not stick to traditional ways of structure that we identify as Binary, Ternary, or Rondo form, etc... It was more about build up, and the concept of developing an idea to sustain interest.

• What mood you want to create / OR story you want to tell the audience? Is it happy? Sad? Scary?

• Think of tonality and ways you can play around with it (e.g. major going to minor suddenly or opposite, chord progressions). It could be anything to emphasise the mood of your piece.

• How you want to create variety / contrast - through syncopation perhaps?

• The volume level - build up, tension, suspense at different points