Extremely new to composing

Hello guys, I'm mike and i'm extremely new to composing. I've been an avid music fan for years (XD) and i've always wanted to compose but i was so scared with my lack of experience i'd just be completely horrific. Well i finally got the courage today to attempt to compose, and here it is. I'm not looking for "wow you're such a noob damn that sucked" I know it truly does. I want some constructive feedback, how i can improve it, expand upon it, etc. Thank you guys for your time.

http://www.esnips.com/doc/f6a4d649-a475-4aca-b96a-5de4b2575db9/beetz

Broken link

It was nice...until the gratuitous bit tagged on the end. ;)

You had a nice motion going for you. Though quite basic and poppish, it's still something. With experience and time, you'll be able to build and develop from the base material into something more substantial.

Still, for a first shot it's very far from horrific. :thumbsup: Thanks for sharing, and keep it up.

Ah yes, it was very basic and poppish indeed. I'm actually a rock musician discovering the world of classical very slowly, and i think i prefer it. It's a lot more complex =) hehe. The ending was a bit random no doubt hehe, why i threw it in there i don't even know =D. I just like hearing the higher notes on the harpsichord i guess (or the crappy keyboard emulated one at that XD). The only thing i can't get over is the simplistic bass line, i'm left handed so my left hand is actually stronger but i guess i'm just not experienced enough yet to write inticate basslines =*(.

Thank you for the response though!

CR

First off welcome to YC.

As a rock musician you should know that the music world is strife with the idea of dog eat dog.

Imagine going up to a producer and saying, I know my music sucks, but will you listen anyway. I doubt if he'd even look in your direction. Always be positive about your work. If you won't be, few others will.

On the other hand, you have convinced a number of people here, me included, to respond to you, so sometimes it works.

The easiest way to learn to compose music, is by composing music. The more you do it the better you will become. The music itself will start to make more sense to you and will become more and more time consuming.

The newest composers will spend a few hours on a piece and think it is done. The more experienced composer will often times take months to complete one 5 minute piece. I know one man that puts out around 20-30 minutes of music a year, but each and every piece is near perfection.

Take your time and keep writing and it will come.

This one here is a good beginning. Just keep doing it.

Ron

Ah yes, it was very basic and poppish indeed. I'm actually a rock musician discovering the world of classical very slowly, and i think i prefer it. It's a lot more complex =) hehe. The ending was a bit random no doubt hehe, why i threw it in there i don't even know =D. I just like hearing the higher notes on the harpsichord i guess (or the crappy keyboard emulated one at that XD). The only thing i can't get over is the simplistic bass line, i'm left handed so my left hand is actually stronger but i guess i'm just not experienced enough yet to write inticate basslines =*(.

Thank you for the response though!

You should get into jazz if you want complex and satifying music. ;)

You should get into jazz if you want complex and satifying music. ;)

You should try to stop poisoning inexperienced people's minds with dubious opinions :dry:

You should try to stop poisoning inexperienced people's minds with dubious opinions :dry:

:huh: Oh, come on now...

Ah jazz is a very fun genre, I love playing the walking bass lines on my bass guitar. I've got NO CLUE WHATSOEVER where to even begin though, i thinkmost piano chords in jazz use 4 notes but i'm not entirely sure.

...I've got NO CLUE WHATSOEVER where to even begin though...

Start with the basics - get a handle on tonal/classical theory first...

;)

well i really want to learn, really really really badly. That's actually my intentions for coming to this site. I don't have the funds to buy all these various workbooks or afford theory lessons (every pennys goin towards college) so i wanted to find a way to learn that would be more financially able. I was suggested a great idea today by i forget who (i'm soo sorry) that suggested going to my local university, and i intend on doing that. Would you recommend any places either on this site or on the web that would be good in learning the basics in theory?

Learning classical theory is very important as a basis for all other genres. There are tons free music theory websites out there. Generally what I do is read a lesson from Dolmetsch Online and then google what the lesson was about for supplementary information.

As for the piece: It was quite repetitive and short. In future compositions you may want to vary the texture a bit. This can be done by changing instruments and/or keys. And of course keeping the melody interesting is a must. Try to keep repetition to a minimun while still maintaining coherence.

The length is just a personal opinion. I prefer long songs.

for a first composition i would say that was pretty darn good. :) as for techniques and such for making a piece longer, well ya that comes in time. my advice to you is learn some basic theory, WRITE a lot of music and LISTEN to a lot of music. if you hear something that you like in someones piece, figure out how they did it. there has been plenty of times where i find something i love in someones work and i want to know how they did that. case in point, there is a member here know as "The Nightfly" who is a fascinating composer. i heard one of his pieces and really liked it, and in his description he mentioned polychords. i never knew about them before and i loved the sound, so i researched them and discovered more sounds to fill my head with. but back to your piece, it seems like you have a firm grip on the minor scale and the little "metal" riffs at the end were pretty sweet. :toothygrin: all in all and first and foremost, if you want to be a better composer dont stop listening to music and keep writing it. and above all, DONT LET PEOPLE GET YOU DOWN! for me, i know im not the best composer, but i have confidence in myself, and lo and behold im getting better and better with every new composition. keep it up mate and hope to hear more from you soon ;)

vince

I got ya I got ya, thanks for the helpful advice all! I'm gonna go check that dolmesch online out.

CR,

I think the others have given you good general advice about where to go as you learn/progress, so I'll just use this opportunity not to critique your piece alone; instead I'll bring a few particular musical elements to your attention in this piece that will apply accross the board in the future:

1. melody: while you could say the melody was repetitive, within the scope of the piece (and there ARE classical works this short!), it had interest. What you did (perhaps instinctively) to give it variety is worth pointing out for future: SLIGHT VARIATION. Never think every bar has to be different; actually, this makes pieces confusing and disjointed. Whole pages of melody can spring from one series of notes that you put with different rhythms or harmonies (I know you know this, but I'm saying this is nothing to be ashamed of or to try to avoid).

For instance, you had 2 basic sections that each repeated, ABAB. However, I noticed that the second time A came around you played the left-hand chord an extra time underneath, which made it sound a little urgent. In future, you'll find that even variations this slight can be all you need; your ear will learn to distinguish where it's legit and where it becomes "copy-paste" writing.

2. meter/rhythm: I don't want to assume you do/don't know this; I'm just pointing out that the meter changed from 3 beats per measure with the first theme/melody-idea in the to 4 beats per measure with the 2nd theme/melody-idea. This is not necessarily a problem, you just need to be aware that you're doing it. If you haven't notated the piece, you'll catch a lot of these things when you have to figure out how to get your sound down on paper.

3. form: Someone mentioned that it sounded brief. Part of the reason is that musical phrases in MOST classical music (esp. classical through late romantic) have an average length. This is like the difference between a "normal" sentence, a brief comment, or a runon sentence. A good rule of thumb is to experiment with 4-measure phrases at first, and those typically group into groups of 4 bars that form a kind of "musical paragraph." That section with 4 groups of 4 measures would be a good amount for the "first section" of a piece.

4. ending: We talked about chord progression the other day. Many, many pieces of short to moderate length end in the same key in which they began. As a composer, you of course, can shake things up if you want (and it seems a lot of jazz pieces do this) by changing keys in the last few bars. As a general rule, I'd try to come up with an ending you feel is satisfying BECAUSE it brings you deliciously back to the starting "I" chord ("tonic chord")--e minor for your piece.

Again, I'm not pointing out four big, ugly errors. It's your piece; the melodies, form, rhythm ending--they're all yours to do with as you please! I'm using the occasion to talk about ways they're generally used in classical music, and I hope it helps.

Brooks