Starting Point for Learning how to write Melodies, Harmonies, and Compose

So I've been writing ambient music on and off for a year or two now, but I've started to grow weary of my works. I've been looking online and about to improve my ability to write music, but it's made me realise that I lack the ability to construct chords, notice intervals between notes, and other basic ideas.

Can anyone recommend some beginner level books?

*Sorry If this question has been answered before...

I think a bigger resource than books would be your own ear: voraciously listen to all music to get new ideas and understand music. Listen actively to things that you like, or don't like, or don't know.

You like ambient music? Check out Crumb, Stockhausen, Varese, Robert Ashley, Gordon Mumma, Miles Davis to a lesser extent. Listen to the music and look at the scores to check how they did it. Experiment to find other ways to do the same things...

If you like ambient music, start with George Crumb, Edgard Varese, maybe Pauline Oliveros.

Oh wait, someone said that.

But still, if you're interested in furthering yourself in music, consider going out there and actively listening to the music of others.

Var

I don't understand what those composers have to do with ambient music either, but hey whatev!

Well, thanks for the advice.

Are you looking for beginner books for writing ambient music or for basic musical concepts?

I'm looking more for basic musical concepts.

Best way to improve is to just keep composing. Study scores, listen to as much music as possible - drown your ear in it. There really are no basic concepts anymore - its pretty much all at your discretion. If you wish to pursue the common practice theory, then I suggest studying the scores of Mozart, Beethoven, and Haydn. For more adventurous avenues in cp study wagner, bruckner, mahler, and prokofiev. Schubert is another to look at for melodic material composition.

I'd recommend listening to as much music outside the ambient genre, as you can...Listen first, find what types of sounds and combinations appeal to you - make notes of these; such information may come in handy as you develop your personal approach to composition. Harmony is a pretty huge subject and covers a lot of territory, but your ears will be your best guide. A bit of background knowledge on the subject will be helpful, though, if for no other reason than to assist you in finessing your harmonies into...whatever.

Being a vast subject, there are countless good texts covering it, alone. One of my favorites is Walter Piston's "Harmony". If you wanna check it out..try to snag an older edition of it....But hopefully one which hasn't been scrawled in, all the way through.

It's a nice supplement to the listening-aspect, contains tons of examples from well-known pieces....Not the worst starting point, probably.

also Schoenberg's "Structural Functions of Harmony", as it puts a different slant on things...Just a couple of suggestions, although I'm sure others who've posted in this thread will have tons more if you ask =)

As for melody, well, that sort of depends on what you're interested in writing...Same comments from above go here. Try to notate what you're hearing in your head, examine it and discover what you find most appealing about what you've written...And in summary, just listen, constantly hit people up for suggestions/sources - you'll get there :) Sorry if this got a little rambly...tired...lack of sleep...caffeine...Anyways, that's my two cents or whatever...

Best of luck to you, and hope some of what everyone has said helps you get to wherever you ultimately would like to be! :) ...(though sometimes, "the road is better than the inn", no?)

Cheers,

`k

Thanks for the advice.

I have heard a bit about Schoenberg's books, so I'll look try to get that off amazon or ebay - and I'll make sure to check out Walter Piston's book.

The only score I've ever took a decent look at was Crumb's Black Angels, so I guess I should invest some of my time in analyzing more scores.