Wish You Could Be A Musical Composer? You Can!

Would you like to be a musical composer. You are probably at least familiar with playing a musical instrument. Maybe you're a newcomer who needs to learn the basis. Maybe piano lessons? Well, you and so many others would like to give a song life, but wonder how to do it, wonder if you can do it?

Before I jump into the details I want to share that I am a fairly new musical composer not even knowing I had the ability until a few years ago when I composed music for a dear friend who died. It seemed that all of the songs that were already written were just not what I was looking for.

Quite simply, necessity propelled me into action and before I knew it, I had written a lovely piano composition for my late friend. It is number five on The Driftwood Trip. This first album was picked up by music publisher ACM Records. Astonishing, isn’t it? Well not really. Truthfully, mystical fairy dust doesn't land on me when I am at the piano composing music. In fact, there are several basics that can help anyone to begin writing music.

I have written and recorded several songs including the ones on The Driftwood Trip and music for my upcoming second album. How do I do it? How do I move from an idea of composing to living, breathing music? I tell myself I can. Our internal voice is the most important and it it key to our success. Other people(my spouse jokingly calls them the peanut gallery) can and do question any new choice we might make. If you feel compelled to do something, do it and ignore the peanut gallery! If you want to be a musical composer, do it!

Next, relax and have fun with the process. Composing music is a magical, fun ride-a wonderful experience that is pure joy defined. It doesn’t matter if you are a professional musical composer or not. I know several amateur musical composers who are producing fantastic material!

Before we go any further, I want to set something straight; I just used the word “magical.” Although composing music has its mysterious and various layers of inspiration, it is actually based on some very straightforward principles. Believe it or not, Western music only has twelve pitches in each of eight octaves on the piano. It’s hard to believe when one considers all of the different pieces of music out there. I would like to tell you more about how I approach composition. Remember my earlier comment about mystical fairy dust? Simply stated, I tell a story with a good beginning, middle and an end. But guess what? Most music is structured in this way. If asked, I can tell you in great detail the story of any song I’ve written. This goes for music with or without lyrics.

OK-Sounds Good-What Now? The Beginning of Course!

Try starting with a subject in my mind and give your potential song a title. After all, it’s a lot easier to write a poem, story or song if you know what you are writing about.

Play a few notes, patterns and or chords and see if inspiration strikes. Many times, I begin a song like this. Those few notes give me an idea and my subject comes to mind. A word of caution at this point: These things work because I am working. This is not a passive process where the composer sits idly until the song has developed itself.

If you are need of inspiration, try to get into the habit of listening and watching everything from the viewpoint of an artist. Remember, the world is making music all of the time-voices on the bus, crickets on a summer evening, the bulldozer firing up early in the morning, afternoon tea with your grandmother. Believe me, stories are presenting themselves to you. Become aware of them and you are on your way.

Another important caveat, let your mind go quiet. Let’s face it, if we cannot put down our cell phone, stop texting, shut out work and noise-we cannot create. We have to be willing to step out of daily chaos and embrace solitude and peace.

Listen to pieces of music that you are crazy about from popular to classical and anything in between. Ask yourself-what do I like about this music? Is it peaceful, jarring, exciting, meditative, lush, wild?

Personally, I am very eclectic in my musical taste and so I would use all of those adjectives and many more to describe why I love certain songs. But they all share common threads-great beginnings that encourage my ear to hear more and interest that is sustained through the middle and end. Truthfully, consider a piece of music that has a great beginning and then deteriorates to mediocrity as it progresses. What a disappointment!

Let’s Talk About The Middle

Do not be deceived-although the beginning hook and anchor of a song are remembered by folks-the middle is usually the biggest part of a composition and deserves attention and development.

So, again, treating the song as a story, strive for the middle idea of your composition to take your listeners on a journey. Hopefully, your beginning has caught their interest and now employ beauty, change, excitement or adventure to tell your story. Let your middle section contrast and depart for a while from your beginning idea.

Onto the Finale

Let’s suppose that your song has developed from a beginning and middle to a place where the story is ready to conclude. I strive for an ending that has a satisfying conclusion. Your story may slow down, move to a nice cadence such as a tonic chord of whatever key your in. Just like literature or a terrific movie-at the end, something has been resolved.

I invite you to listen to Down at the Swimmin’ Hole or Hello November on my homepage. Listen for the concepts that have been described here. Heck, drop me a line with feedback or a question. Oh yeah, one more thing-happy songwriting!

They Write The Songs

Henry Mancini Carole King