Learning benefits of composition

• if you can create, it means you truly understand the musical concepts you are composing with, beginning with the notes and rhythms and moving forward to including phrasing, form, harmony etc.
• composition gives you a very good understanding of the types of things that make logical melodies, as well as rhythms and chord progressions. (This means you learn to look for and expect them in your transcriptions and performance works)
• composition builds skills – being able to create short logical melodies, rhythms etc. allow you to anticipate what you might hear (if you need to “fake it” in exams or tests)
• composition cultivates your own creative and expressive voice – anyone can give it a go
• composition can give you a way to hone in on a particular concept – if you’re struggling with a certain rhythmic grouping, try and make it the focus of your composition until you really understand it
• composition is the best way to reinforce what you think you know!
• composition brings together other musical skills – performance, performance analysis, as well as musicianship etc.

Deb’s tips for getting started with composing

Don’t be afraid to challenge yourself with composition. It may not feel entirely comfortable at first, particularly if you’ve never really tried to create music before, but in this way having the structure of a certain concept might help.

For example, rather than just staring at a blank staff having no idea what to write, you can draw inspiration from the concepts you’re working on. Learning about Ab Major Scale? Try to compose a short melody in that key. Getting your head around triplets? Pop them in your piece.