Music composition is easily one of the more rewarding and enjoyable experiences you can get as a musician and a composer. Every beginner piano student learning to play piano must try and compose piano music. But learning to compose piano music can be a bit overwhelming at the start. One might wonder where do I start? or What exactly must I compose? This uncertainty can leave you in a paralyzed state. Luckily there are some straightforward strategies you can use to learn composing music while playing piano.
1. Do not overthink and bother with judgment: Beginner piano students many times appear to be overwhelmed by the ways of learning how to compose music on the piano. Many times, they get caught up and let their uncertainty overtake their creativity. Never overthink while learning to play music. Never waste time judging what you need to compose. Do not get worried if you are not aware of the ways to read piano sheet music well. When you are approaching your first compositions, such as doddles on the margins of a paper or scribbling something on a napkin, it will be all right.
2. Create a simple sketch: You will find all your favorite composers sketching their ideas and constantly reiterating and tweaking their ideas. This will allow them to distill the essence of chord progression or melody. These initial sketches of the 5th symphony from Beethoven were far away from being finished as we see them today. Keep things such as these in your mind. Never get hung up with starting smallish musical ideas. One easy way of breaking the ice with composing music is to begin with basic elements. There are 4 basic elements in music, viz. melody, rhythm, chords and harmony, and dynamics. A good idea is to select one of these and go from there.
3. Emulate your heroes: Keep in mind that there is no shame in trying to emulate your musical heroes. This is true, especially when you are learning to compose piano music. It is almost essential at some stage to learn and study the songs developed by your biggest musical influences. This will allow you to learn the underlying architecture of the different songs you love. Here is a simple way for this.
- Find your favorite song.
- If it is available online, all the better.
- Learn all the components of this song.
- After you have learned to play it fluently, change the songs’ bits.
- In case the chord progression is D minor, you can think about shifting it to E minor or some other kind of variation.
- You can think about shifting the melody first.
Learning composing music while playing piano can be a terrific experience that all piano beginners must try. But some students might feel a bit overwhelmed by this or get stuck while trying to compose the music for the first time. If you have a piano at home and want to get it tuned and you live in Tampa, FL area, get in touch with Tampa Piano Tuning for a great experience.
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