JohnD

I'll just come up with my own way of doing this. I'm quite certain there are quite a few predetermined methods and rules which in fact could help me a lot. But i can figure it my own way anyway. Actually recently i've discovered that playing around and rearranging chords and progressions from songs i play, can produce some very good results - music which sounds pretty good and doesnt even necessarily sound close to the original. Basically i mainly can stay within the framework of song's chords and accompaniment and get some very neat "improvisations" and "derivative compositions". Most importantly, i'm having quite a lot fun with it. I'll also try to seek a composition teacher or someone versed in it. Still it's a start! Thanks, guys!

You're right. I should search around more. Most resources i've come up with so far introduce you to the building blocks and make a note of common chord progressions and some other basic stuff. Not so much of hands-on, step-by-step pragmatic stuff i'm looking for. I know there has to be a lot more in-depth resources out there.

While i agree on all you've said and i'm interested in algorithmic composition as a research subject(i've red about Markov chains), it's not my goal to write or use a fully automatic software generating the music(at the moment). I might however write a software to aid composition, like a tool for adding simple harmony and such. I've been misunderstood - my goal is to learn to compose music on my own. Studying algorithms and musical models("music theory rules that are already written down and defined somewhere") would help me understand and familarize myself with general musical concepts and common rules which have been used in composition of various musical pieces. Whereas using Markov chains to compose music doesnt quite improve understanding of the music itself. Basically i need algorithms, guidelines and rules which could be used by a human to compose a musical piece. And i'm looking for a good in-depth books/articles on the subject. (Someone recommended "Composition for Dummies" - it only barely scratches the surface - introduces the building blocks - without actually telling anything about composition itself)

I have different approach. Dont confuse me with people who think that playing "fractals" is a good idea.

Music doesnt have to "mean" anything to sound good. I was under impression that composers know the algorithms behind the software. And that you have studied a few of them in the academy. And that's why i'm here - asking composers the resources - books/articles and algorithms.

I got into playing piano since i listened to a wide array of beautiful music, and coudnt resist not learning to play at least some of it. Yes, listening(and playing) lots of music is very important.

I'm sorry to break it to you. This is physics. EVERYTHING in this universe follows strict laws of physics as far as i know. Sounds and music follow the same LAWS of physics. "Sound is a travelling wave which is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing" As far as i know, there are certain frequencies and ratios what sound better to human ear and a certain series of sounds are percieved as more "enjoyable" to the human brain. Unfortunatelly inner workings of the human brain is not fully understood, so there's no full algorithm or function to determine fitness of a musical passage. I will look it up. I will. That's why i'm here. I'm quite shocked you guys dont have any guidelines and algorithms you've stumbled across or noticed when composing or havent read any books on the subject you can recommend. But that doesnt mean good composition algorithms doesnt exist, they are in your head, but you're not quite fully aware of them. Aware of the though process you're performing while composing music.

What i want is LAWS, GUIDELINES and RULES. At the moment i'm BLIND. I have no SLIGHTEST idea what works (except for a very few things on chord progressions i red on the internet). I can tell if a passage sounds good. I can tell if a meal tastes good, but that doesnt mean i know CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS what makes it taste good. Do you see the difference?

I wont argue about music being art and such. I dont even care what music "is supposed" to be. I care what music IS and how it works(ie. what sounds good and why) And there is software what does algorithmic composition. While the generated output may sound generic or "soulless" it does compose better than some of us do. Hence, if i learn the rules, the guidlines, the algorithms i MAY be able to actually compose and understand music better than i do now(i cant compose a good sounding/decent piece). Hopefully after learning the algorithms, i will improve and be able to compose freely and add so called "meaning" to it. It's supposed to be as a starting point. A guideline for a beginner.

First of all, it has to sound "good" or at least "passable". I bet you wouldnt listen to music which doesnt sound good, so why bother. So i'm supposed to write some notes/chords semi-random? Like doing the combinatorics and trying out all the key combinations with pure-unguided trial and error? I'm afraid it doesnt work that way. While that may be a legal method for some who have implicit understanding of music, it doesnt work for me. If there's software out there(cgMusic) what can write a generic("good" sounding) piece of music, why wouldnt i be able to follow the same algorithms and rules to get same or even better results? I could actually be able to write significantly better music since i have advantage of actually being able to tell if some part of music sounds right.

Haven't you heard something along the lines "music is math"? Oh, and music is supossed to be analyzed(it actually have been studied and analyzed for centuries).

Hello fellow aspiring composers and pianists alike! I'll start off with a brief introduction: I'm 22 years old. I started playing piano about a year ago coming from a musically secluded environment (i did listen to some music though!) Although i enjoy playing the piano and all sorts of different music, i also have keen interest in composition and am i still have no idea how and why music works. My goal (for now) is to be able to write a generic piece of music. However, i have no idea how to start composing, i can play some random notes and some common chord progressions like I-IV-V-I or i can try to pick out a melody but it doesnt work for me. I'm a programmer. I love flowcharts, order and determinism. I'd like to come across a pragmatic guide to composition. A step by step guide to writing all sorts of generic (elevator) music. It has to be clear and concise. I'm fully aware that there's no full formal mathematical model on what is considered good sounding to our brains and that there's no single method for composition. But there must be a whole bunch of established guidelines and algorithms out there already. (just take a look at some algorithmic composition software like cgMusic) I'd like to ask you to recommend me some books/resources/links on the subject to get me started. Key points: * Algorithmic composition * What works and what doesnt, what chords/progressions/notes are used when/where and why. * Flowcharts * Pragmatic, step by step approach - a guide i can follow and get audible results. I hope after trying out and devising several algorithms i'll have better understanding of music and will be able to do this "on my own" taking detours from established algorithms and being able to write music freely as i like.