New guy here--question about composing and playing instruments

Hey, new guy here. I'm a vocalist and recently have become interested in learning music theory and composition. My question is: is it necessary to play a chordal instrument in order to compose? I can sing, hum, or whistle any melodic line that I hear in my head, and am able to write the notes down from just that. But, obviously, I can't produce harmony with just my voice! Is it necessary to learn a chordal instrument? I want to compose but I don't want to take more time away from singing than I have to.

Should I just train my ear to better recognize the harmony that I hear in my head and use my ear and my voice? Or will I be horribly limited if I don't learn a chordal instrument?

Thanks for your input.

...is it necessary to play a chordal instrument in order to compose?

It's not necessary - but it help immensely. One option would be to learn to use computers to play the harmony for you. Perhaps not the most ideal solution...but possible.

Just find an old toy keyboard and learn what the notes are. It will take you little time and hopefully no money, and will be quite sufficient as a tool for composition. You don't have to learn to "play" it per se: it's just useful for working out harmonies.

i don't think it is neccessary as long as you have a reasonable ear for music. if you have a basic theory knowledge you should be ok. :) I compose everything by ear. and i think their ok (well i hope so anyway :P) good luck.

Yes, you need to be decent enough at piano to be able to bang *something* out. I'm not saying you need to be able to play a Beethoven sonata, god knows I can't. But it will help you a lot. Of course ear and theoretical knowledge has a lot to do with it as well, but I doubt you have perfect pitch, so why half donkey this?

I don't have perfect pitch, but I have good relative pitch. I think I'll begin with music theory and working on hearing harmony, and if it becomes apparent that I'm unable to adequately harmonize melodies by ear then I will learn at least some piano.

I agree with Robin, it's not required, but it helps immensely. Being able to visualize chords using the piano keyboard is a great help in many ways.

Plus, if you're going to major in music in college, you're going to be required to take Piano class anyway.

In your country.

Twue, so twue. In the US, you'll most likely be required to take class piano.

;)

Just find an old toy keyboard and learn what the notes are. It will take you little time and hopefully no money, and will be quite sufficient as a tool for composition. You don't have to learn to "play" it per se: it's just useful for working out harmonies.

Aye. Even though I'm a decent pianist, I usually use a really old 61 key Yamaha in my room for composing. You don't have to be great, but learning the notes on a keyboard to pound out parts is a good idea.

Well......it's obviously not necessary. It's not like its impossible to compose without it. But learning what the instruments are capable of can help immensely in a realistic sense. Some instruments have a very hard time playing in certain registers and sometimes the easiest thing on one instrument can be a pain in the donkey....too much trouble than it's worth...on another instrument.

But I think the keyboard is the basic instrument to have knowledge on. It's the only instrument I can think of that his all of the notes spelled out for you in black and white...literally. It's a very good visual tool and helps you understand scales and relations to other notes a lot better.

I started out on marimba and just knowing that gave me very useful knowledge in composing even though I know theory only to a high school level.

Keyboards are very useful. Primal knowledge on the instrument you compose for is crucial if you ever plan on someone actually playing your music.

I once composed some very simple rhythmic and tonal passages for Bb clarinet once a while back, and my girlfriend took one look at it and laughed.