Compositional Knowledge

Hello all, I am new to the forums here, although I once had an account a while ago, and rarely used it. But now, I've returned, and with some very difficult questions for you all: first off, let me state that I am a young teenager, and have played French horn for 4 years in my school band, beginning in middle school. I loved the horn, and practiced a lot, quickly advancing to where I am now, the 1st chair of the high school marching and concert band. Now, along the way, I had never, ever thought of music as a possible career. But then, I started getting ideas for compositions, though my musical knowledge was greatly limited; all I knew was basic notation, etc. My dad had purchased GarageBand for our Mac, and I soon set to work recreating the sounds in my head, on the computer. At first I had no luck, and even when it started to come together, the rhythms were mostly off. Anyhow, by this point in time, I have a pretty good grasp on rhythms and notes, although I still lack the proper training. Up to now, I have merely written what sounds good to me. I am heavily influenced by the music I listen to, but I still don't know too much. Granted, I do know certain things, like major and minor chords, how to determine the key of a piece based on the flats and sharps in the key signature, how to create chords, some basic knowledge on transposition, some knowledge on instrumental articulations, and a brief understanding of what counterpoint is. But, as you can tell, I still have a lot to learn. Does anyone know of any good books or sites that could help me?

Musictheory.net is a good place to start.

Or just type "music theory" into Google.

There's nothing wrong with writing what you think sounds best, regardless of any other knowledge you may or may not have. Even if you do learn theory, don't think that anything you may learn replaces the tactic of just writing what sounds best to you. It just gives you more options, nothing else.

I'd suggest, learn as much as you can, and then do what you want. The more you know, the more things you'll have at your disposal when you want to write something, plus you wouldn't be restricting yourself in a particular style/genre out of ignorance, but you'd write in a way because you choose to.

So, a good online starting point would be a very good website, Dolmetsch Online - Music Theory Online Contents . It has information ranging from the very essential elements of music up to a brief history of 20th century music.

If you want to practice your aural skills (interval/pitch/chord/scale recognition, dictation etc), then you might want to check out GNU Solfege, a free application which has a lot of ear-training exercises.

Concerning books, I would totally suggest to get your hands on Gardner Read's "Music Notation", which is a must for people who want to start learning how to notate properly (and not just basic stuff), and then a book on counterpoint could be useful (there are lots of books on the subject, two notable books being the Fux and the Piston books - also the Dubois is said to be very good, but I haven't found an English translation of it yet), and maybe harmony, and later orchestration (the Samuel Adler book on orchestration is excellent - you can also buy it now and use it as a reference guide for instrumental ranges, effects, techniques etc).

It always all depends on how much you're willing to learn.

BTW, you said you're a horn player, but I can't see why by considering to study music you suddenly started talking about composition. I mean, you can study the horn without knowing how to compose, and you can study composition without knowing how to play the horn (although one helps the other - not just the horn, but any instrument really).

*wonders what the 'search' thingy is for*

:O OOOH!!!

http://www.youngcomposers.com/forum/anyone-recommend-any-good-books-about-composition-so-1437.html

http://www.youngcomposers.com/forum/counterpoint-harmony-6845.html

http://www.youngcomposers.com/forum/reading-material-13203.html

http://www.youngcomposers.com/forum/books-music-theory-12712.html

http://www.youngcomposers.com/forum/practical-guide-musical-composition-8033.html

http://www.youngcomposers.com/forum/music-theory-12788.html

http://www.youngcomposers.com/forum/books-composing-orchestrating-etc-193.html

http://www.youngcomposers.com/forum/music-composition-resources-13369.html

http://www.youngcomposers.com/forum/book-recommendations-3043.html

Just sayin' - it might be more effective to check out previous threads...

happy hunting.

Oh, and go to a library. (Library Of Congress: ML, MT... Dewey Decimal: 780's)

after you learn the very basics...Piston Harmony

I hate you robin. You're always one step ahead >_>

I'd suggest, learn as much as you can, and then do what you want. The more you know, the more things you'll have at your disposal when you want to write something, plus you wouldn't be restricting yourself in a particular style/genre out of ignorance, but you'd write in a way because you choose to.

So, a good online starting point would be a very good website, Dolmetsch Online - Music Theory Online Contents . It has information ranging from the very essential elements of music up to a brief history of 20th century music.

If you want to practice your aural skills (interval/pitch/chord/scale recognition, dictation etc), then you might want to check out GNU Solfege, a free application which has a lot of ear-training exercises.

Concerning books, I would totally suggest to get your hands on Gardner Read's "Music Notation", which is a must for people who want to start learning how to notate properly (and not just basic stuff), and then a book on counterpoint could be useful (there are lots of books on the subject, two notable books being the Fux and the Piston books - also the Dubois is said to be very good, but I haven't found an English translation of it yet), and maybe harmony, and later orchestration (the Samuel Adler book on orchestration is excellent - you can also buy it now and use it as a reference guide for instrumental ranges, effects, techniques etc).

It always all depends on how much you're willing to learn.

BTW, you said you're a horn player, but I can't see why by considering to study music you suddenly started talking about composition. I mean, you can study the horn without knowing how to compose, and you can study composition without knowing how to play the horn (although one helps the other - not just the horn, but any instrument really).

Hmmm, sorry. Maybe I didn't quite clarify about transitioning from horn into composition. See, a few years ago, I suddenly had this cool musical idea in my head, that I had never heard anywhere before. It was a pretty neat theme, and before long, it had grown into a musical piece in my mind. I really, really wanted to write it out somehow, then turned to a basic computer program to try and do just that. It didn't work too well, but I didn't give up, and continued my work on other ideas as well. Now, I have written about an hour's worth of music, but it has all been just what I thought would sound good.