Learning to write music on a score is a very useful skill for anyone who wants to transpose the splendid complexity of the music they hear in their head, or play on an instrument, allowing other people to play it as well. Fortunately, computer technology allows us to generate scores much more easily by transposing the music directly onto the staff. However, if you want to learn how to write music the classic way, you can start with the basics, then develop more complex compositions. See step 1 for more information.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Choosing a Composition Method
Step 1. Download and print the staff sheets for free
The musical scores are written on stave sheets, in which there are lines on which you can write the musical notes, rests and other signs and annotations that serve to guide the instrumentalists who play it.
- If you want to write scores by hand, in the old way of Mozart and Beethoven, don't waste time drawing the lines of a staff on a white sheet, perhaps using a ruler. Instead, look for free online stave sheets that you can quickly print to start writing your compositions.
- There are websites that allow you to choose the key and add its symbol, avoiding having to draw it by hand. Set the staff according to your needs, download the file, and print it with your computer.
- Print out as many sheets as you may need to practice and start writing your compositions with a pencil. Trying to transfer what you have in mind to paper can be very complicated, so it will certainly be useful to have the possibility to cancel to make the appropriate changes rather than having to rewrite everything from scratch every time.
Step 2. Download a program that allows you to write music to your computer
If you want to compose music with your computer, you can use a program that allows you to drag and drop the notes to the desired place, quickly make the necessary changes, make revisions, easily access the songs and save them quickly. The number of contemporary musicians who use computers to write their music is growing; in this way they can save time and effort.
- MusicScore is a widely used program, easy to use and compatible with both freestyle composition and the MIDI standard. It is possible either to write directly on the staves what you play with your instrument, or to write the piece note by note. Most composition programs also allow MIDI playback, so you can hear what you just wrote in digital version.
- GarageBand is a program that comes standard on most new Macs, and can be used to write sheet music by selecting "Music Project". Allows you to record live or directly connect an instrument and write music as it is played; at the end, by clicking on the icon with the image of a pair of scissors, found in the lower left corner, you can open the editor and make the necessary corrections.
- Download the software and start a new project, so you can start writing and saving your work. If you connect a MIDI keyboard to your computer with a USB cable, you will be able to play the melody directly on the keyboard, while following the notes being played on the staff. Easier than that just isn't possible. It is also possible to superimpose melodic lines, assigning them different instruments, to start writing a symphony.
Step 3. Use the free online composition support tools
There are online communities of composers and musicians to write and archive music. Just like with composing programs, you can write music online and save your work, then make it public and request reviews from other composers, or keep it private for access from any computer.
One such free community is Noteflight, and it is an excellent resource for both learning to read and write music, reviewing other people's music, and publishing your own compositions
Step 4. Select an instrument or a set of instruments to compose with
Do you want to write the horn part for an R&B song, or the string instrument part for a ballad? Normally, the practice is to work on one phrase or instrument at a time, only to worry about harmony and counterpoint later on. Some typical projects may include:
- Part of the woodwinds for trumpet (in B b), saxophone (in E b), and trombone (in B b)
- String quartet for 2 violins, viola, and cello
- Music for piano accompaniment
- Sung parts
Part 2 of 3: Basics
Step 1. Write the clef on the staff
A musical score is made up of notes and rests written on five parallel lines and on the spaces between them, which is called a pentagram. The lines and spaces are counted from the bottom up, i.e. the highest notes are those written higher. The staff can be in bass clef or treble clef: the clef indication is placed at the beginning of each staff. The clef is used to relate lines and spaces with notes.
- The treble clef, also known as the "clef of G", it resembles the ampersand (&), placed at the beginning of each staff. This key is the most common in sheet music. Sheet music for guitar, trumpet, saxophone and most instruments that have a higher pitch are written in the treble clef. The notes, starting from the lowest line to the highest, are E, Sol, Si, D and Fa. The notes in the spaces between the lines, starting with the space between the first and second lines, are F, A, Do and Mi.
- The bass clef it is a sign that looks like a curved number "7", placed to the left of each staff. The bass clef is used for instruments that have a low key, such as the trombone, bass guitar, and tuba. Starting from the bottom, from the first line, the notes are Sol, Si, Re, Fa and La. In the spaces they are A, Do, Mi and Sol, always from the bottom up.
Step 2. Write the time stamp
The time signature refers to the number of notes and beats within each beat. The beats are separated by vertical lines that appear regularly on the staff, dividing it into small sequences of notes. Immediately to the right of the key we find a hamlet. The numerator represents the number of beats in which each beat is divided, while the denominator indicates the value of each beat.
In Western music, the most common time signature is 4/4, which means that there are four beats in each bar, and a quarter note lasts one beat. Another commonly used tempo is 6/8, which means that there are 6 beats in each measure, and each beat lasts one eighth
Step 3. Set the hue
Additional information to add to the beginning of each line of the staff includes all sharps (#) and flats (b) that characterize the key in which the piece is written. A sharp alters a note by raising it by half a tone, while a flat lowers it by half a tone. In a piece of music, these symbols may occasionally appear anywhere, or they may be inserted at the beginning of the piece to alter all corresponding notes throughout the piece.
If, for example, the sharp symbol is placed at the beginning of the treble clef, it means that every note that appears in that space, or in that line, must be played a half tone higher. The same goes for the flat symbol
Step 4. Learn to distinguish the different types of notes you will use
In the staff you will find many different types of notes and rests. The aspect of the note indicates the length of the note itself, and the position of the note in the staff indicates the pitch of the note. The notes are formed by a head, which can have the shape of a dot or a circle, and a stem, or stem, which emerges from the notes, upwards or downwards, depending on the location of the note on the staff..
- There note from an integer (semibreve) looks like an oval, and lasts for a whole bar, if the time is 4/4.
- There note by a medium (minima) looks like a semibreve, but with a stem. Its duration is half that of the semibreve. In a 4/4 time, there are two lows in each beat.
- There quarter note (quarter note) has a full head and stem. In a time of 4/4, there are 4 quarter notes in each measure.
- There eighth note (quaver) looks the same as the quarter note, but with a tail at the end of the stem. In most cases, the eighth notes in a movement are grouped with special bars that connect them, to indicate the rhythm and make the music easier to read.
- The breaks follow similar rules. The semibreve rests have the appearance of a black bar placed under the fourth line of the staff, while the crotchet rest vaguely resembles the letter "K" in italics, and so on, with various stems and flanks denoting the shorter rests.
Step 5. Spend some time reading other pieces of music
Western music notation is a rather complex symbolic language, so you need to learn to read it if you are hoping to use it to write your music. Just as you can't hope to write a novel without learning to read words and phrases, you can't write scores if you can't read the notes and their pauses. Before trying to write sheet music, develop the working knowledge of:
- different notes and rests
- lines and spaces in the staff
- rhythm markers
- dynamic markers
- hue.
Step 6. Choose the tool you will use in the composition
Some composers compose simply using pencil and paper, some use the guitar or piano, others with a French horn. There's no right way to start writing music, but it's helpful to be able to play on your own to become familiar with the phrases you're working on and hear how they sound.
It is important that those who want to compose music know how to strum a little with the piano, since the piano is a visual instrument: all the notes are right there, arranged in front of you
Part 3 of 3: Composing Music
Step 1. Start writing the melody
Most composers start writing from the melody, that is, the prevailing musical phrase that characterizes the entire composition and develops in it. This is the "catchy" part of any song. Whether you're writing music for a single instrument or a symphony, melody is the starting point in writing a piece of music.
- When you start composing, learn to capture happy episodes. No piece of music is written out of the blue, in its final version. If you are looking for a new inspiration to complete a piece, try to improvise a little with the piano, or whatever instrument you have chosen to compose, and follow the inspiration.
- If you feel particularly drawn to experimental music, explore the world of random composition. Used by composing luminaries, such as John Cage, random composition introduces an element of randomness into the writing process, rolling the dice to determine the next note on a 12-tone scale, or consulting the I Ching to generate the notes. In some cases these compositions will sound dissonant, but in some cases it may be possible to generate unexpected phrases and melodies.
Step 2. Start by writing individual phrases, then chain them together and let the music do the talking
After you've managed to write the melody, what will the next step be? Which direction should you go? How can a sequence of notes become a composition? While it is not possible to copy Mozart's secrets, you could start with small snippets called "phrases" and use them to gradually build complete pieces of music. Composing a piece takes time and effort.
Try to group sentences based on the emotions they evoke. Guitar composer John Fahey, self-taught instrumentalist and composer, wrote songs by combining small phrases based on "emotions". Even if they are not written in the same key or if they are not properly assonant, if several phrases sound outlandish, or arouse feelings of abandonment, or melancholy, combine them together to form a song
Step 3. Complete the piece by adding harmonic accompaniment
If you are writing for a string instrument, an instrument that can play multiple notes at the same time, or if you are writing for more than one instrument, you will also need to compose a harmonic accompaniment to give depth to the melody. Chord succession is a way of developing a melody, thereby generating tension and resolution.
Step 4. Give strength to the music with dynamic contrasts
Good compositions must have variations in sound intensity, with increases and decreases, in correspondence with moments of extreme emotion and with the use of stronger dynamics to emphasize the melodic peaks.
- In the staff, you can indicate dynamic notations with words indicating how the phrasing should be played, loud or soft. "Piano" means that it should be played softly, and is usually written below the staff where the music should be played at a lower volume. "Loud" means that the music must be played at a high volume, and is spelled the same way.
- Changes in dynamics can be indicated by inserting elongated "" symbols under the staff at the points where the music should have a crescendo (increase in volume) or diminuendo (decrease in volume), as appropriate.
Step 5. Simplicity is the best thing
Depending on the expectations you have for your piece, you may want to compose a piece with multiple melodic lines and complex polyrhythms, or a simple piano melody, without accompaniment. Don't be afraid of simplicity. Some of the best known and most memorable melodies are very simple and elegant.
- The song "Gymnopedie No. 1" by Erik Satie is the classic example of simplicity par excellence. Although it has been used countless times in commercials and films, it conveys something sublime and moving every time with its simplicity and the sweetness of its rhythm.
- Study the variations of Mozart's "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" (Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star) to transform what is perhaps the most universal of children's melodies into a complex exercise of variations and embellishments.
Advice
- Have fun, and do all the experiments you can.
- If you want to give your composition to someone else to play it, you need to use standard music notation, or make sure they understand your notation.
Warnings
- At least when starting out as a composer, use a pencil. Composing is not an easy activity.
- The way you write music may not be understood by others unless you take the time to explain how it should sound.
