Composition is about the way that we write, capture and arrange ideas in a cohesive way. In our case, we speak of musical composition and it covers everything from short instrumental pieces, full orchestral scores and songs (but to name a few).

How you choose to compose is up to you, and there is a variety of options available.

First, decide whether you would like to write an instrumental piece or a song. Then, explore the different modes of composition.

If you have decided to write a song then the next thing to think about is how you'll do it.

• Do you want to collaborate with someone?

• Would you like to sit down with an instrument and a pad and a pen?

Or

• Would you prefer to write it using a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) such as Garageband or Bandlab, sketch something out quickly using Hookpad, or perhaps you would like to use a notation program, like Sibelius or Noteflight

Or

• A combination of these

If you have decided to write an instrumental piece, again, there is a plethora of options and ways to get started.

You could:

• Sit down with an instrument and begin to compose something that way

• Choose to compose using software, like a DAW such as Garageband, Bandlab or others such as Reeper or FL Studio, or using a notation program like Sibelius or Noteflight

Or

• again, a combination of these

Remember - you do not need to be able to play the instrument/s you compose for - you just need to imagine it and get those ideas written/recorded.

Right, now that's decided, go to either the songwriting or the instrumental section of this page and get into it!

Listening Log

If you haven't started this already, use this log to help you really hear what is going on in the music and delve deeper into the artists intention, elements and compositional techniques used.

Make yourself a copy of this log and get into it!

Songwriting

In this section, you will find some resources to help kickstart your songwriting ventures.

Instrumental composition

Here are a couple of tasks to help you get on your way.

The first - Game Music Composition, and in particular heading into a battle scene!