How to begin writing music?

[Naime]

I have been wondering for quite some time how I should go about writing music. The problem is, I have always been rather bad at reading sheet music no matter how long I have been exposed to it. I absolutely love instrumental music, and I wanted to start off by writing simple pieces of music and eventually getting to more complex pieces. However, I do not play an instrument as of yet (however I am going to hopefully learn violin and piano). I am highly interested in doing such things. Any suggestions on how I may accomplish this?


As much as I love poetry, I would prefer to stay away from music with lyrics.

 

[Ugly]

It seems to me that without knowing how to play any instruments, the idea of how to write music seems somewhat pointless right now. I suggest stop worrying how to write music, and first learn how to play. And focus on that. You won't be writing anything worthwhile after a few lessons unless you are a natural and pick things up way faster than the average person. So yeah, focus on learning the instrument first. Trying to write while in the beginning of learning will only distract you. At least learn to master the basics before you try to write.

 

[hattiebod]

Ugly is right (is he ever not?....No need to answer...no really!! I learnt the violin to start but found i was lazy learning to read the music, i would write the finger position underneath as I could play faster than i could read...and so, i never learnt to read at all!! but i learnt to play. Then, i had the opportunity to learn the cello. I decided that I really needed to be disciplined. It is in the base clef rather than the treble so I set out to do 'good'....same thing began again, so I stopped. I said no to writing under the notes...it was very frustrating but I knew I had to hang in there. I found an app for the iPad / pc that teaches through a quiz, 3 minutes rapid answer. It worked!! i am now reading music!! and its fantastic. I am still slow on the strings I use less but I know it will come. I can really recommend you learn to read music as you learn your instrument...it will widen out the possibilities for you!! You may think you only want to play but who knows in the future? I played my first wee concert with my fellow cello group (5 of us`) for last Christmas...we messed up big time on 1 piece, 2 were great and our solos were wonderful!! So, go for it, look at how old I am....it is never too late!! Enjoy. All good things are from Him. God Bless you. <><

 

[Ugly]

I knew i liked Hattie for a reason. Now its official. hahaha.

 

[kenisyes]

Actually, you learned to speak before you learned to write English, right? You can, and should do music the same way. Sing an idea to yourself, just dum de dum la la la. Then, sing it on tape, or get a recording program like audacity, so your computer can record it. Now, here's the tricky part, write it down. Make up a language to write it in, just for yourself. Now, put it away for a week, then bring out the written copy. Try to sing it again from the written copy. Listen to the tape and see if you got it right. That will teach you to read music right there. It will tell you what you need to learn and then you will know what to look for when you follow Hattiebod's advice.

You can write complex instrumental pieces this way with a "midi editor". Basically, these are programs that let you select the notes with various interfaces other than sheet music with the clefs and the "every good boy deserve fudge" system. But you still will be learning A system of SOME kind to notate things. After all, if people are ever going to hear your piece, someone or something has to play it, so you have to communicate with them somehow. Actually, any good scorewriter program imports midi, and writes it out in noation for you. Try the different free ones; there's some really neat "assitants" out there, where you can start with partial notes, etc., and it guesses at what you want for you.

Eventually, you will want to study music theory and musical form, so you have an idea how to turn your basic melody into a symphony, but this method is more intuitive, and actually is preferred for composers, so as not to bias them to the traditional music which is what notation is designed to notate easiest.

 

[dyingeveryday]

I'll throw my opinion in on this one. The way I do music is like most. I hear the whole song in my head. I put it together in sections. I don't read music and I could tab it out but why? I just hear it in my head and lay it out instrument by instrument. Some people might not. I have known people who only write lyrics. I will go and jam with them and they don't know how to tell me what they want. So I'll have them sing it the way they want. I get a really good idea by the notes they are singing and the emotion and cadence of the vocals. So create with your lyrics. There are a million ways to cut up the way you sing a song. Just like you can take one riff and cut it up different ways by just changing up the drums.

 

[willfollowsGod]

First of all I disagree that someone who cannot read sheet music, can not play music whether with instruments or their voice. So I disagree on that. But I understand that reasoning.