Scott Jarrett - Music Composition for Dummies

Music Composition For Dummies, 2nd Edition

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Copyright 2021 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2020950819

ISBN 978-1-119-72078-2 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-72079-9 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-72087-4 (ebk)

1. Chapter 19

1. Chapter 4
2. Chapter 5
3. Chapter 6
4. Chapter 7
5. Chapter 8
6. Chapter 9
7. Chapter 10
8. Chapter 13
9. Chapter 14
10. Chapter 16
11. Chapter 17
12. Chapter 19

Welcome to Music Composition For Dummies, 2nd Edition!

Are you the type of person who walks around all day with a maddening melody in your head that makes you stop whatever youre doing so you can pay it full attention?

Do you often find yourself tapping out rhythmic passages from these melodies on your desk at work or scribbling down song lyrics on scraps of paper?

Is music sometimes more of a slave driver to you than a muse?

If you said yes to any of those questions, all we can say is this: We are here to help.

Music Composition For Dummies, 2nd Edition, contains everything you need to know to get started

• Picking out the perfect rhythm and tempo for your composition.
• Matching keys and chord progressions to the moods you want to convey.
• Working within the confines of musical form without confining your creativity.
• Forcing yourself to sit down and come up with musical ideas, even when your mind is drawing a complete blank.

In this book, we discuss the basics of composition, from writing natural-sounding chord progressions and cadences to composing atonal music to making yourself a demo recording and getting it in the hands of the right people. If theres any one thing weve tried to do here, its to demystify the process of composing music and writing songs.

There are few things more satisfying than plucking a melody from inside your head and nurturing it into a full-fledged song or even an orchestral piece. This book will make that process a whole lot easier for you.

Music Composition for Dummies, 2nd Edition, is organized into six parts; the first four focus on a particular aspect of music. contains some helpful appendixes. Throughout the book, youll find short interviews with musicians, profiles of important composers, and summaries of music genres worthy of further study.

Because each chapter is as self-contained as possible, you dont have to read every single chapter to understand what the next one is talking about unless you want to, of course. To find the information you need, you can use the Table of Contents as a reference point, or you can just flip through the Index at the back of the book.

This book is written for many types of budding composers: the classical music student who never learned how to improvise, the backup musician who wants to start taking the lead and writing material, and the seasoned musician who wants to start writing music in genres outside his or her comfort zone.

You are probably at least familiar with playing a musical instrument. Perhaps you were trained on piano and now want to strike out on your own and start composing your own music. Maybe youre a self-taught rock guitarist who wants to learn about composing in other genres. Or perhaps youre just a person who has had this maddening tune dancing around in your head, and you want to figure out how to turn it into a real song.

We do assume that you have at least the rudiments of music theory knowledge. We expect you to know how to read music at least at a basic level, what chords are, how many beats a whole rest gets in 3/4 time stuff like that. Unfortunately, there is not enough room in this book to teach you music theory, too.

If youre an absolute newcomer to music, we recommend you first go out and get yourself a copy of the latest edition of Music Theory For Dummies, by Michael Pilhofer and Holly Day (Wiley), to give yourself a good grounding in the language of music. Then come back here.

Icons are handy little graphic images that are meant to point out particularly important information. Youll find the following icons in this book, conveniently located along the left margins.

When we make a point or offer some information that we feel you should keep with you forever, we toss in this icon.