The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Music Composition

by Michael Miller • 2005

Learn to compose your own music with this simple, straightforward guide. The songwriting process can seem intimidating at first, but Idiot’s Guides: Music Composition teaches musicians of all skill levels, step by step, how to write music and compose simple chord progressions and melodies. It also leads them through more advanced compositional techniques and musical forms. Designed for composers of all types of music, it includes instruction on composing stand-alone melodies, using different scales and modes, themes and variations, orchestration, and composing for film, theater, and videogames. Here’s what you’ll find in this practical guide: • The essential basics every aspiring songwriter needs to know to get started on their composition journey • Basic techniques for harmonic composition including composing with chords and creating chord progressions • Basic techniques for melodic composition including working with scales and modes, working with a melodic outline, using rhythm and syncopation, and building tension and release • Guidance for developing compositions as well as advanced techniques for orchestrating, arranging, and songwriting • A comprehensive glossary of musical terms, as well as an appendix of various computer-based composition tools