First Lesson

This is the first post of my new blog on musical composition and playing the piano. As the title of the blog suggests, I intend to make regular posts with tips on playing the piano and composing music. I specialize in composing for the piano, but I hope that my methods can also be used when composing for other instruments or orchestras.

Why am I doing this, you ask? I’ve looked all over the internet for a blog with tips on how to compose music, but I haven’t found one. I know, however, that there are at least some people on the internet who want to compose music, so I’ve come to the conclusion that I have to make one myself if I want such a blog to exist. If you think I’m not “qualified” to tell people how to compose music just because I’m 14 years old and not a student at some musical conservatory, start your own blog and make it better than mine.

I play the piano a lot in real life, and I do some musical composition as well. However, I’m not fully experienced in either area just yet, so this blog will be as much of a learning experience for me as for you. I do, however, have quite a bit of experience playing the piano, and composing music, at least enough that I should be able to teach you some things.

Before I go too far, though, I should tell you what you’ll need in order to take full advantage of my lessons and become a composer. You’ll need everything on the following list:

A pencil
A thin black pen (preferably not a ballpoint, but if that’s all you can get, it shouldn’t be too bad)
Blank sheet music paper (I made some quick sheet music paper on my computer which you can find below, download and print out, although it might be a bit small and hard to write in)
A scorewriting program (I like Melody Assistant, but if you can find a better one that’s free, e-mail me about it)
A musical instrument (preferably a piano or keyboard of some sort)
Some basic knowledge of music theory (how to read notes and rests, time signatures, key signatures, etc)
Computer speakers and/or headphones
Patience (With yourself as much as with me)

You will need a pencil and blank sheet music paper to write down music as you compose it. Go over this in black pen to make a neater copy of your sheet music that others might find it easier to read.

The scorewriting program is somewhat optional, but helpful. Melody Assistant not only allows you to write and print out musical scores, it also gives you an idea of what the music would sound like.

The musical instrument should be one that you know fairly well how to play, and one which, when you play it, you can tell which notes you’re playing. For example, a piano is a good instrument for this purpose, as there are a number of octaves which all have the same 12 notes in the same 12 positions. A guitar is a good instrument if you’re able to memorize the fretboard (I’m sure most guitarists know the fretboard, but I just started playing the guitar this year, so I’m not that great at it). A clarinet is an okay instrument as long as you know the fingering for each note. A kazoo is a bad instrument unless you have very well developed perfect pitch. It is important to know which notes you’re playing, and to be able to play any note on command, so that you can write and play music quickly as you go along.

You need to know some basic music theory because I don’t always want to have to explain things like notes, clefs, etc. to you before I tell you how to extend upon it. You will need computer speakers because I will upload MIDI files for you to listen to examples of some music. In future posts I will probably even do some ear training.

Patience is important because I have a tendancy to start blogs and then suddently forget about them, gradually making fewer and fewer posts. So, you’d better catch the blog while I’m still enthusiastic about it. Also, you need patience with yourself because the first piece you compose probably won’t be some great symphony, or even a passable fugue (don’t even ask me about fugues just yet). You must do a lot of composing before you come up with anything really good.

I recommend filling one page of sheet music each day. This can be your own composition, or just copying something from your computer screen by hand because your printer isn’t working (I know mine isn’t!)

If your printer is working, though, you can print out my official “Piano Tips and Musical Composition Blog” blank sheet music. Click on the link below. Then, you can right click the image and click "Save Target As..." or just click and drag the image onto your desktop to save it to your computer. Or, if you want, you can just right-click on the link below and click "Save Target As..." to save time. Then print out as many copies as you want. I added the address to this blog to my sheet music page because, hey, I gotta advertise.

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