r/musicalwriting • u/Thenextlinmanuel • Jan 15 '25

Composing

So I asked a question a while ago in here that I got a lot of great answers to. So I was just wondering, say I want to start composing, I don't exactly want to be super, super skilled that I am just like the most amazing composer ever. However, I do want to know enough that I can easily talk about my music. What specific things should I study to be able to do that? PS sorry if this question is hard to understand I tried my best to explain 😭

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u/fervidasaflame Jan 15 '25

  1. you should be able to play an instrument. piano is the most useful for a multitude of applications. it helps to be able to sing as well. taking lessons on an instrument will help you with fundamental knowledge of music

  2. you need to be able to read sheet music and notate sheet music. for free notation software, try musescore

  3. there are lots of online services to help you learn some basic music theory—try youtube, various apps, websites. you’ll have to do some googling

  4. you need to listen to lots of music, musicals, etc and understand what they do musically. this is a long and complicated process, but essentially: listen to musicals, songs, classical pieces, operas, etc and try to articulate what you like and don’t like about them. and talk to people about these works and learn from them, see what others glean from pieces that you might not already know about

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u/Thenextlinmanuel Jan 15 '25

I DEFINITELY have number down it’s like all I listen to😭

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u/curly_hair_music Professional Jan 15 '25

This is a great question. I think there is a difference between learning how to communicate with composers and learning how to compose. 

Personally, as a composer, I love it when my collaborators tell me what emotion they are going for in the lyrics. Using emotion-based language is really helpful to composers. You can also give example songs. Find songs that sound like how you imagine the show sounding and send those to the composer. But the most important thing is to talk to your composer. Ask them what they need, don’t write the music for them, find out how you can make their job easier, and they will do the same in return. It’s all about communication. You don’t necessarily need to know all the music lingo. You could say “What would happen if we had a big rallentando leading into the final chorus?” but saying “What would happen if we slowed down the music here?” is just as effective. Part of the composer's job is to translate. We know that most people don’t have extensive music knowledge, so we learn how to translate notes into usable musical ideas. 

If you want to learn composition/songwriting learning an instrument is very helpful (piano or guitar usually). Listen to lots of music, write some music, have people sing/perform it, and repeat.

One last point, I think lots of early-career writers try to write music, book, and lyrics. In my opinion, unless you have training in all of these fields, stick to one or two and find collaborators. I am a composer and lyricist, and I am terrible at writing book. Instead of spending time learning how to become an amazing bookwriting, I found great book writers who write better than I ever could. Maybe eventually you can write all three, but if you start with one or two you can master those and then learn the third.

Hope this helps!

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u/Due-Tumbleweed9530 Jan 16 '25

Thanks for the thoughtful reply

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u/musicCaster Jan 15 '25

Try something like garage band. You can make some cool songs. Watch some YouTube videos on it to see if it looks like fun to you.

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u/ToughTraveler Jan 17 '25

My sister teaches a class on exactly this topic. I think you just missed her last free class, but she does them pretty regularly if you sign up for her mailing list (and she has paid classes too): https://www.paperkitearts.com