Fundamentals of Music Composition (By: Jeremy Mische-Gibson)

So you want to create music?

Then you’ve come to the right place. I’ll tell you everything you need to know to get started composing for the piano, whether or not you’ve been playing for long. I’ll speak from years of experience playing and composing as to what works, what doesn’t work, and the best resources out there for beginners. 

The process of music composition is one of the most rewarding things about music. I’m not saying it’s easy, but the fundamentals are surprisingly simple. 

(A word of caution: I’m speaking from my experience with the piano. While I’ll try to make the advice given widely applicable, I have embarrassingly little experience with anything else. As such, I can’t promise everything will translate to every instrument. What I do believe is that the guidance I provide will be useful to pianists with varying levels of skill and experience.)

Composition vs. Improvisation

If you saw this article on piano improv, you may wonder why I’m bothering to make another. Before we get started, it's important to take a step back and define the difference between improv and composition. Improv, as I see it, is all about playing whatever comes out at a given time. It means going with the flow, rolling with whatever happens, getting lost in the process. Composition typically requires much more patience. It means sitting down with a keyboard and a computer or staff paper and getting to work. It’s all about the nuances and self-containedness of a song. It’s about putting a bunch of little pieces together to make a grand whole. 

If you hate practicing, you’re in luck: there really isn’t any way to “practice” composition. You just have to do it. The hardest part is starting. I’ll tell you in a minute about something else you can do to make sure you’re putting your best foot forward—but all you really want to know are a few key ideas. Ready? Let’s go. 

Getting started

Contrary to what you may think, you don’t need to know any music theory to start composing. The only thing you do want is a basic understanding of how to play the piano and to have experience playing in at least a few keys. I was initially afraid of trying my hand at composition because I didn’t know any theory, but that was a mistake. The only way you’ll get better is through trial and error. That said, here are a few fundamental ideas to help get started on the right foot.

Structure: Though not always necessary when you’re improvising, structure becomes significantly more important for music composition. You can choose not to have any repetition in a piece, but, especially as a beginner, you probably want some kind of recognizable central melody, even if your piece is short. Structures I’ve used include A-B-A (“sandwich structure”) and the more advanced A-B-A-C-A-B1-A1. What does all that even mean? Well, if A is a main theme you return to several times throughout your piece, then B and C are “side quests” or other musical ideas, B1 is a variation with many of the same qualities as B, and A1 is a variation of A. That’s a lot of information—if you don’t understand it just yet, don’t worry. Sandwich structure is a great starting point: all it means is 1.) having a main theme at the beginning of your piece, 2.) trying something else in the middle, and 3.) repeating your theme at the end. That “something else” could be a new melody or the same theme in a different key. Generally, you want to have some amount of variation. That said, different composers enjoy very different ratios of structure and contrast. One approach is just having every section be a new variation of your main theme. That can be great for beginners, but it’s only one of countless possibilities. There’s no one-size-fits-all. Experiment to see what works best for you.

Chord Progressions and Harmony: Other than simply repeating phrases—which gets tiresome if that’s all you’re doing—another way to establish musical structure is to repeat chord progressions. I won’t get much into scale degrees here, but you probably want to be familiar with at least three: Tonic (1), Subdominant (4), and Dominant (5). You can forget those weird names right away. The important thing to remember is that the number (1, 4, or 5) tells you which note on a scale to focus on. For example, if you’re playing in C Major, 1 would be C, 4 would be F (1C-2D-3E-4F), and 5 would be G. A 1-4-5-1 progression means first emphasizing your 1, 3, and 5, for a measure or more, then spending the same amount of time on your 4, 6, and 1 (“8” translates to 1 in the next octave), and then on your 5, 7, and 2, then back around to your 1, 3, and 5. See the pattern? “Emphasizing” means playing on the “on beats” (of which there are four per measure in common time). You might want to play notes other than these three on the “off beats” in your melody (usually the right hand). For your harmony (usually the left hand), as a beginner, I’d recommend sticking to just three notes at any one time, and keeping a consistent pattern (e.g. 1-5-3-5-1-5-3-5-1-5-…). Eventually, if you feel comfortable, you could try a more complicated progression, like 1-6-2-5-1. I know that’s a lot to take in, but trust me, you’ll get it with time. If you didn’t understand any of what I just told you, there are tons of free tutorials online that go much more in-depth. I’ll also expand on all this in a future article. For now, this is just one way to get started. 

Dynamics and Emotion: If you really want to elevate your composition, my best advice would be to include dynamics (volume notation). Varying volume can really bring an otherwise “dull” piece of music to life. Check out classical pieces to see how the greats used volume. We’ll talk more about that in just a moment. 

That’s more than I knew when I started. In my opinion, the best thing you can do now is to sit down and try. I’ll talk about software below, but if you don’t have access to a computer or want to try something different, you’re still in luck: it’s thought that writing music by hand might actually help strengthen note recognition and accelerate learning. 

Learn different pieces

This is something I mentioned in the improvisation article and it’s just as important here. Learning to play pieces outside of your comfort zone not only makes you a better instrumentalist, but also helps give you a sense of the structure of music, whether or not you intend it. When you sit down to write your first song, I’d encourage you to use a song you know as inspiration. I’m not saying to plagiarize someone else’s work—but there’s a lot that can be learned from the greats about structure and harmony. 

Also listen to music. Listen outside your comfort zone. Listening, though not the same as learning to play and analyze a piece of music, is still a highly productive way of spending your time, especially if you can do it while doing something else, like chores or walking. Listening to a piece you’re learning is also a great strategy to help you learn faster. The best thing about it is that it takes no effort. 

Listening to and playing new pieces will help you come up with new ideas. Maybe you have a unique main theme in your head that you can’t wait to build around—or maybe not. If you’re lacking inspiration, one idea is to take one of your favorite pieces and see what you can change without damaging the overall structure. This will give you a feel for composing in addition to an appreciation for key elements of a great song. Depending on how much you change, you can make the piece yours. (Just be careful what you do with it if the theme is recognizable!) Above all, see what sounds good. Ask yourself why that sounds good. Now, how can you use that information in your own pieces going forward? 

Recommended Resources

In terms of software, I use Sibelius for all my music writing purposes. It’s free, and I’ve never run into any problems with the notation input. You can also connect an electronic keyboard and “type” notes in that way. It can take some getting used to, but that’s part of the journey. As I mentioned earlier, it could alternatively be beneficial to get started by writing by hand. My advice if that’s what you want to do would be not to spend a lot of money—you can pick up decent staff paper for less than $5. 

While you don’t need to know music theory to get started—and a lot of learning can be done simply by looking through existing pieces—theory can help you compose more intentionally and enough theory knowledge will allow you to compose with extreme skill. But learning it takes a lot of patience. If you’re interested, you can start here. 

The process of music composition is an immensely rewarding one. I promise that you won’t regret putting in the time to get better. Remember, the hardest part is getting started. If you can, get feedback from a music coach or friend—but if all you can do is listen to music, that’s fine, too. Take it at your own pace and enjoy the process. You’ve got this.