The complete idiot's guide to music composition / Michael Miller

Includes index

Part : Before You Start I 1 So You Want to Write Your Own Music ... 3 What kind of composer do you want to be? 2 The Composer's Toolkit 13 Learn what you need to start writing your own music. Part 2: farmonic (omposition 23 3 Composing with Chords 25 The easy way to start composing-chords-first! 4 Creating More Sophisticated Chord Progressions 41 Break out ofyour rut and learn how to create really cool chord progressions-and use fancy extended chords. Part 3: Melodic Composition 55 5 Understanding Melody 57 What makes a great melody sound like a great melody? Read this chapter to find out! 6 Using Scales and Modes 67 Learn how to base your melody on the notes of the major scale ... or the minor scale ... or the blues scale ... or the pentatonic scale ... or the Aeolian mode .... 7 Working With a Melodic Outline 79 Even complex melodies are easy when you reduce them to their most essential tones-and then embellish them. 8 Using Rhythm and Syncopation 93 Jazz up a boring melody with interesting rhythms! 9 Shaping a Melody 103 "What kind of contour should your melody have-and why? 10 Building Tension and Release 115 Add interest to any melody by introducing some sort of tension- and then resolving it. 11 Harmonizing (and Reharmonizing) a Melody 123 Learn how to put chords to any melody-or make the existing chords sound more interesting. Part 4: Developing the Composition 133 12 Creating Longer Compositions 135 Where does your composition go after the first 20 seconds? Learn all sorts of ways to create longer compositions. 13 Employing Repetition and Variation 147 Discover dozens of ways to turn a melodic theme into something different-but related. 14 Creating Multiple-Voice Compositions 159 How do you turn a simple melody line into a composition for mul- tiple instruments? Read this chapter to find out! Part 5: Advanced Techniques 183 15 Orchestration and Arranging 185 Learn how to write for various combinations of instruments and voices. 16 Working Outside the Basic Key 205 Break free of the major scale, using modulations, chromatics, and nondiatonic chords. 17 Beyond Traditional Composition 217 Explore various types of contemporary composition, including atonalism, serialism, polytonality, and minimalism. 18 Songwriting 225 Writing a song is just composing with lyrics-or is it?