How to learn to write music?

It’s very useful to know how you like it. And if you are very fond of listening to musical works, then we hope you will be interested in the question of how to learn how to write music. It is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. Of course, it is difficult to achieve world recognition without special education, but everyone can learn how to write cute compositions. Today we will tell you what you need to know and what skills to have in order to create and make your own music.

to contents ↑

Essential Skills

It is advisable, before you learn how to write music, at least have basic skills:

• Learn to play a musical instrument. Absolutely any instrument that you like and on which you can play the melody will do.
• Learn the notes and the basics of musical notation. Without these skills, it is very difficult to record your creation. In addition, knowing the basics of musical notation, you can better understand the patterns of building a melody.

Important! Try to listen to as many different kinds of music as possible in order to understand what exactly you like in this melody and what not. Try to analyze, listening to the works, due to what effects the composer achieves this or that sound.

to contents ↑

Where to begin?

You can try to compose melodies yourself, but it’s much more effective to learn art in specialized courses. Under the supervision of experienced teachers and with the help of special exercises, you will be able to quickly become a composer.

Begin to become a composer gradually, before moving on to writing your own large-scale works, start by arranging a famous melody. Do it this way:

1. Listen carefully to the melody you like.
2. Learn a piece on a musical instrument.
3. Add something of your own to the melody, for example, a rhythm, a new chord or an additional theme.
4. Ask the teacher to listen to your work. A professional will be able to give you competent advice on how to improve the composition, indicate the strengths and weaknesses of the composition.

to contents ↑

Melody creation process

After you have mastered the basic skills of composition and arrangement, proceed to the creation of your work. Let it be very small, but beautiful and of high quality.

In creating any work, the following stages are distinguished:

1. The idea and its specification.
2. Drawing up a work plan.
3. Creation of separate fragments of a melody.
4. Work on the integrity of the composition.
5. Grinding melodies.

Work out each item carefully and the result will delight you. The main thing - do not rush and do not despair if something goes wrong.

Important! Record your own game on the instrument in the video, from time to time, listen to the recording to hear the strengths and weaknesses of the composition and make the necessary adjustments.

to contents ↑

How to learn to write music on a computer?

If you do not own any instrument, and the desire to create and create melodies is huge, then you can learn how to make music on a computer. Anything you need:

• A computer.
• MIDI keyboard First of all, it is needed for clarity.
• Speakers
• A program that allows you to record notes.

Important! There are many programs for writing music, for example, Audacity allows you to record in the form of notes all that you play on the synthesizer with subsequent processing. Some programs allow you to add built-in effects to the finished composition.

Therefore, first decide on the composition style, and then select one of the following programs:

• Sibelius - designed to write symphonic music.
• Cubase is a universal program. It is not very simple, but full of various functions.
• Fruity Loops - simple and easy to manage. Designed for those who want to try their hand at writing modern music.

All these programs have a completely understandable interface, so it’s not difficult to understand them.

Important! If your computer is running Windows, then first try the simplest program for writing music FL Studio. On the MacBooks, the Garage Band is installed by default. This program is more than enough to learn how to make music.

Let's get acquainted with the FL Studio program (just Fruits).

to contents ↑

How to learn to make music in the program FL Studio?

First of all, open the program and familiarize yourself with the Tool Bar. All these buttons will come in handy later on.

And now we will get acquainted with the window panel and tell what is responsible for:

• MIXER! has the following options:
  • Volume control for each sound.
  • Master channel.
  • The channel on which the sound will be “hung”.
  • Built-in equalizer - to change the volume of a single frequency.
  • Inserts - hang an effect on every sound.
• Playlist (Playlist) - will collect the track in pieces.
• Pianoroll (Pianoroll) helps those who do not know the notes. All notes and chords are registered here (along the X axis is the length of notes, along the Y axis is their height).

And now that you know which window is responsible for what, let's try to write our own melody:

1. Open the program.
2. Press the F6 key to display the Step Sequencer.
3. By default, 4 tools are loaded there:
   • Big drum (Kick).
   • Cotton (Clap).
   • Plate (Hat).
   • Snare drum (Snare).
4. Open the “Key Editor” window and sketch a simple bit.
5. Click Play. If the beat suits you, then add chords (see the next paragraph). If not, change the bit structure.
6. To create chords, take the piano. To do this, click on the channel, then on “Add one”, then “FL Keys”. Right-click on the piano that appears and select “Piano Roll”.
7. Write simple chords.
8. Press “Play” and you will hear how the beat and the created chords play.
9. Put the created song in the playlist. Here you can do arrangement of the melody.
10. Knowing how to make a beat and add instruments, you can continue to experiment with the melody.

to contents ↑

Stock footage

Studying music, even a very superficial one, develops imagination and fantasy, so create and create. And if you understand that making music is not a short-term hobby, but a serious priority, then hire a tutor and start learning more professional things. We wish you creative success!