CREATING A COMPOSITION ROAD MAP

Welcome Curious Composers

Are you looking to start a new composition but don’t know where to start? 

Have you reached the midpoint of your new composition and find yourself facing creative challenges, making it difficult to proceed with clarity and confidence?

Do you find yourself frustrated and finding it hard to enjoy the creative process of composing?

I’m raising my hand!!!

It’s time to Create a Composition Road Map! 🗺

The Purpose of a Composition Road Map

If you were to take a road trip across the country you wouldn’t just pack up and blindly start driving. Well, maybe some of you would, however, most of you would strategically map out your journey with a clear destination in mind. You would preselect the significant landmarks you wish to explore. You’d prioritize a well-defined route, ensuring you possess a comprehensive understanding of your itinerary, transportation logistics, and accommodation arrangements.

I’d bet my life savings all of you would bring a map or use your GPS. 

Well, if you bring a map with you on a road trip then why not have a map when composing music. 

The primary objective of the Composition Road Map is to methodically catalog and structure all your music ideas. This process allows you to delineate both the content and the approach of your composition before embarking on the actual act of composing.

What’s On The Composition Road Map?

• Idea
• Emotional Journey You Want Your Audience to Experience
• Title
• Instrumentation
• Form
• Melody
• Harmony
• Variations

You have the flexibility to start with any element. A composition road map grants you the freedom to experiment, orchestrate, and organize your creative concepts.

Let’s dive deeper!

IDEA

Every piece of great art is born from a simple idea. For a composer this idea may manifest as a melodic motif, a rhythmic pattern, a harmonic sequence, a lyrical fragment, or even a single evocative sound.

HOW IMPORTANT IS THE IDEA?

Walt Disney’s song writers, The Sherman Brothers,  started every single one of their songs with an idea. The Sherman Brothers wrote the music for Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, Winnie the Pooh, Small World at Disneyland and much more. 

See for yourself. Go watch their documentary, “The Boys.” Last I checked you can stream it on Disney+. Trust me it will be a very inspirational movie night. I have watched it at least 20 times.

In his Fifth Symphony, Beethoven made that simple triplet to a quarter note rhythm his idea. Now all you have to do is type ‘Ba Ba Ba Bum,’ and everybody knows what you’re talking about. Beethoven’s incredible ability to develop a single four note motif into a masterpiece has left his audience awe inspired for over two centuries. 

All of these great film scores, symphonies, and songs were born from a simple music idea.

WHERE DO IDEAS COME FROM?

Your guess is as good as mine. The source of the initial idea is a mystery. However, if you sit down everyday to focus on music composition and on honing your craft as a composer, I promise as mysterious as ideas are, they will materialize. 

If you are one who waits for inspiration before sitting down to compose, I recommend you read The Victim of Inspiration.

If you are struggling to find your inspiration and feel like you need it to come up with your great idea. I recommend you read, Four Secrets to Creating Inspiration. 

WHAT EMOTIONAL JOURNEY DO YOU WANT YOUR AUDIENCE TO EMBARK ON?

Music should be felt not heard. The power of music lies in its ability to be experienced through emotion rather than mere auditory perception.

Decide upon the emotional landscape you wish to unfurl for your audience as they immerse themselves in your music. 

What emotional odyssey are they poised to undertake? 

This pivotal choice will serve as your compass, directing your melodic creations and informing your broader compositional choices. 

It’s easy to write music that sounds good. All you need are a few chords and a melody that follows the basic pentatonic scale. However, when composing, our job is more than just creating something that sounds good. We want to take our audience on an emotional journey. 

Why?

Because that’s what they will remember! The emotion is what your audience will connect with! This is how you are going to stand out from other composers.

Music is the most powerful art form capable of evoking and shaping our emotions. 

Don’t believe me?

Here is proof!

Go watch “Cast Away” starring Tom Hanks.

“Cast Away,” depicts the story of a man who, following a plane crash, finds himself marooned on a deserted island for the duration of four years. During this solitary period, his most cherished companion becomes an anthropomorphized volleyball that he affectionately names Wilson. 

Watch the scene where Tom Hanks’ character loses Wilson to the sea. Watch it with the sound off and then with the sound on. Notice the emotional impact the music brings to the heartbreaking scene.

 In addition to witnessing Tom Hanks portraying emotional distress, you are transported into the very heartbreak he endures. You share in the profound sorrow of losing a close friend and find yourself shedding tears alongside his character. 

Shout out to Alan Silvestri for writing such a heart wrenching score. 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎞

Music is the ultimate art form for creating emotion.

So how are you going to make your listeners feel?

It can either be one emotion throughout or evolve as your composition develops.

Every note, chord, sound, and compositional decision you make must aid in creating that emotion. Just because something sounds good does not mean it feels good. This will be your guide through your compositional journey. The intended emotion is your main source of navigation when composing music. 

Title

Nothing is more inspiring than a great title. If you find yourself sitting at your writing desk struggling to find an idea. Stop what you are doing and come up with an inspiring title. 

A great title is an amazing primer to jumpstarting your creativity. Seeing a great title at the top of your page will boost your excitement every time you sit down to work. 

Are you struggling finding a great title? 

Ask Chat GPT. Yes! You read that correctly. Welcome to the 21st Century where AI is now a source of great ideas. Don’t just ask it for great titles. Be more detailed. Treat Chat GPT as a co-writer.  Ask it something like:

“Give me 10 title options for my new piano piece. The piece is in minor with a beautiful melody that has a tint of longing and sadness”

This is how I got my title for my latest composition.

Here are the ideas it gave me:

PRO TIP:  Embrace the power and future potential of AI! It is the future. Start learning how to use it to your advantage. It’s a new tool. Think of the impact the computer has had on the music industry. I believe AI’s impending impact will equal, if not surpass, this influence. As 21st Century composers, we must prepare ourselves for this imminent transformation. Otherwise we don’t stand a chance staying employed as a composer.  

We’ll dive more into the power of using AI to become better composers in later articles. However, be warned, with any great powerful tool invites new ways of crime including, fraud, copyright infringement, and identity theft. Please don’t be that person. Just telling AI to write a song like Taylor Swift and passing it off as your own is not how I’m encouraging you to use it.

Bottom Line – Use AI as a tool to help you. Not as a way to hurt others.

Instrumentation

Decide on what instruments and sounds you are going to use.

With computers and music technology you have an entire world of instruments, synthesizers, and sounds at your fingertips. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and lost if you don’t dedicate yourself to a certain instrument palate. Remember you can always add later. Making an initial decision will help you set boundaries. If you are using a Digital Audio Work station to compose, set up you template. Setting boundaries will keep you oriented throughout the creative process of composing music. 

FORM:

There are no words to express how important it is to decide on the form of your new composition before you start composing. Form is the spine of your composition. It gives your composition structure and conformity.

Early in my music composition journey, a significant challenge I encountered was the absence of a structured form in my creative process, resulting in a sense of aimlessness. The absence of a clear framework led to wandering melodies and a composition that lacked a cohesive direction.

POPULAR MUSIC FORMS:

A A B A (32 Bar Form)  Somewhere over the Rainbow and I’ve Got Rhythm

If you are not sure what you want the form of your piece to be, start with this one. You can never go wrong with the 32 bar form. Really all the other forms listed below are just an altered version of A A B A. 

Plus, if you plan on getting TV and Film Placements though music libraries. 32 bar form is generally recommended. 

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A  B  A  C   A   (RONDO FORM)  ex. Fur Elise by Ludvig Van Beethoven

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A A B B A  or  A A B C  A  – I use these when my A section is 16+ measures. They provide more contrast and keeps your audience engaged and wanting to hear the A Section again. 

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Verse Verse  Chorus Verse Chorus Bridge Chorus  (Verse-Chorus Form)-

This is the most well known song form. You’ll find it in thousands of popular songs today.

More Articles On Music Forms:

Forms in Popular Music

Music for 21st Century Classroom

MELODY

Melody is what your audience is going to remember and hum as they are strolling down their neighborhood. The melody has an enormous impact on creating the emotions you want to bestow upon your listeners. 

Melody writing is my absolute favorite part of writing music. 

There is definitely an art to writing a great melody. And you’ll spend most of your time on this step when creating your composition road map. We’ll dive even deeper into this subject in a future article. However, so tips to get you started:

• First come up with a melodic motif. A short melodic fragment that sparks something inside you. It doesn’t matter if your melody is 2 measures long, 4 Measures Long, 8 Measures Long etc… Your entire melody revolves around this one melodic idea. 

• Decide on the Harmony (Chord Progression) 

• Play that same melodic idea over that chord progression. Adjust the melodic motif to work with each chord. 

• Find a way to resolve the melody so that there is a sense of arrival and conclusion.

• Go back and embellish or create variation where you feel it’s needed. 

HARMONY/CHORD PROGRESSIONS

Harmony and melody go hand in hand. Your selection of harmony carries immense emotional weight, shaping the listener’s experience. It provides the fertile grounds where your melody can thrive, captivating and enchanting your audience.

Should I Write the Melody or Harmony First?

There is no correct answer to this question. As you begin to write more and more music you’ll find a lot of the time they come at the same time. However, when you are sketching ideas, starting with a planned harmony is a great way to get started. 

Again, use technology to your advantage. Ask ChatGPT for ten unique harmonic chord progressions. Or if you are working directly into a Digital Audio Workstation, there are midi packs and plugins with harmonic progressions for your creative use. 

Check out Captain Plugins Epic. Captain Chords is part of the bundle. It will speed up your process, especially if you find music theory to be a struggle.

There are also books you can buy that provide hundreds of chord progressions in every key. I have “1500 Chord Progressions” by Walter Stuart. It is a great resource if you are feeling like your harmonic vocabulary is limited. 

I formerly served as a piano accompanist for ballet, modern, and improvisational dance classes. “1500 Chord Progressions” proved exceptionally valuable during the improvisation sessions. I’d select a chord progression and spontaneously create a musical accompaniment for the dancers, giving rise to numerous fresh melodic concepts in the process.

If you are completely new to harmony and have no idea what I’m talking about. Check out this article.

Music Theory: Chord Progression and Function Basics

VARIATION

Remember all the forms I mentioned above.

A A B A

A  B  A  C   A

A A  B  C   A

ect…

Notice how many times the A Section repeats in all of them.

You don’t want to play your A Section exactly the same every time it repeats. Your audience will get bored and move on to the next tune. Or start scrolling on Instagram during your live performance 

Your melodies and music ideas must evolve and develop. You need to provide your listeners with a fresh way of listening to the same idea. 

This is what separates a professional composer from a novice composer. 

While studying at Berklee College of Music, I was fortunate to be mentored by a variety of composition instructors, all of whom imparted a common insight. They emphasized that the most prevalent error made by novice composers is the inclusion of an excessive number of ideas within a single composition. Novice composers often introduce new melodies and musical concepts that lack thematic coherence with what was established earlier in the piece.

GOLDEN RULE FOR COMPOSITION: Every element of your composition should be intricately connected to your initial music idea.  Every element serves to enrich the emotional musical exploration you have chosen to share with your listeners.

Are you confused?  I would be. Would this be considered a great movie? No!  Even though it had a bunch of great plot ideas, none of them were developed into a full story that the audience could connect too. We didn’t have the chance to truly get to know, understand, trust, hate, fall in love and/or befriend the characters.

The same is true when composing music. Everything you write must relate to your original idea. Ensure that your audience experiences a profound familiarity with your melodies once they’ve completed their musical journey. Consider each element of your composition as individual characters. Delve into their evolution from the beginning of your piece to its conclusion.

TEN GREAT WAYS OF CREATING VARIATION

• Re-Harmonize your melody
• Play Your Melody backwards
• Speed up the rhythm (Half Notes become quarter notes, quarter notes become eighth note, eighth notes become sixteenth notes)
• Slow down the rhythm (Half Notes become Whole Notes, Quarter notes become Half Notes, eighth notes become quarter notes, sixteenth notes become eighth notes)
• Transpose your melody to different key
• Have an unusual instrument take the melody. Give your Bass instrument a chance at the melody.
• Give it a different articulation. Example, if your melody is mostly legato, try it staccato. Or if you’re writing for string instruments have them play it Pizzicato. 
• Extend your melody.
• Create a shorter version of melody.
• Write your melody in minor. Or if it’s already in minor, write it in major. If you are really adventurous try writing it in another mode, like Lydian or Mixolydian. 

Have Fun with this!! Experiment!!! Really let your music curiosities go wild!!!!

The final step is to organize all the ideas and start composing. And help out your friends who are struggling. Or share this blog with them :).  Composition is a collaborative art form. Helping others will only make you a better composer.

WELCOME TO CURIOUS COMPOSER!

Next installment of Curious Composer!

Amazing Technology for the New 21st Century Composer 

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Do you have any questions, comments, and/or suggestions for future articles of Curious Composer? Don’t hesitate to reach out.

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