Music Composition for Dummies

by Scott Jarrett and Holly Day

Book Overview

Want to turn that haunting tune in your head into an awesome sound in your ear? You can Music Composition For Dummies demystifies the process of composing music and writing songs. It guides you through every step of writing your own music, from choosing the right rhythm and tempo to creating melodies and chord progressions and working with instruments and voices.

In this fun and practical guide, you'll learn how to match keys and chords...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0470224215
• ISBN13: 9780470224212
• Release Date: February 2008
• Publisher: For Dummies
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.23 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.5" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Music Composer - Music Harmony Plus Composition Ideas

Music Composition for Dummies includes the complete gambit of Music Theory basics, plus gives you ideas where to look for composition ideas. That's what I was looking for. I have the theory aleady, but I needed help with where to look for composition ideas. Finding Melody in Language, Finding Melody in the world aroung you, helping your muse help you. Excellent material.

Music Composition for Dummies

A good starting point for all those interested ones in being formed in the field of the musical composition.

Dummies can get smart, too!

This book has some pretty basic stuff but it's a great review of a lot of things that we may not have forgotten but, in my case, I got the right tip/hint/reminder at the right time. Especialyy since I quit composing after I graduated from music school and years later I began to compose again. Some of my music is published, performed by others, and has recieved good reviews and yet there is always room to learn more or review basics, kind of like practicing scales after years of performing in public.

Always More To Learn--Different Perspectives Are Good

Great book! I always learn something and enjoy myself immensely when reading something new or talking with someone about composition or music in general. It is such a deep and wonderful subject that it can never be exhausted. There is a ton of stuff in this book! Whenever I want to learn a "thing" I like to approach it from as many different angles and perspectives as possible and Scott Jarrett (as well as Holly Day) definitely has some cool new insights and interesting ways of looking at things. Any editing mishaps are easily attributable to horrendous deadlines and first edition gremlins. Bravo!

A short course in a long subject

Music Composition for Dummies is much more than a basic music theory book or a collection of musical ideas. Most folks who have enough theory behind them to be able to create music could use a little help in finding inspiration, techniques, and background to implement their creations. This book focuses on that aspect of composition. The authors' style of composition is not forced on the reader, but a variety of techniques and resources are offered which will assist you in finding your voice and enhancing your creativity. As a long-suffering play-by-ear guitarist, the section on scales and modes was especially helpful. When I have used scales other than the few I am comfortable with, I tend to sound like I'm simply running the scale. The exercises in this section helped me find melodies in those scales and made the "Circle of Fifths" into more of a tool than a mystical phrase often used, but rarely comprehended. The section titled "Finding Melody in Your Instrument" was particularly useful in helping me break old habits in chord progressions and intervals. Chapter 9, "Harmonizing with Melodies," added even more to that pallet. I doubt that I'll ever writing anything worthy of actual orchestration, but the section on "Composing for the Standard Orchestra" gave me insight into writing for instruments that I rarely experience outside of others' recordings. I usually use synthesizers for my orchestral instruments, but the formal background provided by this chapter enhances my ability to use those artificial instruments in a more natural setting. There is a lot of practical information about writing for a variety of markets, from commercial jingles to orchestras. Scott Jarrett has a broad background in many areas of musical composition (including every one of the styles described in the book) and his experience in creating, notating, and producing music for these genres shines through the text. A previous reviewer mistook "industrial music" for the little heard and rarely interesting popular form, but the authors' were commenting on a different subject: "not the dance music, but the music of the working world that is used for specific, usually commercial, purpose." I have no clue where that reviewer found the link to rap, but you have to wonder what some folks are writing about in their reviews. The same goes for the weird take on "random notes." Read the book, you'll find that there is a time for randomness and a time for scale-based melody. Enough said.