"A musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music."
The process of creating musical works, including melody, harmony, rhythm, and form.
Melody: The tune or main musical line of a piece.
Harmony: The use of different chords and their progression in a piece.
Rhythm: The patterns of beats, accents, and silences in a piece.
Form: The structure and organization of a piece, including the arrangement of sections and overall shape.
Texture: The layers of sound and how they interact in a piece, including monophonic, homophonic, and polyphonic textures.
Timbre: The unique quality of each instrument or voice and how they are used in a piece.
Counterpoint: The art of combining two or more musical lines that are independent yet harmonically interdependent.
Orchestration: The art of arranging music for an orchestra or ensemble, including choosing instruments and assigning their parts.
Improvisation: The spontaneous creation of music, often based on a certain structure or set of chords.
Arranging: The process of changing the instrumentation or style of a piece of music without altering the underlying melody or harmony.
Musical notation: The system of writing down music using symbols, including note values, rests, and clefs.
Music theory: The study of the principles and rules governing the structure and composition of music.
Musical analysis: The process of breaking down a piece of music into its individual components in order to understand its structure and meaning.
Counterpuntal techniques: The different methods used to create counterpoint in music, including canon, fugue, and invention.
Musical terms and symbols: The various terms and symbols used in sheet music to indicate tempo, dynamics, expression, and articulation.
Musical genres and styles: The different categories and types of music, including classical, jazz, rock, and pop.
Classical music: Music written in the Western classical tradition, often marked by complex structures and instrumentation.
Jazz: A form of music that originated in African American communities and features improvisation, rhythmic complexity, and syncopation.
Pop music: A genre of popular music characterized by hooks, catchy melodies, and rhythm-focused production.
Rock: A genre of music that began in the 1950s and 1960s and is characterized by electric guitars, bass, drums, and often a strong vocal element.
Electronic: Music that is primarily composed using digital tools such as samplers, sequencers, and synthesizers.
Hip-hop: A genre of music that features spoken rhythm over a beat, often incorporating samples from other songs.
Country music: A genre of music that originated in the rural United States, often featuring acoustic instrumentation and themes of love, heartbreak, and nostalgia.
Blues: A style of music that originated in African American communities and is often characterized by call-and-response vocals, guitar solos and a 12-bar structure.
Folk: A genre of music that features acoustic instrumentation and often incorporates elements of traditional, regional music.
Experimental: Music that pushes the boundaries of traditional composition, often incorporating elements of noise, improvisation, or unconventional use of instruments.
"People who create new compositions are called composers."
"Composers of primarily songs are usually called songwriters."
"With songs, the person who writes lyrics for a song is the lyricist."
"In many cultures, including Western classical music, the act of composing typically includes the creation of music notation, such as a sheet music 'score,' which is then performed by the composer or by other musicians."
"In popular music and traditional music, songwriting may involve the creation of a basic outline of the song, called the lead sheet, which sets out the melody, lyrics and chord progression."
"In classical music, orchestration is typically done by the composer."
"In musical theatre and in pop music, songwriters may hire an arranger to do the orchestration."
"In some cases, a pop or traditional songwriter may not use written notation at all and instead compose the song in their mind and then play, sing or record it from memory."
"In jazz and popular music, notable sound recordings by influential performers are given the weight that written or printed scores play in classical music."
"A work of music can have multiple composers, which often occurs in popular music when all members of a band collaborate to write a song or in musical theatre."
"A piece of music can also be composed with words, images or, since the 20th century, with computer programs that explain or notate how the singer or musician should create musical sounds."
"Music that makes heavy use of randomness and chance is called aleatoric music and is associated with contemporary composers active in the 20th century."
"John Cage, Morton Feldman, and Witold Lutosławski."
"The study of composition has traditionally been dominated by examination of methods and practice of Western classical music."
"In the 2000s, composition is considered to consist of the manipulation of each aspect of music (harmony, melody, form, rhythm and timbre)."
"The first is the ordering and disposing of several sounds...in such a manner that their succession pleases the ear. This is what the Ancients called melody. The second is the rendering audible of two or more simultaneous sounds in such a manner that their combination is pleasant. This is what we call harmony and it alone merits the name of composition."
"The ordering and disposing of several sounds...in such a manner that their succession pleases the ear."
"The rendering audible of two or more simultaneous sounds in such a manner that their combination is pleasant."
"Composition consists in two things only."