Composition

What is composition?

Composition is the word given to making up your own song. People who make songs for a living are called composers. While there are no rules in making up your own song there are helpful guidelines. These guidelines vary by music genre.

I want to make up my own song, what should I try first?

It might be easier to try working with untuned percussion instruments first. That way you are focusing on timbre and rhythm without having to think about a tune.Good percussion to start with would be drums, triangles, woodblock, gũiro, cabassa, agogô, finger cymbals, tambourine and bells.

Once you are confident composing on untuned percussion you could add in other instruments too. The percussion can act as the beat while the other instrument/s play a tune. You could use keyboard, xylophone, chime bars, glockenspiel, ukulele and recorders to make a melody.

How to write a pop song

This video is the first in a series. You can follow the instructions then watch the next videos in the series. Each video is one step in writing your song.

This video is mean to be a joke, but it is actually does explain some parts of writing a pop song. Record in your music book any ideas that you may want to use when you write your own.

Advanced information

This video is very serious. Some of it may be a little hard to understand, but it gives you the structure and some good basic ideas on how to write a pop song.

Here is another video. It is quite long. In the details you can skip to the tip you want. Some of it will be hard to understand. Feel free to ask me any questions about it. The chords he used were Dm, F, C, G in that order. You can do that on your ukulele.

Composition using devices

Scratch

Scratch is a coding software. You can use it to make your own music, not just games. Miss Esterman has some cards to get you started. This activity is best for Takahe students or Kea students who like a challenge!

Incredibox

This is very easy to use. You could use it as a background and sing/rap your own song over the top!

Chromemusic Lab

Some of these tools are quite limited. But they can be good building blocks to learn about music.

Compose Your Own Music Game

This website is great for everyone! Anybody can give it a go.