My Tools for Composing Music

 

1. Manuscript Notebook
   • Nothing beats good old pencil and paper.  As you experiment with motives and chords, jot down the general outline of the melody and write chord names over top. I always leave room for the bass clef as well, but typically fill in the patterns later. 
2. MuseScore Studio 
   • Free software that has recently gotten a huge makeover. I am really enjoying the upgraded instruments and the regular updates. This program can be used with your computer keyboard or a MIDI keyboard. 
3. Recordings
• Regardless of how many books you read about how to compose or how many scores you study, you must be listening to lots of music.  I actually bought a 65 set of classical music cds that I used to receive by mail order as a kid. I found it on eBay. It's called "In Classical Mood". I essentially learned orchestration simply by listening to this huge collection of classical composers.  I can hear the tone quality of each instrument in my head and decide when I want to apply in my own music. 
• Streaming services work too! But I am definitely in hard copy mode as of late. 

1. Music Scores
   • Own and study lots of scores. If there is a sound you are looking to achieve from a reference recording, look at what the composer did in the score. How did they voice the chords? What dynamics did they indicate? What were the articulations? 
   • IMSLP.org is a great source if you know what you are looking for and don't mind old scans. 
2. Handbooks
   1. Music Composition: Alan Belkin
   2. The Study of Orchestration by Samuel Adler
   3. Sightsinging by Ottmann
   4. Music Theory and Harmony
3. YouTube
   • Alan Belkin
   • Ryan Leach
4. Digital Piano with MIDI
5. Sound Recorder
   • You can use Voice Memos, Motiv Audio, a DAW, or in my case, a built-in recorder to thumb drive in my digital piano. 
6. Logic Pro (or a DAW of choice)