People want to compose music for all kinds of reasons: for money, fame, artistic fulfillment, and fun. Maybe you want to impress your friends, family, or classmates. Maybe you want to live forever in posterity through your music. Or maybe you just love music and composing.
History is replete with fine composers, and for every famous composer there were perhaps thousands who toiled away in relative obscurity. If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to create new music, write songs, and compose music for films or videogames, this article is for you.
Is composing music hard?
However you look at it, composing new music is grueling hard work. It requires strong musical skills and some basic knowledge. To create new compositions you need effort, determination, and grit.
You don’t need to understand every aspect of music making, but it helps to play an instrument well. You should be able to write your music down and create quality demo recordings. Being musically literate and tech savvy will make it easier for you to compose good music.
It’s rare to find composers who do not play at least one instrument well. This means that if you’re serious about becoming a composer you should first focus on learning to play a musical instrument, or singing. (Voice is considered an instrument.)
Many composers study the piano because the linear nature of the keyboard allows them to see the notes in a graphic way, but there are plenty of examples throughout history of composers playing other instruments, or even as multi-instrumentalists.
The better you are at all aspects of music, the more natural it should be for you to compose music.
Here’s a tutorial for beginners on how to get started with writing music: