Best Books/Software to Teach Me To Play/Compose Music?

[crazyface]

Hello!

I want to learn to play the piano!!!

I also want to learn, as an extension of the knowledge gained in learning to play piano, how to compose music myself.

What books or software are best for this?

I know already how to play some songs by ear, but I know nothing of "music theory," how chords really work, etc. I play now only by "trial and error!" And composing seriously is out of the question. But I get good ideas and wish I could write them and play them also!

Thank you!!!

 

[utilisateur]

If you want to learn how to write down stuff you already know how to play, some midi transcription software and a midi piano (there accessible midi pianos with real key mechanic)might do the trick

But to learn how to play the piano properly there is no way around learning it from a real world person,it does not necessarily need to be a teacher and if you think you can get along and get good advice you may just need sporadic advice from a good player but this would require a lot of discipline.

The Piano is not one of the instruments that one can learn easily by autodidaction!

 

[crazyface]

I took piano lessons as a child, but they did not help very much. I think that the problem with the ones I had was that I was being taught basically by rote -- I was not being taught to "understand" the notes on the page, such that I could "hear" them without having to play them.
There are probably no good teachers around my location.....

 

[plainsong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazyface /img/forum/go_quote.gif I was not being taught to "understand" the notes on the page, such that I could "hear" them without having to play them.

You have to learn how to crawl before you walk. The teacher has to start somewhere. Step one is to teach you how to read music, and how to play the notes you just learned. It's easier when younger because for some of the things you learn, there simply is no "why is it this way?" it just is. Yeah, there are explanations, but you have to have the knowledge before the explanation makes sense.

If you want to hear notes in the mind's ear - be able to hear intervals between the notes, and be able to tell what a note is simply by pitch - then what you're referring to is ear training and that's part of a college level music theory course. Learning intervals between notes will be handy for composing. If you hear the distances between the notes, then all you have to do is pick a key, and start writing.

But if you don't already have ideas, it might be slow going learning how to compose. Just from my experience, I did all those courses and go through all the theory stuff and understand it well enough, but I can't use it to write anything meaningful. The ideas simply aren't there though I did arrange other people's stuff sometimes.

Since you play by ear, if you want to apply some rules to minimize your trial and error, trying googling circle of fifths.

 

[crazyface]

Hello! I hope to be able to compose atonal works, but I think, as you say, one must learn to crawl before they walk.

I will google circle of fifths, but there is so much more to learn, like the experiences you have had! And I do not know where to begin. I will try to find a local teacher, if there is no useful software to try, but I do not know what qualities to look for in a teacher to make sure that they will teach me the methods that will be most useful if I wish to one day compose.

I am starting from almost no knowledge at all.

I can say, however, that I think I have good ideas for music, as in harmonies and melodies, but I fear that many of my rhythms are derivative of things that I have heard before...

 

[Computerpro3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazyface /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hello! I hope to be able to compose atonal works, but I think, as you say, one must learn to crawl before they walk. I will google circle of fifths, but there is so much more to learn, like the experiences you have had! And I do not know where to begin. I will try to find a local teacher, if there is no useful software to try, but I do not know what qualities to look for in a teacher to make sure that they will teach me the methods that will be most useful if I wish to one day compose. I am starting from almost no knowledge at all. I can say, however, that I think I have good ideas for music, as in harmonies and melodies, but I fear that many of my rhythms are derivative of things that I have heard before...

Call/go to a local university that has a decent music program and explain your situation to them - be honest about your experience. I guarantee you will be able to find either a piano major or a grad student that will be willing to give you lessons (for a small fee of course). Most people will teach people like you on the side and there are never enough students to go around. Plus, you get the added benefit of knowing they know what they are talking about - they got into music school after all!

Good luck with piano and composing. It is so rewarding if you put the work into it. I should know - I am working my butt off for a piano performance degree!

 

[crazyface]

The only university anywhere near my is "community college," and the level of teachers and students in the arts programs is not so good.

This idea will not work for me, I fear.

 

[PFKMan23]

Just ask anyways, as I'm sure that in the very least, you could find references to people who give lessons.

 

[plainsong]

So if you want to write something atonal, is it a case where you want to learn all the major and minor (and other modal) scales just to intentionally avoid standard patterns? Or is it just that whatever you write probably won't be in any discernible key?

Can you read any music at this point? Do you know about scales? Here's the chord progression (3 notes each a third apart make a basic chord) that is the mother of all chord progressions. It's not interesting, but musicians everywhere still manage to make something of it:

I-IV-V-I

The Roman numerals tell you where in the scale those chords are:

I - C (chord - CEG), IV - F (chord FAC), V - G (chord - GBD) - back to I - C again.

In other words, if you look at the scale, it's C -I, D -II, E -III, F -IV, G -V, A -VI, B -VII, C -I.

And you can plug any scale into a given chord progression. The melody works within those scales, with the harmony... unless it's atonal of course. There are a lot of musicians here at head-fi. And they should have a lot to add to what I just said, the problem is trying to say it in such a way that your head doesn't asplode. Because we don't want to scare you away. This is doable if you've got the ideas. It's ok if they're based off of other ideas. Most everything in music is.

That's really basic music theory. Don't knock community college professors. There can be really great teachers at small colleges. The key is to find one who can teach you how to play with a view towards more theory to use in composing. I think it's worth a shot.

 

[crazyface]

Hello, thank you for the replies!

I want to be able to compose both in key and atonal, as the piece of music warrants, as was done by Eisler. My point is that I want to be educated in such a way that I am not limited to working in the standard patterns.

I can read music, but only the simplest forms of notes (whole, quarter, etc.,) and only within a short range of the middle C. This is useful only for very juvenile exercises and compositions, such as those given to young children for learning.

I do not mean to insult ALL who go to community college, I just meant to say that here my options are limited. I have attempted to take classes at that community college before and it was very frustrating -- too many students, very few serious, the teachers very "distant." But, I will admit, I did not speak with the piano instructor - however I did overhear that department as it practiced, and they were not very good.

Another difficulty for me is that my fingers are quite short, and with any instrument I have ever tried to learn, it is very difficult for me to get my two hands to commit to very different actions at once.

I currently have no piano at home, the previous one being a Roland keyboard that broke. I will try to find a new keyboard and begin to play again.

I do not know whether this problem will resolve itself once I begin to learn theory better, but presently it seems to me that, when I try to "compose" a few bars in my imagination, much of what I imagine has very staid rhythms, or are they are borrowed from other pieces of music that I have heard. I wonder how a composer overcomes this and composes music that has much more distinctive, unique rhythms? Finding a good rhythm seems to be the key to making a memorable song, whether it is a song by Elvis or a song by Albinoni.

 

[plainsong]

That's my problem with coming up with anything of mine as well. I don't have the ideas. I've got some knowledge and I can follow rules and write something that is basically nothing. I can't write anything I'd want to put my name to.

I can arrange stuff though. I can hear a song and hear how to make it better, or to make it suitable for different instrumentation or style. Though I can't write for percussion at all.

In fact, when I play piano, my left hand lapses into treble clef. "Hey wait, now this just sounds bad... oh right, that's a C, not an A." That's because I learned bass clef much later.

I also have small stubby fingers which work well enough on most wind instruments, but have problems with piano or guitar. I used that as an excuse until I met the girl who played piano and harpsichord for the first opera I was in. He hands were TINY. I mean like freakishly tiny. The hands of a 5 year old on a grown woman. That shut me up my "but I can't do an octave stretch!" complaining.

Where there's a will, there's a way. I just know that once you get hooked up with a place to practice, that there is the right teacher out there for you.