Teaching Composition

I was teaching a few short term composition students this summer and came across this wonderful chart of instrument ranges that so beautifully illustrates the ranges of most instruments.  I love it that it also further emphasizes to the student […]

How To Write A Good Melody: Motives In our Tuesday Composition Corner, we are now discussing the elements for when you write a good melody. Last week, we talked about melody contour.  This week we’ll talk about the 2nd principle, but

How To Compose A Good Melody In a recent Composition Corner post, I talked about 5 problems that students often have when writing melodies or writing pieces.  Today, I would like to start to give you some general components how

In the last Composition Corner post, I asked readers to comment on what they might say if a student came in to their lesson excited about their composition and played this: I have to say that I am thrilled with

Don’t forget to tell us what you think in the breakout session for Composition Corner.  The subject is finding something positive and you can tell me what you would tell a student with a given melody in this post.  I’d

A good melody is one of the most important parts of a composition.  Except in rare occasions, the composer wants their piece to make such an impression that the listener continues goes away from the piece with the melody filling

This is the third article and our first “breakout session” in the Composition Corner series.  Read Tip #1: What Do You Want Me to Do? and Tip #2: Find Something Positive before trying your hand at this activity. Teaching Composition:

Help Student Composers: Find Something Positive to Say This is the second article in the Composition Corner series in which we discuss tips on working with students on composition.  See What Do You Want Me to Do? Today’s tip concerns