composition explained
techniqueskom-poh-ZIH-shun
A detailed guide to the art and process of creating original music.
Composition is the art of creating original music — organising pitch, rhythm, harmony, melody, form, texture, and timbre into a coherent musical work. Composers may work at a piano, with manuscript paper, or in a DAW, building pieces note by note or improvising freely and then refining the result. The compositional process varies enormously: Beethoven filled sketchbooks with drafts and revisions, while Mozart reportedly composed entire movements in his head before writing them down. Composition encompasses every genre and tradition, from symphonies to pop songs to film scores to electronic music. A composition may be fully notated (as in classical music), partially notated with room for improvisation (as in jazz), or exist only as a recording (as in electronic production). The craft requires mastery of theory, instrumentation, and form, but ultimately composition is an act of creative imagination.