From my experience teaching music theory and composition, some students can sit down and start composing while others stare at a blank page, not knowing where to start. At some point or another, we all have stared at that blank page, wondering when inspiration would strike. So how can you get started if no ideas come to mind? I conducted a little exercise with my students over one week when I asked all of my students to compose a piece of music, both those studying music theory and those not. The exercise would require a single dice, some music manuscript paper, and basic music theory knowledge. Follow the following steps if you would like to try the activity.
Step One:
On some music manuscript paper, write the outline of your composition. The composition should be four lines long, each line with four bars. Then title this page “composition outline.”
Step Two:
Write the whole note, middle C, on your composition outline in the last bar of lines two and four.
Step Three:
On a separate piece of music manuscript on a single stave mark off four bars. Number the top of each of these bars. Starting with bar one as one, two as two, three as three, and four as four. Write a simple one-bar rhythm in the time signature four-four, using half and quarter notes in each of the four bars. Make sure each bar has a different rhythm. Title this page “Rhythm Page.”
Step Four:
Back on your score outline, roll the dice for each bar, starting on the first bar and write down the number rolled above the bar. If you roll anything above the number four, you’ll have to roll again. For example, roll the dice for bar one, write down the number you rolled above bar one, then move on to the next bar and do the same. Remember, anything above the number four requires another roll. Repeat the procedure for every bar on your composition outline that does not already have a note. Only two bars have notes already, and that’s the final bars in lines three and four, so no dice rolling is required for these bars.
Step Five:
You have written four bars on your rhythm page, each containing a different rhythm numbered one through four. Now you’re going to transfer those rhythms to your composition outline. Each of the bars in your composition outline now has a random number one through four written above them. For example, let’s say the first bar on your composition outline has the number three above it; you’ll copy over the rhythm you wrote in bar three from your rhythm page onto your composition outline. Let’s say bar two on your composition outline has the number one written above it; you’ll copy over the first bar from your rhythm page to your composition outline. You’ll do this until all the bars in your composition outline are filled.
Step Six:
Now all the bars in your composition outline should have a rhythm written in them, except the last bars of lines two and four, which should have the whole notes middle C. Now we will number the first five notes of the C major scale: C is one, D is two, E is three, F is four, and G is five. For each rhythmic note in your composition outline, you will roll the dice and write in the note corresponding to that number. So look at the first bar of your composition outline with a rhythm written in, look at the first rhythmic note, roll the dice, then write in the note corresponding to the number you just rolled. When you’ve finished, you should have replaced all the rhythmic notes in your composition outline with differently pitched C-G notes you assigned from rolling the dice.
Step Seven:
Play your melody and see how it sounds. If there are any notes you’re not fond of, roll the dice again to assign them a different note or simply choose a note you feel works better.
Will this exercise create an award-winning composition? Maybe, maybe not, but it’s a way to generate some ideas that may get you started on bigger and better things. Thanks for reading; I’m just a music teacher having fun catch ya on the next one.
