Techniques for Composing Music - Videos & Lessons

About This Chapter

This chapter is filled with entertaining lessons you can study any time to build a comprehensive understanding of techniques for composing music. Use our multiple-choice quizzes to test your knowledge of these techniques and confirm your readiness to excel on an upcoming test.

Techniques for Composing Music - Chapter Summary

Feel confident in your knowledge of various techniques for composing music by exploring this chapter's bite-sized lessons. Concepts covered in this chapter include transposition in music, thematic transformation and musical improvisation. Once you've finished this chapter, you will be able to do the following:

List and discuss the rules for writing four-part music
Define and describe transposition in music
Outline methods and examples of motivic transformation
Share the definition and methods of thematic transformation
Describe the structure of phrase in music
Explain how to arrange instrumental and vocal music
Discuss rules and techniques for improvisation in music

Accompanying each lesson in this chapter is a multiple-choice quiz you can take when you're ready to check your comprehension of concepts covered. If you develop questions during your study sessions, feel free to send them to our experts via the Dashboard. Our practice exam makes it easy to find out how well you understand all concepts covered in this chapter. These study tools are accessible 24 hours a day via your computer or mobile device of choice.

7 Lessons in Chapter 9: Techniques for Composing Music

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1. The Rules for Writing Four-Part Music

Four-part writing can be difficult, but you don't have to reinvent the wheel. In this lesson, we'll look over some common rules to make four-part writing a little easier.

2. Transposition in Music: Definition & Music Theory

In this lesson, you will learn what transposition is and how to recognize it in a musical context. The lesson will also explain how the method of transposing works within the framework of music theory and how one might use it in creative applications.

3. Motivic Transformation: Definition, Methods & Examples

How can you keep a musical theme integrally tied to a composition without making it boring or redundant? Let's take a look at motivic transformations and see how they can be used to do just this.

4. Thematic Transformation: Definition & Methods

As a composer, themes can be a big part of your music. In this lesson, we'll see how subtly changing those themes can change the impact of your composition.

5. Phrase in Music: Definition & Structure

Could you read a book that had no punctuation? Could you play music that had no phrases? Learn all about phrases and why they're important, including the meaning of key terms such as cadence, period, antecedent, consequent, and phrase mark.

6. How to Arrange Vocal & Instrumental Music

Have you ever thought of how a musician goes about arranging a piece of music for voice and/or musical instruments to give it character and a personal voice? This lesson provides a brief overview of some of the main points of arranging music.

7. Improvisation in Music: Definition, Rules & Techniques

A quintessential component of many contemporary musical genres, this lesson will examine the rules and techniques for improvisation in music. Afterward, test your knowledge with a short quiz.

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Practice Final Exam

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Visit the ILTS Music (143): Test Practice and Study Guide page to learn more.

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