30
Fundamental Concepts of Composition
History: How We Got To Tonality
Theory: The Major-Minor System
What Makes a Decent Melody
Practical: Composing a Basic Melody
Download: Basic Melody Worksheet
Guided Exercise #1: Compose a Melody
Guided Exercise #2: Compose Another Melody
Set some goals, and help me craft a better course
You Thought You Knew C Major
C Major Worksheet v4
Learning Chord Progressions for Composers
Download: Connecting the Chord Tones Worksheet
Connecting the Chord Tones
Limitations and Creativity
Guided Exercises #3: Connecting the Chord Tones
Guided Exercise #4: Connecting the Chord Tones
Intervals
Download: Worksheets for Understanding the Essentials of Harmony
Making Intervals Intuitive
Making Chromatic Intervals Intuitive
Interval Workout
Triads and Inversions
Making Triads Intuitive
Seventh Chords
Making Dominant 7th Chords Intuitive
Basic Chord Progression No. 1
You're ready for the next step!
Live Composing Session: How it All Comes Together
Complete Course Workbook: Fundamentals of Musical Composition
Ginger
Focus on Fundamentals w/ Piano
Great course on fundamentals of music vocabulary. My music college was many years ago and I need a review of fundamentals. Jon simplifies a very complex topic and places focus where I need it. I love that I can build my piano skills along with new composer skills at the same time.
Theo
Build your composition
Its been some time but I do understand , I have to learn on the piano , I do play guitar, but I fell that the piano is better for composition, Theo.
Robert
Excellent
Great content, well presented and though.
Simon
Well worth it!
I studied music in university years ago and realized there were quite a few gaps in my memory. This course has helped to re-establish the fundamentals.
Belle
Pedagogically sound, pragmatically brilliant
John Bratigan has mastered the fundamentals of this craft and developed a very sound method for getting people involved with composing music quickly and efficiently. I recommend this course for anyone looking to develop or improve their compositional skills.
Daniel
Practical and fun introduction.
The course does very well not overwhelming you with too much information which is the norm for online courses. You're given the perfect amount of structure, freedom within the structure, and simplicity to get started quickly.
Ricardo
A breath of fresh air
An excellent course which gave me a second wind not only in my motivation to compose but to stay on the my musical path wholesale.
Ning
0
hbj
Joshue
Starting a great journey
I'm so happy I started this course, in a short time I feel I've gotten some clear and concrete tools and steps to being a more expressive and solid musician. The simple melody exercise is great and very satisfying :-)
jayakumar
awesome
awesome
Stephan
No redundancies
It follows from A to B to C; very good language; no, what I call, „brabble“ or arrogant self appreciation.
Suzanne
Engaging and Fun
Really enjoying this introduction. I will definitely be enrolling in the other "Art of Composing" courses.
Michael
Course review
What ever standard you are this course provides you with a good grounding in composition and will lay the foundations to proceeding on to the next stage. it is also an excellent course to take you back to the basics to revise material that a person studied many years ago.
Pablo
Great material
Easy to follow and fast at the same time in getting to meaningful details and structured knowledge
Lindsey
Excellent Basics
Clear and concise, easy to understand.
Wim
Very clear
The course is a very good start. It makes clear how easy it can be to get result simply working with basic tools and setting limits.
Elijah
Absolutely brilliant FREE course!
You really should be charging money for this. This is so helpful and really makes sure you're heading in the right direction when it comes to composing!
Jess
Excellent explanations.
Clear and concise instructions that move you to exercise the lesson.
Ann
All love and thanks for all the knowledge that you give us !
Gabriel
Fundamentals Preview: Build Your Composition Vocabulary
GREAT
Linda
Fundamentals Preview and composition vocabulary
Very clear, logical and easy to follow
Vincent
Good starting point
Sebastien
Good Introduction
I really liked the introduction and learned a lot of new theory. I compose since 10 years, but never had the theory behind it, so to have words to put on what I'm doing and to know why sometimes I failed to do a proper melody is great. The only thing here is that I sometimes get a bit lost as there's a lot of new terms popping up. I understood how to write down the chord tones and how to place your notes, but I'm not sure I followed the Bass section notes (like how they were chosen and how to use them as references).
Elya
Great course
From this first module I can say I enjoy the presentation of the basics and the approach for teaching the art of composition, for an art it is...
Maureen
Create a Basic Melody
Augusto
Extremely helpful!
Nick
Awesome
your use of figured bass is confusing, for people who have never met this. i know what c/g is, i know what 2nd inversion of C triad is, figured bass does not make this clear
Jane
The representation of music was a language was really helpful
Excellent!
Himal
This is the bridge between theory and applications
From this cause I learned how to use all rudiments for composing music
iklimbade
Amazing!
It is like no other. It did help me a lot! And i will complete all the courses!! <3 - Iklim Bade ( Turkey,Istanbul)
Jose
Excellent
Excellent introduction to composition. Very well done!
Elizabeth
Clear and Methodical
This course may be what I've been missing all along.
Anton
Excelente course
Great introductory course. Thank you Mr. Jon Brantingham for making such great courses, YT videos and web pages / content.
Enea Marco
Amazing Course.
Henry
Composition Vocabulary
Now i have a clue on how to go about it, but it need a lot frequent practice.
Brandon
It good
It taught me a lot about the basics of composition. There were some lessons that were a bit messy but I really learned a lot from this course
Kenneth
fairly understandable; and easily followed
I am not sure about this one
Ander
Very good
Very good
deb
The title does exactly what it states
The course is well structured informative and clearly enables the participant to steadily and consistently build on the concepts and knowledge towards composition. Definitely recommend taking this course.
Daune
Awesome
Very well presented. Explanation of fundamentals quite interesting and I see that I have a lot work / study to do yet.
Elijah
Brilliant course!
I really learnt a lot, this course is much better than other expensive courses in my opinion. It explains everything in a logical way and gives you guidance to compose your own music. Thanks so much!
Ralph
Fundamentals Preview: Build Your Composition Vocabulary
Ian
Great online composition basics
I haven't even started the modules I've paid for yet as the free course fundamentals is so thorough, accessible and easy to follow and understand with Jon. Thanks so much.
Christophe
It is a solid base, a truth start point, really good lessons, clearly and consistently.
It is a solid base, a truth start point, really good lessons, clearly and consistently. Thank you, very, very much.
David
Tonality: Major Minor Diminished Scales Modes
Graphics are very good, make sure the vocabulary used has been explained previously, the, major-minor-augmented & diminished explanation is one of the best I have ever heard. I am wondering if your new fundamentals course goes more slowly into Music Theory and Form-Analysis....My Real weaknesses, from really understanding Triadic Harmony and the Very Basics of Voice Leading, I have struggled since Music Theory 101 with Dr. Jerry Curry at USC-Columbia in 1975. Two Music Ed Degrees and 30 + years teaching, with Bands in Chicago-Midwest Clinic and having Conducted in Carnegie Hall, Atlanta's Symphony Hall, I still struggle understanding the basics of Theory and Composition. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwQVCQRvfM3xsM5eGeVNk1A https://www.youtube.com/c/DavidWoodardMMED/featured
William
Informative, but a little confused...still
c chord 2 beats f chord two beats; c and a used as chord tones; why can a 3 triplet of def be passing when e is a chord tone?
Tom
Great Course!
Very clear explanations and useful exercises.
SARORN
Tonality is crucial point for music
Jacek
Thanks a lot
The theory is logic and I got found (thank to You) the answer how to develop the music. with Best Regards Jacek
Takis
Great for beginners
I am a mandolin player. I wanted to know how to compose music that I would like to write. This was a great course for me ushering me into understanding fundamentals. Thank you!
Alice
Create a basic melody
Anthony
Very adequate
Very adequate
Andrew
Fundamentals Preview: Build Your Composition Vocabulary
Andrew
Fundamentals Preview: Build Your Composition Vocabulary
Andrew
Fundamentals Preview: Build Your Composition Vocabulary
Marvic
Agree
very informative
Mariam
Super engaging
Very clearly explained in easy to follow steps with great guidance on what was key information and what would be revisited
Ian
Really good start for students
So much more to learn from this great teacher!
Ganapathy
The Best
This is possibly the best course on composing music. I am a novice with some basic understanding and I am able to follow the course so well, and the exercises are fun instead of taxing. I am REALLY learning here! Big Thank you!
naadia
A clear, well set out introduction to harmony and composition
This is a great introductory course for anyone interested in harmony and composition from a Western Classical perspective. There's a good mix of visual and written material and clear tasks to complete. Lots of work has gone into building this course and it's amazing that it's available for free.
syazani
g
g
Joe
A Good Overview
Best for those with some background in music theory, this course helped me understand how basic harmony and composition practices work on the keyboard.
mollie
Marvelous Course
This is a marvelous course...I am in the midst of the lessons and am so pleased to have located the art of composing curriculum..very clearly explained and illustrated concepts...thank-you!
Geoffrey
Good explanation of Music fundamentals
Some translation required for guitar.
Dicka
Great!
although this is the most simple and easy to understand for beginner
Paul
Unsure of question
Unsure of requirement
Peter
Excellent
Simple to follow and enjoyable.
cassie
Very helfpul and easy to understand
Mark
Excellent introduction
Well presented run thru the basics. Focus is always on how the theory can be applied to actual compositions
Bruce
Great start for creating choral, structured melodies
Just enough theory to plant ideas for future study. Holds my attention and keeps it moving logically.
Siwei
.
Stelios
Excellent Intro to Music Composition
Building your composition vocabulary is an interesting and exciting introduction to Music composition, the structured, systematic way. I can't wait to take the next course.
Hendrie
Titel covers the content
Very clarifying!
Pablo
Great course, both for beginning and advanced composers
This course helps to reconsider the foundations, as the beginning of all musical ages. It also has several, very useful and simple tips. Highly recommended, both for beginning composers and for more advanced ones.
Charles
Good for beginnners
John
What, Me compose?
Surprising introduction to something I didn’t think I’d want to do...
Sue
Good. I like a title that tells me what I'm going to learn rather than hints at it.
It was good and easy to understand.
stuart
Build your composition vocabulary
Very easy to understand. Exceptional layered practical approach which builds real skill levels.
Aboh
Preface to composition
Excellent
Valentin
Very good
Very good way to understand music and begin composing
Gary
Fundamental Fundamentals
Excellent 101-type course to introduce the history and fundamentals of music composition.
Brent
Thanks!
Just started this course, it's a really excellent introduction to composing. I really appreciate the pace with which you are working through the fundamentals to more advanced concepts. Highly recommended!
Pedro
Loved it
Very clear and to the point.
Mark
Great Course!
Straightforward and accessible teaching style. I am taking this course as a refresher and to spark some inspiration for taking my composition skills to the next level. The instructor brings a fresh look at some basics in this course. Thank you!
ken
creating melody
Jotham
Surprising.
The piece I wrote was quite pretty, and I'm enjoying my success!!! The skills in this course are ones I can pass on to my high-school students. I really enjoyed the balance of theory and practical. Based on the content on this one, I'm going to pony up for the paid course.
Stan
An Adventure into Composing
A delightful fascinating introduction into The Art of Composing. The information and its clarity, I enjoy immensely. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.
JOSE RODRIGO
excelente
muestra los primeros pasos para iniciar en el camino de la composición.
Petra
Love it.
I love it, it's all so understandable, I feel like I can compose whole concert, I love it.
Wudhi
Art of Music Composition
I'm a retiree in my 70s. I'm from a very poor family, hence didn't have the opportunity to learn music when I was young. I started learning music several years ago when I retired. I'm very interested in music. I think it'd be a good hobby for me. I'm afraid that I won't be a serious music composer. However, by going through the Art of music composition course, I understand a lot more about 'interval', harmony, chords, etc. I have to digest what I've learned from the course after which I may try to do some simple composition. I'm very grateful to " Art of Composing" for the course which gives me a good starting point in music composition. Thank you very much from my heart.
peo
Make more of your Melody
The order of placement : the worksheet pdf was placed right on top of the lessons so when i downloaded it before going into the lessons i was a bit confused. Would be good to place it after the lessons (or maybe it got jumbled on its own).
Andres
really easy to understand
Joseph
Lessons are very good
Very good
Pradeep
Amazing course
Learned a lot thank you
Shaun
Excellent, gimmick free information
Really valuable stuff if you're seeking to better understand how music is written and some of the techniques and tools that help you out along the way.
Thomas
`The best music composition course you will find.
The course that John Brantingham created is quite strong. He makes no assumptions about your level of knowledge; he takes the true beginners through basic ideas while not losing the more advanced students. I am hooked on John's courses and use this site to refresh my understanding of ideas that I hadn't used in a while.
Dharmendra
Thorough Basic Music Theory
First of all I am sorry for not being regular in following your nicely structured video course. Secondly in some Tutorials, say last ones, it requires big screen; so I have purchased a Device from Google to stream out your Tutorials from Mobile via Smart view and this Google Device to watch it on my 27 inches T.V. As I told you I have printed out your 97 pages book of Art of Composition and I wanna go very slow to capture your every sentence by heart and understand thoroughly so that there would be sound and strong Musical Foundation on the basis of which i can harmonize and compose English & Gujarati Songs and Prayers and Bhajans of my beloved Lord Swaminarayan. Sir I am very thankful to you for taking strain to make these Tutorials. May I ask you something ? How long did it take you to study, learn and master these Musical stuffs? From your youngwood or in recent 5-10 years. God bless you and your family and your team on Diwali and Hindu New Year.
António
Good Title
It is a simple way of starting music writing with clear instrutions.
Becca
Composition vocabulary
Outstanding course, very helpful
Sarah
Brilliant course!