How to compose music – Term Paper

Introduction

There has been a growing interest regarding bridging of the gap between music composers that use music theory and those that play by hearing or feeling. In this regard, the issue has been of interest to various researchers and authors to assist in the evaluation of the same to help in tackling the challenge and come up with the right ways of bridging the gap between music composers that use music theory and music composers that play by hearing or feeling. The concern is of great relevance in the modern society as evident in the impact of music in the modern society, in this case, bridging the gap would help in creating harmony between different types of music composers which assist in the development of the music industry. There are various ways of bridging such a gap proving the need to engage in the efforts on the same so as to reap benefits of such. Examination of the views of authors would help in addressing the issue and come up with a solution to the problem.  

Music composition discussion 

Throsby (2016) opens the discussion of bridging of the gap by explaining the concept of music composition, songwriters, composers and lyricists. Additionally, he addresses the different definitions given to music composition both in the classical and modern times which seeks to appreciate the role of classical music composition to the modern-day music composition which helps in understanding different ways of music composition. Such also helps to appreciate the role of singers, composers and instrumental musicians. Li, YongSheng and WenBo (2014) posit that the general increase in the population has led to diversity in the tastes and preferences with regards to music and consequent reduction of quality of music. Ideas of Li and colleagues compare with the thoughts of Throsby in that during the classical times, the gap between composer that the use music theory was not as large as it is in the modern times. They therefore suggest that reduction in the number of music genres is a way of bridging such a gap and harmonize methods of music composition.  

Li and colleagues also posit that lack of knowledge on the methods of creation of music is a major reason of music composition which suggest that improving knowledge on the methods of music creation is a way of bridging the gap between methods of music creation. Such an idea greatly relates to the thought of Throsby in that during the classical times, musician focused more on how the methods of composing music and the result was the high correlation between composers that use music theory and those that play by hearing or feeling. Loughran, James and Michael submit that limited opportunities through which musicians can improve on their knowledge and understanding of the various ways of composition is the result of the widening gap between composers that use music theory and those that play music by hearing or feeling. Loughran and colleagues therefore share the same thought with Li and colleagues in that diversity in the tastes and preferences in music does not relate directly with sources of knowledge on composition on music. Such is because there is increasing diversity in the tastes and preferences in music but music composers do not have enough music academies through which they can acquire knowledge on composition of music. 

Music composition process

Loughran and colleagues therefore suggest that it is needful to start institutions that teach on music composition and run mentorship programs to the youth from a tender age. Such and ideas relates directly with the views of Huang, Wei-Po and Yun-Shen who suggest that the challenge of bridging the gap between composers that use music theory and those that play by hearing is the difficulty to dispense with myths in the music industry. By increasing the number of institutions that teach music composition, composers would have the opportunity to dispense with myths in the industry and help in creating harmony in the process of music composition. Such is a way of dispensing with myths that discourage musicians and upcoming composers and distracting them from identifying new ways of composition. As Loughran and colleagues suggest, using both ways of composing music is of great importance in bridging the gap and improve harmonization of different methods of composition.  

Feis, Jeremy and Ashley also add on to the thought on the views of Loughran and colleagues where they agree that dispensing with the beliefs in the music industry is one sure way of bridging the gap between different kinds of music composers. Feis and colleagues acknowledge that there is a belief that composers possess unique traits and are geniuses for them to produce good music. In this regard, dispensing with such misleading beliefs is a way of bridging the gap and limits cases of demeaning competition in the music industry. Such a step would encourage the population and specifically music composers to learn various ways of composition and focus on constant progress on the development of music, this would enable music composers to focus more on the fun part of music as Li, YongSheng and WenBo posits. By composers changing their perception regarding music and seeing it as a fun activity, they get encouraged to try out different ways of composition thereby making the process more rewarding than ever. 

Music composers

Networking is another way of ensuring that can be used to bridge the gap between music composers that use music theory and those that compose by hearing and feeling. In this manner, experts in the composition of music need to encourage networking and encourage upcoming artists on the benefits of different ways of music compositions and the impacts of such. That is the brainchild of Huang and colleagues (2015) who did a study on the comparison between methods of composition of music in the 20th century and methods of composition in the 21st century. In his conclusion, Huang and colleagues state that networking of music educators and academic experts in their fields helps in mentoring the population and creates a situation where music composers that use music theory and those that compose by hearing get to learn about impacts of different forms of composition.

Networking helps in the expansion of music niche which serves as another way of bridging the gap between composers that use music theory and those that play by feeling or hearing as Loughran, James and Michael (2016) posit. Expanding areas of using music would encourage composers to focus more on the content of music than the method of composition. Uses of music has greatly expanded in the 21st century as is apparent in the way software developers and movie producers have found a new use of music in their daily activities. With the expansion of avenues of using music composer would learn different ways of composition only to ensure that music fulfills the need of the audience and put more focus on the message delivered to the audience and not on the method of composition. Such is a crucial way of improving the quality of music in the modern society and through the use of different methods available. 

According to Throsby (2016), teaching practical application of music theory is another way of bridging such a gap as it helps music composers to understand how to apply music theory in a practical manner in addition to appreciating what music theory is and its relevance. Lack of the right knowledge of music theory makes composers to apply music theory in a wrong way leading to the contradiction and misunderstanding between the various ways of music composition. This is not only the examination of pieces, phrases and breaking apart of musical structure, it deals with the application of music to help creation of music that is relevant to the current wave of music. In this regard, music composers get knowledge on how to improvise and compose music and not only reading notes on music composition. Such helps in using various ways of composition thereby making composers more informed. 

Conclusion

As the music industry expands and application of music becomes more complex, it is needful to encourage the develop methods of music composition to help in the understanding of the role of music in the modern society and appreciate the role of the same in the improvement of quality of life of the population. This is a field that requires additional research to help in devising way of composition and how to create an amalgam of composition of music through the use of music theory and playing music by hearing. The field of music has greatly expanded and this this has led to the expansion of the tastes of the society with regards to music proving the need to bridge the gap between composers that use music theory and those that play by hearing or feeling. In this manner, there is bound to be realized improvement in the quality of music produced which would make it more appealing to the audience.

Works Cited

Feis, Steven, Jeremy Sawruk, and Ashley Gavin. “Systems and methods for music display, collaboration, annotation, composition, and editing.” U.S. Patent Application No. 14/568,027. Retrieved from: <https://www.google.ch/patents/WO2014008209A1?cl=en>.

Huang, Chih-Fang, Wei-Po Nien, and Yun-Sheng Yeh. “Learning effectiveness of applying automated music composition software in the high grades of elementary school.” Computers & Education 83 (2015): 74-89. Retrieved from: <https://ir.nctu.edu.tw/handle/11536/124492>.

Li, Kun, YongSheng Qian, and WenBo Zhao. “An auxiliary function approach for Lasso in music composition using cellular automata.” Journal of Applied Statistics 41.5 (2014): 989-997. Retrieved from: <http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02664763.2013.859233?journalCode=cjas20>.

Loughran, Róisín, James McDermott, and Michael O’Neill. “Grammatical Music Composition with Dissimilarity Driven Hill Climbing.” International Conference on Evolutionary and Biologically Inspired Music and Art. Springer International Publishing, 2016. Retrieved from: <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/302463371_Grammatical_Music_Composition_with_Dissimilarity_Driven_Hill_Climbing>.

Throsby, David. “The Composer in the Market Place Revisited: The Economics of Music Composition Today.” The Artful Economist. Springer International Publishing, 2016. 153-170. Retrieved from: <http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-319-40637-4_9>.