Musical composition

Scherzo in A flatby the RussianRomantic eracomposerAlexander Borodin(1833–1887)

Jazz, rock and popsongwriterstypically write out newly composed songs in alead sheet,which notates themelody,thechord progressionand the tempo or style of the song (e.g., "slow blues" ).

Jazzand rock genre musicians may memorize the melodies for a new song, which means that they only need to provide achord chartto guide improvising musicians.

Musical compositioncan refer to anoriginalpieceor work ofmusic,eithervocalorinstrumental,thestructureof a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are calledcomposers.Composers of primarilysongsare usually calledsongwriters;with songs, the person who writeslyricsfor a song is thelyricist.In many cultures, including Westernclassical music,the act of composing typically includes the creation ofmusic notation,such as asheet music "score",which is then performed by the composer or by other musicians. Inpopular musicandtraditional music,songwriting may involve the creation of a basic outline of the song, called thelead sheet,which sets out themelody,lyricsand chord progression. In classical music,orchestration(choosing the instruments of a largemusic ensemblesuch as anorchestrawhich will play the different parts of music, such as the melody,accompaniment,countermelody,basslineand so on) is typically done by the composer, but inmusical theatreand inpop music,songwriters may hire anarrangerto do the orchestration. In some cases, a pop or traditional songwriter may not use written notation at all and instead compose the song in their mind and then play, sing or record it from memory. Injazzand popular music, notablesound recordingsby influential performers are given the weight that written or printed scores play inclassical music.

Although a musical composition often uses musical notation and has a single author, this is not always the case. A work of music can have multiple composers, which often occurs in popular music when all members of a band collaborate to write a song or in musical theatre, when one person writes the melodies, a second person writes the lyrics and a third person orchestrates the songs.

A piece of music can also be composed with words, images or, since the 20th century, withcomputer programsthat explain or notate how the singer or musician should create musical sounds. Examples range from20th centuryavant-garde musicthat usesgraphic notation,to text compositions such asKarlheinz Stockhausen'sAus den sieben Tagen,to computer programs that select sounds for musical pieces. Music that makes heavy use of randomness and chance is calledaleatoric musicand is associated with contemporary composers active in the 20th century, such asJohn Cage,Morton FeldmanandWitold Lutosławski.A more commonly known example of chance-based, or indeterminate, music is the sound ofwind chimesjingling in a breeze. The study of composition has traditionally been dominated by examination of methods and practice of Western classical music, but the definition of composition is broad enough to include the creation of popular music and traditional music songs and instrumental pieces, and to include spontaneously improvised works like those offree jazzperformers and African percussionists such asEwe drummers.

In the 2000s, composition is considered to consist of the manipulation of eachaspect of music(harmony,melody, form,rhythmandtimbre), according toJean-Benjamin deLaborde (1780,2:12):

Compositionconsists in two things only. The first is the ordering and disposing of several sounds...in such a manner that their succession pleases the ear. This is what the Ancients calledmelody.The second is the rendering audible of two or more simultaneous sounds in such a manner that their combination is pleasant. This is what we callharmonyand it alone merits the name of composition.

Terminology

Since the invention ofsound recording,a classical piece or popular song may exist as a recording. If music is composed before being performed, music can be performed from memory (the norm for instrumental soloists inconcertoperformances and singers inoperashows andart songrecitals), by reading written musical notation (the norm in large ensembles, such as orchestras,concert bandsandchoirs), or through a combination of both methods. For example, the principal cello player in an orchestra may read most of theaccompanimentparts in a symphony, where she is playing tutti parts, but then memorize an exposed solo, in order to be able to watch theconductor.Compositions comprise a huge variety of musical elements, which vary widely from between genres and cultures. Popular music genres after about 1960 make extensive use of electric and electronic instruments, such aselectric guitarandelectric bass.Electric and electronic instruments are used incontemporary classical musiccompositions and concerts, albeit to a lesser degree than in popular music. Music from theBaroque musicera (1600–1750), for example, used only acoustic and mechanical instruments such as strings, brass, woodwinds, timpani and keyboard instruments such asharpsichordandpipe organ.A 2000s-era pop band may use anelectric guitarplayed withelectronic effectsthrough aguitar amplifier,a digitalsynthesizer keyboardandelectronic drums.

Piece

Pieceis a "general, non-technical term [that began to be] applied mainly to instrumental compositions from the 17th century onwards....other than when they are taken individually 'piece' and its equivalents are rarely used of movements in sonatas or symphonies... posers have used all these terms [in their different languages] frequently in compound forms [e.g. Klavierstück]....In vocal music...the term is most frequently used for operatic ensembles..."

As a musical form

Main article:Musical form

Composition techniques draw parallels from visual art'sformal elements.Sometimes, the entire form of a piece isthrough-composed,meaning that each part is different, with no repetition of sections; other forms includestrophic,rondo,verse-chorus,and others. Some pieces are composed around a setscale,where the compositional technique might be considered the usage of a particular scale. Others are composed during performance (seeimprovisation), where a variety of techniques are also sometimes used. Some are used from particular songs which are familiar.

The scale for thenotesused, including themodeandtonicnote, is important intonalmusical composition. Similarly, music of theMiddle Eastemploys compositions that are rigidly based on a specific mode (maqam) often withinimprovisational contexts,as doesIndian classical musicin both theHindustaniand theCarnaticsystem.

Methods

Computer methods

As technology has developed in the 20th and 21st century, new methods of music composition have come about.EEGheadsets have also been used to create music by interpreting the brainwaves of musicians.This method has been used for Project Mindtunes,which involved collaborating disabled musicians with DJ Fresh, and also by artists Lisa Park and Masaki Batoh.

Structure

Main article:Musical form

Compositional instrumentation

Main articles:Instrumentation (music)andArrangement (music)

The task of adapting a composition for differentmusical ensemblesis calledarrangingororchestration,may be undertaken by the composer or separately by an arranger based on the composer's core composition. Based on such factors, composers, orchestrators, and arrangers must decide upon the instrumentation of the original work. In the 2010s, thecontemporarycomposer can virtually write for almost any combination of instruments, ranging from astring section,wind and brass sections used in a standardorchestrasto electronic instruments such assynthesizers.Some common group settings include music for fullorchestra(consisting of strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion),concert band(which consists of larger sections and greater diversity of woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments than are usually found in the orchestra), or a chamber group (a small number of instruments, but at least two). The composer may also choose to write for only one instrument, in which case this is called asolo.Solos may be unaccompanied, as with works for solo piano or solo cello, or solos may be accompanied by another instrument or by an ensemble.

Composers are not limited to writing only for instruments, they may also decide to write forvoice(includingchoralworks, some symphonies,operas,andmusicals). Composers can also write forpercussion instrumentsorelectronic instruments.Alternatively, as is the case withmusique concrète,the composer can work with many sounds often not associated with the creation of music, such astypewriters,sirens,and so forth.InElizabeth Swados'Listening Out Loud,she explains how a composer must know the full capabilities of each instrument and how they must complement each other, not compete. She gives an example of how in an earlier composition of hers, she had the tuba playing with the piccolo. This would clearly drown the piccolo out. Each instrument chosen to be in a piece must have a reason for being there that adds to what the composer is trying to convey within the work.

Arranging

Main article:Arrangement

Arranging is composition which employs prior material so as to comment upon it such as inmash-upsand various contemporary classical works.

Interpretation

Even when music is notated relatively precisely, as in Western classical music from the 1750s onwards, there are many decisions that a performer or conductor has to make, because notation does not specify all of the elements of musical performance. The process of deciding how to perform music that has been previously composed and notated is termed "interpretation". Different performers' or conductor's interpretations of the same work of music can vary widely, in terms of the tempos that are chosen and the playing or singing style orphrasingof the melodies. Composers and songwriters who present their own music in a concert are interpreting their songs, just as much as those who perform the music of others. The standard body of choices and techniques present at a given time and a given place is referred to asperformance practice,whereas interpretation is generally used to mean the individual choices of a performer.

Copyright and legal status

Copyrightis a government-grantedmonopolywhich, for a limited time, gives a composition's owner—such as a composer or a composer's employer, in the case ofwork for hire—a set of exclusive rights to the composition, such as the exclusive right to publishsheet musicdescribing the composition and how it should be performed. Copyright requires anyone else wanting to use the composition in the same ways to obtain a license (permission) from the owner. In some jurisdictions, the composer canassign copyright,in part, to another party. Often, composers who are notdoing business aspublishing companies themselves will temporarily assign their copyright interests to formal publishing companies, granting those companies a license to control both the publication and the further licensing of the composer's work.Contractlaw, not copyright law, governs these composer–publisher contracts, which ordinarily involve an agreement on how profits from the publisher's activities related to the work will be shared with the composer in the form ofroyalties.

The scope of copyright in general is defined by various international treaties and their implementations, which take the form of nationalstatutes,and incommon lawjurisdictions,case law.These agreements and corresponding body of law distinguish between the rights applicable to sound recordings and the rights applicable to compositions. For example,Beethoven's9th Symphonyis in thepublic domain,but in most of the world, recordings of particular performances of that composition usually are not. For copyright purposes,song lyricsand other performed words are considered part of the composition, even though they may have different authors and copyright owners than the non-lyrical elements. Many jurisdictions allow forcompulsory licensingof certain uses of compositions. For example, copyright law may allow a record company to pay a modest fee to acopyright collectiveto which the composer or publisher belongs, in exchange for the right to make and distribute CDs containing acover band's performance of the composer or publisher's compositions. The license is "compulsory" because the copyright owner cannot refuse or set terms for the license. Copyright collectives also typically manage the licensing of public performances of compositions, whether by live musicians or by transmitting sound recordings over radio or the Internet.

In the U.S.

Even though the first US copyright laws did not include musical compositions, they were added as part of theCopyright Act of 1831.According to a circular issued by theUnited States Copyright Officeon Copyright Registration of Musical Compositions and Sound Recordings, a musical composition is defined as "A musical composition consists of music, including any accompanying words, and is normally registered as a work of the performing arts. The author of a musical composition is generally the composer, and the lyricists if any. A musical composition may be in the form of a notated copy (for example sheet music) or in the form of a phonorecord (for example cassette tape, LP, or CD). Sending a musical composition in the form of a phonorecord does not necessarily mean that there is a claim to copyright in the sound recording."

In the UK

Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988defines a musical work to mean "a work consisting of music, exclusive of any words or action intended to be sung, spoken or performed with the music."

In India

In India The Copy Right Act, 1957 prevailed for original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work until the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1984 was introduced. Under the amended act, a new definition has been provided for musical work which states "musical works means a work consisting of music and included any graphical notation of such work but does not included any words or any action intended to be sung, spoken or performed with the music."

See also

• BCM Classification
• Developing variation
• Dickinson classification
• MIDI composition
• Music manuscript
• Music publisher (popular music)
• Répertoire International des Sources Musicales(RISM)

Sources

• Laborde, Jean-Benjamin de.1780.Essai sur la musique Ancienne et moderne,4 vols. Paris: Ph.D. Pierres & Eugène Onfroy.

Further reading

• Sorce Keller, Marcello.1998. "Siamo tutti compositori. Alcune riflessioni sulla distribuzione sociale del processo compositivo".Schweizer Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft,Neue Folge 18:259–330.
• Sorce Keller, Marcello. 2019 “Composition”, Janet Sturman (ed.)The SAGE Encyclopedia of Music and Culture.Los Angeles: SAGE Reference, 2019, Vol. II, 618–623.

External links

• How to Compose Music– artofcomposing
• Composition Today– news, competitions, interviews and other resources for composers.
• Internet Concert Project: Album for the Young Student New Music– an online performance and documentary feature fromBloomingdale School of Music(January 2010)
• A Beginner's Guide to Composing– an online feature fromBloomingdale School of Music(February 2008)
• A Practical Guide to Musical Composition
• ComposersNewPencil– Information, articles and music composition resources.
• How to compose music
• How to compose Music (Wikihow)
• Répertoire International des Sources Musicales– online database to locations of musical manuscripts from around the world
• How to Compose for New Age Piano
• Composing Music