Interested in Composing Music?

I know that some of you have already started composing your own piano pieces - what a wonderful way to engage with the piano!

For those of you who are interested in setting your compositions on paper, there are a number of ways to do it. The more traditional method (a la Beethoven) is to sit down with a pencil and some manuscript paper. Some musicians like to play their piece, then write it down. Others like to write down their ideas first, and then test-drive it at the keyboard. Either way, writing your music by hand is a great place to start. Long and McQuade has a large variety of inexpensive, bound manuscript paper. If you're looking for a quicker, cheaper alternative, there are tons of sites online that offer free staff paper. Anton Jazz has a nice selection of paper for you to choose from.

An alternative to writing your music by hand is to use a computer program to give your compositions a professional look. There are lots of products that you can buy to help you with this. However, I've been test driving the free program MuseScore for putting together my choral arrangements. It takes a little bit of practice to work your way around, but I find that it gets the job done (and makes your music look as beautiful as it sounds).

I usually start by writing out my music by hand, and then I transfer it to the computer program. That way, I get the best of both worlds!

Happy composing!