A piece of music exists in the form of a written composition in musical notation Music notation or musical notation is any system which represents aurally perceived music, through the use of written symbols or as a single acoustic Acoustic music comprises music that is great or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means. The retronym "acoustic music" appeared after the advent of electric instruments, such as the electric guitar, bass guitar, electric organ and synthesizer event (a live performance or recorded track). If composed before being performed, music can be performed from memory, through written musical notation Music notation or musical notation is any system which represents aurally perceived music, through the use of written symbols, or through a combination of both. Compositions comprise musical elements, which vary widely from person to person and between cultures. Improvisation Musical improvisation is the creative activity of immediate ("in the moment") musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous response to other musicians. Thus, musical ideas in improvisation are spontaneous, but may be based on chord changes in classical is the act of composing during the performance, assembling musical elements spontaneously.

Piece is 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....composers have used all these terms [in their different languages] frequently in compound forms [e.g. Clavierstück]....In vocal music...the term is most frequently used for operatic ensembles..."^[1]

Composition as musical form

In discussing the structure or organization of a musical work, the composition of that work is generally called its musical form The term musical form is often loosely used to refer to particular musical genres or styles , which may be determined by factors such as harmonic language, typical rhythms, types of musical instrument used as well as historical and geographical origins. In the vocabulary of art-music, however, it has a more extended meaning, referring to the type. These techniques draw a parallel to art's formal elements. Sometimes, the entire form of a piece is through-composed Through-composed music is relatively continuous, non-sectional, and/or non-repetitive. A song is said to be through-composed if it has different music for each stanza of the lyrics. This is in contrast to strophic form, in which each stanza is set to the same music. Sometimes the German durchkomponiert is used to indicate the same concept, meaning that each part is different, with no repetition of sections; other forms include strophic Strophic form is the simplest and most durable of musical forms, elaborating a piece of music by repetition of a single formal section. This may be analyzed as "A A A...". This additive method is the musical analogue of repeated stanzas in poetry or lyrics and, in fact, where the text repeats the same rhyme scheme from one stanza to the, rondo Rondo, and its French equivalent rondeau, is a word that has been used in music in a number of ways, most often in reference to a musical form, but also to a character-type that is distinct from the form. Although now called rondo form, the form started off in the Baroque period as the ritornello, from the Italian word ritornare meaning "to, verse-chorus Verse-chorus form is a musical form common in popular music and predominant in rock since the 1960s. In contrast to AABA form, which is focused on the verse , in verse-chorus form the chorus is highlighted (prepared and contrasted with the verse), or other parts. Some pieces are composed around a set scale In music, a scale is a group of musical notes collected in ascending and descending order, that provides material for or is used to conveniently represent part or all of a musical work including melody and/or harmony. Scales are ordered in pitch or pitch class, with their ordering providing a measure of musical distance, where the compositional technique might be considered the usage of a particular scale. Others are composed during performance (see improvisation Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or new ways to act. This invention cycle occurs most), where a variety of techniques are also sometimes used.Some are used from particular songs which are familiar.

Important in tonal musical composition is the scale In music, a scale is a group of musical notes collected in ascending and descending order, that provides material for or is used to conveniently represent part or all of a musical work including melody and/or harmony. Scales are ordered in pitch or pitch class, with their ordering providing a measure of musical distance for the notes Notes are the "atoms" of much Western music: discretizations of musical phenomena that facilitate performance, comprehension, and analysis used, including the mode In addition, from the end of the eighteenth century, the term began to be used in ethnomusicological contexts to describe pitch structures in non-European musical cultures, sometimes with doubtful compatibility and tonic The tonic is the first note of a musical scale in the tonal method of musical composition. The triad formed on the tonic note, the tonic chord, is thus the most significant chord. More generally, the tonic is the pitch upon which all other pitches of a piece are hierarchically referenced. The tonic is often confused with the root, which is the note. In music using twelve tone techniques Twelve-tone technique is a method of musical composition devised by Arnold Schoenberg. The technique is a means of ensuring that all 12 notes of the chromatic scale are sounded as often as one another in a piece of music while preventing the emphasis of any through the use of tone rows, an ordering of the 12 pitches. All 12 notes are thus given, the tone row In music, a tone row or note row , also series and set, refers to a non-repetitive ordering of the twelve notes (pitch-classes in musical set theory) of the chromatic scale. Tone rows are the basis of Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique and most types of serial music. Tone rows were widely used in 20th century contemporary music, though one is even more comprehensive a factor than a scale. Similarly, music of the Middle East The Middle East is a region that encompasses southwestern Asia and Egypt. In some contexts, the term has recently been expanded in usage to sometimes include Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Caucasus and Central Asia, and North Africa. It's often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East. The corresponding adjective is Middle-Eastern employs compositions that are rigidly based on a specific mode (maqam Maqam is an Arabic word and denotes a modal structure that characterizes the art of music of countries in North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. In this area we can distinguish four main musical cultures which all belong to the Maqam family, namely the Kurdish, the Persian, the Arabic and the Turkish) often within improvisational contexts Taqsīm is the name of a melodic improvisation style that could be metric or non-metric, which usually precedes a composition in Arabic music and Turkish music. The taqsim is usually performed by a solo instrument، yet sometimes the soloist can be backed by a percussionist or an instrumentalist playing a drone on the tonic of the maqam. In vocal, as does Indian classical music The origins of Indian classical music can be found from the oldest of scriptures, part of the Hindu tradition, the Vedas. It has also been significantly influenced by Indian folk music, and Hindustani music has been influenced by Persian music. The Samaveda, one of the four Vedas, describes music at length. The Samaveda was created out of Rigveda in both the Hindustani Hindustani classical music is the Hindustani or erstwhile North Indian style of Indian classical music. Originating in the Vedic period, it is a tradition that has been evolving from the 12th century AD, in what are now northern India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, and also Nepal and Afghanistan, and is today one of the two parts of Indian classical and the Carnatic Carnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. It is one of two main sub-genres of Indian classical music that evolved from ancient Hindu traditions; the other sub-genre being systems, gamelans A gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings. Vocalists may also be included of Java Java is an island of Indonesia and the site of its capital city, Jakarta. Once the center of powerful Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms, Islamic sultanates, and the core of the colonial Dutch East Indies, Java now plays a dominant role in the economic and political life of Indonesia. Home to a population of 130 million in 2006, it is the most populous and Bali Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. It is one of the country's 33 provinces with the provincial capital at Denpasar towards the south of the island, and much music in Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With a billion people (as of 2009, see table) in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.72% of the world's human population.

Composing music

People who practice composition are called composers A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media[clarification needed]. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright[specify] and the. Compositional techniques are the methods used to create music. Useful skills in composition include writing musical notation Music notation or musical notation is any system which represents aurally perceived music, through the use of written symbols, instrumentation In music, instrumentation is the particular combination of musical instruments employed in a composition, and to the properties of those instruments individually. Instrumentation is sometimes used as a synonym for orchestration, which more properly refers to an orchestrator's, composer's or arranger's craft of employing instruments in varying, and handling musical ensembles A musical ensemble is a group of two or more musicians who perform instrumental or vocal music. In each musical style different norms have developed for the sizes and composition of different ensembles, and for the repertoire of songs or musical works that these ensembles perform (orchestration Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium. It only gradually over the course of music history came to be regarded as a compositional art in itself). Other skills include extended techniques such as improvisation Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or new ways to act. This invention cycle occurs most, musical montage In music, montage or sound collage ("gluing together") is a technique where sound objects or compositions, including songs, are created from collage, also known as montage, the use of portions of previous recordings or scores. This is often done through the use of sampling, while some playable sound collages were produced by glueing, preparing instruments, using non-traditional instruments, and other methods of sound production Sound is a travelling wave which is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.

Compositional instrumentation

The task of adapting a composition for musical instruments/ensembles, called arranging The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents the melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic structure& or orchestrating Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium. It only gradually over the course of music history came to be regarded as a compositional art in itself, may be undertaken by the composer or separately by an arranger In investment banking, an arranger is a provider of funds in the syndication of a debt. They are entitled to syndicate the loan or bond issue, and may be referred to as the "lead underwriter". This is because this entity bears the risk of being able to sell the underlying securities/debt or the cost of holding it on its books until such based on the composer's core composition. A composition may have multiple arrangements based on such factors as intended audience type and breadth, musical genre or stylistic treatment, recorded or live performance considerations, available musicians and instruments, commercial goals and economic constraints.

Based on such factors, composers or arrangers must decide upon the instrumentation In music, instrumentation is the particular combination of musical instruments employed in a composition, and to the properties of those instruments individually. Instrumentation is sometimes used as a synonym for orchestration, which more properly refers to an orchestrator's, composer's or arranger's craft of employing instruments in varying of the original work. Today, the contemporary Contemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to the period that started in the mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. However, the term may also be employed in a broader sense to refer to all post-1945 modern musical forms composer can virtually write for almost any combination of instruments. Some common group settings include music for Full Orchestra An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus. The orchestra grew by accretion throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth (consisting of just about every instrument group), Wind Ensemble A concert band, also called wind band, symphonic band, symphonic winds, wind orchestra, wind symphony, wind ensemble, or symphonic wind ensemble (German: Blasmusik, die Harmoniemusik, Blasorchester/Blaskapelle, die Janitscharenmusik, Fanfarenzug, etc., Austro-Bavarian: Blosmusi, Czech: dechová hudba, dechovka, Slovak: dychová hudba), is a (or Concert Band A concert band, also called wind band, symphonic band, symphonic winds, wind orchestra, wind symphony, wind ensemble, or symphonic wind ensemble (German: Blasmusik, die Harmoniemusik, Blasorchester/Blaskapelle, die Janitscharenmusik, Fanfarenzug, etc., Austro-Bavarian: Blosmusi, Czech: dechová hudba, dechovka, Slovak: dychová hudba), is a, which consists of larger sections and greater diversity of wind, brass and percussion instruments than are usually found in the orchestra An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus. The orchestra grew by accretion throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth), 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 a solo In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer. In practice this means a number of different things, depending on the type of music and the context.

Composers are not limited to writing only for instruments, they may also decide to write for voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, etc. Human voice is specifically that part of human sound production in which the vocal folds are the primary sound source. Generally speaking, the mechanism for generating the human voice can be subdivided into three (including choral A body of singers who perform together is called a choir or chorus. The former term is very often applied to groups affiliated with a church and the second to groups that perform in theatres or concert halls, but this distinction is far from rigid. The term "Choir" has the secondary definition of a subset of an ensemble; thus one speaks works, operas, and musicals) or percussion instruments or electronic instruments. Alternatively, as is the case with musique concrète, the composer can work with many sounds often not associated with the creation of music, such as typewriters, sirens, and so forth.

In Elizabeth 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 above the piccolo. This would clearly drown the piccolo out, thus giving it no purpose in the composition. 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

Recomposition

Recomposition is composition which employs prior material so as to comment upon it such as in mash-ups and various contemporary classical works. It may be thought of as analysis. ^[2]

Legal status

US Copyrights

In the US, the copyright symbol is ©, or the letter c inside a circle. The first year the work was published follows the copyright symbol, and the name of the copyright holder thereafter. Copyrights afford the owner of a work control over and exclusive rights to the work. Even though the first US copyright laws did not include musical compositions, they were added in 1831. Music copyright laws have been revised several times, most notably in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA). DMCA addressed peer-to-peer music sharing software and other forms of piracy due to new technology such as computer and the internet. A music copyright is often notated as ℗, or a letter P (instead of the letter C) inside a circle. This is because this type of copyright also covers phonorecords, which are physical objects, such as CDs, where the works is contained. A copyright does not guarantee protection from music piracy; however, it prevents other artists from claiming the works as their own.

UK

Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 defines 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.^[3]

In the UK, "music" is normally understood by law to include melody, harmony and rhythm.^[4]

See also

• BCM Classification
• Developing variation
• Dickinson classification
• MIDI composition
• Music manuscript
• Music publishing
• Musical form
• Songwriting

References

1. ^ Tilmouth, Michael. 1980. "Piece". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, sixth edition, 20 vols., edited by Stanley Sadie, Vol. 14: 735. London: Macmillan Publishers; New York: Grove's Dictionaires. ISBN 1-56159-174-2.
2. ^ BaileyShea, Matt (2007). "Mignon: A New Recipe for Analysis and Recomposition", Music Theory Online Volume 13, Number 4, December 2007.
3. ^ Sheet music was held to be covered by the term "book" in the Statute of Anne: see Bach v. Longman [1777] but that merely conferred a right to print and reprint the music
4. ^ Some countries like Canada have legally defined music as any combination of melody and harmony or either of them, printed or reduced to writing or otherwise graphically reproduced.

External links

• 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 from Bloomingdale School of Music (January 2010)
• A Beginner's Guide to Composing, an online feature from Bloomingdale School of Music (February 2008)
• Gems of compositional wisdom
• A Practical Guide to Musical Composition
• ComposersNewPencil - Information, articles and music composition resources.
• How to compose music
• How to compose Music (Wikihow)

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