My Composition Book

Sketchbook for Aspiring Composers

Materials by

Jennifer Eklund
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My Composition Book:

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Sketchbook for Aspiring Composers

Materials by Jennifer Eklund

Copyright ©2016 Piano Pronto Publishing, Inc.

All rights reserved The worksheets, text, and graphics in this publication are protected by
copyright law. User is granted unlimited printing rights for use with students.
This resource is not for resale under any circumstance.

Designed by Jennifer Eklund

Piano Pronto Publishing, Inc.

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Composers Community
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My Composition Book
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Sketchbook for Aspiring Composers

Composer name:

Materials by

Jennifer Eklund

PianoPronto.com
 Teacher Tips

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Composition can be a daunting process for students, but most are
open to exploring this creative endeavor. The following tips will help
ensure continued success throughout the process:
KEEP IT FUN! Composing is “functional theory” work at its best. I
recommend pursuing composition activities with any student who expresses

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an interest in doing so. If a student seems unsure about whether or not they’d
like to compose have them try a few activities from the “Write That Down!”
workbook, guage their interest, and take it from there.

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KEEP IT FLEXIBLE! This sketchbook can be used to complete auxiliary
exercises and alternate editions of the prompts and activities in the “Write

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That Down!” workbook. It can also be used as a free and open sketchbook
to encourage students to start writing down their musical ideas by hand.
WRITE BY HAND? While there are many excellent open-source
notation software options both computer-based (or on the iPad) I highly
recommend that you encourage students to sketch their initial ideas by
hand in this book while improvising at the piano. While software makes
it extremely easy to produce high-quality scores with minimal effort it
is still imperative that students practice sketching their notational ideas
by hand to avoid “cut & paste” compositional practices.
REUSE & RECYCLE: With the unlimited printing rights this book
affords you can feel free to make additional copies of any of the staff
paper configurations as needed. However this book is designed with
a developmental trajectory in mind starting with short eight-measure
compositions and finishing with full thirty-two-measure works. It is
ideal for the budding composer to complete this sketchbook and then
start a new one as part of the archiving process.
ARCHIVE IT ALL! This sketchbook is designed to help your students
take ownership of their creative endeavors. Encourage budding composers
to keep all of their completed sketchbooks because chances are that they
will not fully utilize every idea that they sketch down in this book. It is also
a good way for student and teacher to take periodic trips down memory lane to
look back on their ideas and see how they’ve progressed with their compositional
skills.
v

GIVE IT A STAGE! I encourage you to hold small composer workshops or other get-
togethers with your students so that they can share their compositions with one another.
If they are comfortable ask your students to play their original pieces at their next recital
or performance opportunity. Feedback from peers is often very helpful and inspiring!
 The 5 Essential Elements...
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Writing music is fun, but it isn’t always easy. Here’s a list of five elements that can help take
your writing to the next level and ensure that the audience will always ask for more!

#1 Memorable Melody:

The melody line can grab the audience, make them want to dance, bring them to tears (in a good way),
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and is probably the most important element in a piece of music. When you’re writing new melodies try to
make them catchy, singable, and most important: memorable. If you can’t remember your own melody
twenty minutes after writing it then it probably needs revising.
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#2 Rhythm to Remember:

Sometimes you can make up for a less than stellar melody line by employing a cool rhythmic pattern
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throughout a piece. Coldplay’s song “Clocks” is a great example of this. The song itself has a pretty
mundane melody, but the opening pattern that stays consistent throughout the piece is what people
remember most. When writing highly-rhythmic based music stay consistent in your patterns so you don’t
risk of the music seeming random to the listener.

#3 Tell a Story:

Music is no different than a written story. The composer simply uses sound to weave a story instead
of words. As listeners we need to feel like we’ve taken a journey in sound with a definite beginning,
departure, and a final arrival. While it isn’t always necessary to stick to “traditional” forms in music the
overall “storyline” and unfolding of the music needs to feel balanced and make sense. A great way to
improve this skill as a songwriter is to study your favorite artists! Take one of their best songs that you like
most and analyze what happens in that piece from a formal standpoint. It’s no accident that you love that
particular song so dig in and study the structure and then build one that is similar using your own ideas.

#4 The Plot Twist:

Great songs usually feature the element of surprise at some point in their sonic storyline. It can be a chord,
a key change, a change in tempo. Any type of sudden musical change that is unexpected by the listener is
usually a great way to hook their interest. Sometimes it’s as easy as taking a melody that you already used
earlier in the piece and “twisting” it by using different harmonies underneath the melody, or altering the
melody slightly to make it more dramatic.

#5 Feel-good Music:

A couple elements that aspiring composers don’t always consider are the title and the playability of the
music for the performer. Believe it or not you can draw people towards your music with a really great title
that is thought provoking, maybe a bit mysterious, or just a title that says something about your music
before you even start playing it. I encourage you to think beyond “generic” titles like: Spring Song,
Sad Day, etc. and start thinking about everyday conversational tidbits that might work as great titles.

Secondly, always think about the performer and how the music will feel under their fingers. Too often I see
compositions that are not what I consider to be “hand-friendly.” No matter how “cool” something sounds
figure out a way to achieve that sound without making it impossibly hard to figure out for the performer.
Remember: you won’t always be the only person playing your music - and that should be the goal!
 Memorable Melodies

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Use the following pages to jot down melodic ideas that you want to remember!

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Music for All Ages & Stages
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Music for All Ages & Stages
Memorable Melodies
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Music for All Ages & Stages
Memorable Melodies

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Music for All Ages & Stages
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Music for All Ages & Stages
Memorable Melodies

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Music for All Ages & Stages
Memorable Melodies
 Cool Chords!

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Use the following pages to jot down chord progressions or chords that you want to remember!

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Music for All Ages & Stages
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PianoPronto.com
Music for All Ages & Stages
Cool Chords!
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Music for All Ages & Stages
Cool Chords!

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Music for All Ages & Stages
Cool Chords!
 Awesome Accompaniments!

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Use the following pages to jot down accompaniment patterns that you want to remember!

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Music for All Ages & Stages
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PianoPronto.com
Music for All Ages & Stages
Awesome Accompaniments!
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Music for All Ages & Stages
Awesome Accompaniments!

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Music for All Ages & Stages
Awesome Accompaniments!
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 Lyrics I love...

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Use the following pages to jot down ideas for lyrics that you want to remember!

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Lyrics I love...
 Song Title Ideas...

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Use the following pages to jot down ideas for titles that you want to remember!

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Song Title Ideas...