ONLINE MUSIC COMPOSITION CLASS

Are You Serious About Composing Music?

Become more creative and write music that moves people

There’s nothing more satisfying than expressing yourself with a composition you wrote. Just imagine, the music you created in your mind finally comes alive.

But composing music can be difficult. How do you start a composition and when is it finished?

Training these music skills by yourself is hard and learning how to write music can be confusing. Sometimes you just need somebody to help you out. Somebody who can hand you the composition tools and music composition techniques that you need.

Join my online music composition classes and I will guide you with your music journey. Learn to compose the music that you want. Explore how you can create new music.

Find your creative voice and become a music composer!

Can You Become a Composer?

Music composition lessons are for you if you have ever wondered:

  • How can I learn music composition?
  • Can you learn to be a good composer?
  • How can I create my own music?
  • What music skills do you need for composing music?
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You love to create music and now you want to take your creativity to the next step. This is composing your own songs and music. Here is how you can learn music composition and write new music.

  • Listen to a lot of music and analyse it
  • Find out what you like and try it yourself
  • Compose something small every (second) day
  • Read about and learn music theory

You can teach yourself music composition, but it is tough because you have nobody to help you when you are stuck. But thanks to the internet music education is not fixed to your location anymore. So why not learn music composition from home? After all, this is the place where you feel most comfortable and secure. The easy thing? You don’t have to search for ‘music composition classes near me’.

What are music composition classes? What do you learn in a music composition class?

I will teach and show you all the steps of composing music. You will develop your own musical style and become better with each composition that you write. I will teach you how to write music in any program that you like. But I prefer MuseScore. I will give you all the composition tools that you need for expressing yourself in music.

Learn to write music today!

Your Composition Coach

Hi! My name is Xander and I am a composer, Songwriter and Music educator with a degree in music composition. I teach many students all over the world via private music classes and via my YouTube channel, Learning Music Skills.

As a composer, educator and content creator, my goal is to share all aspects of the process of making music. I want to give everyone the tools necessary to be able to understand, enjoy and create music. No matter the genre or skill level.

I’m an expert in making difficult topics easy to understand. I break down complicated concepts into practical bite-size songwriting and composition techniques that you can use.

Songwriting coach Xander Slikker
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Buy tickets for four online music classes

Learn all the Elements of Music Composition

Melody

Harmony

Musical Form

Rhythm

Lyric Writing

Music Theory

Creative Skills

Music Analysis

Free Music Composition Lessons

YouTube video

If you want to explore my free music composition classes online, then I suggest you watch this playlist. It is a gathering of music classes that focus on creative music composition techniques. If you feel that you need more help with creating music, then don’t hesitate to contact me and schedule a music composition class.

What You Will Learn In Our Music Composition Class

Melody

Learning how to write a good melody is a fundamental music skill that you need as a composer. During our composition classes, we will explore:

  • How to write a melody
  • What are the building blocks of a melody
  • Finding your unique melodic voice
  • Melodic development techniques
  • Techniques for finding melodic inspiration
  • And much more.

Harmony

Harmony and chord progressions are the backbone of Western music and almost all popular music. But how do you write a good chord progression? And what kinds of chord progressions are suitable for your style? What we will discover is:

  • How to write a chord progression
  • How to make your chord progression more interesting
  • Find creative chord connections
  • Advanced harmonic concepts
  • And much more.

Musical Form

Musical form is one of the most overlooked aspects of music composition if you ask me. Often times changing something in the composition’s structure can completely change your piece for the better (or worse). What you will learn in our classes is:

  • What are the basic and popular forms
  • How to change and rework your composition
  • Creative composition structure techniques
  • And much more.

Rhythm

Rhythm is the drive behind any good melody or composition. Rhythm is by far one of the most memorable elements in any given song or composition. For some people writing interesting rhythms comes more naturally than for others. What you will learn is:

  • How to use basic rhythmic patterns
  • How to rhythmic positions
  • How to develop your rhythm in a piece of music
  • When to use antimetric rhythms
  • And more advanced rhythmic concepts.

Lyric Writing

Should a composer know how to write text or lyrics? It might seem strange, but I think it is an essential skill for a composer. Text and lyrics can be the foundation on which you build your composition.

That’s why it is essential that you know how to write good lyrics that tell the story of your music. What we can explore in our music composition class is:

  • Learning different types of rhyme schemes
  • How to effectively place your lyrics
  • How to write a song lyric that continues to build
  • Lyric writing techniques to generate lyric ideas
  • Much more.

Music Theory

Where would we be without music theory? A lot of people start with writing music in an intuitive manner. But things are so much easier if you are able to find out what you just played or recorded. I am a big fan of music theory because it gives me the inspiration to write new music. What we will learn during our online music composition lessons is:

  • Basic theory to start writing and notating music
  • Creative theory techniques for inspiration
  • How to use theory to get unstuck
  • Theory for a practical music composition use
  • And much more.

Creative Skills

As a composer, you need to be able to find musical inspiration. Even when you don’t really feel like it. So how do you live a creative life? And how do you make sure that your creative music ideas keep flowing? And most important, how do make sure that your ideas are original? In our music composition class we can focus on:

  • Techniques for generating music ideas
  • How to stay creative
  • How to evaluate your ideas
  • How to avoid a musical burn-out
  • Finding and staying in touch with your musical identity
  • And much more.

Music Analysis

Popular songs or compositions by other composers are a perfect way to refine your composition skills. Because why try to reinvent the wheel, while somebody else has done a better job than you? If something has been proven to work, don’t waste your time.

As a composer, you need to know how to properly analyse compositions and songs. What things are important and which elements don’t matter?

What you should read and watch to become a music composer

Best Books on Music Composition

Best Books on Songwriting for Songwriters

Learning Music Skills on YouTube

Frequently Asked Questions

For any beginning composition student, there are many different ways to learn to start writing. You can take an extra online music composition course from platforms like Udemy or Coursera. Just wait until they are on discount. But you can also read books or articles on music theory, harmony, melody, rhythm, form, and orchestration. You can find a great list of books on my website.

Another great way to learn musical composition is to listen to and analyze music from different composers, genres, and periods. By listening to and analysing their music you can study how other composers created their music. So for example what elements they use, how they structure their pieces, and what emotions they convey. As your instructor in our classes, I give composition assignments that meet the interests of any student.

Of course, the best way to improve your skills and train your creativity is to practice composing your own music regularly. To start your composition projects you can use software like Musescore, to write them down and organize them. If you have friends or relatives who are into music then you can also share your work with others and get feedback.

Music composition in college is a major or a program that focuses on the study and creation of original music. Students who choose this major learn how to write music for different instruments, genres, styles, and purposes. Other topics that are on the list are history, theory, analysis, and performance of music. If you have a degree in composition you can pursue a career as a composer, arranger, orchestrator, conductor, music director, pedagogy, music teacher, music critic, or music researcher.

In general, I believe that you can make it as competitive as you want yourself. Again, everything depends on your own goals. But I do think that music composition is a competitive field. Because there are many talented composers out there who create quality compositions that they share with the world. Of course, the level of competition may vary depending on the genre, style, purpose, and market of the music. For example, composing music for movies, games, or commercials may be more competitive than composing music for personal or academic projects.

First of all, I want to tell you that anybody can learn it. So never give up and never let it keep you from starting. It just takes time and practice. And it also depends on what your goals are of course. If you already play an instrument like guitar, piano or anything that can play chords it is a lot easier. Because you can use them for your writing. But of course, there are some challenges.

One of the challenges is that you need to have basic knowledge of music theory, harmony, melody, rhythm, form, and orchestration to compose music. You also need to be able to write and read musical notation or if you are into electronic music and production you can use software to record and edit your music.

Something that often frustrates a student is that learning how to compose takes time. You cannot expect to master music composition overnight. It takes a lot of practice, experimentation, and feedback to improve your skills. I think any composer will confirm this but you will encounter frustration, boredom, or self-doubt along the way. To overcome this you need to make sure that you have realistic goals and keep the steps small. This way you will improve constantly.

Another thing that people often forget is that any form of art requires hard work. Music composition is not just a matter of inspiration or talent. It also requires discipline and dedication. You may have to deal with technical difficulties, writer’s block, or other external pressures. Also, you need to be prepared to revise, edit, or discard your work many times before you are happy with it. Just make sure that you always enjoy what you are doing on the long run.

A fourth challenge is that you set the bar too high and feel intimidated or discouraged by comparing yourself to other composers, especially the famous ones. You may think that your music is not good enough, original enough, or meaningful enough. Just trust yourself and follow your interests and inspiration.

And of course, let’s not forget about the myth of inspiration. You may lose interest or motivation in your music after a while. You may feel that your music is boring, repetitive, or meaningless. You may have no idea what to do next or how to finish your project. make sure that you always listen to new music, explore different fields of art and keep writing music on a consistent basis.

There are many places where you can study music composition and get a degree. Some of the more famous universities and colleges are:

  • New York University: NYU offers a Bachelor of Music in Composition that prepares students for professional careers in music. Students can choose from various concentrations, such as classical, contemporary, film scoring, jazz, musical theatre, or songwriting.
  • Indiana University: IU offers a Bachelor of Music in Composition and a Master of Music in Composition. Students can study with renowned faculty members, such as David Dzubay, Claude Baker, Aaron Travers, and Don Freund.
  • Boston Conservatory at Berklee: Boston Conservatory offers a Bachelor of Music in Composition and a Master of Music in Composition. Students can explore various genres and styles of music, such as classical, contemporary, electronic, jazz, world, or experimental.
  • Curtis Institute of Music: Curtis offers a Bachelor of Music in Composition and an Artist Diploma in Composition. Students can study with distinguished faculty members, such as Jennifer Higdon, David Ludwig, Richard Danielpour, and David Serkin Ludwig.

Of course, if you don’t want to break the bank or if you are not interested in getting a master’s or bachelor’s degree in music, then you can also take classes at your local music school. Or you can schedule a free session to see if we are a right fit and to start learning with me. Another option is to buy some music composition courses and follow them. You could even do this together while also taking private classes.