How to Compose Music: Teacher's Manual by Bob B. Ashton, Nancy L. Colbaugh

“Can you help me write a song?” This question, frequently asked by musical children and by adults who themselves simply want to write songs, is finally answered in the book How to Compose Music.

This teacher manual provides all the information an aspiring songwriter needs and may be entered at any level of difficulty. It even provides a 15-minute quiz to help determine a musical starting point!

Contents:

Part I
Where Do I Start?
The Basics You Should Know to Write a Song
Dividing Your Song into Measures
Idea People, Song Writers, and Composers
Developing Your Inner Ear
Intervals
Defining the Scale
“Hearing” a Melody in Your Mind

Part II
Is There Only One Method by Which We Can Compose?
Composing by Sight
Steps, Skips, and Leaps in Melody Writing
What Goes Up Must Come Down
A Good Pattern Is Worth Repeating
Sequence...It’s Much Like a Pattern but Has a Slightly Different Twist
What Beings Must End
The Need for a Cadence Within a Song

Part III
Rhythm...Where Composing Music Really Counts
At Least One Million Melodies Waiting to Be Discovered

Part IV
Writing the Lyrics to a Song
Are We Certain We Understand Rhyme?
What about Using Free Verse in Lyrics?
One Other Thing...Accented Beat
The Lyric as a Tool for Note Placement
Composing by Lyric
Enlarging the Scope of Lyric Writing
Composing by Use of a Counter Melody...Or Partner Song
The Blues...

Part V
Writing the Accompaniment: Introducing the Models Models...Fitting Your Song in a Form March Model
Sacred Model
Standard 32 Measure
Popular Song Model
Folk Song Model
Fugue Model
Simple Orchestration...It’s Component Parts Transposition...What Is It?
Composing and Arranging with the Voice (Or Voices in Mind)
Some General Hints for Vocal Arranging

There is a student workbook available to go with this manual.