50 Ways to Compose for Rookies

[@crediblesalamander8056]

probably the single best composing video i've ever seen on this platform. it has a helpful structure, everything is explained clearly with examples and there's a refreshing lack of meandering and bullshit. also, unlike most instruction aimed at beginners which usually only covers very basic techniques, it has a very wide range of concepts, from beginner to advanced, providing plenty of places to look for inspiration. i will definitely use this whenever i decide to go back to composing.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Lovely to collab again! Thanks for another great video ❤🎼🎵

[@Dagrond]

I was wondering why my feed suddenly was full of chopsticks.

[@WayneKitching]

I'm not going crazy! I was sure I'd seen a notification for a David Bruce video on Chopsticks, but then I watched the David Bennett one. I do tend to mix up the two Davids sometimes.

[@Bills_Place]

I wasn't paying attention when I clicked on this, thought it was going to be a quick one with maybe a dozen ideas. By the time it was over I wanted to try nearly all of them.

[@krismer7742]

Brilliant video for both beginners who need the basics, and someone like me who’s always looking for ideas to experiment with. thanks as always

[@tomascarney5505]

Thank you for presenting all these techniques in such a clear and concise manner. Exceptionally well done.

[@a_little_flame589]

this is so insanely useful in the classical composing world (and the classical world as a whole) we seem to have a sort of attitude of people either having to be able to compose naturally or having to get individual lessons (I'm currently getting the latter on a hope that just maybe I could grow up poor and hating my life) but showing just the basics in a youtube video is going to help so many people (also got to love how your getting all the newbs to use non functional harmony that's honestly kind of fun)

[@Stevie-Steele]

Outstanding video! I love the editing style of your videos - I think even people who have ZERO interest in composition might find it entertaining and intriguing purely based on how pleasing this editing style is!

[@ChainsawCoffee]

"For instance, as soon as I began thinking about a waltz..." The "Chop Waltz" composed in 1877 by Euphemia Allen, has come so far from its roots that its origin as a dance waltz has been completely lost. This video has been a great compilation of composition techniques. It's just that I honestly thought you knew that it was originally a dance waltz.

[@AbComp870]

Brilliant primer on composition for a lone, home guitarist like me. I’ll be coming back to this video for reference frequently to help galvanize my rambling noodling into something keepable. Thanks so much!

[@billsybainbridge3362]

Another fabulous video with expansive explanatory power! A very thorough list of possible transformations. Thanks, David; and many future autodidactic composers thank you as well. :)

[@Chip87]

I want this as a cheat sheet I can keep next to my piano for composing, super helpful for writing block!

[@jayducharme]

Great lesson, David! Thanks.

[@solomongilbert3186]

It's a delight to have you back

[@vrixphillips]

saying the word 'repetition' without the Neely clip 'repetition legitimizes'???? sacre bleu!

[@JohannesWiberg]

7:22 I was actually expecting a "BASS!" here :D

[@KarstenJohansson]

This was an awesome compressed workshop!

[@EricMartinPercussion]

Simply an incredible amount of info in one video. Basically a whole composition textbook! Thank you for making this!

[@petermarsh4578]

Bloody fantastic. You are a blessing to adopting composers!

[@danielgreen4484]

Such a creative way of communicating using such a simple tune. Who knew?

[@RogerCreasy]

Thanks for this video. Tons of great ideas.

[@Blackenwhitkaeys]

One of the best videos I've watched recently. Incredible conciseness while spanning so widely

[@jameshebb2143]

Love this. So well thought out and executed.

[@statueofliberty1132]

This is really helpful thank you

[@charlienelson2001]

Great food for thought!!!

[@nikitamakarov8738]

the video couldn't come at a better moment, I'm just starting to learn how to write for the woodwinds and was planning to sit down and write a few variations on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to explore the instruments 😄

[@dave_manley]

Might want to look at en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Variations_on_%22Ah_vous_dirai-je,_Maman%22

[@abtdominique3610]

Excellente video avec un contenu très riche présenté de façon très pédagogique, merci !!

[@Eidmarion]

Amazing video, thanks a lot, David! I have forgotten many of these methods after I've left music school. But you've also mentioned some ideas that I've never really thought of... Will keep this video in my box in case of composition impotency😂

[@JanBLarsson]

I always enjoy your videos, Mr. Bruce. Thank you for the inspiration!

[@kyyzh12]

Watched this whole video while composing and got so many ideas lol

[@CliffScherer]

Great teaching style. Thanks a lot😊

[@nirandangol]

Eagerly waiting for Ben Nuboto video.

[@musicalintentions]

Great video! ❤️🎵❤️

[@txsphere]

So good. Makes me think "Adam Neely who?"

[@greguz]

Hi David, great video! Lots of great advice, although some parts moved too fast to properly digest the meaning in just one sitting! (I can see why.) And using a commonly known theme such as Chopsticks was a very good idea, except that I always hated it! And as you comment yourself, it's funny how the intrinsic quality of a piece can come through after doing so many transformations to it. I think I would have preferred to use a slightly less annoying theme. Even a nursery rhyme like "Itsy Bitsy Spider" would be better. But perhaps it would be better if I used that feeling to complete a few of my own unfinished pieces based on the advice in this video! 🙂

[@GizzyDillespee]

99 Bottles Of Beer On The Wall could be next, or The Song That Never Ends

[@rainbowkrampus]

Wait a second... This "Linus" fella is the spitting image of that dastardly villain, Cantus Firmus. And now that I think of it, you never do see the two of them in the same room at the same time...

[@Mikael26BE]

Great video!

[@m0llux]

Instructions unclear, filled my Apple Mac screen with post-it notes.

[@kamilguitarra]

woooooooooooooow, great vid!

[@kostasjazz]

Thank you so much

[@circeus]

Watching this directly after watching a @LinusTechTips video creates some AMUSING mental images XD

[@WizardOfArc]

Counterpoint or canon as sudoku is an epiphany I had last year

[@PadeMoro]

That's such an interesting thing to say. What do you mean? EDIT: Never mind, I got to the point in the video :D

[@WizardOfArc]

Interpolation is new to me… and cool it is

[@bifeldman]

Very generous.

[@adamguitar1498]

So basically, do whatever you feel like, but with intent. Maybe a little like topography in Maths, where they're like "see this teapot? Well we can see it's also Squidward." At a certain point does it matter how we might be able to explain the transformation of an idea if it's not perceived as such? Like a crab canon for example, conceptually it's interesting, and actually writing one is a challenge, and making it enjoyable even more so. But does it really matter if the form is strictly adhered to if we can't perceive (by ear) what's happening in the much larger picture with that level of detail. Or like the Palindrome "was it a car or a cat I saw" Cool, but if spoken and the person it was being said to didn't know what you were up to, almost no chance they would realize it was a Palindrome. Music theory is mostly an explanation for musical things we have expressed. If I wrote a line of a single note repeating at an 8th note rhythm, I could say that it's happy birthday, but I just squashed all the pitches down to the space of 1 note and and made all rhythms homogeneous. However, at a certain point even if I can explain how I arrived at a conclusion, a point comes where regardless of if it's related we can't tell by ear, so how do we draw that line in terms of development?

[@GizzyDillespee]

If the song is called "No One Is Allowed Here" and your gimmick is that you're not going to play on the downbeat throughout the entire song... then you should be a stickler about it, even if most listeners won't notice and make the connection. But otherwise, UNLESS you have made a deal, to adhere to specific guidelines, with your self, teacher, employer or audience, then it's okay to approach composition artistically, using these sorts of compositional devices where it feels right, and abandoning them when that's called for.

[@lphilpot01]

Very interesting -- I find this fascinating. Too bad my ear won't support any compositional attempts... 😕

[@HARPAULSANDHU]

Great 👍👍👍👍

[@nicketaevani-fzukunf007]

That score look like some of Schnittke's.

[@Leogun94]

19:43 could you share the link to the gamelan performance video? Would love to experience the full piece.

[@bob-gabbitas]

26:31 lol, the the a# turns to an a-natural when the inversions are shown so all the transformations have duplicate notes

[@chesterchub]

The background beat at 1:52 is kind of distracting tbh since the melody is playing

[@majotroobs719]

At 36, timestamp 21:21 , shouldn't the top be notated in 6/8 instead of 3/4 to make the groups of 3 more visible?

[@patrickbeer1830]

My first was hot cross buns...I've gone ten years and I'm embarrassed to admit it but I've actually never learned chopsticks

[@undeadsnipa97]

great video, the trap music in the background is kinda distracting tho

[@theepisofdiabolos-dj5xh]

just came from david bennett's video lol

[@pseudotonal]

I wrote a 6-voice round with a surprising entrance of chopsticks and with added development. It becomes more and more developed and fragmented until the end. kzbin.info/www/bejne/sHupaWOVnbuArqssi=F8fgz1SAC2nmahtq

[@Ikkarson]

What’s with the sequencer « background » underneath your playing the examples? Found it very distracting indeed, they could at least have been synch’ed with the actual playing… EDIT: my bad, it appears to be sync’ed, I was too distracted to rightfully notice.

[@AndewMole]

it is synced....

[@ili626]

Credit to Bruce for connecting with beginners. For composers and jazz musicians, this is extremely tedious and boring

[@Izomak12]

"bit scrunchy and cool" /proceeds to play the most dissonant thing ever...

[@garretkaplan]

When will the vid with Ben Nobuto come out?

[@JBDazen]

We don't all know chopsticks, I hink it's an English thing.

[@tabor503]

I don't know chopsticks 😂

[@Stashi1808]

???Hello Mr. Bruce! I have a question for you. I'm a composer, and I don't think my music is worth much for anyone but me. I write what I feel. That sorta thing. Anyhow, I want to start publishing my music. I have a few subscribers outside of friends and relatives. But I have no idea how much I should price my music for. I'm not braging about a small fan base. I mention that because I do not think my music is worth anything, but I guess it is to some people, so that's throwing me off. I have a 1 minute and 30-second string quartet theme and variations in a rip-off classical style. How much do you think that could go for? Thank you so much. I like my music well enough for me, I just don't know if it's really worth anything. I mean, it's not like I'm Beethoven! Or any of the others. Therefore, I need advice. If you read all of that. Thanks so much. I always appreciate your great videos.❤❤❤

[@consequenceable]

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥❤😊🍻

[@tau9632]

Great video, but am I the only one that finds the heavy 808 beats combined with the plain, innocent piano a bit jarring? :DD

[@somadas6408]

MMCTS DOG

[@alsatusmd1A13]

25: Then restricting the scale as much as a sixth leaves only effects because it degenerates into clusters when you do anything very complex with it. 27: The idea of an antithesis to tonal language is a musicological controversy, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atonality.

[@andre.1984]

Great video!