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.

[@Nooticus]

Undoubtedly so ^

[@MariUSukulele]

great lesson Danke fröm Germany 🇩🇪

[@DBruce]

Thanks! 😃

[@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.

[@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)

[@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

[@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.

[@tomascarney5505]

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

[@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!

[@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. :)

[@Nooticus]

This video is one of the very few videos on KZbin that goes into my category of a ‘Landmark video’; a video that quite literally is something that has never ever been done in this way before. This is an extraordinary video, truly landmark. I can tell clearly that this is a labour of love for you, because there is so much here that you didn’t HAVE to include but still did. The background audio/music for all the hundreds of musical examples is something that alone must have taken you a long time! As a composer myself who is currently studying music at uni, its incredible how many of these techniques I use regularly in my work but without ever being explicitly taught them like you have in this video; I just learnt through a lot of listening and practicing. Just phenomenal work David 👏

[@DBruce]

appreciated, thanks!

[@glennsewell6980]

Totally agree. Can you share some of your other landmark videos?

[@Nooticus]

@@glennsewell6980 Honestly… I cannot think of any off the top of my head 😭 unfortunately I have not been saving them, I just think ‘wow’ and then forget about them unfortunately :( The best I can tell you right now are: the entire channel of Greg McCahon, the entire channel of Jojo Aigner (all from several years ago where he attempted twice to hitchhike around the entire world), some of the recent documentary-style public transport videos from Geoff Marshall, the 2017 project also from Geoff Marshall on its own channel called ‘All the Stations’, some obscure technical minecraft videos (though they will probably not interest you), and the entire ‘gerubach’ channel.

[@Blackenwhitkaeys]

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

[@solomongilbert3186]

It's a delight to have you back

[@Chip87]

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

[@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!

[@glennsewell6980]

I am going to return to this video often. Simply outstanding. Thank you, David!

[@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.

[@wendolienkrulmuziek]

This video will stay on my private playlist to keep coming back to. Thank you for making this! It's truly inspiring. 😊

[@elusive1970]

This is jaw droppingly useful no matter what level you are. Bookmarked this thing and I'm sure I'll be back. Thank you David David David Bruuuuce.

[@joeldcanfield_spinhead]

ah, all the learning stuffs. polyrhythm vs polymeter. heterophony. serialism. counterpoint vs canon. paused so many times to look up and clarify terms, and then, in context, they start to make sense. thank you so ver much.

[@EricMartinPercussion]

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

[@jayducharme]

Great lesson, David! Thanks.

[@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!

[@armandogiordano1226]

Such a lovely work.

[@alexandrgidrevich986]

Phenomenal video. Thank you.

[@petermarsh4578]

Bloody fantastic. You are a blessing to adopting composers!

[@kyyzh12]

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

[@danielgreen4484]

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

[@statueofliberty1132]

This is really helpful thank you

[@RogerCreasy]

Thanks for this video. Tons of great ideas.

[@jameshebb2143]

Love this. So well thought out and executed.

[@JanBLarsson]

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

[@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

[@CliffScherer]

Great teaching style. Thanks a lot😊

[@darrendm8037]

I really need this video in paper form! :)

[@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😂

[@charlienelson2001]

Great food for thought!!!

[@05degrees]

12:18 …And quite extensively in house and techno (and some other electronic genres)! Oftentimes due to sampling a whole chord so you get planing automatically.

[@musicalintentions]

Great video! ❤️🎵❤️

[@kostasjazz]

Thank you so much

[@Mikael26BE]

Great video!

[@nirandangol]

Eagerly waiting for Ben Nuboto video.

[@txsphere]

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

[@m0llux]

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

[@bifeldman]

Very generous.

[@HARPAULSANDHU]

Great 👍👍👍👍

[@WizardOfArc]

Interpolation is new to me… and cool it is

[@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...

[@kamilguitarra]

woooooooooooooow, great vid!

[@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

[@circeus]

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

[@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?

[@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

[@Leogun94]

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

[@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... 😕

[@joeldcanfield_spinhead]

@15:40 ah, counterpoint, finally something I get intuitively @15:45 "it's one of the hardest . . . " once again, I confuse me.

[@chesterchub]

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

[@nicketaevani-fzukunf007]

That score look like some of Schnittke's.

[@undeadsnipa97]

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

[@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

[@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

[@garretkaplan]

When will the vid with Ben Nobuto come out?

[@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

[@JBDazen]

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

[@Izomak12]

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

[@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.❤❤❤

[@tabor503]

I don't know chopsticks 😂

[@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!