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Note Values

1. Semi Breve - 4 counts
2. Minim - 2 counts
3. Crotchet - 1 count
4. Quaver - 1/2 count
5. Semi Quaver - 1/4 count

Once you start with the melody, how do you move the music forward? Where should it go? How does a group of notes become a composition? While there's no easy answer to cracking the Mozart code, it's good to start with small fragments called phrases and gradually build them up into full musical statements. No piece arrives fully formed.

• Try grouping phrases together in terms of the emotions they evoke. Guitar composer John Fahey, a self-taught instrumentalist and composer, wrote by combining small fragments by "emotion." Even if they didn't necessarily come from the same key or sound like they belonged together, if different phrases felt whimsical, or forlorn, or wistful, he would combine them together to form a song.

Most composition begins with the melody, or the lead musical phrase that will follow and develop throughout the composition. This is the "hummable" part of any song. Whether you're writing out solo charts for a single instrument or starting your first symphony, the melody is the place you'll start when you're writing sheet music. Standard melodies normally last 4 or 8 measures. This is because they are the most mathematical and pleasing to the ear, as they are somewhat easy to predict how they will end.

• As you start composing, embrace happy accidents when they occur. No pieces arrive fully formed and perfect. If you're looking for a new place to go with a melody, jam around on the piano or whatever composing instrument you favor and follow the muse where she leads you.
• If you're feeling especially experimental, explore the world of aleatoric composition. Pioneered by composition luminaries like John Cage, aleatoric compositions introduce an element of chance into the writing process, rolling dice to determine the next note on a 12-tone scale, or consulting the iChing to generate notes. These compositions will sound dissonant, in most cases, and is not always the best way to start or end a melody. It can however give your piece a unique feel that makes it stand out.