I know many of us have different reasons why we play but for those that wish to compose, how do you go about it?
Did you go from having a solid grasp of jazz standards, and begin to improvise and then reharmonize pieces to the point that you’ve interpolated your own piece?
Or is the process of composing free from yet subconsciously structured with jazz theory and varying ideas?
Explorations of the creative process for how people create is really intriguing to me, feel free to share!
Do you build from smaller fragments such as, motifs, melodic lines,
Great questions here @MichaelOkorodudu and a nice area for discussion.
I’d recommend the following lessons and live seminars which provide an introduction to the art of composition:
I’m pretty sure that those lessons will answer your questions with examples and demonstrations into how music can be composed and where our inspiration can come from.
Hello Michael, I am new to PianoGroove. I was looking through the site when I saw this queston. It intrigued me. I have always wondered how the term, compose, fits in with the jazz community. I know it is used a lot. For example, when Rogers and Hart wrote songs, were they composing, or writing songs. I am pretty certain Lennon and McCartney ‘wrote songs’. What we call Jazz standards were the pop songs of the day, written by young people in their twenty’s. I am saying all this because of all the options you mention, you don’t mention lyric writing. Sometimes the lyric comes first. Often they are done together. Were you including lyrics in your question about composing ?
- am very excited to really learn more about composing jazz tunes