How to Make Instrumental Music

For those that are entering into the world of composition and songwriting, there are specific theories that can help to expand what you are able to do. If you are just beginning, one of the tools that you will want to include in your learning process is how to write instrumental music. Knowing the basics of how to put this together will help you to expand your skills and offer new melodies to the world.

Things You'll Need

• Staff paper

Instructions

1. Pick your instruments. If you are just beginning with instrumental music, it is best to start with fewer instruments. Writing out duets or quartets will provide you with more practice on putting the right things together.

2. Know your ranges. With each of the types of instruments that are a part of the trios or quartets, are also four different ranges that are used. For example, the violin quartet will have two high ranges from the violins, a medium range through the viola and a low range through the bass. Each of these will need to work together in order to create the most efficient sound and to create an arrangement that sounds correct.

3. Pick your time signature. Before you think about writing a note, you want to make sure that you have an idea of how you want the feel of the piece to sound. This means you will want to decide how fast or slow the piece will go. You will also want to decide where the accent will be on the different notes. For example, if you have a time signature with 3 beats, you will accent every third note. If you have a time signature with 4 beats per measure, you will accent every fourth note.

4. Pick a key signature. The next preparation step you will want to make is to know what your key signature will be. You can start with naming it major or minor. You can then decide on how many sharps or flats you will want with the key signature. Make sure that with instrumental music you have a main key signature for the instruments, which is known as concert pitch. Other instruments may change their key in order to stay within the same sound because of the notes that they play. You can check a range and key signature guide in order to find the right starting point.

5. Put together your melody. You can start with one instrument that will carry the melody for the music, and write out exactly how you want it to sound. This will give you a basis for how everything will sound underneath it. The easiest way to start writing this is to put the melody with the instrument that is in the highest range, which will provide a better sound for the rest of the instruments.

6. Put together the chord structure. After you have the melody, you can build the chords underneath it. Typically, you will want to match this with the notes that are moving in the melody, as well as with the key signature that you are in. Using the lowest sounding instrument for this will provide a strong basis and will create a better sound. For instance, if you have a melody that is in the key of C, and moves through a C, E, F and G, you can put a C as the bass structure underneath. This will allow for a certain harmony and will support the way that the melody is moving.

7. Harmonize with the melody and chord structure. The rest of the instruments that you add in will provide you with a harmony to support the melody. You will want to make sure that these are at different spaces and intervals so they will allow for the melody to stand out even more. For instance, if the melody is in a violin and is moving C, D, E, F, you can put a harmony that is a third below it with the viola, which would be A, B, C, D. This will allow the melody to be supported and will allow a blend with instrumentation.