# Are there any composition teachers here?



## Swosh (Feb 25, 2018)

I really need a teacher, and am very interested in any responses.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Swosh said:


> I really need a teacher, and am very interested in any responses.


Perhaps an indication in the area you are living will help, or do you mean only anonymous?


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Try this: https://www.artofcomposing.com/how-to-compose-music-101

Personally, and this is MY opinion, composition cannot be taught. You either have it or you don't. Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms...they never took Intro to Composing 101. They learned by listening, playing, emulating. They had great examples to go by. Assuming your harmony, counterpoint and ear training are in place, who needs a teacher? You need mentor - someone to go over your work with a critical ear, who can offer good advice. Same with conducting - as Otto Klemperer used to say, when he scoffed at the idea of conducting classes, "We had good role models". But look at the website, maybe it'll help.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

I'm with mbaub. Haydn learned by looking at other scores. A lot comes from common sense and from listening experience of proper ways.

Someone who went through some composition education mentioned a while back, they learn to write in stricter forms like fugues, maybe sonata form, etc. But I doubt they could teach to write a symphony, quartet. It's just too broad.


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

I also agree with Phil and mbhaub. The proviso being that technique (harmony and counterpoint) can be taught but only with reference to certain stylistic confines, typically that of common practice. As mbhaub says, if you have cp techniques under your belt, then you should be equipped to start exploring technique and what it can do for your own voice and I would recommend cultivating a sense of adventure too.


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## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

I disagree with mbhaub in that composition cannot be taught. Sure, Haydn and many others had an innate gift that enabled them to write masterpieces, but a teacher can go a long way towards instilling basic principles of music in a student. These are principles that should later be broken, of course!


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

To know how to answer I would need more information:

What kind of music do you want to write? Have you studied harmony and counterpoint in any formal way? If not, it is possible that what you need isn't a composition teacher, but an instructor in theory and counterpoint. I think a composition teacher can be very helpful to someone who has the basic skills in harmony and counterpoint and an understanding of formal structure but who might need help with working methods, critical thinking, and self-evaluation, and practical insight and advice of other kinds.


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