music as a therapeutic tool for all ages

So you've been practicing on your piano for years and you are ready to compose your very first song. This is a big step for a budding pianist, but if you follow these steps, you can write your first piece on the piano and expand to bigger and better pieces. Make sure you understand the basics about playing in key and reading and writing music before beginning: these steps are designed to flex your creativity, rather than practice your basics.

Study Other Piano Sheets

The first step you need to take is downloading some free piano sheet music. There are a variety of sites online where you can search for pieces, download, and print them out. These sheets are a useful way to note how a song is created.

For example, it'll give you an idea of the way melodies (usually played with the right hand) blend with chordal harmonies (played with the left hand). It also gives you an idea of how a melody varies and changes through the song.

Compose The Lead Melody For Your Right Hand

After studying sheet music for a while (and studying the ways melodies interact with chords), it's time to compose your own. Start out relatively simply by sticking within one key. Here's a tip: Compose in C major (which is all the white keys) to streamline the composition phase. Later, you can transpose the melody to a different key to achieve a variety of effects.

For the sake of simplicity, start the melody on the root note (the note on which the scale got its name: in the sake of C major, it is "C") and start playing different note combinations. Improvising in this way can help you find a unique melody you may not have considered.

Write down your melody as you play it on the piano: start with something as simple as five notes. Repeat these notes in your chosen rhythm (writing it all down) and make sure to add repetition and dynamics (increasing and decreasing the volume of the notes) to create variety.

While there are a variety of rules you can use to write your melody, don't dwell too excessively on these at first. Simply enjoy creating your melody. Don't worry if it's too simple: You're learning the basic steps here, and you can create more complex work later.

Harmonizing With Your Left Hand

Generally, your left hand creates chords when you play piano. These chords create harmonies that thicken your melody and enhance it in a variety of ways. For example, if you play a major chord over a note, it will create a sense of fullness and joy. However, a minor chord will create a mournful air.

This is perhaps the trickiest part of the whole composition process. Your chords should generally match the direction of your melody. For example, if your melody goes up the scale, your chords should follow suit.

And since you're playing your first song, it's probably a good idea to keep your chord changes simple and to use them as a support for your melody. Later on, you can use variation techniques (such as change note positions in the chord) to create more complex pieces.

Playing It All Together

After you've composed some appropriate chord progressions for your melody, bring it all together by playing the chords and the melody at the same time on the piano. This may take a little practice, but it is a crucial part of the process.

As you play, you're going to notice little errors you may have made in rhythm and harmonizing. Alter your chords or your melody to fix these mistakes or integrate them into the song if they sound better.

Once you've mastered this process, you can start composing simple and even complex pieces on the piano. And this will bring a whole new joy to playing your piano. It can even help you master more difficult pieces later on.

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