Work with an Expert Mentor for Six Weeks
Sign up for this course with six weeks of personal mentorship from an expert, and get unlimited access to the content, forever.
Price $499
Payment plans available.
MENTOR-GUIDED LEARNING
Introduction to the Composer's Craft
Write more interesting pieces of music by better understanding the foundational elements of composition.
As a composer, there are many different tools in your toolbelt that can bring interest and originality to your music. You can use time signatures to add complexity, tonality to add emotional pull, rhythm to add drive, or something else to create some other unique dynamic.
This course will take you through the essential elements of modern composing. You'll explore the beat, time signatures, rhythm, tonality, timbre, texture, and structure, with key examples to demonstrate along the way, as well as weekly personalized feedback from an expert Soundfly Mentor. By the end of this course, you'll be able to employ these tools more effectively in your compositions.
Tim Hansen
Composer, Songwriter, Educator
Tim is a composer, songwriter, music director and storyteller inspired by a variety of gleefully dark sources. An enthusiastic and charismatic educator, Tim has created lessons for TEDed, is composer in residence at Santa Sabina College, and is engaged with Musica Viva’s ‘Musician in the Classroom’ program in Sydney. He is a co-founding director of W4 New Music collective in New York and has worked with ensembles including Synergy Percussion, the Song Company, Contemporaneous, Cadillac Moon and TRANSIT. Tim has studied with Michael Gordon and Martin Bresnick amongst others, and holds a Masters in Music Theory and Composition from NYU.
More About Tim
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Subscribe for Access to All Our Courses
Get access to all our premium courses without mentorship for a low monthly price.
Price $39/month
Compose more interesting music
By the end of this course, you'll be able to write complex music employing various foundational tools to bring your work to life.
Embrace the Elements
This course is built around dissecting essential compositional elements such as rhythm, beat, texture, tonality, and more.
Listen & Analyze Concepts in Action
We explore and analyze contemporary works by modern composers who use these concepts in their music.
Cultivate Your Toolkit Through Practice
We offer a series of constrained writing prompts to get you applying the concepts to your music right away.
Start Building Your Own Unique Portfolio
We'll help you develop your own compositional style using these elements as your starting point.
Are you an educator? If so, you can access educator discounts. !
GET PERSONAL SUPPORT & FEEDBACK FROM A SOUNDFLY MENTOR
Our expert mentors do whatever it takes to ensure that you achieve your musical goals for the course and leap forward in your learning.
Mahea Lee
Multi-Genre Composer
- Contemporary Writing & Production grad from Berklee College of Music
- Classically-trained pianist with 25 years experience
- Composition experience in classical, jazz, pop, & contemporary genres
Ian Temple
Composer & Pianist
- Composer marrying piano, strings & electronics
- Multiple video soundtracks, including award-winning film
- Works performed at major venues on three continents
WHAT STUDENTS SAY
Lina Farah
Indie Artist, Performer“By giving me the right tasks my Mentor helped me to come up with ideas to create the perfect values and tones for my musical story. Though the program is over, my mentor still feels like my accountability-partner which gives me an ongoing, encouraging drive.”
Kylie Couper
7-time Soundfly student“The detail in the song studies was amazing. This was extremely helpful. My mentor was excellent. His feedback was extremely helpful and this allowed me to get the most out of the course. The coursework itself is great, but the mentor is what makes all the difference between these and other courses online.”
Shasha G.
Singer-Songwriter“I got more out of one course with you, than I did enrolling in a Bachelor of Music (which I subsequently quit due to being disappointed at their curriculum!)”
Course Outline
MORE INFORMATION
Who is this course for?
This course is perfect for beginners. With tons of practice activities, this course will provide a boost to anyone who's interested in learning more about composition and looking to start their portfolio.
What will I learn?
Composing from scratch is one of the most challenging things you can do as a musician. In this course, we intend to introduce you to the common concepts that composers deal with every day when creating original music. By the end of this course, you will have a full understanding of some of the essential elements of composition, including rhythm, beat, texture, tonality, time signatures, and more. Each of these concepts can be directly applied to your own music.
What are the pre-reqs?
This course assumes a very basic knowledge of music notation, but it assumes little prior composing experience. If you feel the need to brush up on your music notation in advance, you can always check out our free course on how to read music.
How does a Soundfly course work?
We offer two ways to experience our courses: with mentorship or with a subscription. Enrolling with mentorship involves in-depth weekly personalized support and feedback from an expert for the six week duration of the course.
Enrolling with a subscription does not include mentorship but gives you access to all of the courses on Soundfly.com to go through at your own pace for as long as you're subscribed (and tons of extra perks — see below).
What do I get if I enroll as a subscriber?
As a subscriber, you'll get unlimited access to all the course content on Soundfly.com, including this course and all our other premium courses, to go through at your own pace. This includes all the videos, tutorials, demos, quizzes, activities, downloads, and other materials within our courses. You're also entitled to discounts of up to 33% on our mentorship programs, you will be invited to join our exclusive community Slack group, and you'll have access to exclusive discount perks courtesy of our partner brands. You can cancel anytime.
You can find out more about subscribing here.
What do I get if I enroll with mentorship?
Our mentorship program is our science-backed learning model designed to help you learn more efficiently and effectively. When you sign up, we'll pair you with an expert who will tailor the course to your experience level, offer detailed weekly feedback on your work, answer any questions you have, help you blow past obstacles, and keep you on track to accomplish your musical goals.
You can find out more about mentorship and our expert mentors here.
You'll also get unlimited, lifetime access to all the course content and lifetime access to our tight-knit musician community group on Slack, where you'll find peer-to-peer feedback and support, lots of inspiration, and fun, musical conversations with fellow Soundfly students, mentors, and staff.
How does the pricing work?
A subscription costs $39/month or $390/year if you enroll annually.
Enrolling with mentorship costs $649 for six weeks of intensive support from an expert, plus lifetime access to the specific course you're purchasing. Payment plans are available — reach out to [email protected] to find out more.
Is there a money-back guarantee?
Yes, if you enroll with mentorship. If you enroll with mentorship and the course isn't what you expected, we will give you a full refund as long as you tell us before the start of the second week, in order to honor the valuable time of our mentors.
We're also happy to move you to a subsequent session, if you end up not having as much time as you expected. Once again, let us know as soon as possible!
What does it mean that the course starts on a specific date?
If you become a subscriber, the start date doesn't mean anything. You're welcome to go through the content whenever you want, at your own pace.
If you enroll with mentorship, the start date indicates the start of the session with your mentor, which means you'll receive your first activities and guidance from the mentor on that day. You will be able to schedule calls according to you and your mentor's availability. The start date with mentorship is intended to help you stay accountable and get the feedback you need to succeed.
How long does this course last?
Our courses were designed to be taken in six weeks. If you enroll with a mentor, you will go through that six week curriculum. If you enroll with a subscription on the other hand, you can choose to use the six week structure, or you can ignore it and jump around as much as you want.
Will there be future sessions of the course?
Yes! Check back shortly for firm dates, or sign up for a Soundfly account to receive email updates about course dates and new course launches.