Brandon Nelson

IMAGO DEI

Category: Education

  • A Few Simple Atonal Methods (That Don’t Involve Serialism)

    Well, maybe not quite Stockhausen-y things here, but definitely not the strict serialistic procedures of Schoenberg et al… Composition methods, generally speaking, are as “simple” or “complex” as you choose to make them. If you want non-tonal methods of composing that don’t rely on a 12-tone row and its basic operations, I have a few…

  • How To Study a Piece of Music: A Practical Guide for Getting the Most Out of a Composition

    A piece of music, even an apparently very simple piece, presents to us a whole universe of ideas and approaches to them. We therefore need a way to organize these ideas in ways that help us to make sense of them, to understand better what the composer was trying to convey, and to become better…

  • How To Compose A Traditional American Military/Quick-Step March

    It shouldn’t surprise you that there exist literally thousands upon thousands of examples of this traditional American-style march. This march type used to be considered the popular music of its heyday (late 19th century into the early 20th century) and composers cashed in big time. Sousa, Fillmore, and King are the big names but there…

  • Update on New Concert Band Piece (and some talk on Neo-Riemannian Theory)

    I take you through the harmonic structure of the B theme, while giving one a gentle explanation of Neo-Riemannian theory if you’re not already familiar. https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRgwXgnu/

  • Fun With Counterpoint: Crafting a Two-Part Invention

    J.S. Bach composed his set of two-part inventions (click here to get a copy of them) as both instructional material for keyboard pedagogy as well as to embody basic contrapuntal principles. I’ve outlined here a process for composing a simple invention based on Bach’s model.  You will need knowledge of common practice harmony and basic…

  • How Teaching Composition Has Shaped Me As a Composer

    I really love teaching.  Whether it’s rehearsing large ensembles or working one-on-one with young composers, I get a deep feeling of satisfaction knowing I helped someone grow. Teaching composition, though, has had ramifications not just for my students, but for me.  Indeed, a common issue I had come to notice–and the solution I ultimately came up…

  • Filling the Gap: Teaching Young Composers How to Earn a Living

    First, the good news.  University composition programs do a lot of admirable things for their students.  Upon completion, one certainly has a command of the craft itself, the history behind it and current trends, as well as the essential musicianship skills that graduates of any music program would have.  A good, solid, artistic foundation. What…

  • Thoughts Before Composing a Piece of Music

    Creating a piece of music certainly requires some fantasy and inspiration, but mostly it’s about crafting and implementing a well-thought-out design.  The following presents many of the questions composers will have resolved before committing a single note to the blank page.  How explicit this process of answering the questions is often depends on the experience…

  • Troubleshooting Problem Behavior in the Classroom

    I may be a bit obsessed with classroom management because, well, I used to be really bad at it.  Most of my teacher training took good discipline for granted so when I stepped out in to the world for myself, I got quite a rude awakening.   In a frenzied search for answers, I read…

  • Music Education: Enabling the Freedom to Create

    Music education seems to live in a perpetual state of conflict and controversy.  Educators have for decades been barraged with questions about the educational value of music and whether it is prudent, in lean fiscal times, to spend tax dollars on a supposedly frivolous subject.  Even those within the field seem at times beset with…