Dear aspiring musician,
- Do you often find music books overwhelming?
- Do you find it hard to get clear answers to an ever-growing list of questions about music?
- Are you struggling to make progress? Maybe things are not quite clicking like you hoped they would?
There is a better way! With our comprehensive programs of weekly lessons and step-by-step exercises, we’ll take the mystery out of composing. You too can write music you are proud of!
What would your music sound like one year from now, if you could strengthen your composition skills a little bit every week?
Hi, I’m Matt!
In case we haven’t met yet, I’m Matthew and I live in Malta with my lovely wife, young son, and two very vocal cats. 🙂 I’m the creator of the School of Composition and I’m on a mission to make music theory and composition easy to learn. I love to break down how music works and to teach the tools and techniques of composition.
I’ve been obsessed with music for many, many years but I’ve also been frustrated with it for as long as I can remember. For years I was discouraged and unable to connect the dots. I knew that it was in me to write music – I knew it with every cell of my being – but I didn’t know how to do it often and how to do it well. After 10+ years of researching everywhere, thousands of hours of learning and hundreds of expensive books, things slowly started to click and the dots started to connect.
Why the School of Composition?
In 20+ years of teaching music I’ve helped hundreds of students and answered thousands of questions. The music theory and composition lessons I provide here are a result of that experience.
My teaching philosophy is beautifully summed up in this quote:
Isn’t that beautiful?
For us in music, it means I’ll give you the tools of composition and then leave it up to you to use them to create your own music. It’s a little bit like showing you how the lego bricks fit into each other without telling you what to actually build – that part is left up to your imagination.
My Music
Fantasy on a (given) Theme: This piece is my own entry to the School of Composition January 2018 Challenge – the challenge was simply that somewhere, somehow, the given 6-note sequence is used in the composition. I used it as the theme.
An Unlikely Waltz: this is another recent piece (written February 2018) – it’s a waltz for flute and viola celebrating Valentine’s Day.
Want to get composing?
Check out some lessons here. I’m sure you’ll find some inspiration in there!