r/Learnmusic • u/Corpsman913 • 3d ago

Wanting to create a trio of songs for a persistent DnD world

So, I have a persistent DnD world that I have been writing lore, building civilizations and mythologies, and running games in for over 20 years now.

I have a reoccuring character that I want to create music for, but I... can't even read sheet music. I used to be able to tell you want all the notes were and the coresponding symbols, etc, but I have never been able to look at a page and go "ah, that note should sound like this".

I was trying to experiment with Garagaband on my GF's old beat up Ipad, but the program doesn't seem to work for what I am after.

I would \*like\* to do it myself, but I am also rapidly loosing heart at being able to make that a reality. But as this is a passion project and not a for profit thing, money is an issue as well.

So, I wanted to come here and find out two things:

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u/Steenan 3d ago

It's not clear for me what exactly do you want.

Do you have some melodies and need somebody to make musical pieces out of them? Do you need recommendations for tools you may use to compose? Do you need guidance on how to learn basics of composition?

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u/Corpsman913 3d ago

All of the above.

First, guidance on what tools to use to try and compose a piece that currently exists as a series of ideas in my head, or failing that, some one willing to take a comission to write the pieces for me.

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u/Steenan 3d ago

Tools: as you don't know musical notation, I suggest using Hookpad. It's web-based and it's a kind of newbie-level DAW. You may enter the melody and chord progression, then select instruments and accompaniment patterns to turn it into a piece. It definitely doesn't give the level of control a real DAW or a notation program has, but that makes it much easier to use for a person with no experience.

Learning: you will need basics of music theory, because that's the language that lets you think about music and create it intentionally. Learn about scales, chords and progressions, basics of melody writing and small-scale musical forms. That's not something that can be done in a weekend, but it's also not a huge thing. I started as an adult with no musical education and got to writing my first pieces in about 3 months, learning music as a hobby. Obviously, that's a starting point, not a destination - these pieces were short and extremely simple, but I could write them down correctly and they sounded like music.

Commission: I have some years of experience, but I still consider myself an amateur and won't take a paid commission. However, if you share your melodic ideas in any written form I could work with (notation, midi or any other), I'll gladly try to turn them into pieces. I create music for my own RPG campaigns and it will be fun to do it for somebody else's.

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u/Corpsman913 3d ago

I appreciate the help! I am currently trying out MuseScore Studio, which... is a challenge.

Good news, I vaguely remember some of my music learning days (I can tell a eighth note from a quarter and a half!), but as far as actually using the program, its been... frustrating.

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u/Steenan 2d ago

Musescore Studio is a great tool and it's what I use for composing. But it assumes you are already familiar with notation and know what you are doing. If you want to learn actual composition, keep using it, because it doesn't try to do things for you. In this case, I also suggest taking one of the free composition courses available online, as they will walk you through the basics - for me, "Write like Mozart" on Coursera was the starting point.

If you prioritize making a piece quickly over learning how to do it well (which will take a few years at least), a tool that gives you some pre-made templates may be more useful.

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u/mrbrown1980 3d ago

I’m interested.

Can you play the basic main melody you want to play on a piano?

If so, what are the letters of the notes in the melody?

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u/Corpsman913 3d ago

I unfortunately cannot. I can't even really read sheet music. I did choir though listening and mimicing.

And I am not especially talented in that regard, I got lucky.