Developing Your Creativity as a Composer

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Authored by Richard Carrick

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Course Code: OCOMP-350

Next semester
starts Jan 12, 2026

12 Weeks

Level 3

Level 3

3-Credit Tuition

$1,575

Developing Your Creativity as a Composer focuses on the student developing their own creative instincts in music composition through experimental practices, musical puzzles, enabling constraints, and other non-conventional approaches to writing music. These approaches can spark new ideas while developing the student’s own sense of style and technique, and can be applied to a wide variety of musical styles and writing scenarios, including composition, arranging, and orchestration. Whereas most composition courses build from historically established composition strategies about melody, harmony, and form, this course encourages the student to find their own solutions to unconventional scenarios, not limited to any musical style. The goal of this course is for the student to develop their own musical language and preferences.

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This course can be taken by musicians with rudimentary experience with notation, as well as intermediate and advanced students who are looking to push their creativity, instincts, and personal musical language further.

By the end of the course, you will be able to:

  • Describe contemporary musical styles and approaches
  • Apply acoustic instruments, musical form, and musical coherence to their compositions
  • Apply novel techniques, skills, and strategies to the craft of composition
  • Develop their own compositional techniques and apply them toward writing and arranging music in different styles
  • Write compositions that address a wide variety of approaches to music making
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Overview Syllabus Requirements Instructors Related Music Career Roles
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Syllabus

Lesson 1: Compose Yourself

  • Creativity
  • Flow
  • Storytelling
  • Beginning, Middle, and End of a Composition
  • Making New Sounds
  • Assignment 1: Instant Composition

Lesson 2: Rhythm, Meter, and The One-Note Composition

  • Rhythmic Review
  • Rhythm as part of a Musical Phrase
  • Rhythms in Vocal Music and Speech
  • Meter and Mixed Meter
  • Assignment 2: One-Note Composing

Lesson 3: Timbre, Texture, The Farben (One-Chord) Composition

  • Non-traditional Chords and Pitch Sets
  • Orchestration
  • Chamber Music Techniques
  • String Trio Final Project Details
  • Assignment 3: One-Chord Composition

Lesson 4: Readymade Instruments

  • Explore Readymade instruments
  • Map the Possibilities of a Readymade
  • Analyze Varese Ionisation
  • Analyze Variations on a Door and a Sigh by Pierre Henry
  • Recording Techniques
  • Assignment 4: Composing using Found Objects
  • Vegetable orchestra

Lesson 5: Graphic Scores

  • A Brief History of Notated Music
  • Origins of Graphic Scores
  • Experimental Music
  • Interpretation
  • Graphic Score Sketches
  • Assignment 6: Graphic Score Composition and Performance

Lesson 6: String Trio Score 1/3: Brainstorm: Notate Fragments: Sketch Outline: Draft Beginning

  • Brainstorm
  • Fragments
  • Additional Resources
  • Sketch Outline
  • Draft
  • Assignment 7: String Trio Composition Fragments and draft of the opening of the score

Lesson 7: String Trio Score 2/3: Compose First Draft

  • Compose First Draft of Score
  • Extended Techniques for Strings
  • Solicit Feedback from Other Students
  • Assignment 7: Finish First Draft of your String Trio Score by Lesson 9

Lesson 8: Instruction/Text Composition

  • The Beginning of a Piece of Music
  • Analyze Three Instruction Pieces
  • Write your own Instruction
  • Assignment 8: Instruction/Text Composition and Performance

Lesson 9: String Trio Score 3/3: Revise and Finalize Score

  • Review Your Draft Based on Student and Instructor Feedback
  • Consider What You Would Like To Revise, Be Specific
  • Finish Final Score
  • Proofread Score and Parts
  • Expectations And Goals Of A Reading Session
  • Assignment: Complete String Trio Score and Parts for Reading Session

Lesson 10: String Trio Arranging with Extended Techniques

  • Choose a Song to Arrange
  • Basics of Arranging
  • Brainstorm Ideas for your Unique Arrangement
  • Assignment: Create A Non-Traditional Arrangement For String Trio

Lesson 11: Writing for Voice

  • Basics of the Human Voice
  • Vocal Rhythm
  • Text Setting and Prosody
  • Melody Writing for the Voice
  • Assignment 11: Voice Composition

Lesson 12: Reflection on the Creative Process and Your Compositional Output

  • The Life Cycle of a Composition
  • Best Practices after the reading of your new piece
  • Assignment: Journal your impressions of your reading
  • Program Notes
  • Assignment: Write Program Notes About Your Piece
  • Next Steps
  • Additional Resources For Emerging Composers, etc.

Requirements

Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements 

Prerequisite Courses, Knowledge, and/or Skills
Completion of Tonal Writing and Analysis, Music Theory and Composition 1, Music Theory and Composition 2, Counterpoint, and Music Notation and Score Preparation Using Sibelius Ultimate or Music Notation and Score Preparation Using Dorico Pro, or equivalent knowledge and experience is required.

Software

Hardware

  • Students are encouraged but not required to capture a live performance of their composition(s) in high quality and monitor audio output. Options include:
    • Input (one recommended):
    • Output (one recommended):
      • Headphones (required if multitracking and/or input monitoring)
      • Studio monitors and audio interface
      • Built-in or external speakers
  • Note: Depending on your setup, you may also need an XLR cable, microphone stand, and pop filter.

Other

  • Blank paper (tabloid or A3 size) and colored pens
  • Recommended: Manuscript paper with 8 or 9 staves per page (printable template provided in the course)

Student Deals
After enrolling, be sure to check out our Student Deals page for various offers on software, hardware, and more. Please contact support@online.berklee.edu with any questions.

General Course Requirements

Below are the minimum requirements to access the course environment and participate in Live Classes. Please make sure to also check the Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements section above, and ensure your computer meets or exceeds the minimum system requirements for all software needed for your course. 

Mac Users

PC Users

All Users

  • Latest version of Google Chrome
  • Zoom meeting software
  • Webcam
  • Speakers or headphones
  • External or internal microphone
  • Broadband Internet connection

Instructors

Richard Carrick
Richard Carrick

Author & Instructor

Composer, conductor and pianist Richard Carrick is a Guggenheim Fellow who writes music of spatial depth and robust stasis, characterized by the evocation of profound human experiences. Described as "organic and restless" by The New York Times, Carrick's music has been presented internationally at festivals including NYPHIL Biennial, ISCM World Music Days, Enescu Festival, released on numerous critically acclaimed CDs, and published by PSNY. His music spans solo, chamber and orchestral compositions as well as works incorporating dance, graphic scores, electronics, video projection, and conducted group improvisation.

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Carrick has presented concerts, master classes and lectures throughout the US, Europe, Israel, Rwanda, Japan, and South Korea, where he was a Korean Gugak Fellow in 2015. He currently serves as Chair of Composition at Berklee College and co-founder of Either/Or, with former faculty appointments at Columbia and New York Universities and as New York Philharmonic Teaching Artist.

Born in Paris of French-Algerian and British descent, Carrick received his BA from Columbia University, PhD from the University of California-San Diego, and pursued further studies at IRCAM and the Koninklijk Conservatorium. Read Less

What's Next?

When taken for credit, Developing Your Creativity as a Composer can be applied towards the completion of these related programs:

Related Certificate Programs

Related Degree Major

Related Music Career Roles

Employers look for skills learned in this course, when hiring for the following music career roles:

Composer (Concert and Stage)

Composer (Film)

Composer (Television)

Composer (Video Games)

Freelance Composer

Questions?

Contact our Academic Advisors by phone at 1-866-BERKLEE (U.S.), 1-617-747-2146 (INT'L), or by email at advisors@online.berklee.edu.

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