American composition styles for beginners with Justin
Understand and apply the building blocks of modern American music composition across multiple styles (minimalism, film scoring, jazz-influenced, pop/songwriting harmony, etc.)
Meet Justin
Justin
Guides beginner composers with some musical background through the building blocks of modern American music, from hooks and harmony to rhythm and arrangement, using vivid analogies and hands-on examples inspired by film and popular styles.
7 units · 42 lessons
What’s inside
Core composing building blocks
- Build and develop a melodic motif
- Write progressions with chord function
Four American style studios
- Compose with loops, phasing, additive process
- Write a jazz blues with guide tones
- Craft a pop song with borrowed chords
- Score a short scene to picture
Your cinematic song project
- Compose a song for a scene
3 phases · 7 units · 42 lessons
Questions about this course
How does minimalist music like Steve Reich's use phasing and additive process?
Minimalist composers build music from short repeating loops, then let change come from process instead of big dramatic contrasts. In phasing, two copies of the same pattern slowly drift out of alignment, and in additive process, a figure grows one note at a time so the listener hears it change gradually. In this course's minimalism studio you compose your own pieces with loops, phasing, and additive process, starting from a motif you have already learned to build and develop.
What are guide tones in a jazz blues and why do they matter?
Guide tones are the thirds and sevenths of each chord, the notes that most clearly show whether a chord is major, dominant, or minor. In a blues, moving smoothly between these tones from one chord to the next outlines the harmony and gives melodies and comping lines a real jazz sound. This course has you write a complete jazz blues using guide tones, building on the chord-function progressions you practise in the core building-blocks phase.
What are borrowed chords in pop songwriting?
Borrowed chords are taken from the parallel key, for example using a minor iv or a flat VI inside a major-key song, which adds color and emotional shading. They work best when you understand each chord's function, so the borrowed sound feels like a deliberate twist and not a random wrong turn. In this course you first write progressions with chord function, then craft your own pop song that uses borrowed chords on purpose.
What will I be able to do after this course?
You will be able to build and develop a melodic motif, write progressions based on chord function, and compose in four American styles: minimalist loops and phasing, jazz blues with guide tones, pop songs with borrowed chords, and short film scenes scored to picture. The course ends with a cinematic song project where you compose a song for a scene.
How is learning with a live tutor different from reading articles or asking a chatbot?
Your tutor, Justin, is warm and playful, and he talks with you as you work instead of handing you a wall of text. He checks that you understand ideas like chord function or guide tones before moving on, and he adapts explanations and practice to where you are. The goal is that you write the music yourself, not just read about it.
How does the course work and how do I start?
The course runs across 42 lessons in seven units and three phases: core composing building blocks, four American style studios, and your cinematic song project. You take the lessons at your own pace, right in your browser, and it is free to join alltutors.ai and get started. It is designed for beginners who already have some experience with an instrument or reading notation.