Music Composition lessons

I teach composition and music theory at the Open Academy at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, open to all ages.

As an experienced teacher with a PhD and years of expertise, I tailor lessons to each individual, offering guidance in the writing process, feedback, assistance with music software, and a diverse range of ideas to enhance and expand musical understanding, including:

Pitch: tonalities and modality, chromatic and microtonality, melodic cells and contour, register, voice-leading,
Rhythm/Duration: meter and hypermeter, polyrhythm and polymeter, additive/subtractive patterning, syncopation, groove, tempo modulation.
Harmony: functional harmony, secondary functions, modal interchange, extended tertian, quartal/quintal writing, planning, nonfunctional sets, parsimonious voice-leading.
Dynamics: phrase shaping, envelopes, accent hierarchy, microdynamics, articulation, terraced and graduated changes
Timbre: orchestration and registers, extended techniques, spectral thinking, synthesis and sampling, FX chains and filtration.
Texture: monophony/homophony/polyphony/heterophony, stratified layers, counterpoint, canon and hocket, ostinati and drones, density and space.
Form: phrase and period design, binary/ternary/rounded binary, variation forms, strophic/ through-composed, cyclic design, large-scale architectures (sonata, fugue, arch form, collage). Contemporary/experimental approaches (modular, aleatoric, process-based, open form).

I also offer lessons for: HSC examinations, AMEB, child education, focusing on building a strong foundation for future learning, self-confidence, and introducing musical concepts through fun, interactive, activities. Lessons are available both in person and online.

Dr Daniel Portelli

There is also compositional thinking that extends beyond the scope of traditional musical analysis. In addition to structural and theoretical approaches, I also see composition as part of embodied and indicative relationships, such as those articulated in Denis Smalley’s concept of the 9 Fields. These fields highlight how gesture, texture, and surrogacy create meaning through perception and embodied experience, offering an expanded framework for analysing and creating music. See below:

Gesture/Texture
Surrogacy: sound and physical origin
Temporal framing: micro, meso, and macro timescales that condition perception
Utterance
Sounds generated within the body, including voice, breath, and corporeal contact.
Behaviour
Dominance and subordination
Conflict and coexistence
Causality as perceived agency within interactions
Energy and Motion
Momentum, inertia, vectors
Converging and diverging, ascending and descending contours, growth and decay
Rate of change, acceleration and deceleration
Object-Substance
Material-like qualities and massing
Motion types that suggest objects and their affordances
Morphology with gestural origin, grain versus continuity
Environment
Activity outside the immediate human orbit
Temporal frames that define ambient or ecological context
Vision
Quasi-visual listening and auditory imagery
Synaesthetic and cross-modal associations
Space
Spectromorphological properties across distance, width, and depth
Diffusion and spatial projection
Listener interpretation and imaginal placement

Based on: John Coulter—Extension of Denis Smalley’s Model of Creativity: https://vimeo.com/112869189