The Art of
Musical Architecture
Composition & Arrangement — Deconstruction and Reconstruction
I teach composition by taking things apart before putting them together. Every piece of music you admire — whether a Handel Passacaille, a Joe Hisaishi theme, or a four-bar blues riff — is built from the same raw materials: intervals, rhythm, harmonic motion, and silence. My method, Deconstruction and Reconstruction, begins with a work you already know and asks: what actually makes this sound the way it does? Strip it to its skeleton. Then rebuild it in your own voice, using the tools you have just uncovered.
One piece runs through almost every exercise in my arrangement series: the Passacaille from Handel's Suite HWV 432. Not because Handel is the most important composer in history, but because this eight-bar harmonic cycle is so elemental that it can carry almost anything — a minor blues, a medieval modal fragment, a pentatonic melody in the Japanese 羽 classification, a chord substitution that would feel at home in a Chopin nocturne. By working deeply with a single harmonic spine, you learn to hear the same structure in music separated by four centuries and several continents.
Every student I work with eventually receives exercises composed specifically for where they are in their development — not exercises from a published method book, but pieces I write for them. This is because the moment a student encounters a problem that no existing exercise addresses is exactly when the learning accelerates. My background as a working composer means I compose your exercises the way I compose for games and films: with real musical intention, not mechanical drilling.
What This Course Is
Four pillars of the compositional method
Deconstruction & Reconstruction
Every session begins by dismantling something beautiful. We identify the harmonic skeleton, the rhythmic logic, the voice-leading choices — then reconstruct, substituting, modifying, and reinventing. This is how I compose professionally, and it is how I teach.
From Baroque to Blues to Anime
My exercise series spans Handel, Chopin, Beethoven, Liszt, blues hexatonic scales, the ancient Greek modes, Japanese pentatonics, and anime lead sheets. The goal is not eclecticism for its own sake but the recognition that all of these traditions are speaking the same harmonic language.
The Ancient Greek Modes
Dorian, Aeolian, and their companions are not archaic curiosities. They are the emotional vocabulary of medieval folk music, the harmonic colour of Irish reels, the dark shimmer of a Sakamoto film score. Understanding them changes how you hear everything you listen to.
Exercises Composed for You
Generic exercises teach generic musicians. As your course progresses, I compose targeted exercises drawn from your specific difficulties — pieces that are musically interesting to play and pedagogically precise. This is one of the things that makes this course unusual.
What's Included
Every session is a complete compositional experience
- 70-minute sessions (online or in-person, Tampere region & Helsinki reach)
- Session resources prepared and delivered before each lesson
- Recording of your own playing actively encouraged — playback is a teaching tool
- Written Nota Bene annotations: why each musical decision matters
- Access to the full Deconstruction and Reconstruction exercise series as we progress
- Bespoke exercises composed for your specific challenges and compositional voice
From the Exercise Series
A selection of scores from the Deconstruction and Reconstruction curriculum
The Dorian Mode & Medieval Fantasy
Handel HWV 432 Passacaille reworked through Greek modes → medieval fragmentation → pentatonic scales
Texture & Chord
Chopin Op.10 No.1 · Liszt La Campanella · Mastering the interval within a tenth
Outer and Inner Voice
Beethoven Op.2 No.1 · Mozart K466 · Liszt Liebesträume — voice independence in the Romantic tradition
Temporal Measure & Unit
Finding a common pulse across Handel, Bach BWV Anh.114, Chopin, and Beethoven Pathétique
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Composition can be studied at the keyboard without being a performing pianist. Some ability to pick out notes and play simple harmonies is helpful, but the course is not a performance course. The intellectual and harmonic work is accessible from any level of keyboard ability.
It is my core compositional approach: we begin with a piece of music you already know and admire, strip it to its harmonic skeleton, identify the structural decisions that make it work, and then rebuild — substituting, modifying, reimagining. You learn to compose not by filling in a blank page, but by understanding what makes existing music move people.
Theory is embedded in every exercise, not taught as a separate abstract subject. You will learn about modes, harmonic motion, voice leading, and counterpoint — but always in direct connection to music you are working with. Theory without application is of limited use.
The exercise series spans Baroque (Handel, Bach), Romantic (Chopin, Liszt, Beethoven), the ancient Greek modes, medieval modal fragments, blues scales, Japanese pentatonic systems, and anime lead sheets. The goal is not eclecticism — it is demonstrating that all of these traditions share a common harmonic grammar.
Yes. Online and in-person sessions (Jyväskylä area) are both available. All materials are delivered digitally before each session.
Students who engage seriously with the exercise material — meaning they play through it, attempt the variations, and come to sessions with questions — typically notice a qualitative shift in how they hear music within six to eight sessions. Composition is a listening skill before it is a writing skill.
Begin Your Compositional Journey
Whether you have composed before or are starting from nothing, the process begins in the same place — with careful listening and a single musical question. Get in touch to discuss your goals and arrange an introductory session.