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I haven't done much composing lately, but I am a composer and a guitarist, having attended Berklee School of Music (online) for composing music for film & TV. I know Diatonic music theory pretty well, along with orchestration and traditional counterpoint.
What I'm studying now is something I suggest to musicians and composers who can read and write music...
Music Interval Theory Academy
https://musicintervaltheory.academy/
What that is about is a different way of thinking when composing music. Diatonic thinking is mostly thinking in the 7 notes of a musical scale, and writing within a certain scale and mode (like C Major/Ionian or A minor/Aeolian). It can involve modulation to different keys, and depending on the style of music, even alterations or extensions in a chord.
Interval thinking is different. It is more concerned with certain techniques that follow the nature of music, i.e., the Overtone Series, and that is not limited to Diatonic thinking. For example, accidentals may appear in a composition that are not Diatonic to the piece. Yet the piece will have an emotional quality keeping to the direction the composer intends.
An idea to demonstrate this is with complimentary intervals. If you have an interval like a C (root) and an Eb, that is a minor 3rd. What we want though is the number for the chromatic steps from C to Eb, which is 3. It's complimentary interval will add to that 3 to equal a 12 (the full 12 chromatic steps of the Major scale). So we need a 9 to add to that 3 (9 +3 = 12). The chromatic interval of a 9 from root C is the note A. So the complimentary interval is C-A. If you play the interval C-Eb and then C-A, you will hear them as compliments. It doesn't matter that Eb is not Diatonic to C Major. Same with other intervals.
Another one: C to Ab. Diatonic C Major, the Ab is an altered note, it's not Diatonic (natural) to the key of C Major. Ab is an 8 interval from C (thinking intervals). C-Ab is an 8, so we need a 4 to equal 12 to get its compliment. That would be a an E, so C-E interval. It's obvious that an Ab note is not in Diatonic C Major, yet the C-E complimentary interval will still sound connected to the C-Ab sound, and that's what's important.
So if you play C-Ab, then C-E, keeping the C in the root, the following will give more proof that the emotion of the sound of the changes will still be complimentary with each other. Do this in the next bar do a position change (PC), move the root C an octave above the E, and with the next interval move the root C an octave above the Ab. Playing will look like this: C-Ab, C-E, E-C, Ab-C.
You can keep moving those interval's using PC even higher or lower octave-wise. And if you had 3 notes doing this, which would give you a chord, that's even more choices for PC movement.
What this kind of thinking does is give you much more material for composing than you would get from just Diatonic thinking. If you look at a score done using Interval thinking, it will confuse those who only think Diatonically, because it won't have key signatures because of how fast interval changes can occur. A part may appear to be in Diatonic key, but then immediately sharps and flats appear which aren't in that Diatonic key. It's really a 12-tone way of writing, except it doesn't have to follow discordant style harmony (though it can do that very well too).
The above is only a little hint of the techniques M.I.T.A. teaches.
What I'm studying now is something I suggest to musicians and composers who can read and write music...
Music Interval Theory Academy
https://musicintervaltheory.academy/
What that is about is a different way of thinking when composing music. Diatonic thinking is mostly thinking in the 7 notes of a musical scale, and writing within a certain scale and mode (like C Major/Ionian or A minor/Aeolian). It can involve modulation to different keys, and depending on the style of music, even alterations or extensions in a chord.
Interval thinking is different. It is more concerned with certain techniques that follow the nature of music, i.e., the Overtone Series, and that is not limited to Diatonic thinking. For example, accidentals may appear in a composition that are not Diatonic to the piece. Yet the piece will have an emotional quality keeping to the direction the composer intends.
An idea to demonstrate this is with complimentary intervals. If you have an interval like a C (root) and an Eb, that is a minor 3rd. What we want though is the number for the chromatic steps from C to Eb, which is 3. It's complimentary interval will add to that 3 to equal a 12 (the full 12 chromatic steps of the Major scale). So we need a 9 to add to that 3 (9 +3 = 12). The chromatic interval of a 9 from root C is the note A. So the complimentary interval is C-A. If you play the interval C-Eb and then C-A, you will hear them as compliments. It doesn't matter that Eb is not Diatonic to C Major. Same with other intervals.
Another one: C to Ab. Diatonic C Major, the Ab is an altered note, it's not Diatonic (natural) to the key of C Major. Ab is an 8 interval from C (thinking intervals). C-Ab is an 8, so we need a 4 to equal 12 to get its compliment. That would be a an E, so C-E interval. It's obvious that an Ab note is not in Diatonic C Major, yet the C-E complimentary interval will still sound connected to the C-Ab sound, and that's what's important.
So if you play C-Ab, then C-E, keeping the C in the root, the following will give more proof that the emotion of the sound of the changes will still be complimentary with each other. Do this in the next bar do a position change (PC), move the root C an octave above the E, and with the next interval move the root C an octave above the Ab. Playing will look like this: C-Ab, C-E, E-C, Ab-C.
You can keep moving those interval's using PC even higher or lower octave-wise. And if you had 3 notes doing this, which would give you a chord, that's even more choices for PC movement.
What this kind of thinking does is give you much more material for composing than you would get from just Diatonic thinking. If you look at a score done using Interval thinking, it will confuse those who only think Diatonically, because it won't have key signatures because of how fast interval changes can occur. A part may appear to be in Diatonic key, but then immediately sharps and flats appear which aren't in that Diatonic key. It's really a 12-tone way of writing, except it doesn't have to follow discordant style harmony (though it can do that very well too).
The above is only a little hint of the techniques M.I.T.A. teaches.
