What are some piano composing techniques?

Techniques for composing folk on piano?

• I've been playing piano for about ten years now, and every song I've ever played has been either baroque, classical, or romantic. A friend of mine and I have gotten together to start composing music, and we both enjoy folk music, kinda like the band mumford and sons. However, I have no experience composing folk, and every time I try to make something it sounds classical. Any techniques that I ought to know of? thank you!

• Answer:

  Instead of thinking individual lines, think chords. Folk music is more about what you sing and not so much focus on what you play. So find some chords that you like and sing along to them. As you get more comfortable, you can start to steal some ideas from your classical world, little piano melodies from time to time. Just get used to chords first.