Smooth tuneful composition ignores drums essentially (6)
I believe the answer is:
fluent
'smooth' is the definition.
(synonyms)
I cannot understand how the rest of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for fluent that I've seen before include "Easily flowing" , "Using (language) easily" , "Good at speaking (a foreign language?)" , "Ready in speech" , "Spoken with facility" .)