If you want to make your own music here is a starting point and you can do this with open-source software which is free. Samples you can get from anywhere for practically nothing and all you need to do is effectively write the music (the notes, the backing, the layers) yourself by keying notes into some software, picking the instruments yourself and basically making it sound good. Even some professionals are making commercial music in this fashion because its cheaper.
As long as you have some form of musical ear and can recognise an out-of-tune note when you can hear one, its not difficult to knock something up and it'll easily pass for coursework quality. Release it into the community and get lots of feedback as well, people do enjoy what is effectively free music from the heads of people who've taken the time to make it. Some of it is really good.
Starter page on the Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracker