DoubleDecker
New member
Hi SOFTies,
Here's another article on music composition. This time, instead of composition philosophies, this is a brief guide which I considered as quite helpful. One of the notes I kept with all these while... I'm sharing it. :wink:
I alter the phrasing of some sentences to make it a proper read. (You'd know, all that American slang is not making any sense of proper English.)
For those SOFTies who are simply too shy to ask, or afraid of feeling embarassed, this will be quite a good read when you do not know how to start composing from scratch. One thing to note however, and I GUARANTEE you, you are not going to see success the first time you try it. Take some time to trial and error, before you see your whole song making some sense.
(Adapted from http://www.megalink.net/ )
The Guide
1) Decide what you are going to write - a song, a dance tune, a jazz ballad. It could be anything, it could turn into something else once you get started; this is just a place to begin.
2) Doodle with your instrument or voice until you find a short pattern or idea that interests you. It could be a series of notes or a fingering or a chord or chord pattern. This short idea is your "motif" - a short musical phrase. We will use it as a building block for your composition. It needs to be short. As short as 3 or 4 beats is fine. It can be as long as 6 or 8 beats, also. Think about being able to sing it in one breath, as you would speak a phrase in one breath.
3) This motif will be the first phrase of the tune. Now you need another phrase, same length, to "answer" the motif. This is called "question and answer" phrasing, and is a very basic musical form used in many styles of music. Your answer does not have to feel finished. In fact it may be more interesting if it doesn't feel complete.
4) Write down your motif again. Now you are looking for a final "answer", one that does make you feel that the discussion is done. The easiest way to do this is to end on the note that names the key. If you are tuned DDAD that note is a D.
Hey, you just wrote a short tune!
A motif is very short.. It can be manipulated in many ways. It can be reversed, turned upside-down, played higher, played lower, played faster, played slower. You can change the mode, the key, the time signature. You can add on to it, move it to different places in the phrase. All are valid compositional techniques.
A few thoughts:
If you want to compose a particular type of music, study it. What are that style's defining features?
Work on reproducing them in your music. For example, become familiar with its "form". If you're writing a contradance tune, it should have 32 measures to fit most dances. These are commonly divided up as 8 measures in the A part, repeated, and 8 measures in the B part, repeated. You can also have each section be 16 measures with no repeats. If you are writing a swing tune, there may be a verse, chorus, bridge, reprise of the chorus. That's what I mean by "form".
What chordal harmonies are characteristic of that style? What melodic patterns are characteristic of that style?
There is no one right way to compose music. You can write free-form, improvisational music and find an audience for it. You can write more structured music and again find an audience for it.
All music has structure, and as human beings our ears gravitate to familiar, secure sounds. Study and understand the structure of the style of music you wish to compose. Then you can make deliberate choices about what to create. If you choose to write free-form jazz your audience will be different than an audience for minuets. Your music is an expression of who you are, how you feel on a particular day. It's very personal, very important, and very fragile. Nurture your creativity and nurture yourself as a composing musician. Don't show your new compositions to someone who may not be supportive. At the same time, you need honest feedback to improve your writing. Choose that person carefully.
Above all, create! Nobody else ever has to see what you write for it to be real, valid, and essential to you.
Here's another article on music composition. This time, instead of composition philosophies, this is a brief guide which I considered as quite helpful. One of the notes I kept with all these while... I'm sharing it. :wink:
I alter the phrasing of some sentences to make it a proper read. (You'd know, all that American slang is not making any sense of proper English.)
For those SOFTies who are simply too shy to ask, or afraid of feeling embarassed, this will be quite a good read when you do not know how to start composing from scratch. One thing to note however, and I GUARANTEE you, you are not going to see success the first time you try it. Take some time to trial and error, before you see your whole song making some sense.
(Adapted from http://www.megalink.net/ )
The Guide
1) Decide what you are going to write - a song, a dance tune, a jazz ballad. It could be anything, it could turn into something else once you get started; this is just a place to begin.
2) Doodle with your instrument or voice until you find a short pattern or idea that interests you. It could be a series of notes or a fingering or a chord or chord pattern. This short idea is your "motif" - a short musical phrase. We will use it as a building block for your composition. It needs to be short. As short as 3 or 4 beats is fine. It can be as long as 6 or 8 beats, also. Think about being able to sing it in one breath, as you would speak a phrase in one breath.
3) This motif will be the first phrase of the tune. Now you need another phrase, same length, to "answer" the motif. This is called "question and answer" phrasing, and is a very basic musical form used in many styles of music. Your answer does not have to feel finished. In fact it may be more interesting if it doesn't feel complete.
4) Write down your motif again. Now you are looking for a final "answer", one that does make you feel that the discussion is done. The easiest way to do this is to end on the note that names the key. If you are tuned DDAD that note is a D.
Hey, you just wrote a short tune!
A motif is very short.. It can be manipulated in many ways. It can be reversed, turned upside-down, played higher, played lower, played faster, played slower. You can change the mode, the key, the time signature. You can add on to it, move it to different places in the phrase. All are valid compositional techniques.
A few thoughts:
If you want to compose a particular type of music, study it. What are that style's defining features?
Work on reproducing them in your music. For example, become familiar with its "form". If you're writing a contradance tune, it should have 32 measures to fit most dances. These are commonly divided up as 8 measures in the A part, repeated, and 8 measures in the B part, repeated. You can also have each section be 16 measures with no repeats. If you are writing a swing tune, there may be a verse, chorus, bridge, reprise of the chorus. That's what I mean by "form".
What chordal harmonies are characteristic of that style? What melodic patterns are characteristic of that style?
There is no one right way to compose music. You can write free-form, improvisational music and find an audience for it. You can write more structured music and again find an audience for it.
All music has structure, and as human beings our ears gravitate to familiar, secure sounds. Study and understand the structure of the style of music you wish to compose. Then you can make deliberate choices about what to create. If you choose to write free-form jazz your audience will be different than an audience for minuets. Your music is an expression of who you are, how you feel on a particular day. It's very personal, very important, and very fragile. Nurture your creativity and nurture yourself as a composing musician. Don't show your new compositions to someone who may not be supportive. At the same time, you need honest feedback to improve your writing. Choose that person carefully.
Above all, create! Nobody else ever has to see what you write for it to be real, valid, and essential to you.
).
