The art and craft of creating new music.
24
votes
8answers
478 views
What exactly should I have to learn to understand why certain combination of chords are harmonic when played in a sequence?
I am an intuitive music composer trying to move to a technical music composer. As a dummy, I see music as a composition of 'pieces' (my word). Each piece is a set of notes that are melodical when ...
5
votes
2answers
1k views
What are the most common ways to “decorate” a melody?
Yes, I know, there are way too many possibilities and it depends on the style of the music... I would be happy with an incomplete list for beginners (like me). Here is what I have so far:
...
10
votes
4answers
400 views
What gives a piece of music its personality and feeling?
What makes a piece of music sound angry, dark, sad, happy, or otherwise?
"La Chute" by Yann Tiersen sounds so angry to me and "A Dark Knight" from "The Dark Knight" movie sounds so dark and ...
13
votes
5answers
333 views
Is there any way to improve composing?
Beside playing drums I'm toying with software to create music. The problem is when I need to advance further. I may have some good, let's say "riffs" (or pieces, or melodies, or ideas), and I'm pretty ...
5
votes
5answers
1k views
How do you compose using the chromatic scale?
Writting a piece of music using the chromatic scale would be interesting, but I can't think of a way to start it? What kind of structure would a piece have? Is it all subjective and up to the composer ...
15
votes
8answers
361 views
Any advice for a novice composer?
I have been learning the acoustic guitar for about 3 years, but just recently started writing my own songs. I am currently learning music theory.
Given that starting point what advice would you give ...
8
votes
2answers
3k views
How to turn any (pop) song into a jazz song?
Quite often there are pop songs wich get covered in a jazz style. These covers are seen from youtube to tv.
Now I tried doing something like this, with for example Bad Day by Daniel Powter. It's ...
14
votes
2answers
847 views
What is the relationship between the melody line and the rhythm chords?
Let's say I've written a song with the chord progression I-IV-V in the key of A (just as an example). So, the chords I'm playing are A-D-E. When playing a lead over this rhythm, what notes do I need ...
10
votes
6answers
910 views
How to dramatically change the feeling of a song while keeping the melody largely the same?
How to dramatically change the feeling of a song while keeping the melody largely the same? Let's say we have a happy, upbeat pop song and we want to turn it into a sad song (or vice versa). Is it ...
9
votes
2answers
460 views
Software for microtonal MIDI?
I'm looking to make some microtonal music (19/22 tone equal temperament). I want to produce it with midi. Timidity++ used to be able to produce a WAV file from a microtonal tuned .MID file, but it is ...
7
votes
4answers
794 views
A total newbie wants to learn how to write songs. What does he need?
I am recently being interested in writing my own songs/my own music. However, I'm a newbie when it comes to music. I am not really musically talented nor inclined. I only know basic guitar chords and ...
11
votes
2answers
637 views
Well-known composers or piano pieces generally suitable for someone with small hands?
One of my struggles with playing the piano is that I have small hands. I can reach an octave - mostly. I can reach it, I just can't maneuver between octaves quickly. Often times a piece will have a ...
3
votes
2answers
87 views
Accidentals in First Species Counterpoint
On page 39 of Alfred Mann's translation of The Study of Counterpoint there is a passage concerning justification of using accidentals in first species counterpoint.
Here is the passage:
Aloys: ...
2
votes
1answer
96 views
General methods for turning a riff into a song?
Say if have a really nice 2-bar riff that I like a lot. How would I go about composing a song around that?
Ok, the obvious answer is "play it a few times, then make some variation of it, play that a ...
1
vote
2answers
518 views
Audiation, Mental hearing, Composing/Reading scores without sound reference
Many composers in the past (as well as the present) were known to do that.
So, are there any ways in order to achieve this? Any exercises and so on?
