Hot answers tagged composition
17
As a composer, you mostly end up writing for instruments that you yourself don't play. Apart from Hindemith, it is fairly impossible to maintain a high level of proficiency on every instrument - there just isn't that much time and it is not feasible.
However, that does not excuse having a working knowledge of the instrument. Though it might seem silly to ...
16
I'd suggest the piano. While it takes many years to master, the piano is one of the easiest instruments to begin playing. Learning to play even the simplest chords or melodies on other instruments can take weeks, but a complete novice can use a keyboard.
The piano also lends itself well to composition because it has a wide range and it is easy to play ...
14
Listen to as much music as possible in as many styles as possible and force yourself to listen to music that you aren't familiar with or even don't like. You can't progress from a point of no reference. Like when you learn to speak, you learn vocabulary from practice and by emulating others. Then, after you've built up a broad vocabulary, you can start to ...
11
An arranger specifically changes the music away from what was originally written. This is different from an editor who might clean up notation, clarify the meaning of markings, translate outdated terms, give instructions for proper interpretation, etc. Both technically alter the original but the editor tries to "bring out" the original as much as possible, ...
10
Use the diatonic harmony trick of stacking notes and see what you come up with.
For instance, in G, the notes of the major scale are
G A B C D E F#
If we stack every other note in that list (wrap to the beginning when necessary) 3 times we get a simple minor or major chord/triad:
G,B,D - G Major
A,C,E - A Minor
B,D,F# - B Minor
...
8
An arrangement is about which instruments play what, when and how for a specific tune.
The core of a tune, or composition, is the melody/-ies1. Using this core an arranger - i.e. the person attributed by "arranged by" - when creating an arrangement may
Decide what instruments, including singing voices, to use
Select key (or keys) for the arrangement (i.e. ...
8
I think that you probably mean "whinnying" of a horse.
With brass instruments, it's typically done with a valved instrument, such as a trumpet or a tuba (or valve trombone if you have one.) The sound is typically produced by pressing the valves halfway down and either shaking the instrument (in the case of a trumpet) or by making a very wide vibrato. ...
8
Traditionally speaking, composers throughout history have either been keyboardists of some sort or violinists. The reason for this is that before the advent of technology, the piano was the primary source for playback for a composer - thus, if a composer wanted to hear what they wrote, they had to learn to play the piano. As far as violin goes, I can only ...
8
The way this band is approaching odd times is by adding the remainder to some kind of easily digestible time signature.
In terms of 17/16, they're playing it like 4/4, but adding one sixteenth to the end of the beat. The 9/8 thing is the same as adding an extra 8th note to the end of a 4/4 bar.
This way you get the rhythm of 4/4 then they create tension ...
7
First of all, learning just basic music theory is a must. I don't know what your background is but if you're unable to read a piece of music it's likely you're going to have difficulty writing it. Learning how chords work is a must. Not only recognizing what they look like but if someone plays one on a piano or something you can recognize that its a major ...
7
My response will be in part influenced by the information I gathered from reading your profile.
My first suggestion to you is to strongly encourage you to learn an instrument. If you're serious about writing music and about having it played by live performers, having a working knowledge of the instruments is important. It is paramount to be technically ...
6
I'd call it downbeat ambiguity, one of various kinds of metric ambiguity.
In terms of a general conflict in downbeat between the melody and the accompaniment, you can trace this back in music to Beethoven and Mozart at least – see Roger Kamien, "Conflicting Metrical Patterns in Accompaniment and Melody...".
Sometimes, the ambiguity arises from an initial ...
6
I believe this effect is called "turning the beat around". There are examples all through rock music. I've heard this term frequently applied to certain songs by the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. [Note that this effect has nothing to do with the song entitled "Turn the Beat Around", which was a hit for Vicki Sue Robinson in 1976 and for Gloria Estefan in ...
6
I'm not sure if there's an official term for it, but I guess it could be considered a form of syncopation, which is an unexpected disruption of the regular rhythm due to placement of stresses or accents where they wouldn't normally occur. The main difference is that, while syncopation usually refers to a temporary change in the middle of a musical piece that ...
6
There are three different things here: the sonata(-allegro) form, the (multi-movement) sonata form, and the title sonata.
The sonata(-allegro) form is a form of one movement. It's usually fast (hence the allegro) and the big structure is ABA, where the first A is called exposition, B is development, and the second A is recapitulation. Sometimes there's a ...
6
The basic idea of the style is that it's in 3/4 time (or other triple meter), with accents on beats TWO and THREE.
The accents are what makes it feel unbalanced. You are probably used to waltz style, where the accents are on ONE and THREE. As such, it may be easy to mistake beat 3 of a mazurka for beat 1 of a waltz, since those accents are in the same place ...
6
The intervals created are a major 3rd, minor 3rd, again major 3rd, perfect 4th, major 3rd, minor 3rd, major 3rd and finally a perfect 5th. If we interpret these as chords it could be A, G#m, F#m but for the F#m you're only playing the 5th, first inverted (below the root) then above the root (first F# is when you both play fret 11, second one is the last ...
5
I've had the same problem, but I managed to get mostly rid of it.
My first step was to be able to accept my style, when you're playing you have to know that you're not going to play the music you listen to, and if you're not used to the idea it can lead you to think it's bad just because it doesn't sound like what you enjoy listening.
My second step was to ...
5
In the USA and most of Europe, you own the copyright on any work you create automatically.
Things get a little bit more complicated when you create things as part of your job while working for an employer, but I assume that's not what you're asking about.
So the formal answer is, you don't have to do anything.
However, the question arises -- what if ...
5
In addition to tptcat's nice answer:
Besides just listening to music you could try and copy music for yourself -- record it or write it down. This will force you to observe all the details of the music you are listening to. And when you've copied a song (as best you can), think about what riffs, pieces, melodies, or ideas there are (that you could have made) ...
5
I think MySpace lost out to Facebook as a social environment.
Soundcloud is becomming very popular as a music sharing service.
Also more geared to commercial exposure is Bandcamp.
I think these are two very established sites, but there are many more nowadays that can provide a similar portal, and no single overbearing central one I know of.
5
With a fast enough tempo, it could be quite a few! :-)
Necessarily, you would need to time it out at your score's tempo to find a number, but the clarinet in general has a lot of resistance compared to other wind instruments, so the amount of airflow is relatively small.
Depending on the range of the instrument in which this note occurs, a good clarinetist ...
5
What's that saying about old dogs and new tricks? Yeah, that one. It's a load.
I say, go out and get yourself a keyboard and/or a guitar. There are a wide variety of models at different pricepoints and feature levels; you should expect to pay at least $500 to get either a keyboard or a guitar that will be durable enough and sound good enough to last you a ...
5
jjmusicnotes' answer is a good answer, and I'd like to make a special plea for the percussion section. I know many musicians don't have much time for percussionists, but as a composer the section can be your ally. It can keep the ensemble together (whether there's a conductor or not); it can give you a lot of support for dynamic changes; and it can help make ...
4
I admire your devotion to working at your improvisational skills but think that your playing skills may not be your primary problem.
Those of us who write (authors, not composers), can run into the same problem where if our first draft is not great, we abandon the story or idea.
The best advice I have been given is to just get something written. It's ...
4
Harmony is king, learn to write music 'improvising', 'rehearsing' on a real instrument.
contrary to @tptcat I don't write music on paper. And I don't think it can be easy for a drummer that don't play a multi-tonal instrument (strings or keys).
Harmony is the fact of putting several notes together. For example, managing a bass line and one line of melody, ...
4
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, but I did study music copyright law in college 20 years ago. If you want to verify my assertions, consult an entertainment lawyer.
In the USA, you cannot copyright your own arrangement of a song that is already copyrighted by someone else. It is unlikely that you could obtain approval to make your own arrangement from the ...
4
I would also agree that from a theory standpoint ending on the minor two is a bit weak. Ending on a five is an easy fix, but some other good options could be going I V IV I (country singers rarely mind ending and beginning on the I) or putting a six in. In the key of E that would be a C#minor chord, which would be stronger than your F# but not as strong as a ...
4
Your confusion concerning this issue stems from your incorrect voice leading. In the scenario you provided, you have parallel octaves between the first and second chord, which not only makes awkward voice leading for the third chord, but also leads to incorrect doubling for the second chord.
When using a diminished chord, it is better to double the third ...
3
Parts for most instruments only include the staff for that instrument. Musicians know when to come in by counting the rests written in their parts. Often lengthy rests are written as multi-measure rests, which look like a thick horizontal line with the number of measures printed above.
Piano scores for small groups or for choral accompaniment usually ...
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