Sometimes when I listen to a song, especially in foreign language, I get inspired by its atmosphere, and write some great lyrics.
Question:
Are there any tips or techniques on how to compose a new, original song, based on a certain atmosphere?
I guess using the same chords would be a start, but how to create a new singing melody as awesome as original, yet different?
One might start with the chords though with so many pieces using common chord sequences (12 bar blues, passamezzo modern, cycle of fifths, etc.) that may not provide enough information. Most of these have been used for centuries. The rhythmic structure often contributes to a song's feel.
One thing to do is listen that song and other similar songs to see what they have in common that provides the feel you like. Then try imitating parts of one with parts of others until you get something you like.
I'll give a trivial example. When trying to figure out how to write a rumba (for American or International) ballroom dancing, I examined the following songs: "Siboney" Nina Mouskouri, "Beautiful Maria of my Soul" Antonio Banderas, "Te Quiero" Mestizzo. "Harlem Nocturne" Mantovani, and "Miami Beach Rumba" Irving Fields. These cover about 70 years of composing and with different styles. I also checked other songs by the same singers (and composers) to see how what I was interested in related to other pieces.
It helps to copy out the score to the songs you like because then you see the structure from a different point of view fro just listening.
It's easier to compose a song based on another song, set of songs, or in the style of a specific composer/album/etc. Listen to the music you want to compose in the style of (many examples if you can) so you figure out their typical chord progressions, rhythmic patterns, accompaniment patterns, instrumentation, etc. Then, use those in your new composition (well, the instrumentation is optional). Make sure that you do not use their melodies or you'll either need to point out the use of those melodies every time you publish the composition or be accused of plagiarism. Even worse, if their melody isn't in the public domain and people are not allowed to publish derivative works from it (hint: assume that any melody published after 1923 meets those dire requirements, according to US copyright law, unless the melody explicitly says otherwise), your published piece may be removed from the public eye anyway regardless of how many times you admit the origin of the melody. Rule of thumb: if you recognize the melody fragment from any piece of music you've ever listened to, don't use it.
For composing to fit a certain atmosphere, I recommend writing music--and listening to the music you compose--until your music evokes the atmosphere you desire. It's definitely more by feel than composing in a certain style.
Often people want to "give the impression" of a certain work without actually using it, usually because of royalties. Like, say, you're portraying an athletic training montage; you might want to reference "Gonna Fly Now" as used in Rocky. But if you don't want to pay for the actual licensing, you might want to use the same musical elements, so that the "sound" is recognizable while being musically distinct.
To do this, listen critically to the original and ask yourself what makes it unique. It's great to include technical analysis, like harmonic analysis, in this process, but start at an even more basic level. Many songs use IV, V, I, but what makes them recognizable is usually other factors. What is the instrumentation? How does it vary throughout the song? What range and tone characterize the prominent voices and instruments?
Imagine that you want to apply this process to write a fairy tale in the style of Little Red Riding Hood. You might not use a little girl in a red cloak, a wolf, and a basket of goodies. But you might say: The protagonist is a young girl, naive but confident. She is tasked with a short journey through a natural setting, unattended. She is warned of perils. She encounters a villain but doesn't recognize him as a threat. ... And so on.
Similarly, you could listen to "Gonna Fly Now" and say "It starts with just brass, in a fanfare-like rhythm, starting in unison but then rising to stack up a chord. After it builds to a half cadence, a tom fill introduces a disco beat. Brass, joined by strings, continue to dominate the texture. The harmony primarily alternates between two chords. The instrumental voices sustain a longer note on each chord change, but set up the next chord with a few short notes. After a few repetitions, vocals are added, though not prominent in the mix, providing only a few repeated lines of lyric, with an optimistic theme about personal improvement."
