Q. http://www.box.net/shared/ut0qytv7uv
It's not exactly done yet. It's kind of like a sketch. I just wanted some feedback. I have had no compositional training at all in my entire life. It was done in Finale.
A. The two previous posters are correct. You need to study some music theory and form and analysis in order to create compositions that will make sense. Other than that, it's all up to you, the composer. You need to take into consideration the sounds you hear in your head and then record them on paper.
Try to compose without Finale sometime and see what you get. Use Finale to generate some staff paper that only has a grand staff on it (like a piano). Then just write whatever comes to mind. Hear the music in your head first, then write it down. My old teacher, who was taught by Larry Combs once said "Song before wind." This means you must have the music in your head before you can play it, or write it down in this case. "Song before pen" would work better for this case. You can get some truly artistic results either way, but try it without Finale a few times, and see what happens!
It helps to have a clear idea of what you want, or what you are trying to do with your piece before you try to write anything. I am entering a choral composition contest in January and I'm writing a work for a cappella chorus. I had to consider the text of the work, my own interpretation of the poem, the number of voices I wanted, and the music I had in my head. Composition on any level is about balancing these factors to create the best work of art you can. Your opinion about what is good will change as you grow older and develop as a composer. Experiment. That's the way to learn new tricks. Also, listen to as much music as you can and try to study some theory. You'll need to learn your chord progressions and scales. Play around on a piano and see what you like.
What is the difference between melodic and harmonic?
Q. i'm doing a jazz report and i need to know if the soloing style is melodic or harmonic just by listening to it. how do you know, determine, if this song has a melodic soloing style or a harmonic soloing style?
please explain this like you are explaining it to a 2 year old, I am not a jazz major or anything, i'm just taking this class in high school so i get a good grade.
A. OK- so I have a daughter who will be 4 years old next month. I tried to explain it to her- and this is what I came up with:
While the other posters are correct (melody is one note at a time, harmony results with simultaneous notes...), I think you are asking more about the soloing STYLE. To someone NOT educated in jazz (whether through "proper" training or just a lot of listening), some of the best known solos in jazz sound completely random. The reason I don't agree with the other posters (for THIS question) is: think about a piano player. They can solo all day long, with 2 hands, potentially playing 10 notes at a time... does this mean they are not playing melodically? Nope- and here's why:
Listen to the first few bars of a solo. Is it a "tune" that can get stuck in your head? Can you whistle it or sing it? Is it easy to remember? Are all the notes fairly close together- not jumping too high or too low? If so, then you are listening to a Melodic solo.
Also, if there is a main melody before the solo, and the soloist kind of sounds like he's playing it, but with more notes- probably a Melodic solo. For example: "Mary had a little lamb" would be your melody. Then the soloist gets it and it comes out as "Mary-she's a hottie- she had a little- diddly bop- lamb."
I feel stupid for just having written that, but hopefully you understand? LOL ;)
So for a harmonic solo then: is it hard to find a "theme" that you can sing? Does it seem like there are a few "wrong" notes? Are the notes going by very quickly- not many long notes? It means the soloist is probably "noodling" around through the chord changes, working with the harmonic structure of the piece.
John Coltrane has a TON of solos like this- to the inexperienced ear, it sounds like he was high on at least 3 different drugs (and after around 1965 he probably was) any time he played a solo... really though, he was showing off his genious by being able to manipulate the harmonies given to him by the rhythm section.
Of course, there is a lot more detail to it, and a lot of theory and technicality involved- but this is how I described it to my daughter, and she got it.
Try this: This is a tune called "So What" (VERY famous) from Miles Davis' album Kind of Blue.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4FAKRpUCYY&feature=related
The first solo is Davis on trumpet... it is melodic
The next solo is Coltrane on tenor sax... it is fairly harmonic
The next is Bill Evans on piano... melodic.
See if you can hear the difference!
One more hint about what kind of solo style to expect: do you know the era the piece is from? If you know it's a big band swing chart- "Sing, Sing, Sing" for example- the solos are going to be melodic. The idea of virtuosic chord changes hadn't really come about until after WWII. If you know it's "avant garde" or even some hard bop- the solos will be harmonic.
Anyways, I hope this helped, and good luck with your report!
What are the part-writing guidelines for more than 4 part settings?
Q. so im learning voice leading concepts for basically choral settings.. proper doublings = two roots a third and a fifth for 4 pt works, yada yada yada... but how do you write for larger settings, if you want big chords in a piano work you intend on writing for example, how would you go about doing that with proper voice leading and doublings?
A. 4 Part writing and composing for piano are two different things.
The most important thing when writing chords for the piano is balance and where are the notes going. Don't compose big chords unless there is a reason. Beethoven and Brahms would only stack notes if there was a reason musically to do so.
You cannot think of composing for piano in the way you do 4 parts. 4 Parts is a great way to start though. Its an excellent way to outline your harmonies. The best thing to do is have an understanding of counterpoint so you know where the melodies are going. As you experiment, you will find that the need for a big chord isn't as necessary.
For example - You are in the key of G and you begin with a melody note of D. What do you want your L.H. Chord tones to be. The R.H. can have chords as well but for the sake of argument lets just say it is a single melody note.
The L.H. chord could be G-B-G omitting the D. Why? well first you don't want to double the 5th, but it also helps to establish the tonic immediately. If you choose to add notes to the right hand you could play a tonic G triad in the R.H. voicing the D and in your left use a single low G. Reasoning is that you do not want to have too many notes sounding and having too many notes will cover up the melodic line.
With all writing, orchestral, keyboard, chamber - you can have delayed and transfer resolutions. There is no simple way to explain this. The best thing to do is to analyze all sorts of scores like orchestra and chamber music... etc. And see what others do. You can also take orchestration class which teaches one how to compose and arrange for large ensembles.
One extra thought - the previous poster said choirs prefer to sing small intervals... that is absolutely wrong. The general rule is soprano and bass line have free movement of intervals, as long as the lines do not cross the voices closest to them. Soprano (melodic) usually have large intervals to capture the climaxes and dramatic effects. The Bass tends to move in large intervals... moving I IV V I already has intervals of a fourth and a fifth.
Alto and Tenor tend to move with smaller intervals because of the voices surrounding them. They just don't have the space to based on 4 part writing to move with large intervals where as the soprano and bass can because they don't have another voice on top (soprano) or below (bass) to hinder the contrapuntal motion.
A good way to look at movement of voices for vocal music is to look at the work of Monteverdi and Brahms and see how these two guys treat 4 part writing.
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Title : Is this an alright composition for a 13 year old?
Description : Q. http://www.box.net/shared/ut0qytv7uv It's not exactly done yet. It's kind of like a sketch. I just wanted some feedback. I have ...