Question for you composers

[TRtrumpet]

I ususly mess around with finale note pad and write a few songs (nothing big, just simple pep or stand tunes for now). I was just wondering, what are some things to keep in mind while arranging or writing a song or some tips for making it sound aweosme? Thanks...

[davidpowell]

Rule 1- EVERYTHING goes in composition

 

Rule 2- There are no rules

 

Rule 3- Write what you feel

 

It'll take some (a lot) time until you write things that you can look back on and enjoy and that are really well done. However, don't let this discourage you, the journey is the most important part. I've been writing for about 2 and a half years, and I still think my stuff is just *meh*. So have fun. If you ever want me to look at something or if you have any questions, talk to me on AIM.

[mnkyman]

give it sudden twists...

 

maybe a chord progression that was highly unexpected...something that u wouldnt expect that sounds cool...

 

like the one above said..just write what ya want

[Fortisimo]

Hmm.... I don't the best way to approach it reallly. I can tell you how I got my start though...

Originally, I downloaded a really, REALLY primitive midi program called 'midimaker' (you can download it for free if you want to see how bad it really is) and I started out as putting in some music I had from years past in band. For example, we played this song called "Fiesta" In 8th grade, so I put ion the notes for the awesome trumpet feature, and i enjoyed it a lot. But then I thought back to days long past... the days of this program called microworlds. (Microworlds was beginner level object oriented programing software that they installed on the computers at the elementary school) Well, back in the 4th grade I had begun playing around with the program a bit, and i made some pretty simple stuff. Of course, as I progressed up until I stopped playing around with it my progrmamming skills progressed. However, that's another story. When I first began, I noticed there was an object you could place int o the program that would play music for your game, or video, or whatever you programmed. Well, this was all well and good, except that it only played midi files that you had to write yourself. now, at the time, I had no idea how to write much of anything; or so I thought. I quickly discovered that high tempo and fast notes were my friends, and that I could make some pretty sweet stuff based off of the note they denotedwith the color grey (of course, I realize now that it was a G) and had fast repetitions of that note... 2 greys, and then another color, repeat excpt change the third color. I slowly built some fundamental rules about which color patterns worked well and their relationships on the keyboard they had laid out, so I ended up making some nice background music. Of course, now I look back, and the simplicity of it is rather funny, but it was a start. Anyways, 5 years later I picked up this midi maker program, and messed around and decided to write my own music. Now, though, I had the ability to have polyphonetic music. I tried out the familiar pattern I developed so long ago, and then, I started adding other lines to it. I then started trying other things... all based off of faulty assumptions I had made about music. (For instance, I thought that any set of three white keys, each two white keys apart eg, CEG, DFA, EGB, etc) made a chord. Well, I was right in some respect in that it was a chord, but I had assumed that they were Major chords. Because of this, my music had much more variation because of my errors.

Soon later, I developed the desire to write Drum & Bass, a genre of techno known for it's sometimes insanely complex rythms, hardcore bass synthersizers, fast tempos, and the general mayhem that a well written D&B piece can wreak on the mind. I love that stuff; it's great. I still write the ocassional D&B song. Anyways, my friend introduced me to FL Studio... at this point, I realized that my ideas about chords were completely wrong, so I went and looked up various chords and played around with them... many were very exotic, and played until I found one I liked. Of course, I picked the darkest chord. And, like many other music related things I did early on, I screwed it up. I learned the chord in correctly. I though tI was writting with an C AugSus4, however, I actually was plaything with something that was not really and normal chord... it was more of a cluster chord, the sort you might see in a jazz progression. I handled it pretty well though, writing a good umber of songs based off of it. It proved to be a very versatile chord that contained a very powerful chord resolution that I actually discover playing around on my aunts piano in Houston. (It's actually a reverse resolution of sorts... It switches from an Eb majorsecond inv. chord to a root postion c minor chord... the notes are [C Eb G#<---actually Ab] to [C Eb G]). Anyways, it had many uses as it contained a major chord, minor chord, sus 4, and of course, the saturated cluster chord. the notes in my alleged chord were C Eb F G G# Bb C. You might play with it a bit... just try not to think too much when you use it... lol.

 

Well, at this point, I realized that I enjoyed my music, and it was well varied, and the sequencing was really pretty good for it. But, I had long been looking for a catastrophic feel which I just couldn't seem to get. I was so sure that if I oly found some magic chord, it would make my music sound how I wanted. So, I went through a phase where I searched through all different kinds of chords... this is the time where I found my love for the Augmented chord structures... I still employ them at many of the most devestating sections in my pieces... I also made a piece or two based on the arabic arpeggio... I don't really know why I thought that that would give my drum & bass a cataclysmic edge, but I did. I did end up with one or two good songs, them being D&B: Entropy, Return to the Advent, and Persistence. I did write a handful of band songs too, the god ones being Brave New World Mvt. 2 &3 (Mvt 1 sucked out loud), Mythic Legality, and Facets of a Microcosm. they were still fairly simple, but really, I still enjoy listening to my early compostions. It's always been my policy that I only write what I enjoy- that is, if I start writing a song and it sucks, I trash it. I won't settle for un-entertaing, or generally bad music. That is a very good rule to follow too.

 

 

Then, I stopped. I just, stopped for a long time. About 6 monthes later I finally decided to get back into the game, and I wrote this little gem called "Protocol Failure: Extended Mix". It was a Drum & Bass song that I loved, but for some reason, most people hate it... well, I liked it anyways, and it inspired me to trudge on. My music during my break had suddenly gotten a ton better. I wrote a handful more drum and bass songs when I realized that Key Poulan was ****, and the shows he was writing for us and many others sucked big time. So, I figured would start writing band music for real. Actually, it wasn't until a month or two later when I came across a recording of the song our second band had played the year before; you may recognize it; "Vesuvius". That song really made me want to hit the big time with band music, so, for the last few days of the winter break and the first week of our second semester, I wrote my first epic piece entitled "The Four Horsemen". My friends seemed to like it quite a bit, and our director was rather impressed as well. So, I continued writing music. I wrote my piece entitled "Blizzard" after a ski vactation over spring break during which we had some extreme weather inspired me to write a song about such winter weather. After that, I decide to continue along with that flow and I wrote "Blood Hail and Fire", and for good measure I wrote a piece entitled "Global Fissures", which I never quite finished. If you listen to my latest show, it contains pieces of the Four Horse Men, Blizzard, and Blood Hail and Fire, as well as Brave New World? Mvt 2 in its entirety. Global Fissures is a ver rythmic, technical piece... I like it alright, but it hit a dead spot, and I never got around to finishing it. I planned on writing 2 more pieces along with this motif as well entitled "Nuclear Holocaust" and "escape from a Dying Universe", both of which I can still audiate in my mind what I would write, but I never did write them.

 

After this, I dabbled in D&B a little bit more, wrote one song entitled Soalr Wind of the genre, but I generally took antoher break. Then, when I came back, I once again found my skills to be more sharpened than ever.

 

That's when I decided to write another epic like the Four Horsemen. Except, this time I scored it for DCI. It was entitled "The Show So Intense that it WILL Abort Your Child", lmao. I got the idea for the name from the common idea that if a show is good enough, people should go crazy and throw their babies on the field. I figured, the show would be so crazy as to make them drop their fetuses into the stands. Anyways, it came out really cool, as I had revcently developed some newer progression techniques. Anyways, after that, I got ahold of Edirol Orchestral and wrote my first piece with it, also a full show, but this time scored for a high school style band, entitled "the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics", which I really like as well. However, I feel like it isnt' intense enough for a full blown marching show. That's when I decided to pull out all the stops and write the most insane marching show I could. the result, was what I think of as the flagship of my compostional 'career': "Suite of Assorted Cataclsyms". It incorporated my favorite parts of a few of my older songs into a newer setting, and it alowed me to write new things around it and flex some of my newly found musical muscle. For example, the half time section in the intro uses some of the most complex, unorthodox chord patterns I have ever used. The beginning of Death and rebirth (which is a piece wrtten purely for the show) is also a very cool musical idea I developed just recently of modulating one pitch slightly in a repeated pattern in order to completely change the chord... anyways... that's where I am at now. I am writing some more D&B too.. oh, and I just a got a pirated version the new FL Studio version from my cousin while I was out in the boonies in west texas.. anyways... that's my story. Not sure why I told it bu, w/e.

[TRtrumpet]

awesome, lol. thanks for responing everyone

[Fortisimo]

Lol, that was a rather long post I left... oh, and thought I should mention that I have decided to revive and re-write Global Fissures, except this time as a show. I am using a little bit of the original, but really just the basic format is what I took from it.

Here's a link of what I have so far. I think that this is the entire intro and first movement. Enjoy.

 

http://rapidshare.de/files/10015973/Shadow...e_Mind.mp3.html

 

Oh, and I'm not sure what to name it at this point, so any suggestions are welcome.

[MartinHorn]

The beginning is amazing. I think that movement needs to have chaos in the title.

[davidpowell]

Lol, that was a rather long post I left... oh, and thought I should mention that I have decided to revive and re-write Global Fissures, except this time as a show. I am using a little bit of the original, but really just the basic format is what I took from it.

Here's a link of what I have so far. I think that this is the entire intro and first movement. Enjoy.

 

http://rapidshare.de/files/10015973/Shadow...e_Mind.mp3.html

 

Oh, and I'm not sure what to name it at this point, so any suggestions are welcome.

Sounds pretty cool, but more like a drum corps show as opposed to marching band. That whole beginning would be hard to pull off for most highschools, just because of how sustained it is.

 

Also, what's with the techno beats across the whole thing? Felt a bit out of place to me.

[mindfulmusician]

Threevalvecircus, sorry to hijack your topic, but I have a question to ask.

 

Well, I've just started work on my first show, entitled "Experiments," (that's a tentative name) because that's exactly what it is...one big experiment. So, I've gotten two minutes so far, and I've reached a part where I want to showcase the percussion and pit. Since I am more acquainted with winds, I would like to know if anyone can offer ANY advice for composing for the percussion and pit. I am absolutely clueless about this, and need some help with this. For the rest of the show, I can "feel" what the percussion and pit should play, but I need some help with the exposed part. Can anyone help???

 

- mm

[Fortisimo]

Hmm, it's hard to say really. My only advice really is that

A) it should fit into the show properly; a lot of times perc. features feel out of place. Don't let it do that.

B ) There should be a lot of notes. I mean a f---ing ton of notes. Lots of fast rolls and stuff, just general insanity. But you have to organize the insanity into something coherent. Good luck.

and

C) Don't forget dynamics; you can use cresc. and what not to help add more interest in the section.

 

Oh, and the "techno" beats in my Work in progress are not that really... they have a feel similar to D&B, but they are very different. I used quite a lot of 16ths in the bass drums to give it a techincal feel. And the sustasined notes shouldn't be much of a problem... we handle alright, at least.

 

And I agree, it should have something to do with Chaos, or entropy or Disorder or something...

[EODrillDesigner98]

 

 

 

 

Other thing you keep in mind when writing for marching/pep band and etc. Always keep in mind numbers of instruments you have too.

 

 

[Fortisimo]

Hmmm, that is true, I suppose, lol.

 

Oh, and here's an update: I added a second movement, and for all you kids out there who like your slow movements, guess what! It's a slow movement. But its' not nearly as **** as most. So enjoy.

 

http://rapidshare.de/files/10085801/Shadow...e_Mind.mp3.html