[Music] What Would You Say

If I said I was trying to write a "book" about how to compose music? Like, different techniques and approaches to getting started, and different things to consider when developing your music. Eh?

It's not like I'm ever going to publish this or try to make money off of it, so go ahead and post some of your methods to writing music, if you want. Maybe it'll be an approach I've never heard of, or help me come up with new methods.


Here's the very rough draft I have so far:

Spoiler for:

Journal of Techniques

by Ryan Leber

Throughout the history of music, there have been an innumerable amount of techniques used to create thought-provoking and original music. In this dissertation, or sorts, I have decided to catalogue various techniques that I have discovered and have been known to use myself, as well as techniques I've noticed from listening to a wide variety of musical styles. The techniques described in this book can be applied to a variety of genres, and should be applied to a variety of genres.

* Disclaimer *

None of the ideas or opinions expressed in this essay are definitive or set in stone. Just like the rules of music theory, these ideas are merely guidelines; a means to understand common practices of old.  New music is not created by following these tenets to the letter, so by all means, take these ideas and bend them, warp them, and even break them. 

Steps of composition:
 

Melody-based Composition

This form of composition is most likely preferred by singers, or instrumentalists who play instruments such saxophones, traditional woodwinds, or horns. The reason for this is that the aforementioned instruments are all monophonic, meaning they can only produce one note at a time, and are incapable of polyphony by themselves. In other words, one person can't harmonize on these instruments, and they can't play chords, either.

Using this method, a song or piece is designed and built up upon a melody. The melody comes first, as it is created first, and the harmonies, chords, and rhythms of the song are built up around it. It should be noted that melodies do not necessarily have to be vocal lines. Examples of this would be most jazz standard tunes like "Take the A Train," and a vocal-based example would possibly be "Love Song" by Sarah Beriallas. 

Example: In the key of C, a melody of simple 8th notes, C D E G F F F G.

Chords for this melody should be chosen based on whether the melody note is in the chord, or even based on whether it will be soon or not. Thusly, there are a variety of chords that could be chosen for this melody.

For instance, the first note is a C, so we think about what chords have a C in them, in that key. The choices are Cmaj, Fmaj, Amin, and all their tertian extensions. 

Of course, don't forget other chords may extend into the C, making for some very interesting tonalities. For example, Dmin7 has the C on the 7th, and G11 has the C on the 11th, and so on.

Of course, you can use some advanced techniques to escape from the basic tonality of staying in key, like using secondary dominants (V/V, in this case D7), augmented chords (Gr6), or modal mixtures (Fmin instead of Fmaj).

Riff-based Composition

The other example is by use of what is known as a "riff." A riff is a short figure, not necessarily lyrical, that is constantly repeated throughout the piece, or maybe just sections of the piece. A notorious example of this is "Everybody Dance Now." The entire piece is based off of riifs, and has very little harmonic movement, possibly staying on the same chord for the entire duration of the song.

A good exercise to follow when using this method is to make sure your melody is very interesting, or complex, or find some other way to maintain interest and complexity in the piece, for instance by adding more riffs into the mix, or rhythmic complexity and syncopation.

Harmony-based Composition

Many artists choose to begin their compositional process with the harmony, or in other words, the chords. When taking this approach, it is advised to make many attempts to break away from typical harmonies, employing techniques such as augmented chords, modal mixture, secondary dominants and diminished chords, and modulation techniques to move in and around multiple key centers. 

From my post on rmrk about non-diatonic chords:

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An easy way to get out of a key that you're in is to go from a Major 7th chord to another Major 7th chord a major 3rd up (or down).
 
ex. You're in G major. IV in G major's a C Maj 7. Play that, then go to the G# Maj 7 (which is a Major 3rd down from C, though technically I should call it an Ab, not a G#). It'll sound awesome, because the notes in those two chords are close, so it's like all 4 notes move only slightly to get to their new pitches. That's called voice leading. It's okay if you have no idea what I mean by that, but yeah, give the M3 apart thing a try.
 
Also, try what I just told you like this.
 
- - x - - - 3 - -
- - 5 - - - 4 - -
- - 4 - - - 5 - -
- - 5 - - - 5 - -
- - 3 - - - x - -
- - x - - - 4 - -
 
Cmaj7 -> G#maj7
 
Do you see how some notes are only moving by one or two frets between those two chords? That's what I mean by voice leading. The individual voices (in other words, notes) of the chords move only slightly, and don't make any major leaps. (except for the bass note, but whatever, the bass is always allowed to leap)
 
 
 
Another fun thing to try is so start with a chord, like C Major 7, and find a new chord that uses a note from the previous chord, that isn't necessarily related to it.
 
For example, we start with C major 7. That's C E G B.
So let's keep the G, and play a G min 7 in 3rd inversion. That's F G Bb D. (I'm doing this on a piano, not a guitar.)
 
Or instead, let's go back to the C maj 7 (C E G B again) and keep the B, 
and we'll play an G# min 7, 3rd inversion. (F# G# B D#).
 
You just went from C major to G# minor (or B major).
Those may be right next to each other, but they're actually 5 sharps apart. That's one step away from getting as far away from one key to another as you possibly can, so you can see why this is a great tool for destroying someone's sense of diatonicism or key.
 
What's really fun is when you start chaining all these chords together.

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Rhythm-based Composition
 

In an escape from traditional harmony and melody based compositions, one might try exploring the realms of rhythmic development. Using reoccurring rhythmic motifs can create interest and combining rhythmic patterns can make for very complex and interesting music.

Thematic Suggestion Composition

One of the more advanced composition techniques is thematic suggestion. The idea is to create a (hopefully) subtle backstory or dialog within the piece, using instrumentation, form, harmony, and even rhythm. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways.

Just so you know, I'm also doing this for my own benefit. Especially the "thematic development" part at the very end. I learned some incredibly complex and in-depth things about Beethoven and Debussy pieces last year, but I never really absorbed it. So not only is this a chance to really take those ideas to heart, but also (with your help) to get more ideas, and more inspiration.

And then I'll share it with you!

OOHHHH COOL <3

^ That's what I would say.

teach me how 2 rite blink 182 song s plz

ok, so. choose a kee. find its fourth, fifff, and sixth. use those as power chords. insert lyrx that talk about love, emo-ness, breaking up, etc. oops, i basically told you how to write any pop rock song.

Make sure the drum beat is

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
----o-------o---
o-------o-------

the whole time

And when you write solos, make sure it sounds just like the melody of the verses.

But seriously, I'd love to see a "book" like that. There's still a lot I don't understand about theory and half the time I do understand something it's because you'd told me about it. So. Thumbs up.