"If we cannot write with the beauty of Mozart, let us at least try to write with his purity."
- Johannes Brahms
Previous thread: >>66278792 (Cross-thread)
An experiment in a pen-and-paper composing general, made for all the composition autists
This differs from /prod/ in that it is more focused on the actual writing of music, not the production. That is not to say /prod/'s electronic music is unwelcome, by all means, post here! But post with the intent on discussing composition. And remember, this is NOT /classical/. Any music, such as jazz, pop, rock, country, electronic etc. is acceptable
Post clyps and accompanying notation so we can give accurate feedback.
STUFF /COMP/ DOES
>the /comp/ YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqUEaKts92UIstFjrz9BfcA
>the /comp/ weekly challenge
[email protected]
THEORY
>Fux's Counterpoint
http://www.opus28.co.uk/Fux_Gradus.pdf
>Orchestration (Rimsky-Korsakov)
http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/forumdisplay.php/77-Principles-of-Orchestration
>Teoria - Music Theory General Guides/Articles
https://www.teoria.com/index.php
>Arnold Schcoenberg's "Fundementals of Music Composition"
https://monoskop.org/images/d/da/Schoenberg_Arnold_Fundamentals_of_Musical_Composition_no_OCR.pdf
>Jazz harmony (from the course at Berklee)
http://davidvaldez.blogspot.com/2006/04/berklee-jazz-harmony-1-4.html
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
>Basic composing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWbH1bhQZSw
>Free Notation Software
https://musescore.org/
IMPROVISATION
>Fake books for jazz and blues soloing
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BzW9o5O35hQzMzA0ZmI0MWEtZGFmNi00OTQ0LWI2MjMtOWUyNzgyNmUzNzNm&usp=drive_web&ddrp=1&hl=en#
Other resources (full of lessons and books): http://pastebin.com/k3xddxwr (embed)
Also, let's try not to circlejerk about the same principles of harmony over and over this time edition
THE /comp/ COMPOSITION CHALLENGE #3 METERS July 8st - July 15rd
Compose a short piece (around 1 to 2 minutes) with three distinct meters in any instrumentation. Treat these time signatures as meters, rather than just throwing in a different time signature for a bar or two for phrasing purposes. Consider making your meters distinct by considering whether the time signatures you choose are duple or triple; simple, compound or complex/irregular.
BONUS CHALLENGE: Make at least one section of your piece polyrhythmic/polymetric
Post WIPs, talk about things to consider when changing meters, post pieces that have strong metric changes, post polyrhythmic pieces.
>>66382036
>"If we cannot write with the beauty of Mozart, let us at least try to write with his purity."
>- Johannes Brahms
DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DOOOO
>>66382988
lel I picked Brahms to see how many peeps would h8 on that dude
unofficial stream lesson about (historical) modal music incoming on Sat at 5pm US, I've got my materials compiled so far.
If you wanna prepare a bit, make sure you can read music (duh), Roman numerals for analysis. Also, maybe read up on authentic and plagal cadences.
That's it, see you Sat.
b minor
discuss
>>66383385
it's okay
>>66383385
We won't tell mods.
>>66383385
lov it
>>66383735
>>66383756
...what?
>>66383790
why don't you take a seat right over there?
>>66383790
"I'm sitting on my bed, fingering A minor"
Post the music that inspires you to compose.
>>66384556
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSv66-6azTs
>>66384556
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgjwiadze1w
Steve Reich in general has influenced me immensely - fucker knows how to rub my autism the right way
>>66384556
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6s49OKp6aE
https://clyp.it/gtekeakr
continuation from yesterday's short, (please attempt to ignore the muddled notes/harmony at the end, i'll get to it but i need a break.)
i took the suggestion from anon to try and remake the beginning and to try and exaggerate the concept a bit.
should i try and rewrite the start again or is it ok for now?
is the rythm at the end alright?
sometimes i'm worried i'll trap myself in one key, i happen to do that now and then.
please advise
>>66387259
>https://clyp.it/gtekeakr
I like it. Somethings that I would consider is that sometimes your lines stop dead in their tracks. In your viola part in bar three, I think it's weird to stop on that semiquaver, I'd add one more note to give that line closure, and this applies to bar 5 and even bar 8, where you can make the entry of the Vl II overlap by one note with the viola part, which will feather it in. In bars 14 through 18 I really think you need more distinction between those lines, because they overlap registrally and timbrally it's hard to distinguish between them. The easy way out is to make the Vl1 part pizz, but I understand why you may not want to do that. Some other options are doubling it in the viola part an octave down, using a different articulation (marcato would be effective against the staccato), anything really to create a bit more separation.
>>66388790
really, sometimes your feedback is just frighteningly perceptive
>>66388790
if you have a blog, vlog or anything with analyses of great works, let us know, Im sure many of us would like to subscribe
>>66389321
>>66388964
I've always considered making a youtube channel on music, but in terms of analysis I'm definitely more interested in pop music. Thanks for the kind words though, it's made me definitely want to start again.
If i do make videos they'll probably end up here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvHuz2Xuic-HfWphgdUODTg
>>66389970
subscribed. i hope you consider doing that in the future.
>>66389970
btw, if you don't mind, could you analyze this? http://www.hooktheory.com/theorytab/view/skrillex/scary-monsters-and-nice-sprites
id love to know your thoughts, as i unironically love this passage
>tfw finally finished theme and variations
>took like 3 months
ALRIGHT FUCK IT I PUT WAY TOO MUCH THOUGHT INTO SOMETHING THAT SIMPLE.
But it's a glorious feel lads. Now to work on ten thousand other unfinished and half-started pieces.
>>66390109
I actually really like it too. I think the most remarkable things about the melody are the huge range in such a short time. A leap of an 11th is not something most people would recommend in a good melody. I think it works in this piece because of a couple of reasons. Note wise, it's the same thing that we heard before, an arpeggiation of a G minor (or minor 7th), which skrill facilitates by delaying the the 4th chord. But since we're hearing the same notes, that huge leap isn't so foreign. The huge leap creates a clear climax, and sense of progression in such a short form (essentially just 4 bars). If you're going to take 4 bars and repeat them forever, they have to not only be good, but have a good sense of progression and variety. The sense of progression is reinforced by the rhythm. You have a syncopated 4 note group (I don't think that first low G is really part of the melody), a brief moment of rest, an unsyncopated 5 note group (though still quite unstable, since this mini-phrase starts on bear 4 of a bar) and then 10 whole beats of constant 8th notes. Even within these 8th notes, we have a lot of progression. 3 beats of this really lyrical linear idea, then he introduces the first arpeggiated idea (and draws your attention to it by breaking up the stepwise motion with a big leap, a 5th), and then that huge leap to the sequential arpeggiated idea. He's throwing in a lot of stuff into a really short melody, so that's why you can hear it over and over again.
The melody carries the song, not much else is interesting. Harmonically, a good point is how he denies the 1 chord from you. This is actually really effective if you have a very clearly diatonic melody, give a lot of forward momentum. I think he craps up the harmonic forward momentum by having the root motion be so boring. Not sure what I would do, but here's a piece I did where I don't play the primary tonic until the very end https://soundcloud.com/benbartlett/bedroom-diegesis
>>66390801
thanks for taking the time to do this!
your music is beautiful too, will check out the rest of it
bump for bump
>>66391395
bump for bump
for...bump...for
bump for bump
poor thread
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oqFa14z-AU
>some random guy on youtube composes better than you ever will
>>66383385
Dvorak's cello concerto is god-tier
>>66382036
>>66383009
Please refrain from using a tripcode so these generals don't become as cancerous as every other general ever.
bump
>>66384556
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIcinMxNYBc
>>66393468
>Parallel 8 in outer voices at 16 seconds.
I'm sure you can do better than the youtube composer in that regard!
>>66393468
dont worry anon, this is awful, you can do much better.
>boring semibreve chords
>lifeless solo trumpet parts
>predictable, mediocre harmonic writing
>>66393489
It's great
I'm a cellist who can't play it
>>66393468
It sounded like he was trying to re-write a score for Homeward Bound or something. It sounds bland and uninspired for the most part
Also this video had me kekking
Oh no!
Bruno!
Buuump
>>66399524
>these lyrics
what?
so i'm almost done with compiling the theme and variations. For next week's challenge a couple of people expressed the idea of setting a text in an art song style, but I'm going to push that idea off until later because I think I might be able to get a singer to record them in about 3 weeks, so it'd be cooler to wait until then. For next week, I was thinking of taking another idea that an anon mentioned. He said he was having a lot of fun improvising around restricted pitch classes, so the challenge could be something like :
"Compose a short piece with 1 to 3 sections in any instrumentation. Each section is limited to only using 4 specific pitch classes off your choosing. i.e. Section A only contains the notes D F# G and B, Section B contains only E F# C and C#
Is this too restrictive? Perhaps it should be 5 or fewer pitch classes instead of specifying 4 (I want to guide people away from easy pentatonic writing, but also don't want this to be too limiting)
>>66400893
it's weird how there's probably only about 5-10 people who actually frequent these threads on a /mu/ board.
How many submissions for ITAOTS variations did you actually get?
>>66403470
You know, sometimes you see threads with 60 or 70 unique posters, of course those aren't regulars, but it's still a surprising amount of people (even if you do assume some of those are the same people). I got 6 ITAOTS submissions
>>66403552
how do you spot unique posters?
>>66403600
I think it was added like a year or 2 ago, it's in the bottom right. Right now it's 49 / 9 / 15 / 3, which is replies / image replies / unique posters / current page
>>66399683
Journal of an ANZAC in gallipoli during WW1.
There was a competition to set journal entries or poetry to music a couple years ago and I wrote a piece for it. Didn't get selected, but it was open to all ages of composers so was competing with the tops of NZ and AUS.
pic is just the first movement
>>66404657
I'd like to hear that part desu
>>66404883
I only have a version with me singing, and I'm afraid I'm no professional singer:
https://clyp.it/gzo1yix4
Here's the score:
https://www.scribd.com/document/318324126/Gallipoli-Song
>>66405005
>name
you again?
your singing is average but it follows your score with decent precision
i liked the piece
>>66405296
Also
>a la bjork
keked
>>66405296
Yeah the vocal part is accurate becuase I sang it first, then played along with a MIDI controller and used that MIDI data for the score. Thats also why there's all sorts of weird triplets and bar-crossing melodies.
Often natural melodies look quite unusual on the page, but are really easy to sing! I've always been about capturing "organic" or natural melodies, and this piece was one of the first times I completely transcribed the part from a voice recording.
Thank fuck for MIDI keyboards and DAWs is all I can say. Would have been torture to try to work out that vocal part at the piano with pen and paper
>>66405431
>then played along with a MIDI controller and used that MIDI data for the score.
nice trick
>>66405340
>a la bjork
hahah I had totally forgotten about that. Sometimes I go overboard on my performance instructions. This piece was from 2014 and I've toned it down a bit since then lol.
The vocal parts in that first part are very Bjork-like, I heard a lot of her debut growing up and it must have imprinted itself in my mind, her kind of naive positivity (at least in that first album) and very natural/organic melodies. I dont actually listen to her these days but the instruction made sense, and hopefully a baritone would understand...
>>66405521
though it's a quite good instruction actually
how do i learn to hear and identify chords in a piece of music?
Shoutout to the drone guy, you saved my ass today. I was asked to be the Mc at a music event, and one of the performers had some trouble with his gear that took almost 10 mins to fix. So, I just did this participation thing with the audience.
>Give them one note to hold, improvise on the piano. Then, give one tone each for women and men, and improvise.
Thanks for the idea!
>>66406643
exercices
>>66407140
kek
>>66407907
like what? i don't know where to begin really. i searched google but there's a lot of people who want to sell me a product
>>66408456
Can you listen to a piece of music and sing the tonic note? That's the place to start
