The last one was a lot more successful than I thought it would be, so I'll keep it going. If you're interested at all, post questions, thoughts, even your own compositions if you want. Come on, we won't bite. Alright, some of us will, but it's all in good fun.
Copypasta:
An experiment in a pen-and-paper composing general, made for all the theory autists
This differs from /prod/ in that it is more focused on art music and music theory. That is not to say /prod/'s electronic music is unwelcome, by all means, post here! But follow in the footsteps of the classical composers of the 20th century who experimented in electronic music. But remember, this is NOT /classical/. Any art music, such as jazz, is acceptable
Post clyps, and please post accompanying notation so we can accurately critique your composing from a theory perspective
>Theory
http://tobyrush.com/theorypages/index.html
>tl;dr version
https://gumroad.com/l/tldrmusic#
>Basic composing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWbH1bhQZSw&list=PL341D841389B2FEC7
http://composer.rowy.net/
>Fux's Counterpoint
http://www.opus28.co.uk/Fux_Gradus.pdf
>Free Notation Software
https://musescore.org/
>Score Preparation Guide
musiciandevelopment.com/2016/05/16/how-to-prepare-a-professional-score/
>Orchestral Preparation Guideline
http://mola-inc.org/article/Music-Preparation-Guidelines-for-Orchestral-Music.pdf
>Takadimi: A Beat - Oriented System of Rhythm Pedagogy
http://www.takadimi.net/documents/TakadimiArticle.pdf
>Teoria - Music Theory General Guides/Articles
https://www.teoria.com/index.php
>Musictheory.net - General music theory with accompanying exercises and tests. Great for practice.
https://www.musictheory.net/
>Succint but insightful theory up to contemporary techniques such as serialism and set theory
And feel free to expand!
http://learnmusictheory.net/
>anyone got any modal rescouces?
Any place where I can learn the keys of every instrument possible so I can transpose correctly? I know that quite a few modern day notation stuff like Sibelius I think does it automatically but still.
>>65493634
Wikipedia (inb4 bad source) usually tells you the key of the instrument if you look it up. Also any good orchestration book should show the keys for the instruments.
>>65493634
Is this what you're looking for? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_musical_instruments_by_transposition
Someone in the last thread posted a challenge before it died, I'll post it here in case any of you want to try it.
>Someone mentioned /comp/ doing compositional challenges, right? Let's start with a simple one.
>Write a round in which the Neapolitan sixth chord is tonicized for at least one full measure.
>>65493667
>>65493686
Damn, I did NOT know wikipedia had a page that listed it all. Yay!
>>65493900
If you've heard of musescore, it automates the process for you. It's also a really good tool in general.
bumpin with some ives
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYmC0Z6x7KQ
So I wrote a tiny little piece for my little sister who started learning violin a year ago. I recorded the piano accompaniment (I had the piano right hand double the violin in order to make it easier on her, so this is practically the complete piece): https://clyp.it/kgd34th4
I tried my best to write something that wouldn't look too out of place in Suzuki book 1, but I couldn't help but try to see how much chromaticism I could get away with in the piano part.
Thoughts?
>>65496943
Second page.
For various reasons I couldn't just screencap it in Finale, so I had to resort to a terrible epub to png converter.
I composed a piano piece in sec school once.
>mfw the first thing i was ever proud of for once
>mfw i didn't even fully learn my own song
>mfw i lost the sheet while moving houses
>mfw the data in the school is gone
>mfw i'll never be able to play or hear my song again.]
Thank you to whoever made this. Now I don't have to wad through people playing a vocal sample on a drum beat and calling it a piece of music.
>>65496943
So the violin just doubles the right hand mostly huh? Pretty cool. I think I'll try writing something like this one of these days. Don't want to do violin + piano though, thats kind of bland i thiink. Maybe I'll try piano + flute or something?
>>65497366
If you write for piano more, you might eventually write it again without realizing.
imgur.com/I5ybMmZ
vocaroo.com/i/s1ISyHGLP7az
>>65496943
>>65496981
Forgot about just how woefully under-notated it was. I wrote things like slurs and bowings on her part in pencil.
>>65497720
I hope so. Though I need to brush up my piano skills. Learning to sight read will help me a shit ton.
>>65493773
Well, I started writing such a round, then I completely scrapped it and decided instead to write a round using (partial) dissonant counterpoint, and use as many secundal sonorities as I could.
https://clyp.it/ugesn2l2
Figured I should post this one anyways. (I'll probably try the original prompt again tomorrow.)
I'm writing a piano concerto and I realized the main themes of the first movement are consonant when played in the same key so I will make a double fugato from them in the development
>>65497813
Criticisms:
It seems kind of incomplete. You've supplied enough motivic material to develop into a piece at least twice as long as this. (I couldn't really tell if that ending was supposed to be the end of the piece, or if you do plan on continuing the piece past that.)
Often I saw a single syllable over two consecutive notes of the same pitch, as if they should be played in melisma, even though doing so is not possible. The second "eleison" that appears in the piece, for example.
not really a criticism, but
>For Two Big Guys
For what reason?
>>65498651
That sounds like the sort of thing I'd feel like an absolute mastermind while starting to write, but a 5th grader given some calculus problems while trying to finish writing.
It sounds cool, but tread carefully, is what I'm trying to say.
I'm kind of interested, could you post excerpts of it?
http://vocaroo.com/i/s0GU1mM8A6XH this is the first movement of a weird composition i'm making for a story, it's the most conventional movement but there may be a few weird things here and there. tell me what ya think
>>65498912
>For Two Big Guys
>For what reason?
I'm not that dude but it's a /tv/ meme I'm pretty sure.
>>65500842
well, yeah, but it seems a lot of effort to go through for a meme.
>>65502286
Are you legitimatelt new?
>>65497382
this
>>65496943
>>65496981
This is really nice and cute! I'd love to hear it with the violin. Very lovely, anon.
>>65502367
Okay I see your point.
bumpin with some stravinsky https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKlXqoyQbks
Guys, beginner composer here. Currently developing my understanding of music theory and my piano playing.
Writing a piece that's supposed to sound baroque, for a videogame, but it's just about half finished. Is it ok to post works in progress or should I wait until it's finished to share it? How do you guys with more experience usually do it?
I just realized that my melodic sections (as in A-B-A-C-A) might be too short. Seeing that i'm a beginner maybe that's a good idea... Anyway, I like the progress I've made on it these past few days since I spent a few months without touching it, and i'm glad I did because I had the opportunity to learn so much in that time. Now I can actually know where i'm going/what I'm doing by applying said knowledge.
When I started it I didn't know much and it seemed like a really huge undertaking, but now I feel like it's definitely within my grasp, I just have to work hard, spend time on it and enjoy it. Sorry for the blog post, just thought it'd be a good idea to give a bit of background info. New to the whole /comp/ threads. Seems like an awesome idea. Some of the resources in the OP were new to me so thanks a lot!
>>65503763
>Is it ok to post works in progress or should I wait until it's finished to share it?
OP here, it's totally okay, there's plenty of people who have done that already. I just did that but no one replied :(
Why does Sibelius 7 give the wrong noises to my instruments? It makes the oboes and clarinets sound like flutes, makes the flutes sound like pizzicato strings, makes the horns sound like trumpets. It only plays thr right noise if I add a second staff for the correct instrument. Why on earth would that fix it? JUST FUCKING WORK
>>65503853
Correction, no one's replied yet.
>>65499631
>movement
>for a story
Program music? Incidental music?
I'm really liking this. Suffers from a slow start, though, especially considering it's the first movement of something.
>>65504344
thank you. it's hard to explain. it's more an expression of the feelings of the story than a piece of incidental music. I can see where you're coming from saying it's a slow start. I wanted it to be that way, but I suppose it's a matter of taste.
>>65504301
maybe you shouldn't have pirated it?
then again...
>"buying" avid products
>more like jewvid
>>65504503
That has nothing to do with it
>>65504301
have you tried musescore? it seems to assign the instruments pretty well imo
>>65504798
But musescore instruments suck and Sibelius has better editing options
Speaking of which, what are the best virtual libraries?
>>65504344
weren't you going to post the work in progress btw? really interested in hearing it
>>65493511
who is girl
>>65505005
Sorry, didn't clarify, I'm not >>65503763.
>>65505183
Alodia Gosiengfiao
bump.
>>65502681
vocaroo.com/i/s0zxDsUOs3GR
shitty sound quality
>>65506715
clyp.it is much better for quality. vocaroo a shit. crappy 128kbps mp3 sound
>>65504301
Try fucking around with the options? you can customize each sound, so if they're playing the wrong shit you should be able to reset everything.
If that doesn't work, roll back to sib6, which works fine, and has been serving me for years.
>>65504899
Sibelius is shit for writing anything even remotely complicated. Use Finale. Or just write it by hand....
>>65507361
finale and sibelius are pretty similair. You're not gonna write ferneyhough with them (without some difficulty), but they're both solid notation programs.
If you want full customization, you want lilypond, but it takes a bit to learn to work with.
>>65507306
I tried manually changing the instrument in the mixer but it just resets back when I play
>>65507361
Why is Finale better?
>>65507444
dont use the mixer, go through the sibelius options and make sure everything is legit. Read the help files if you have to.
>>65507379
Yeah, Lilypond is pretty amazing. Awful learning curve though.
>>65507444
More flexibility mostly. You actually ARE able to notate postmodern and modern music relatively easily and have it not become a rat's nest of floating word boxes. Ferneyhough, Ligeti, Daas; whatever. The only thing it doesn't do well is playback of microtones. Of course Human Playback is crap, but there is no way to make automated sequencings sound like a real people with shit sound libraries like GM or Garritan.
Can anyone recommend some jazz voicings for piano that utilize the left hand only? I'd like to play some solo jazz piano, but all the chord voicings I know use both hands, which is a problem.
Holy shit, /comp/ survived the night. Bump
>>65504456
>it's more an expression of the feelings of the story than a piece of incidental music
Tone poem, maybe?
>>65508982
likewise
Can you write etudes for yourself to learn new techniques? Anyone have advice on doing so?
>>65508982
May it survive the day as well.
>>65511557
Indeed.
I think this is my 4th post in a row.
>>65505897
>from the Philipines
inb4tranny
>is a diminished or augmented chord still tertian
>dims sound like M2 augs sound like p4
this guy needs to die
Bumping with what is your favorite way to modulate?
Is this the end?
>>65513297
Secondary dominants. V/V to V/x to x.
Not a fan of the jazz ii V I; always preferred II V I.
>>65508445
Root position and keep everything within the octave. 9s become 2s, #11s become #4s, etc. Don't be afraid of sounding like a cluster. Not everybody needs to be Monk with these great big spacey chords.
>>65510490
Pick a technique. Write an SATB chorale using only that technique and basic diatonic voicing. Atonality? Construct your row so you can modulate easily. Counterpoint? read some Bach.
The best way to learn to write is to write, and to write a lot. Write derivative crap too - you don't have to sound like fucking Ligeti to make good music.
>>65514149
>always preferred II V I.
So if your in Cmaj you would play
DM7-G7-CM7?
>>65514405
Yeah. The secondary dominant here is the Dmaj, acting as V/V.
If I was in C major and wanted to modulate to F#, I would use B#dim7 C#7 F#maj7.
viidim7/V/#IV V7/#IV #IV.
B#dim7 (acting viidim/bII+) is a substitution for Ab (bIV), so I would need to precede it with Eb7 (bIII7), borrowing from minor. That could be proceeded by Ddim (acting viidim/bIII), which is diatonic to Cmaj.
>>65507361
are you literally retarded? i used finale for 4 years and the moment i switched to sibelius was the moment i became better at composing
How the fuck do I beam this? I know what I did is wrong but I'm confused.
Should I just do staccato eighths?
>>65514614
You lost me on that last paragraph. Thank you for the help though.
>>65514993
If your quality as a composer hinges on a piece of software, then you definitively aren't a good composer...
>>65515470
which is why im in this general getting advice from people
>>65515123
Group em based on single beats, not sets of two beats. Looking at that makes my eyes bleed. You want to be able to read the syncopations immediately.
>>65515654
That looks like a huge chore to read. You sure that's the better way to go? Thanks regardless
>>65515786
Go look at scores to funk charts. Three Against Nature. Admiral's Horn. Jazz Crimes. Also look at solo transcriptions with complex rhythms. John Scofield, Josh Redmond, whoever.
The reason we split syncopated rhythms into single-beat units is to make them easy add quick to read. A good musician should be able to sight read anything perfectly, playing downtempo and in a comfortable octave and dynamic. If they are unable to sightread it immediately, it's usually the fault of the composer. Don't be the problem - solve the problems before they happen.
In jazz, the only time you beam multiple beats together is with just 8th notes, because they're easy to read.
>>65515925
The only problem I'm having is that I don't want the eighths in the left hand staccato. I want a full eighth note and not a sixteenth followed by a rest.
Can I keep the left hand grouped in two and the right hand grouped in single beats?
