 |
|
You are not logged in! F.A.Q Log in Register |
 |
|
 |
 Now online (2)big recycle ...and 659 guests Last 5 registered Oplandisks nothingstar N_loop yipe foxtrotromeo Browse members... |
 |
Members 8025Messages 2614121 Today 4 Topics 127542 |
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
I've been trying to improve my music composition skills by writing simple piano pieces. Here are a few: I'd like some feedback on what works, what doesn't, what's lacking, and the direction I should take for further pieces. Also, for those that have studied music / composition in university or college, do you recommend taking it? On the flip side, do you think it is possible to learn composition "by ear", on your own? Does anyone know of any good composition resources? (Internet sites or books would be best.) I have a music theory book, but I'm looking for something more along the lines of "these are the general rules for writing a fugue". |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
oct_30_2005-3 - well, it's very textbook-sounding. it sounds like a very traditional, simple song. it's well-thought out. it's not the sort of thing that i'd normally listen to personally, but it seems like a very logical melodic piece. in my unexpert opinion, i think that you already seem to have the basics of composition down extremely well. i'd say just learn additional scales and stuff and you'd be in good shape for this style of composition. |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
"On the flip side, do you think it is possible to learn composition" by ear", on your own?" yes, it is possible (or so I gather). you'll just take longer to do the same thing someone with more musical knowledge will. |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
i agree. forgot to say that. |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
Yeah, I agree that it sounds textbook. My main goal was to write some songs that are indistinguishable from the songs I've been practicing from books. I wouldn't normally listen to it either. :) My goal isn't to write this sort of stuff though. I just figured it would make sense to start with the very basics. I'm hoping to eventually be able to write piano songs like the ones on drukqs, in the sense that they sort of sound classical, but they sound modern, too (and the kids can dig it ;). Thanks for the compliment and thanks for listening! Cheers. |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
if you're interested in learning, you dont have to jump right into uni... check your phonebook for music theory lessons. cheaper, and you get one on one instruction, opposed to 20 other kids in a room. id say start this way, at your own pace, no real preassure. id reccomend starting with traditional theory, and moving forward linearly, because then I think you get a better understanding of what comes later, the more modern stuff. itll take you several years at least though... its not something you just pick up. but its damn fun learning! |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
NOTE: Zeus won the Billy Orbit prize for music production. He knows what he is talking about more than almost everyone on this messageboard. Listen to his wise words as theoretically he knows his shit. |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
ecnabniarb is braindance backwards |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
You can't spell braindance without aabrnidnec. |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
*mind has been blown* |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
I study composition at a conservatoire. They're a few things you should think about before deciding to study it. The first thing is that you are prepared to write in styles you don't necessarily like writing in, that goes for instruments you don't like the sound of too. Aural skills are important, if you can hear what you notate you have a real advantage, I'd say that this is the most important skill for a composer. Because it's so marginalised you have to work to get performances, even in college because not everyone has time for rehearsals. Things aren't so bad over here though, they're a lot of composing societies which promote new music. Don't expect to earn a living from being a composer, You can earn money from teaching but it's good to be an adaquate performer as well. Walter Piston's books: Harmony, Orchestration & Counterpoint are really good books to start with. Gardiner Reed - Music Notation Alfred Blatter - Instumentation/Orchestration |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
"The first thing is that you are prepared to write in styles you don't necessarily like writing in, that goes for instruments you don't like the sound of too." thats the fucking truth |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
When I invented posh music the other century I had to include that to piss off all the rich kids who could go and afford to study music. If you "keep it real" just get some bongos, tap and sing. |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
can I substitute the bongo with tabla? |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
(courtesy of samhorsefactory) |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
holy crap, I can fucking draw! |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
you won a prize for it. you can show the prize to people. |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
well, only if you say its ok... |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
The other two guys in that picture are the Warner Brothers. That's Walt on the left and Disney on the right, fact fans. |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
Matthew is taller than BOTH Warner Brothers, the towering brute. |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
I ate my jell-o |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
or you're wearing high heels. let's let the audience decide. |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
*waits anticipatively* |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
*ahem* On a different note... I think that those pieces are not bad at all. They are a little generic but by judging what you have said already i think that was kind of intended. Nicely done though. |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
do you want to compose (write) or do you just want skills in creating melodies? if it's the latter, I'd suggest going deeper into just playing on the piano. start from the bottom - chords, scales and so-on.. get a feel for what sound comes from where. find a song you really want to learn how to play and just practice that (my first was Avril 14th). If you do it like that, you can teach yourself piano. It'll take longer, but.. well.. it worked for me. I'm not good at other people's songs (takes me few days if I practice hard), but I'm getting a good feel for harmonies and the sounds of the piano. |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
oct 30: good polyphony in general, but the whole thing together doesn't quite flow from part to part 100% well. Like, my 2 favorite preset little melodies on this shit keyboard I have "fur elise" and "jesus", are more simple logical wholes somehow. These 2 tracks had an instantly aesthetically pleasing and still are. I've been failing to mimic videogame music for so long. Double dragon 2: level 3 for example. Just about every single NES videogame track has a simple "bass" melody kind of keeping rhythm somehow, then the other melodies on top. I don't understand why it is so hard for me to do... What is the easiest way to do it? Start with the bass melody? Start with the normal melody and then construct the bass on top of it? How the fuck do they make everything fit together so well and sound so great. It seems simple enough and I've listened to little looped videogame tunes for long periods of time simply trying to find a logical way they are constructed and can be composed but I remain baffled and cannot make them. |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
Yeah, I know what you mean about the parts not flowing very well. I think it has something to do with the way I compose. Basically, I write 4 bars at a time. Often, I write 4 bars, go away, come back later, write another 4 bars, etc.. I guess I need to stop thinking of a tune as a bunch of "parts", and instead as a cohesive whole. I like how you basically said "this is good, but you're no Beethoven." :) Fur Elise is certainly well beyond anything I could write. As for NES tunes, yeah they're certainly wicked. When I was little I actually recorded all the Double Dragon 2 music to tape so I could listen to it at recess with my walkman (nerd alert). I've never tried actually writing them though. I know there are lots of MIDI files of NES tunes out there, and while they're not exactly 100% accurate it might be interesting to try analysing some of those. |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
double dragon III had some great tunes too... oh the nostalgia! I personally have listened to Nobuo Uematsu in Final Fantasy Soundtracks (most notably 6, 7 and 8) for that simplicity of form yet depth of composition. But honestly, it ain't easy to emulate chip synths like that, just getting the tone and timbre right is a pain in the neck (unless indeed you use MIDI). But why not listen to some non-demanding Bach (there IS some), and come away with great ideas? Altogether Renaissance and the early Baroque was the golden age of pedagogy in composition. I'm taking a history of western music course, and there's lots of great artists out there relevant to learning composition (by imitation): Palestrina, Bach, Telemann, Scarlatti... And check out Solage's "Fumeux Fume (par fumees)" for some late medieval inspiration. |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
I'm about to play double dragon 3 right now; havn't in years. "simplicity in form yet depth of composition" = the genesis game toe jam and earl 2: panic on funkotron!! If you don't have it, buy yourself a genesis system and this game (or maybe emulation). It's worth it just for the freakin fantastic music (and there's an option to simply play the tracks without playing the game). There is so much subtle complex yet simple stuff (that also completely fits the theme of funky aliens). Some of the most awesome music I've ever heard. This stuff is IMPOSSIBLE for me to even remotely imitate. |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
those mp3s brought me back to writing answering phrases in music class for the leaving cert.. good luck and have fun! no doubt soon you'll be |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
imho you'd be wasting your time on any formal tuition. . just keep practiscsing and condition yourself to be good. at the end of the day, it is more important to have ideas than to be able to express them. |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
at the end of the day, it is more important to have ideas than to be able to express them. I can't tell whether you're being sarcastic or not. If not, then.. Rubbish. |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
well plenty of people with a good grasp of music theory go ahead and write a load of uninspired clap trap. the only rule to writing music is to create something that sounds good to the ear. |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
perhaps you just chose the wrong words in your first post. if you're unable to express your ideas in music, the product will inevitably not sound good to the ear. and i don't mean the only music that sounds good to the ear is book that follows textbook theory to the letter. i think the negation of that is what you meant to write. |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
thanks for understanding love, nigel. |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||
|
|
no problem, nige |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
Messageboard index
|
|||||||||
