Author: Bryan M. Waring

Bryan Waring is a graduate of USM's School of Music with a B.M. in Performance – Composition and is now attending Belmont University for a M.M. in Commercial Media – Composition & Arranging. During his time at USM, he studied violin with Dino Liva and composition with Dr. Daniel Sonenberg, as well as has premiered several pieces during the semiannual Composer's Ensemble concert series. In 2017, Bryan was a writer for the original musical theater work of "Molded By The Flow," directed by Paul Dresher and Rinde Eckert. Outside of school, Bryan has been involved with writing music for videogame developers at Portland's CI2 Lab, collaborating with the King Tide Party, and studying with Larry Groupé (Straw Dogs) in San Diego. Now living in Nashville. Along with composing, Bryan teaches music to children, receiving the Master Teacher Award for his work at ESF Camps; and does audio engineering for live ensembles. Besides talents in music, Bryan is a team-player in any competitive work environment; equipped with skills in leadership, organization, mathematics, creativity, communication, and managing. On the side, Bryan has worked as a model for several skilled artists in the New England area. Among his other accomplishments include obtaining the rank of Eagle Scout in April 2013 with a project of building a side parking area with guide rails for Webb Mountain Park in Monroe, CT.

Tip #213 – Getting from an Inversion to Another

Say you wanted to go from your tonic chord (or any other) to an inversion of itself. But, you wanted something in the middle because the root movement is a bit too boring, or you just don’t like the jump of the P5. You want it a bit smoother:

Well, a progression that works well for this comes from many jazz and gospel tunes:

Notice how this is very similar to the I – Imaj7 – I7 – IV – iv progression talked about earlier. Now, the iv chord is replaced with the #ivo chord to give it more motion to the fifth scale degree.

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Improve Your Lyrics – Tip #43

Another song form style that you can use is the AAA form (of course, it can be longer with AAAA…)

The AAA form is not exactly common today, but it has a lot of potential.  It is great for more single storytelling, or telling a collection of tales that are strung by a common theme.  That common theme can be the title being placed at the top of the verses or at the end.  In addition, a refrain section can be added to the end of each.

Refrains in the AAA form can be ironic or conflicting with the rest of the verse, almost for showing two sides of the coin.  But, because the refrain is held at the end which is a “power spot,” it carries more weight in the meaning/message to the song.

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Mix and Master Yourself – Quick Mix Guide (Part 4)

The next step that you might want to take if you were to do a rough mix of your recording session is to add compression.

Compression is used for leveling out the dynamics of a recording. Meaning, that the dynamic range is compromised and squashed.

Take this for an example: say you have a recording where the instrumentalist plays very loud at some sections, normal throughout most, and very quiet at other places. To make this more even, you use a compressor to bring down the loudest parts to a normal level. Then, with a gain knob, you can bring up the entire modified recording to a louder level to make the quitter sections more audible.

Be mindful of the ratio of how much you compress the recording.

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Tip #212 – Building a Jazzy Progression from a Chromatic Line

Say that you have a chromatic lead-line like this below:

How would you harmonize this line? Write down all the possibilities.

Well, one way you can do so is with a frequently used chord progression amongst blues/jazz artists (as well as Stevie Wonder):

I – Imaj7 – I7 – IV – iv

Another variation is to substitute the iv chord with the bVII7 chord. It would look something like this:

Try it out and see how many songs you know use them!

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Tip #211 – Understanding the Naganandini Scale

The Carnatic music of South India has 72 scales (melakartas) comprised of seven different notes in either an ascending (arohana) or descending (avarohana) fashion. These scales are used in a kind of India music called rāga and are extremely beautiful. In addition these scales are grouped into different chakras, based on certain similarities.

Today’s melakarta is the Naganandini scale (translating to “mountain born”), the sixth scale from the fifth chakra.

Below is a representation of the scale as if it was put into Western notation:

Both the first (SA) and fifth (PA) scale degrees are in a placement normal to most scales found in Western music. In addition, it contains the major tetrachord in the beginning with a chromatic run at the top of the scale.

Try playing around with the scale, possible harmonies, and progressions!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read! Feel free to comment, share, and subscribe for more daily tips below! Till next time.

Mix and Master Yourself – Quick Mix Guide (Part 3)

The next step you should take into mixing your music is adding a gate. This is more ideal for situation where you are working with recorded material in stead of sample based/electronically programmed music… but, it is still valuable to know.

A gate works like a “backwards compressor” where if the sound hits there threshold the gate is pushed open. However, if the sound going through the gate is below the threshold, it does not open – and therefore, doesn’t sound.

So, the purpose of the gate is to cut out the bleed/leakage from other instruments that are less in amplitude, but still audible.

You will want to set the attack, hold, and release to breathe with the song. In addition, the threshold should just be enough to allow the main instruments with a few ghost notes come through.

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Thinking Out Loud – Happy Mistakes?

This is a philosophical issue that I have been struggling to resolve, so do not expect there to be a right or wrong (or even a conclusive) answer at the end of this blog post. The purpose of today’s post is to pose a debate.

The scenario:

Say a person was asked to write a hit pop song combining modern influences of the time with trap beats, EDM-like bass, and retro synthwave dance. That was the person’s intention. After writing the song, it happened to become a classical song worthy of Mozart’s praise.

Did this person write a good or bad song?

Is it good because the music is good and the person is being artistic? Or, is it bad because it did not fulfill the original intention?

If you say that the song was good, then how do we define a good or bad song then if it seems the only criteria for it to be good is that it received praise?

On the other hand, if you say that it was a bad song, does that mean all “happy accidents” (like playing an unintentional note during improvisation, but working really well with the harmony) are labelled wrong or unmusical because they were done without fulfilling the original intention?

Personally, I am still undecided, but it is still worth to talk about and say…

Just thinking out loud.

Tip #210 – Jazzy Progression with the Hindu Scale

For those that don’t recall the Hindu Scale, I suggest looking back at some music theory posts I have covered. But to bring you up to speed, the Hindu scale is one of the modes of the melodic minor scale – specifically, the fifth mode.

That being said, we can think of the Hindu scale as the dominant (or mixolydian) of the melodic minor scale. And what do you know! Take a look at what kind of chord is built on the root of the Hindu scale. A dominant-seventh chord.

But that isn’t the only dominant seventh chord of the scale. In fact, there are two that are found in it, creating this famous jazz progression:

I7 – bVII7

While this progression certainly sounds modal because of the scale as well as jazzy because of the dominant-seventh chords, it flows well because it is similar to the “backdoor” progression we have talked about before. Only now the tonic is an unstable dominant figure.

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Improve Your Lyrics – Tip #42

In songwriting, you come across different terms for different sections.  Verse, chorus, bridge, refrain, post-chorus, etc.  But what is the difference between them?  Specifically, what is the difference between the chorus and refrain?

Both the chorus and refrained are sections that repeat unchanged.  In addition, both sections are typically where the title is as well as where everyone in the audience sings along.  Furthermore, they come after a verse-like section.  So are they the same?

Not exactly.  They are a different purpose for the song.  A chorus indicates the start of a new section, while a refrain indicates the conclusion/wrapping-up of the verse section back into a new one.  In addition, refrains are much shorter in length than choruses.

As you are debating on how you want to structure your song, consider the purpose of each line and their function.

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Teach Yourself Music Theory – 32.) Building Triads from Scales

Continuing with our topic of triads, we are going to be discussing what and which triads are built from scales… covering major, natural, harmonic, and melodic minor.

Beside the lead-sheet note note names, the Roman numeral figured-bass and triad quality remains the same from each respective scale regardless of starting pitch.

Let’s start with the major scale:

Building triads on each note, we get what we have above. 3 major triads, 3 minor triads, and 1 diminished triad. Chords I , IV , and V will always be major in a major key.

Now, natural minor:

We have the same amount of major, minor, and diminished triads… but they are in a different order.

As for harmonic minor:

With the inclusion of the raised leading tone, we see a quality of the chords change. Instead of v being minor, V is major in harmonic minor. Also, we have two diminished chords.

Finally, melodic minor:

With two raised pitches, we get another completely different group of triads. Now, the ii chord is minor… but the vio chord is diminished.

NOTE: the “B” symbol in the pictures means “flat” just like the “b” sign.

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