Daily Music Writing Tips – Blog by Bryan M. Waring – Page 21 – Reading music theory books so you don't have to!

Tip #143 – Evaluating Your Chord Voicings

So you have the chord harmony you want to play, and you have decided which instruments to play it… now what?

Well, here are three things to keep in mind:

Density
Weight
Span

Now, let’s take a look at these three aspects in use with the example below (remember that the guitar is played an octave lower than written):

First, density. That has to deal with how many different pitch classes there are that make the harmony. In the example above, there are 5 different pitch classes {D – F – A – C – E} which form a Dmin9 chord. Relatively, this is more dense than a simple triadic harmony.

Next, weight. What pitch class appears the most? Even though the harmony is structured to be a Dmin9 chord, the A4 pitch is sounded in all three instruments. That means there is less weight on the root of the chord, and more on the 5th.

Finally, span. Span deals with how the dense harmony is spread throughout an octave ore more. From the example above, the range of the harmonic span goes from D3 to E5, which is more than two octaves. So, we can realize that the sound of this will be spacey – and not so condensed.

Keep these in mind as you are consciously thinking about how to voice your chords.

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.

Tip #142 – Mindfulness of Harmonic Intervals in Two-Part Density

Two-Part Density, as we have talked about before, is two different melodic lines (either in counterpoint or in compliment to each other) played together at the same time.

For those that are nitpicky about everything that they write, here is a way to look at your two-part density in mindful reflection of what note to choose.

First, are the two notes chord-tones to the harmony (either the root, third, fifth, or seventh) or tension tones? Mixture of both?

Second, do the harmonic intervals between the two melodic lines give the desired effect?:

Unions – overlapping consonant blend
Seconds – dissonant
Thirds – consonant, especially if it is a chord-tone
Perfect Fourth – hollow, and slightly dissonant
Perfect Fifth – hollow, consonant
Tritone – very dissonant
Sixths – consonant, especially if it is a chord-tone
Sevenths – dissonant, but can work well if it is a chord tone

Being conscious of these two ideas of chord-tones and interval effect can help strengthen your two-part density writing.

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.

Tip #141 – Understanding the Rupavati 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 Rupavati scale (meaning “beautiful one”), the sixth scale from the second 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. However, the second scale degree (RI) is lowered, creating a tendency to resolve downward. In addition, the upper scale degrees are clustered into a chromatic grouping. While this may sound dissonant or exotic, this scale gives a great amount of opportunity to play with tension and chromatic passing tones.

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.

Tip #140 – Cheat-Sheet for Optimum Places of Turnarounds

Previously, we have talked about the idea of forming and crafting a turnaround in a song. But where and when is the best place to have one? You certainly don’t want to overuse the effect of a turnaround.

Below, I have made a little cheat-sheet of what most arrangers to my knowledge consider to be the best place to put a turnaround section (depending on the form/structure of the song):

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.

Tip #139 – Checklist for a Well-Crafted Turnaround

What is a turnaround?

A turnaround is typically a part of the song that occurs in specific places in the composition (depending on the form) and uses a specific kind of progression, independent of what was already in the song, to lead into the first chord of a new section.

That being said, we can think of making one like using a checklist. Some aspects you might want to include to make a strong turnaround is having it:

Located where the melody is sustained or not existent
Use substituted progressions
Be independent of the “melody” (if there is one)
Possibly restate thematic material

With these aspects in mind, you can look over a turnaround section that you made and self-evaluate if it did the job or not. But that being said, no rules in music should be followed if you don’t want to. This is all here for you to try out with.

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.

Tip #138 – Using Random Modulations in Length

Say you wanted to get from one key area to another in a certain amount of measures:

What would you personally do? Keep in mind that there are many different possibilities on filling in those empty measures.

One way is my using any random pairs of chords, moving by root of a fifth or a step in motion – with ending by a fifth or half-step motion in the bass at the key change.

It would look like as such:

Once again, keep in mind that this is simply a tip as well as an option for an interesting way to modulate. Personally, when I first read about this idea, I wasn’t fully convinced. However, it is still worth experimenting with.

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.

Improve Your Lyrics – Tip #16

There are certain power positions in your lyrics that can effect the entire meaning that you want to come across to your audience.

Okay, now let’s back it up a bit.

A power position is a place in your lyric verses that holds a lot of effect (possibly in meaning or in memory) to the people listening.

Think about it – where do you want your best home-hitting lyrics to be in your song? Buried in the middle?

The three most common power positions in music are:

The first/opening line of a section
The last/closing line of a section
Extra lines out of the 4 line stanza

These areas grab the most attention to the listeners and make those the most memorable lyrics.

So, be sure to put your strongest or ear-catchy lyrics in those power positions.

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.

Tip #137 – Simplifying Harmony to a Pedal Point

Say you have a beginning of a new musical work like this below:

As of right now, there is nothing wrong with it, but it can sure use some development and expansion.

However, what if you didn’t like the idea of the harmony jumping from chord to chord each measure? What can you do?

One tip I learned is that you can reduce the harmony down to a single melodic (or harmonic) pedal point based on either the first of fifth scale degree of the scale/mode.

So, a revised version of creating a stagnant pedal on those two scale degrees look as such:

Play both examples above, and listen to how they both sound “complete” in a way.

Still, the pedal point does not always have to be in the bass. Take a look at what is done here:

A pedal based on the arpeggiation of a harmony built on the fifth scale degree is play continuously over the same melody. And even though the melody itself suggests chord changes to that of the original, the simplified pedal works great harmonically with everything.

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.

Tip #136 – Plurality in Chord Substitution

In Western classical music theory, there are three groups of “harmonic areas,” that being:

Tonic
Pre-dominant
Dominant

Jazz theory expands upon this by assigning a specific chord/function to each of these harmonic areas:

I for Tonic
ii for Pre-dominant
V for Dominant

Not only do these chords and types word as specific harmonic areas, but they can also be used as diatonic passing chords in certain harmonizing situations.

That being said, it seems a bit boring that music is reduced down to the I, ii, and V chords. What about the other diatonic chords? Do they fit any purpose?

Well, here comes the idea of plurality – that because certain chords share multiple notes with each other, that they can be interchangeable. Take a look below:

See how both the iii and vi chord can function as a tonic I. Plus, the IV works as a pre-dominant because it shares a lot of chord tones with ii. And vii is interchangeable to V.

So now, we can potentially revise this as:

I , iii , and vi for Tonic
ii and IV for Pre-dominant
V and vii for Dominant

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.

Tip #135 – Understanding the Kokilapriya Scale

Today’s melakarta is the Kokilapriya scale (meaning “the one dear to the koel bird”), the fifth scale from the second 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. However, the second scale degree (RI) is lowered, creating a tendency to resolve downward. In addition, the sixth (DHA) and seventh scale degree (NI) are raised. While this may sound dissonant or exotic, this scale gives a great amount of opportunity to play with tension and chromatic passing tones.

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.