Tag: composer

Tip #73 – A Reminder for Subtle Influences

Over the past few months, I have detailed of aspects of certain genres and styles, from their unique scales to chord progressions, form, treatment of melody, motifs, rhythm, etc.

While you as the composer can certain take these bits of advice to compose something uniform – say, like in the style of an “authentic” delta blues song for example – there is nothing forcing you to.

You very much can Frankenstein your piece by having subtle influences to a composition, but not let it be overbearing. For example: your entire composition could be classical in nature, but have a blues based melody. A country song you are writing could have a Latin percussion beat in the backing rhythm for some spicy flavor. Or your next electronic club hit could sample some passages from Renaissance era vocal counterpoint.

Be creative, but keep in mind that a little goes a long way!


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Tip #72 – Adjusting Tempo

Today is going to be a short tip that might sound obvious, but could be the helpful reminder in your compositional processes.

Before sending a score to print, exporting stems, or formatting a sound file of your composition – play around with the tempo.

You might be thinking about this and go: “that’s stupid.” However, you might be able to find a new and interesting feel for your composition just by increasing/decreasing the bpm by a noticeable amount of notches.

If you are making demos of songs that fit I the EDM style, you can make multiple copies of your song in different tempi to get a variety to consider before an official release.


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Tip #71 – Understanding Half-Swing

Take a look at the image below:

You might have recognized instantly that the top staff is a notation of straight/even eighths, and that the third staff is of a triplet swing rhythm. Also, you might have figured-out that the last staff at the bottom is a “jagged” and pretty square swinging rhythm.

But what about the second staff??

That is the approximate (and that term is used VERY loosely) of a “half-swing” feel that is roughly in between the straight eighths and common triplet swung eighths.

Be aware; this is a feel for a performer to play. While the notion is good for programming purposes in a DAW, do not ever give someone a piece of sheet music written this way. Simply indicate this feel to a performer, or learn it yourself. You might be surprised as to hose loose and flowing it really is for your composition.


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 #70 – Crafting with Asymmetrical Timelined Phrases

Take a look at the example below and figure out of there are any patterns:

You may have noticed that the middle staff if a 2-bar phrase that is repeated over and over again. Also, you may have realized that the staff at the bottom is a 1-bar figure played like an ostinato.

Everything looks even enough in the typical grouping you would expect for any composition until we look at the top staff. Surprisingly, it is at 5-bar phrase that doesn’t match-up as neatly as the other grouping.

These different lengths of repeated phrases within a structure create an asymmetric timeline for when everything will repeat and land back in sync.

Experiment with different phrase lengths that don’t match exactly with one another. Also, you can use some cool phasing techniques to develop lines!


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Tip #69 – Interpolation of Quotes

From music of the Renaissance era, to the prime-time of jazz, and all the way to now in present-day, musicians have been using other famous works as “quotes” within their music.

Obviously, one does run into the problem of plagiarism or lack of originality depending on how the quote is used. Using music in the public domain is a safe way to get around the act of plagiarism, and your own creativity will solve the remaining problem.

The main goal of quoting a well-known theme embedded into your piece is to reinvent it. in some way, shape, or form. People have taken a theme and used it as a cantus firmus, bass-line, fragmented motif, etc. before. If you are expecting to use it as a primary melodic idea, here is a checklist of tips:

  • Context – Is the theme “well-known” for your intended audience? Does it fit the composition (thematically, harmonically, melodically, motifically, fluidly)? Can the quote be paraphrased in some way? How about restated?
  • Reconfiguration – Will you be able to adjust the pitches and rhythms without losing the premise of the quote? Can the quote be developed into later themes used? What about broken fragments?
  • Inflection – what emotional, symbolic, ironic, personal, or associative meaning does this new and reworked quote provide to your composition? Is it worth it?


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Tip #68 – Boxed Melody

Continuing with the idea of limitation to unlock creativity, take into the idea of boxed melody.

Basically, this means keeping the span of the melody to a relatively close interval (at most a P5) over a set bass pitch.

Below is a commonality of limited melodic range found in blues harmony. Play around with setting yourself some criteria of limitations as to which pitches you can use over each unique harmonic root. Don’t always make it tonal, too. Experiment and have fun!


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 #3

Here is a little reminder of a tip to use when going back and revising your lyrics:

Aims for emotional/psychological consistency. Meaning, the emotional connotations and suggestions of the words (literal or symbolic) all portray roughly the same thing. This might be tough and useless if you are planning on writing an epic poem of a song – but for short singles, this is really effective.

For example: if your song is about happiness and love and you say “I’d kill just to be with you my love” – well, there is some inconsistency. You have a song about love, but a word in the middle the suggests anger.

Look to be consistent ahead of your rough draft by making a word bank of words, and research common symbolism in literature as well as music.


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How To Beat Writer’s Block – Tip #6

For this activity to get the creative juices flowing – I want you to think about opposites in life.

There is a yin and yang to everything. Dark and light. Good and bad. Tension and relaxation. Both sides now to come together into one.

In music, there is a great deal of tension and release to make the music interesting as well as flowing in growth/shape. But how can you come up with some cool ways of opposites to mimic tension and release?

Take two completely opposite music genres (in your opinion) and make a Venn diagram. The outer circles will obviously be used for listing aspects of the genres that are strictly unique. As for the section of overlap, that will be common traits shared between both genres. You might be surprised by how much they overlap!

Used the overlapped traits as the basis for your composition (or completely disregard it – your choice). Then, label one outer circle your “tension” and the other “relaxation.”

Now, try composing your music using your new traits of “tension and relaxation” found in the opposites of genres from different ends of the spectrum.


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Tip #67 – Dead Thumb Influences in Part Writing

In the past I have been very vocal about many things; in particular, advising that people should not write music to their own performance ability.  I caution against this because it places creativity in a limited space, it doesn’t challenge the composer/performer to grow, and it boarders the high probability of regurgitation of common predictable themes.

That being said (in all irony), I will be talking about taking influence from different blues fingerstyles of guitar playing to inspire part writing for compositional purposes.  While this will limit the compositional ability as to what can be done using the physical limitations of the described guitar style, I do encourage people who are reading this to “think outside the box” and experiment to how these style can transverse over into new creative applications.

Today, I will be talking about the “dead thumb” playing of blues music that is predominantly found in the Texas and deep Southern areas of the United States.

Dead thumb may seem boring, but it provides the important drone of the tonic found in blues music.  Basically, it is hitting the root (and only the root) every beat, or in the swing rhythm.  Occasionally, there might be a pattern of alternating between the power chord and M6 voicing of the root.

In this tip, imagine yourself playing in that style and understand what is physically possible as well as typically normal.  Mentally practice this, and then write/play/annotate/record it.

Remember, always be creative above everything else.  While keeping to rules and limitation can help focus on certain aspects on your composition, never go for less than what you are capable of.


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 #66 – Utility Thumb Influences in Part Writing

In the past I have been very vocal about many things; in particular, advising that people should not write music to their own performance ability.  I caution against this because it places creativity in a limited space, it doesn’t challenge the composer/performer to grow, and it boarders the high probability of regurgitation of common predictable themes.

That being said (in all irony), I will be talking about taking influence from different blues fingerstyles of guitar playing to inspire part writing for compositional purposes.  While this will limit the compositional ability as to what can be done using the physical limitations of the described guitar style, I do encourage people who are reading this to “think outside the box” and experiment to how these style can transverse over into new creative applications.

Today, I will be talking about the “utility thumb” playing of blues music that is predominantly found in the Delta area of the United States.

Utility thumb means that the bass note, provided by the thumb hitting the lowest note of the harmony on the guitar, is done on occasion.  It is approximately needed at least once a measure, and usually hits on an offbeat.  So, it is very reserved and only played when needed.

In this tip, imagine yourself playing in that style and understand what is physically possible as well as typically normal.  Mentally practice this, and then write/play/annotate/record it.

Remember, always be creative above everything else.  While keeping to rules and limitation can help focus on certain aspects on your composition, never go for less than what you are capable of.


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.