music – Page 11 – Daily Music Writing Tips

Tip #186 – Understanding the Gaurimanohari 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 Gaurimanohari scale (meaning “steals the heart”), the fifth scale from the fourth 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 looks similar to a melodic minor scale.

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

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Tip #185 – Alternative Tuning

Today is going to feature a short tip to composing original music, but nonetheless an important one.

Remember: you are never confined to the standard tunings of stringed instruments such as the violin, bass, guitar, etc. Just because a note you want or a chord voicing is impossible in the regular tuning doesn’t mean that it can’t be accomplished if you use an alternative tuning.

Scordatura, or telling the performer how to retune their instrument before a piece or section can be used to obtain new possibilities.

For some insight on how to do this – I recommend researching about famous rock artists/bands that frequently use innovative alternative tunings such as Joni Mitchell, Lou Reed, and Sonic Youth.

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How To Beat Writer’s Block – Tip #16

For those out there who work and compose through a DAW (digital audio workstation), this one is for you:

Say that you have all these virtual instruments and plugins, but are overwhelmed by the possibilities. Overwhelmed to the point where you don’t know where to start.

The best thing I would advise someone to do is to first program into your MIDI a simple chord progression. I’ll chose it for you… a progression of I – IV – vi – V7.

Next, set that progression on a loop.

Now, while it is in a loop, slowly go through all the instrument and preset possibilities through your DAW till you find something that you like. This will force you be mentally articulate as to which instrument/preset sounds the best.

And from there, you can start building off of what you have chosen. Pick complementary sounding instruments. Change the chord progression. Add a melody. Do some automation. Etc.

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 #184 – Unique Use of Dominant 13 (b9 #11) Chord

Some jazz performers, arrangers, and composers have the inclination to add tension tones and various extensions on top of simple triad chord harmonies. Not that it is a bad thing, but it can become mundane if used too often or too frivolously.

With that out of the way, one chord that I have noticed some people using is the dominant 13 chord with alterations of a b9 and #11. Usually, this is recognized as a V 13(b9 #11) in the jazz tune – but here is another use of it:

Let’s first start by separating the dominant 7 from the upper extensions. That gives us the V7 chord and the (b9 #11 13) above.

If we reharmonize the (b9 #11 13) be their enharmonic, we get a minor triad a tritone above the root of the chord.

Typically, there is no major or natural minor key that has both a V7 and bii. However, who said that the dominant chord has to function as a V7 chord? Instead, we can think of it as a tritone substation making it a bII7 in a minor key with the minor triad acting as a v. In which case, both the bII7 and v chords resolve to the minor tonic triad of i.

Try it out for yourself!

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Teach Yourself Music Theory – 23.) Relative Versus Parallel Keys

We have talked about this before when covering major and natural minor scales. So be sure to review those sections if these concepts seem unfamiliar or difficult.

Relative keys, are two key that share the same number of accidentals. We know that the key of D Major and the key of B minor are relative keys because they both have the same number of accidentals added to their key signature (two sharps).

We figured this out before that in a major key, the minor key (where the natural minor scale is derived from) is a m3 interval below the tonic. Vice-versa, in a minor key we can tell that the relative major is a m3 above the tonic.

Parallel keys are ones that don’t necessarily (if ever) share the same accidentals, but share the same tonic.

Let’s take a look at the two parallel keys of C major and C minor:

Notice how they don’t have the same accidentals, but they do share the same tonic of C. More to come on how to use parallel keys in composition, but more now this is learning on how to distinguish between relative and parallel keys.

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Tip #183 – Why the iv o7 Chord Works

A diminished seventh chord built on the fourth scale degree of the key. Think about it for a second.

Now, do you think this chord can resolve to the tonic in a iv o7 – I progression?

Let’s see in comparison to a regular ii 7 – V 7 – I progression:

If you play these chords, you will hear that both of them sound like complete resolutions to the I chord. But why?

Well, first start off by looking at the enharmonics of the iv o7 chord. Notice how there are 3 shared common tones. What’s more, the one note that is different is the b9 of the V chord. So basically, the iv o7 acts as a V 7(b9) chord with the seventh in the bass.

Try it out and see what else you can use it 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 #182 – Understanding the Kharaharapriya Scale

Today’s melakarta is the Kharaharapriya scale (which has a rough translation of “to be blessed”), the fourth scale from the fourth 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 looks similar to a Dorian 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.

Tip #181 – Reducing to Power Chords

We have talked about how power chords can create ambiguity in the harmony because you cannot exactly tell if the chord is major or minor. In addition, transforming a diminished triad into a power chord creates a chromatic in the key pitch collection as well as ambiguity in the leading tone.

Besides blurring the lines of major and minor, reducing to power chords can help enforce root movements. Now that the listener cannot rely on whether a major chord moved to a minor chord, vice-verse, or whatever – they have to pay attention to the root movement.

Chords that are a P5 or P4 apart will now have more power in transition. The listener will notice the sol – do pitch movement, even if the chords are not V – I, because the key is not exactly distinguishable due to the power chord harmonization.

This can work to your advantage, or work against it. So, pay attention to where and how you use power chords – especially when you are bouncing between triadic harmony and power 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.

Teach Yourself Music Theory – 22.) Metric Accents and Syncopation

An accent (which we will cover more later) is an emphasis on a note during performance. Usually, this is indicated by the composer on the sheet music to tell the performer on which notes to put the accent.

However, accents can also naturally happen. We have talked about this before with metric grouping. Within a measure a specific number of beats are grouped together. Not only is it used for organization, but it helps tell the performer where to put the emphasis when playing.

A metric accents is a natural emphasis put on a note due to its placement in the meter. Below is a graph with the level of accentuation put on different beats of various metric groupings:

You have probably already realized this knowing that an upbeat is light, while a downbeat is strong.

Now for a new term:

Syncopation, placing the accent on a weak or unexpected part/division of the beat.

When the emphasis avoids the strong metric accents and is applied to the weaker beats, or to the beat divisions (eighth-notes, etc.), it is called syncopation.

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Tip #180 – Using the Principle of the I 6/4 Chord

This post is NOT a debate on if the I 6/4 chord acts more of a tonic or dominant chord. Instead, we will be talking about the principle behind the chord and how to apply it to other practices.

While the analysis of the I 6/4 chord is up to debate, the function is not – the chord comes before the V chord, and then it usually resolves to the I chord from there. Why so? Well, looking at the shape as well as the voice movement of the I 6/4 chord to the V chord, it is a suspension of higher tones over the shared root resolving to the dominant chord.

Basically, we can learn from this is that by suspending voices over the dominant root, we create a delayed resolution to the V chord and then to I.

Not only can this be done with a I 6/4 chord, but it can also be done with a V sus4 chord, a V chord with upper tension tones, and variations:

Try them out – that by keeping the root the same, but changing the upper structure or voicing, you create a delay in the harmonic movement resolving back to I.

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.