Composing

Objective. To introduce to those musicians so inclined to create their own music, some very fundamental ideas about art, musical compositional forms and how we might merge them together with our own inspirations in creating our own works of musical art.

Writing songs. So often the process of writing song simply starts when we "hear" a melody line or a catchy phrase of words that have a rhythm all their own. We can sing this idea and find it's pitches. We can then shape this idea into a melody. We create a scale from the pitches of the melody. We evolve this scale into an arpeggio. We build chords on each of the pitches of the scale and try to find which ones best fit and support our melody. Once our song begins to take shape, it develops it's own "personality" that will help us decide what musical color goes where, so as to create form and balance throughout the entire piece. If all goes well, we'll know when it is "finished" because there are no more rough spots or holes to be smoothed over or filled up. We'll polish this song a wee bit every time we play it, a song can sometimes take years to truly finish, and that's cool. It's personality will evolve as we mature as artists, oftentimes nourishing ideas for new songs. Then another melody comes along and we start this process again. And because we are smart, after writing a few songs, our own "patterns" for composing begin to emerge and we recognize it. We each of us then know what it takes within our own "muse" to write our songs. One "trick" to composing, as consistently brought forth by successful composers, is the need to work with a new idea until enough of it's "personality" has come forth so we understand it, thus we make sure we can always conjure up it's magic again. Thus: we write these ideas down with pen and paper, or audio record them by whatever means, we teach them to our co-writer friends, we teach them to our bands, do whatever it takes or works best for each of us so that the personality of the song we are creating becomes a friend we never ever forget.

Composing music is simply about putting our ideas into real forms. It often involves words or poetry. It involves capturing the emotional essence of what our song is about. This involves an understanding of our musical colors. Individual composers write all different kinds of songs. Sad, happy, exciting, reflective, angry and loving songs often come from the same artist. What this shows is that our own emotions are so often the initial spark to bring a new song to life. Sometimes it's a turn of phrase, commonly know in the music biz as a "hook." Those words of a pop song that get "stuck" and loop around in our heads. Other times it's just a couple of pitches and a new and unique rhythm that creates the motif, our musical term for the core melodic idea or theme of our song. We composers often write songs about our friends, loved ones and historical events. Music is often "commissioned" to be written for say a movie, play or other cultural event. This list goes on and on, each of us writing our music to express the art in our hearts.

Compositional forms in music. So, if composing music is simply about putting our ideas into form, is a one measure "vamp" a song? Could be eh? I mean, we have to start somewhere. Can a song be just two measures, or just three or four measures and be complete? Regardless, what "compositional forms in music" implies is artistic balance, and this balance is oftentimes what helps shapes a song. Children's songs are oftentimes simply two lines of verse which are repeated. Such as in the case of our melody for "Shortnin." Sing the song to yourself and hear the words "Mama's little baby loves ..." at the start of each phrase. Here is the melody. Example 1.

If we were to count the beats and create a time signature for this song, we'd be in 4 / 4 time, each of the phrases would be two measures and the overall form of the song would be a four bar phrase. Cool? Notice the two terms above the written music? Antecedent and consequent are simply two rather nice and sophisticated words for the two phrases in our song. First phrase / second phrase. Call and response. Question and answer. All of these describe the "closure" of the unique phrasing that gives this song a wholeness so as to feel complete and balanced. So much so that a child can often learn it with a few tries and remember it always.

We could double our four bars into eight and enlarge our form yes? The ever popular "Happy Birthday" is an eight bar tune. So is this lovely lullaby. Example 2.

"Hush little baby ..." is simply a four bar phrase repeated once with a slight shift in one melody pitch. Learn this line on your instrument. Happy Birthday too. Run these melodies through a couple of different keys.

With the above expansion of our musical form from four to eight bars, we sense a general trend towards longer forms. This is indeed the case. Here is a chart of some of the common forms of music we use to create the American songs.

These last three forms, the 12 bar blues and the two 32 bar song forms, are by far and away the most commonly used forms in popular American song. Go through any real book and examine 25 songs, making a tally of the forms and you'll see for yourself just how common these three forms of composition are. (1)

So why all this talk about musical form on the composing page? Well mainly in that for many emerging songwriters, while they have good ideas and nice melodies, often lack the sense of form and balance that comes with a bit more formal training in music theory. Oft neglected in early music programs and perhaps rightly so, as the goal here is to get new learners up and playing and having fun, the theory gets saved till later years when a greater need for the knowledge is manifest, oftentimes due to the complexity of the music being played. A more thorough understanding of the musical elements within a piece of music can often translate to a more "artful" rendering. Thus, when younger composers begin to write, getting a sense of form can help them to frame their work and provide some structure for their ideas. The cool thing is that all of our music theory "rules and forms" are breakable, and that these guidelines simply come from music already written that we hold dear to our hearts. And as we move along in our studies, gain knowledge and strengthen our composing skills, we simply "stretch" our resources to fit our artistic needs.

For emerging composers, try listening to your favorite songs and listen for the structure of the phrases, the repeating of the main melody, if there is a second, contrasting melody etc. Figure out the time signature and count along with the song and see if the phrases are four bars, eight bars etc. I think you'll be surprised after a bit when you realize how similar the musical form of different sounding songs can be. This is way true in the blues, where the vast majority of blues tunes follow the 12 bar blues form of phrasing and harmonic scheme.

Through composed. A concluding thought here is in regards to what composers call "through composed." This compositional technique is a bit more adventurous artistically as the music simply winds it's way along without any need for definitive sections, numbers of measures in phrases etc. The music is composed and flows, or charges or scoots along completely at the discretion of the composer's muse, that elusive part of our creative process that brings the magic to our music. Skies the limit here in creative composition! So often when "though composing", one idea or section will just suggest another and so forth, that a new idea organically evolves from the existing one. We then create interludes between sections, transitions from one section to another, use similar melodic and harmonic ideas in different keys, swap back and forth between the major to minor tonalities, combine these freer through composed sections with other more structurally definite forms. And while these last few ideas might seem a bit vague or random, believe it or not, but sometimes that is just what is called for by our muse to express the ideas we have.

Review. In composing there really is no right and wrong, more of just what works and what doesn't for the artist. We start to understand the compositional forms in music by thinking of the phrasing of our melodic ideas and the two part nature of how are thoughts tend to be organized. First phrase / second phrase. Call and response. Question and answer etc. We often expand our form by simply doubling the size of smaller forms to create larger ones. We repeat four bar phrases three times to make a 12 bar blues. Or double a four bar phrase into eight bars, then double that into 16 bars. We repeat similar melodic ideas to expand our forms and often use a contrasting theme to our first idea for variety. All the while remaining true to the original emotional essence and personality of the song, using musical sounds to enhance our statement.

Vocabulary terms for this chapter.

Go on and ace the matching quiz which follows, and once successfully completed, go over it with your teacher or write for help. For a start in composing, write as much of your best musical idea down in standard notation or whatever way you are presently cool with and try to get it played by your musical group or another group that you know of. Cool?

Some good, basic music theory information on this page, was any of it new for you? Your thoughts on this? info@jacmuse.com Well, "that's all folks" as we used to say. So, on to get your diploma if you may. Hope you enjoyed this little soiree and that it set you right upon a path of musical joy today! First a quote.

Music is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. Beethoven

"how to practice something ...

that we don't know how to play ... yet ..."

(1) All of the information on musical form and composition in this chapter comes from playing the jazz, blues, folk and rock music I love, writing songs and teaching and learning this music to and from other musicians. I have studied musical form formally in college using the following texts.

Berry, Wallace. Form in Music. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966

Green, Douglass. Form in Tonal Music. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc., 1965.