The Process of Composing

Where've I been?!

Writing! Scoring! Arranging! Composing!

And getting kids ready for school.

Right now, I'm sitting alone in Familiar Grounds of New London writing to you, while my kids are swimming. And believe me, I'm thankful for the break.

So, back to the writing. I have nearly completed a score that I hope to go into a really cool project I'm working on. Oh man, I am so excited. But let's backtrack and look at what the process looked like.

Composing a New Song:

• Remember that I said that I don't using other people's material. Copyright law is nothing I want to tangle with. It's a pain. So, I had to come up with an original idea. That was first.
• Next, I worked on the just the bones: Writing lyrics, putting chords where they belong, figuring out a cool riff here or there and how I wanted the song to start. I recorded my voice to help me remember how I wanted it to go. 
• Then I worked on putting the beginning drum part into the computer program Sibelius. This is not easy. It's a pain. Then the other instrumental intro.
• Start putting in the melody. Get 1st verse and intro done. By this time you're pooped. 
• Keyboards are next. Just play and go. Worry about fixing the way the computer puts the midi instrument in later. Clean up is easier then. Enter the chords that go with the key part.
• Then, Move into other instruments. From the chords you can establish harmonies for the different instruments. don't be afraid to use unison. KISS rule very important here.
• By this time you're thinking you bit off more than you can chew... Don't worry, it's a process. Put it away, come back later or tomorrow - - But you MUST COME BACK.
• Work on chorus if there is one. Repeat process up to this point to complete. 
• Now, things start to get slightly easier. You have your first verse, intro and chorus done. From here you can borrow, copy, alter and play. Hard work may come at bridge, but it will seem easier - Especially if you have an instrument solo or reuse a part.
• Continue repeating these steps until you reach the end. Remember to look in text books to make sure you have correct punctuations and notes for instrumentalists. 
• Go back and clean up song. This make take a bit. Sometimes it's a difficult transition. 

NOW! 

The most important step! Do not skip this step. 

You need this step. This is a very, very important step! 

Ready?

Contact an expert and have them look over your score. They will be able to tell you if you have any holes, missteps, or if it's back to the drawing board. They'll also be able to tell you of some tricks for the future. 

This is what I have done. I contacted Jack Whitney, former Jazz Professor at UW-Madison, who happens to live in my area. He writes charts for many bands, and performed on trombone with many combos to orchestras. A great guy to know if you're starting to write more complicated stuff. 

I'll let you know if it turns out. I'm hoping so. I also hope to find some musicians to perform by the end of the month. 

Yay! Progress! 

I will continue to press on. Thanks for cheering for me! :)

Unison Camouflage

As a newbie myself to this wonderful world of jazz arranging and composition, let me just say that I am amazed at how often instruments play in unison for these arrangements. You just don't realize when you're hearing it unless you really listen and take nothing for granted.

Because the different instruments have different timbres, this can camouflage itself within the same pitch and slightly fool the ear if you're not really listening. Now, you may be thinking... "Of course I can tell if things are playing in unison or playing in harmony. Why can't you?"

I can, but when you're not playing close attention, things are moving by so fast and you're not really listening for it, I'm saying, yeah, you can miss it. Especially if it's spaced out by a few octaves with the different instruments. I may sound like harmony even though it's not.

Remember, there are overtones and undertones at play here. These will go a long way towards the harmonics.

Also, keep in mind that while the instruments have their own timbres, the players don't all sound the same either! I'm a trumpet player, so we'll go with them. Here's a picture depicting 3 trumpets playing together. They're the same in every way, except for the separate players styles or sound. Let's say, one has a clear tone, the other has a raspy tone, and the third a fat blat-type of tone. That would give the same note three distinct sounds and fool the ear slightly.

You can see they're all the same, just their color is different. 

Now, let's look at some different instruments. 

Let's say this is a trumpet, saxophone, and trombone playing in unison. See that the different tone qualities make for a unique sound with each instrument. If we displace the sound by an octave or two, how much more would our ears be fooled momentarily by the depth of sound. 

The simplicity of this on the part of the arrangers is genius. We can create sounds that bring the full representation of harmony without actually writing it. Sometimes, if written well and spaced correctly by the different instruments, our minds will create the missing pieces all on their own! 

"Wait, are you saying my brain will actually fill in the harmony if I hear tones played between an octave or two?" 

Yes! I am. 

Now, don't get me wrong. We definitely can't do without writing harmony. If this technique is used too often, the ear catches on and it gets boring. But if used sparingly and wisely, this simple technique can enhance the quality of music.

As new arrangers, we tend to overdue it. Thinking we need to fill every section with tons of harmony and all of the instruments playing at the same time. But this is a mistake. 

Follow the K.I.S.S. rule. It will save you from yourself. 

Deep breaths. We're getting there. Chugging up the mountain. I think I can. I think I can....

Guide Tones - Monotony or Melodic Mastery

Some of you may have been saying, "Come on, girl! When are you gonna talk about Guide Tones!"

And some of you don't care. So, I may be only speaking to a select few today....

BUT WHO CARES!!!

So guide tones. guide tones.... hmm... Where to begin.

From what I understand, they are the notes that provide stabilization and move the melody forward. So, in a chord, the guide tones would be be the 3rd and 7th usually. I say usually because you can also use the b9th, 11th, b5th, etc... yeah, pretty much anything goes. But most commonly, it's the 3rd and 7th. And because of this, if you use them too often they can make a piece boring. The ear will get used to their movement and start to tune them out.

Here the guide tones are in green. The first red note on the left (F) is the tonic of the chord, and the second is the 5th (C).

They are very common in Jazz and were made popular by guitarists Grant Green, Jim Hall, and pianist Red Garland (so Wikipedia says...).

In this example you can see how the guide tones can switch from chord to chord. Notice how from the first Dm7 to the G7, the F note stays stationary, but it's placement within the chord has changed from bein the 3rd to the 7th. Also note, that the movement between the chords of the notes and their values has only changed by a half step, whole step or not at all - Except in the case of last to chords, where the E note jumps to a G: a range of 3 half steps. (Not the norm, but doable)

If you would like to see a video series about guide tones, I watched this guy's. He's very thorough, but kind of droning and monotone in voice. It amazes me when musicians can sound like a bored accounting teacher or sociology professor. If you have passion in your music, then put it into your voice as you explain things.... PLEASE! For the love of all that is good!!! I had one prof. in college where he was so monotone, I had to pinch myself and slap my face to stay awake in his class!!! I'm NOT KIDDING! I looked like this guy!

Ok, I digress. Here's the video:

As with all things, know that this is a journey. Anytime we face a bump in the road, we can overcome it with a little more umph and, if necessary, help from our friends. Thank you to Mr. Brodbeck for his work on the videos. They did help me understand guide tones.


Remember also, that the use of guide tones is up to your own discretion. You can over use them. Also, I learned in the final video, that just like almost everything in jazz, the rules given are bendable if not totally breakable - SO HAVE FUN! And don't worry about the rules. If it sounds good, DO IT! If not, fix it.

Stay on Target! Stay on Target! You can and will make an absolutely fantastic piece of music. Just keep moving forward!!!

Melodic Devices - Making Heads and Tales of them

Tales? Don't you mean "tails". Yes, I admit that I used the expression and different spelling to throw you for a proverbial loop, but hear me out! Melodic Devices do, in a way, tell a tale and are sometimes used at the heads and tails of music passages --- or throughout --- to help us enjoy a piece more.

"It's kind of cool... I must say."

For example, what you may call a hook in a song, is technically called a sequence. Like Mr. Grimly, pictured above, you may also consider it a "catch phrase". It's familiar. It makes us love or hate the song... Much in the same way you may love or hate Ed here. Either way, it makes the piece memorable.

There are several different types of Melodic Devices:

• Motivic - (meaning a motif or pattern)
• Motivic repetition - repeats the rhythm of a set amount of notes (2 measures, 4 measures, etc...) Not necessary bumped up together. 

• 
  
• Phrase repetition - repeats the exact notes and rhythm for the notes, however the structure surrounding (ex: the chords) may change.

• 
  
• Diatonic Sequence - plays motif on different pitches within the key

• 
  
• Exact Sequence - perfectly spaced notes within a motif, but not dependent on the key of the piece (whole step up, half step down, half down, whole up - repeat starting on different pitch)
• Transformation - Alter intervals or rhythm of motif to prevent overuse of an idea
• You can change the pitches and keep the rhythm or change the rhythm and keep the pitches.
• Embellishment - a simple motif that pops in and out of a piece. It usually is like a nuance to the piece. 

Where did I get this info? Well, I went back to Ted Pease's book to see if I judged it too harshly and I did. It has a lot of exercises in it that help practice the concepts taught. It's kind of a workbook/textbook. That's very helpful. So, sorry Mr. Pease for judging your work to quickly. It's actually a great piece of work. 

That's how we roll here. One moment we're racking up the knowledge, the next we're eating crow. 

Mmmm.... Crow.

But, we don't let these little setbacks stop us! We plod ahead, bumps and bruises all along the way.

 Never give up! Never surrender!

That's Not A Grace Note!! It's an Appoggiatura

 When I first read about in appoggiatura I thought what the heck is this? It didn't make any sense - at least not in the way it was explained. Truly, sometimes I think that trying to learn music theory out of books is like slapping a posted note to your head, pouring ink on the ground and rolling around in it in order to remind yourself to go to the doctor on Wednesday.

However, let me take a stab at it in every man's language and see if I can do better.

An appoggiatura is a lot like a grace note. The difference is, grace notes are played before the beat and appoggiaturas are played on the beat. 

This is a little more difficult than it sounds. The purpose is to create tension in a piece that resolves quickly. Depending on what note is before an appoggiatura, will determine how it's played.  

Now, because I learn best by watching and listening, I'm going to assume you do too. So here's the best explaination I have found on it. Enjoy! 

I also copied his chart, so that it can be referred to. 

The appoggiatura, it's not a grace note! 

It's played different -- so know the difference!

Ah, music theory,... now would you please excuse me while I get out my inkwell and post it notes. I have a doctors appointment coming up, and I don't want to be late.