There's a mysterious new composer on the classical music scene. Her name? Emily Howell. But no one's ever seen her in person. The reason? She's a computer program created by David Cope, a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Host … [Read more...]
Brian Eno On Composing
Craft has to be dropped at a certain point. You’ve gotten somewhere and you have to decide what you want to do there. (@synthtopia) … [Read more...]
How To Use Tension And Release In Your Melodies
Music, much like life, is fundamentally a swinging pendulum between tension and release. Fortunately, with music, this is easy to represent objectively and to utilize in your music composition. Taking a look at the C major scale, you can see that … [Read more...]
Songwriting Challenges – Where Do I Begin?
One of the most common challenges I hear about songwriting is not knowing where to begin. With the lyrics? With the music? Or something completely different? It's a rather simple challenge to find a solution to, really. Start with a single note or … [Read more...]
Music for 12-29-06
This is me sketching out an idea on the [tag]piano[/tag] in the key of [tag]F[/tag]. [tag]solo piano[/tag] [tag]composing[/tag] [tag]ballad[/tag] [tag]77bpm[/tag] [tag]ToWrite[/tag] Download: Music for 12-29-06 … [Read more...]
Music for 12-07-06
This is a verse and chorus I came up with tonight. I'm not really sure how I want to modulate back and forth from major to minor yet. The rhythm of the melody and harmony don't provide much contrast but the move from minor to major might be enough. … [Read more...]
Is Your Ear Suspect?
If your ear can't understand whatever it hears, then it's suspect. Whatever the application -- composing, songwriting, singing, playing the guitar, piano, or any other instrument -- there is a logic to becoming a spontaneous musician. Your goal as a … [Read more...]
Define: Microtones
Division of the octave into intervals smaller than the half-tone, the smallest interval used within the tempered scale. Examples include Fokker's thirty-one-note organ, Partch's forty-three-note percussion instruments, etc. Microtonal music, … [Read more...]
If You Haven’t Checked Out Splice Yet, You Don’t Know What You’re Missing
Splice is a free website where you can download music, compose songs, record sounds, remix, make friends and just listen to new music -- all through your browser window! … [Read more...]
Hacking Your Musical Strategies Day 5: Composing Strategies
Find another musician or composer -- and with their permission -- elicit the strategy they use to choose what to compose or the strategy they are using to compose a current piece of music. Use their strategy to decide what you are going to compose or … [Read more...]