“I tell my piano the things I used to tell you” - Frédéric Chopin
previous thread: An experiment in a pen-and-paper composing general, made for all the theory autists
This differs from /prod/ in that it is more focused on the actual writing of music, not the production, and music theory. That is not to say /prod/'s electronic music is unwelcome, by all means, post here! But post with the intent on discussing composition. And remember, this is NOT /classical/. Any music, such as jazz, is acceptable
Post clyps and accompanying notation so we can accurately critique your composing from a theory perspective
THE /comp/ COMPOSITION CHALLENGE #2 VARIATIONS July 1st - July 7th
Compose a section in a theme and variations based on the opening theme of In the Aeroplane Over The Sea. Keep your section to around the same length as the original (50 or so seconds).
Instrumentation: Violin + Piano Instrumentation is constant so that at the end, I can stitch this together into a single piece. To make this easier on me, please email me the midi when you're done [email protected] and I'll be producing it. If you can't give me midi because you only handwrite your music on egyptian parchment, email me the sheet music just incase i miss it itt
Please try to stick to starting and ending in G major (not necessarily the chord, but the key for sure)
POST theme and variations you like. post ideas for directions to take (don't feel compelled to write in any specific style). Post WIPs.
>REMINDER YouTube stream, /comp/ learning session 2, will be on Sunday, at 6PM US Central Time!
Carson Ramirez
I guess I'll start this thread off by asking about the theme. Will it be just that in the recording, or will it have some kind of rudimentary accompaniment?
>try to get old theme and variations clyp to post it here >archive down
Christopher Jackson
>dat second variation I love the choice of two music boxes as instruments, too
The third variation, with all the triplets, would be easier to notate in 9/8, also. Just in case you're using alot of triplets in another piece.
stop clearing your history user. be proud of all the (cat videos)(i hate not having spoilers)
Ayden Jenkins
posting textbooks from last time eisel.us/theory/Counterpoint.pdf A book on the applications of counterpoint and musical forms primarily based on counterpoint.
We need to keep some of the links in the OP desu. The pastebin is nice, but people were already asking for things that were in the OP, with a pastebin people will constantly ask for the same resources over and over imo
Jaxson Clark
Anyone else doubting the transcription? I guess the guy's voice in the recording makes it difficult.
Brandon Nguyen
alright. Fux's counterpoint is a must-have, obviously
What else should we put in the pasta?
Liam Rodriguez
I did the transcription, I'm pretty sure that all the pitches are correct, but I definitely simplified a lot of the rhythms. If you think some pitches are off let me know and I'll change them
Brody Bennett
Not him but The first one of each 8 bar phrase really sounds like a B to me, not a D.
Dylan Morgan
Rimsky-Korsakov orchestration portal. That shit is ace.
Musescore is nice. One of the theory websites would also be great.
Landon Reed
Something about bar 4 feels weird. It sounds right but also wrong. I don't know. Was just wondering if anyone else thought so.
Jonathan Bennett
bump
Adam Thompson
What about that Elaine Gould's book "Behind Bars"? Is it a meme? or is it THE real thing?
Jonathan Stewart
>Post WIPs
I don't know anything about violin, can someone please tell me these double stops are possible?
Those double stops don't look too bad, except maybe the P4
Jason Campbell
What kind of accompaniment should I put in the left hand for a slow melody in octaves in the right on piano? Going for a wide open feel
Ayden Ward
bump
Nathan King
Need a critique. Its classical guitar and piano. Ignore the ending, because its unfinished bass line and I chopped off the last thirty seconds of rambling. Improv autist.
Is this a joke piece? Those piano chords are nowhere near playable and all the dynamic markings in the beginning could be achieved with a simple diminuendo and crescendo.
Benjamin Stewart
Thank you fren, now can you tell me, how am I ever to write farts into my score!?!?!?!?
This sounding okay? No /Prod/ atm, so I figured I'd ask here. It's just a simple loop for a song I'm working on senpai. No samples. Used nothing but synths, even for the drums.
Landon Scott
I don't fuckin know try this
Cooper Reyes
Ok fren I have taken your advices and utilized them!!
I dunno if I'd want the soprano farting, I mean, i thin the bass would have bassier farts, that just makes sense right? I mean, unless we want sweet smelling girl farts but that wuld be at like, the climax or something
Avoid fourth double-stops on string instruments. Also if you want a fart sound a sforzando might work.
Eli Young
What instrument do you play by the way? I'm assuming guitar
Samuel Morris
This is shit and you are shit. Uninstall musescore you pretentious autistic faggot.
1/10 for making me reply.
>literally everyone works with fart meme man instead of listening to anons stuff and helping him
I'm going with the gravy train on this one user
Fart man, please send some wet noodle farts to my dreams tonight. Also you: Stick to pop songs on your acoustic. I doubt you even play classical guitar or piano. Pic related, what you should be doing.
Adrian Flores
What's a fourth double stop and why should I avoid it? [actually serious] and what does sforzando represent? Buzzing your lips?
I used to but now just harmonica sadly
Logan Perry
WOAH DUDE MEAN I bet u cant even compuse fgt
*sforzandos in ur direction*
Evan Ortiz
If a solo string player plays more than one note it is considered a double-stop. Fourths (an interval of a fourth e.g. C to F) is hard due to fingering.
A sforzando is a very loud and abrupt accent on a note.
The first note of Scriabin's 5th sonata is a great example. It's marked sfp but it means the same thing as sfz.
Also I highly recommend buying some kind of keyboard instrument if you want to compose
Gavin Bell
oh shit yes please give me more *opens mouth* I want to feel your sforzandos and crescendos deep in my throat, I want to cry and choke on your wet noodley farts. I am fart noodle.
Fill me with the sound of musical fart.
Kayden Russell
>>literally everyone works with fart meme man instead of listening to anons stuff and helping him Because theres really nothing to say. Sounds like typical electronic music to me.
What's wrong with a little late night shitposting?
Adrian Clark
This is a thread of progression. Take your shitposting to another board, please.
Dylan Diaz
Thanks user, I remember thougb when I played flute in band sometimes we'd have one person play top notes and one bottom; should I just avoid that all together? should I and when do I decide to split an instrument into different sections?
And I have tendonosis. I have to learn to do it all in my head, though I'm going to go to college for sight singing soon
>the composition challenge is to write memeclassical
no thanks
Brody Young
bump, should I just shoot myself with the cannon like user said? Is it really that bad? I have trouble telling since its my own work I guess. Its not something I would listen to so theres that hint...
Elijah Thompson
Start is bad, rhythm is great, parts where it speeds up are nice
I'd move some of the notes around
James Gonzalez
Also, I can see a lot of potential I can feel the emotion you want to elicit, just keep working at it canon user is being a big meanie, remember: the more you fuck with it the better you get. Even Mozart must have turned out turds before he shat gold
Colton Torres
Thank you user sincerely appreciate it. Going to get to work. Lots of shits to be taken.
Gabriel Lee
please respond
Charles Anderson
Depends on the style, what are you aiming for.
Nicholas Sanchez
Classical type style, something like the largo from Dvorak's 9th
Chase Davis
Halfs or quarters two octaves down. One note and always root. Try that. And I'm assuming here the right hand is not only halfs and quarters.
Brandon Bailey
...
Connor Evans
Meant for
Dominic Young
No, the right has halves, quarters, dotted quarters, eighths, dotted eighths, and sixteenths. The accompaniment I had this far was just eighths starting on the root (except in cases of purposeful inversions) playing 'root-third-fifth-third' then back. I thought it was too simple though. Then there are strings below playing halves and wholes and quarters mainly.
Jack Thomas
Show me.
Tyler Perry
It's on my desktop which I won't have access to until Monday, but I tried to recreate most of it here. It's a bit longer, I think 16 bars in total but I stopped when my memory grew hazy. The harmony should be right too but there may be a minor mistake somewhere.
Joseph Watson
Try with root-fifth-tenth-third first, and see if it fits. Also move the right hand one octave up.
What about sixths? Would it be easier if the D in the last measure was an F?
Dylan Foster
They look okay. Be aware that the hand position must be changed between bar 6 and 7.
That is not true. I think you're thinking of a 5th. The 4th is really easy on the violin and viola. Whether or not they sound good is another matter, but they're nice in the middle of passages.
You're just going to write a variation, not necessarily in one of the classical styles. You could write it like rock or swing if you want to.
The thing is, you generally avoid 5ths on strings in orchestral music or other music that will sight-read by the players. If it's in solo or chamber music, you can use whatever stops you fancy, because the player has time to practice them. There are plenty of 5ths and 4ths in the string reportoire. I would maybe avoid the 5ths on the cello though, I'd imagine they'd be harder to pull off.
THIS is why you read scores. You see what's allowed and what isn't.
Joseph Turner
user, strings are tuned in 5ths. Playing a 5th is the easiest interval there is on a violin/viola/cello. I've heard professional string players say playing perfect 4ths is "less stable" it not hard, its just not going to sound as amazing and pure as a perfect fourth should.
In the recording of my 4th string quartet the part with a 4th sounded awful and unstable, although with some good rehearsal and preparation and a great player they will still be passable.
If anyone is unsure about which intervals are tough to play on string intruments, get a fingerbaord like pic related and compare the 2 notes you want played. If there's a space of more than 1 or 2 notes, its probably going to be difficult to get on pitch, and the player will have to adjust as they play it, listening to both notes and making minor corrections.
Chase Morgan
it's really hard to hear what you're trying to do. Technically, nothing is awful. your counterpoint needs more work, especially the rhythm. Going from 16th notes to quarter notes in awkward places ruins the flow of the piece and your lines. But, again, nothing bad. What makes it bad is there's nothing really to take away from this, you should focus on, especially as a beginner composer, on figuring out something that a listener can latch on to. A good, clear melody. A good accompaniment motif. An interested rhythm. Something to push you through the piece that you can develop and reference
Jack Ortiz
Heh, yes, they are tuned in fifths, that's exactly what makes playing fifths difficult, because you have to do it with one finger on both strings. I play the violin, so I can guarantee you that 4ths are pretty darn trivial. All double stops with intervals within and including the octave are completely doable, however, you do have to be mindful of which position the hand is in at all times, so it doesn't get unecessarily quirky.
Leo Lee
compositionally, I think in the space of that time. it wants to change chords. The rhythm of your wubbing is really awkward, especially to the end of its loop. It really drags the groove of the piece backward, Learn the rhythm of your wubs and try clapping them, and you'll see they don't really make sense.
Dominic Rogers
This is what I was looking for. I'm trying to learn how to control the speed using the LFO filter on the synth. I'm just being autistic as fuck trying to make them move and groove the right way. And Ableton's automation is pretty shitty with the soft synth I'm using.
I'll try and throw a chord change in there. Thanks user
Cooper Rodriguez
Thanks for the input guys. I would guess that the E's are fine because of the open string. I think I would still continue with changing the last D into F# though since it also sound nice. I'll probably be looking at that fingering chart thing for a while.
learn something new everyday lol
Tyler Edwards
>I would guess that the E's are fine because of the open string. You have to be aware than the open E string sounds realy metallic when you play on it open. In baroque music, this is part of the style, but you should listen to some music that uses the open E string to see if you want that sound. It does stick out a bit. However, you can play it in the third position with the second finger and play the second voice with the 4th and 1st fingers, and then go down into first position in bar 7.
Benjamin Cox
On the A and D strings, for clarification.
Robert Thomas
Constructive criticism on this phrase? Want to make sure I'm getting the basics correct, and not making any glaring mistakes. (I'm new to this stuff) clyp.it/pkn2p1v3
Jacob Ramirez
try singing it, then the most glaring missteps will become obvious.
Joseph Harris
Is it a bunch of random notes? It sounds like a bunch of random notes.
Evan Sanchez
Thanks to the anons from yesterday for giving me feedback.
I did some changes, but am still not satisfied with bars 9-16 so I am definitely looking for suggestions for these bars.
The changes I've made are:
- Order of chords - Bass should be better (I hope) - slight changes to the melody - bpm from 150 to 170 - scrapped the second part
I don't understand where I am actually going wrong, is the 7th jump too much? It's frustrating being wrong and not know what is wrong
Ryder Diaz
Cool. You coudl try having some syncopated chord changes. Feels a bit straight forward now.
Noah Scott
it's a dimished 8th (d sharp to d). Later on, a majop second up followed by an augmented unison down. An augmented 2nd in the last bar, so in term of melody line, it's not very melodic (1. weird intervals and 2. huge jumps).
A huge jump is less of a problem between two different phrase, but within one phrase, jumps bigger than a 4th or 5th can tear the phrase apart.
Through all those chromatic alterations, the harmonic basis becomes unclear, making the melody sound like a buncha random notes that nave been blindly chosen on a piano.
Xavier Cooper
Looks like I need to go back to my intervals then, would it still sound shit without the accidentals?
Isaiah Rivera
Here's my attempt to take on the /comp/ challenge.
I know the last part wasn't part of the challenge, but I always liked it in the original recording.
If you want something atonal, stick with what you have. If you want something that is melodic and cantabile, better stick to regular scales and pick alterations very carefully.
Taking the accidentals away only makes your melody less atonal, but it still won't be good. Now the jump is even bigger, but at lesart brs 2 and 3 are okay, I'd append a C in a 5th bar to give it more of an ending.
Ethan Collins
since you are new, I would to diatonic melodies until you're more comfortable. You're close to C minor, use the 3 flats key signature, change D# to an Eb, get rid of your E natural. You can use B naturals when you're ascending, otherwise use B flat, read up on melodic minor. Congrats to you though for thinking about your melody first. I would add a note in the 2nd beat of bar 3, just so the rhythm is not awkward.
Jayden Perez
REMINDER:
YouTube stream over harmony in about ten hours
6PM, US Central Time
I'll post the link shortly before it starts
Christopher Adams
That sounds way better. You voicing for Abmaj7 is a little weird with the #11 on the bottom of the voicing. I would swap the positions of the C and D within that voicing. I think the problem you're hearing in bar 11 might be the melodic disagreement, you should probably be using a Db, and then in the next bar you can use F7b13, just make sure you change it in the piano part too.
I think this is going well, what I'd like to see is a different tonicized area now. In bar 16 you can play F-7 Bb7 and then go to a B section in Eb, that would be a very typical thing to do. Slap on a contrasting melody, come back to Bb after 8 bars, and I think you'd have a good head. Of course you don't have to go to Eb, you could also try going to Ab, or doing something weirder and cyclical, like the bridge to Have you met miss jones.
Nolan Cruz
Wouldn't it sound better with the drums playing pic related?
Jordan Williams
What is the classical term for a composition that comprises of several small songs?
Chase Peterson
you mean a suite? That can be a collection of any kinda piece. Or do you mean real songs, performed by a singer? In that case I'd probably use the term cycle.
Jayden Allen
Does this flow better? There is probably something wrong with this too, but I think it sounds alright for a novice's work. I think I'll end up learning violin because it's such a beautiful sounding instrument. clyp.it/oi3c4oug
Leo Powell
Kind of like an overture, small musical themes here and there, but problem is I'm not writing an overture or a prelude to anything, it's an original piece that comprises of short musical themes.
Julian Adams
better.
Then it's a suite. Or, if the pieces are more coherent than just a fairly random collection of pieces, you can call it a concerto, or concertino, if it has a maximum of 4 movements. Otherwise, a suite works fine, see Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker suite with excerpts of musical numbers from his ballet.
Xavier Howard
Alright suite it will be.
Or I could just forgo all this terminology and give it a title, it's not classical music after all.
If it's not classical music, there's isn't any point in naming it after a classical form
Current paste:
/comp/ Composition Gnereal
Pasta:
“I tell my piano the things I used to tell you” - Frédéric Chopin
previous thread: >>########
An experiment in a pen-and-paper composing general, made for all the theory autists
This differs from /prod/ in that it is more focused on the actual writing of music, not the production, and music theory. That is not to say /prod/'s electronic music is unwelcome, by all means, post here! But post with the intent on discussing composition. And remember, this is NOT /classical/. Any music, such as jazz, is acceptable
Post clyps and accompanying notation so we can accurately critique your composing from a theory perspective
