342 Answered Questions for the topic Composition

04/19/19

How much are composers aware of the harmony structure they are using?
I am mostly referring to composers writing complex music, for example, classic composers. In particular, I am referring to change of harmony, and change of key. Let's take for example a fugue for... more
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04/18/19

Composition of music suitable for concentration?
What are the parameters of music to consider so that the resulting composition is suitable as a background music when reading, studying or doing some mental work? I'm interested in parameters like... more
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04/18/19

What is the relationship between the melody line and the rhythm chords?
Let's say I've written a song with the chord progression I-IV-V in the key of A (just as an example). So, the chords I'm playing are A-D-E. When playing a lead over this rhythm, what notes do I... more
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04/18/19

Is looking for chord after having the melody unusual?
Most people I encounter seem to have the opinion that **the** definitive way is to first have the chords and then "mess around" with the harmony notes until one founds a desirable succession of... more
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Composition Songwriting Drum Kits

04/18/19

How does one compose fills and solos for the drumkit?
I keep hearing that rudiments are the building blocks of drumming. How do you create drum fills and solos out of rudiments? They say that solos and fills are made from rudiments. Are they ALL made... more
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Composition Songwriting Midi Daw

04/16/19

How to correctly deal with abrupt sound cuts when working with sound samples in a DAW?
I am new at DAW's and sound editing and have trouble dealing with abrupt end of sounds. What I mean is that, with the orchestra samples I use (from VSCO-2 CE), there are different options... more
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04/15/19

Online counterpoint materials?
For a long time I've wanted to teach myself counterpoint, but haven't been able to find any materials online. Are there any hidden tutorials anyone knows of, or good books written in English in the... more
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04/15/19

How to choose a key signature for a song that modulates often?
In jazz, let's say, how would one choose a key signature for writing a lead sheet for a song where keys change every few measures or faster? Is writing the key changes explicitly going to be... more
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04/15/19

Notating Augmented Chords?
When writing an Augmented chord, which inversion of the chord should I use? The problem came up while I was composing (piano). I came to an augmented chord and couldn't think of which version to... more
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04/14/19

How do video game music composers make so many songs for one game? Are all of them some sort of musical talent / genius?
I love video game soundtracks from to 8-bit ones to the very orchestral pieces but it's not clear to me how they can make so many songs for one game. Even if there are motifs which can help make... more
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04/14/19

Who did introduce the mediant keys in to music harmony progression?
Which composer(s) introduced as the first time mediant chords and mediant keys in their compositions - or in which period the use of this kind of modulation was coming up?
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Composition Songwriting Production Daw

04/13/19

Most practical way to compose classical music on PC?
I write in Sibelius but I do not like the its sounds. I like Reaper's sounds but its notation editor is not practical. Thus, I export a midi file from sibelius which I import in reaper. However, I... more
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Composition Songwriting Chords

04/13/19

What are some examples of seminal chords?
I consider the James Bond chord to be a seminal chord. What are some other examples of seminal chords, if we come to define a seminal chord as a chord that defined an artist or band, made famous by... more
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04/13/19

Notating Augmented Chords?
When writing an Augmented chord, which inversion of the chord should I use? The problem came up while I was composing (piano). I came to an augmented chord and couldn't think of which version to... more
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04/13/19

The Chords in this progression sound great but don't belong together - so why do they work?
I am a songwriter and compose my own music to go with my lyrics. Most of my chord progressions follow common patterns like using a I V IV or I IV V with an occasional ii or iii or vi chord thrown... more
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04/13/19

Prokofiev's style?
I have a predilection for music from the first half of the 20th century. I can't pinpoint the exact reason why, I suspect it is from absorbing so much music from movies, tv series and computer... more
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04/12/19

Is it acceptable to change tempo in the middle of a song or is this a bad idea?
I wrote a song that could be classified as Pop or Country that starts out at a medium slow tempo in the first two verses and bridge.Then there is a section after the bridge that can best be... more
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04/12/19

Harmonics in composition?
As a composer, I never took under consideration the harmonics and natural overtones of note frequencies and never had trouble, as long as it all sounded well and was not very dissonant (unless I... more
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04/12/19

How can I improve my piano accompaniments?
When I play piano or keyboards, I've noticed that I keep slipping into playing the same chords (and variations thereof, such as very simple bass lines) with my left hand while I use my right hand... more
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04/12/19

Looking for a high level Music Programming language?
I'm looking for a high-level programming language. I did some googling and found a number of examples (some summarized here http://users.soe.ucsc.edu/~sasha/proj/musicpaper.pdf) but haven't found... more
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04/12/19

Is there any significance of key change of 3 semitones in pop songs?
I was listening to Nightwish's Nemo and noticed they have a key change of 3 semitones from Dm to Fm out of the blue that just sounds pretty good/unnoticeable: https://youtu.be/rNg2Dh6gPkw?t=83 And... more
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Composition Songwriting

04/11/19

Examples in "Fundamentals of Musical Composition" by Schoenberg?
I am working with Schoenberg's Fundamentals of Musical Composition, amd would like to know if anyone is aware of a website that has the examples in audio format, or if some saint here has sequenced... more
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Composition Songwriting

04/11/19

Method to develop a key change?
I know this question may seem broad, but I am a very mathematical person, I've never had much "ear" for these things. I have a slow tempo song, about 90bpm with a VI - I - IV chord progression for... more
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04/11/19

What gives a piece of music its personality and feeling?
What makes a piece of music sound angry, dark, sad, happy, or otherwise? "La Chute" by Yann Tiersen sounds so angry to me and "A Dark Knight" from "The Dark Knight" movie sounds so dark and... more
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04/11/19

How many voices do violins usually play in modern orchestral music?
I've been into arranging and composing for orchestral music for a few years now, however, my music is usually fully computer-rendered (ewql), so I don't have any practical limits of how many... more
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