Other Free Educational Matierials For Musicians Part 2

Presentation of basic musical intervals such as major and minor seconds and thirds etc... Also, presents solfeggio as in Do Di Re Ri Mi Fa Fi Sol Si La Li Ti Do and the descending version.




How to build chords by skipping every other note of the scale. Covers only the basic triads Major and minor etc...




Covers how to build diminished and augmented triad chords on the guitar, on piano and in traditional western music notation.




A description of how to make minor and major pentatonic scales.




Discussion of the basic major/minor modal scales.




Discussion explaining how to build major, minor, dominant, diminished and augmented seventh chords.




Explanation of chords which are consonant in a key.

Songwriting Basics

on the repeats of the chorus' and verses' change them a bit, preferably more rhythmic events, embellishments and passing tones etc...(aka more complex so that the music is developing interest). Finally use part of your bridge to make the Intro which is ONLY 4 measures long for unknowns trying to break in to the biz.

People listening to your tune want to get to the chorus quickly. If you've written a GREAT chorus consider placing it before the verse and also consider dropping the intro. Now that the melody is handled, it's time to think about accompaniment and percussion.

The Bass guitar and bass drum should be similar but not identical most of the time, the high hat and the piano/guitar should be similar but not identical. One way to create the high hat part is from the bass part. Just use the bass part's rhythm played backwards.

Have the piano and guitar follow the high hat part fairly closely. Likewise, if you've come up with a good guitar or piano accompaniment part, make the high hat similar and then write it backwards and give the backwards form to the bass. (Picked that idea up from Modern Drummer magazine). This doesn't always work but it's a place to start. Some idea is better than no idea at all.

Major chords mostly don't work so well in root position except at the beginning and endings of tunes, so everytime you come across a major chord in your writing put it in first inversion (aka with the third in the bass)

Also, you can't repeat the drums ad nauseum. You have to put variety in. So if you've got a 2 measure drum pattern, repeat it but with changes in the repeat.

Then repeat those four and change the last measure or two of that, then repeat that and put a drum fill at the end of the section. (That's hard to do well if you're not a drummer.)

Movie Composer Guidance System

Ever wonder how scores are put together for movies? Been thoroughly disappointed at the dearth of books on the subject? And the quality of the books you’ve been able to find?

This link is the MOTHERLOAD for anyone wishing to learn how to compose for film. Leave it to a computer technician to explain the process better than anyone else.

You do have to wade through everything about how to tell a computer to do it but it’s worth it.

Mazz where are you? Check this out!!!

http://eprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/13924/

Highlights;

Music changes when new emotion or new subject of dialogue is present

When there’s a change of scene or new character introduced.

Camera movement

A new action

Reaction to a dialoge or event

Preference for short repeated motifs by some composers who focus on rhythms and chords

Music modified by whether it’s night or day, inside or outside, transition, location, dialogue and action as well as gender, mood, species, age and body size.

The music may also be written for items/props, locations and occurences. And may take into account increasing age and death of a character.

Music changes as a characters motivations are fulfilled.

Specific events are gain, loss transformation and introduction.

5th interval heroic

chromatic worry

(I would say the descending tritone often represents evil.)

Keys normally change either from major to minor or the reverse as well as cycle of fifths

If strings contain accents then it’s more probably to use brass instead of woodwinds

If strings are smooth then woodwinds a more likely coinciding choice.

Normal chord progressions apply such as IV I if more music is coming or V I if music is ending

If the rhythmic motions of bodies in a scene have determined that scenes rhythm and the next scene does not have any way to determine a rhythm then carry forward the previous rhythm,

If no previous music then a subsequent music’s rhythm is brought backwards.

If neither previous nor subsequent music exists for a scene then default is 120bpm.

2/4 beat is standard if composing based on short repeating rhythms and motifs.

There is a wonderful chart showing the likely hood of key progressions.

And weighting of instruments such as

6 for piano

5 for violin

5 for flute
4 oboe
2 guitar
1 trumpet

Low probability notes exist on low probability beats (weak beats and off beats)

Action Hero gets Strings with Brass in Major Key and Dotted rhythms.

minor fast strings equals dangerous tension

When fighting over a gun, when the hero gets it the music is major, when the villain gets it the music is minor.

Use musical transitions for segment changes

Homophony simple

Polyphony complex

Melody covers notes of the chords

Relationship between the Bass Guitar and the Bass Drum

To my way of thinking you can’t use ANY preprogrammed sequences or prerecorded drum loops unless you’re doing a certain kind of hip hop or trance music and even then, it could always be better if they weren’t doing that. There is an inverse relationship between the bass guitar’s activity or the lack of it and the importance of the vocal line or the absence of the vocal line.

The bass guitar and the bass drum should be similar if not sometimes exactly the same. That’s how we know they’re supposed to be part of the same song and not completely unrelated gobbledygook. Let’s say you created a killer bass guitar part but don’t have a drummer and then slap some beat with that. They’re never going to sound like the close-knit family that they’re supposed to without significant tweaking of either the bass part or the drum part.

Another issue is making the drum part sound like a human could have played it even if everyone knows it’s a machine. I've got a handy dandy guide to drum programming which I'll put up here soon.

Hopefully, your drum or bass part won’t be as boring as this but, not surprisingly, preprogrammed bass drum parts often ARE as boring as this. Notice I’ve taken a basic four on the floor ala Copeland and repeated it with variation, then repeated all of that with variation again. The last four lines are the completed section of music, with stronger and stronger rhythmic cadences built right in.

The numbers below signify the importance of each rhythmic location both on and off the beat. 84627351. The least important is given a number 1. That is the first one I’ve chosen to change. I’m taking my rhythms from a pool of rhythms and going through them one by one. You don’t have to do this. It’s just one way of working. You could just as easily use the same one from the gene pool several times.

The off-beats are the least important and the on-beats go 4231 in descending order of importance and hence likelihood to change. As you can see form this, beat one is the least likely to be given an embellishing rhythmic event.

I got these ideas from someone who knows drum programming. This will help your bass drum and bass guitar stuff sound MUCH better. You would of course be using your ten times more interesting bass guitar rhythm in this bass drum part instead of the example I’ve created except with variations at the locations indicated.

There ARE other ways to create the variations in the bass drum. This is just one sure fire way.

There should also be a relationship between the high hat and the keyboard/guitar parts and most probably the vocal rhythm. The relationship to the other parts should be heard in either the high hat’s accents if it’s straight eighths or straight sixteenths or it’s actual rhythm it it’s not straight eighths or straight sixteenths. Just click on the picture to see it larger if it’s not large enough already.

Free ebook for Guitarists, Bassists and Keyboard Players

I just uploaded a new free ebook for guitarists, bassists and keyboard players. It can help you master scales, modes, solfeggio, triad chords, seventh chords, inversions, extended harmony, quartal harmony, voicings, progressions, jazz motifs, embellishments and it contains sample tunes.

http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/guitar-bass-piano-book/7236956

Currently its just pages in my notebook written in pen which were photographed and pasted into Microsoft Word. It has more than enough to help beginners get started and intermediate players complete their foundational education.

Enjoy,

Guzheng Instruction

Guzheng is a Chinese Zither that lead to the development of both the Japanese Koto and Korean Kayageum among others

Body Position:

You may sit cross leged on the floor with the end block resting on your right knee/thigh with the Guzheng extending toward your left if you're right handed. The other possibility is to sit in a chair and to place the Guzheng on a table which is low enough so that your arms don't have to reach down too far in order play it or force you to extend your arms too far directly out in front of you. You should be able to reach the lowest sounding string on the opposite side of the instrument without leaning your torso in order to access it.

Tuning:

The lowest sounding string is usually tuned to a C and the next string after that is usually tuned a fourth up to an F. The next subsequent string is most often tuned to a G. These three strings can be considered the bass strings. They are using the notes which correspond to the I, IV and V chords in western music and various patterns of alternating between them will produce "progressions" related to western blues and popular music. This is just a coincidence though because traditionally Chinese, Japanese and Korean music were not conceived as utilizing chord progressions per se. Chinese and Korean music in particular, traditionally have no instrument that plays in the bass register. These "bass" notes on the Guzheng also correspond to the drone in Styles of Traditional Indian Music most often played by the Tamboura. Anyway, the remaining strings can be tuned to various scales, the most common Chinese one being CDFGA and it's modes such as : CDFGBb, CEbFGA, CEbFGBb. Japan has an elaborate tuning system using fourth chords which can be found in one of my other articles and Korea usually follows the Chinese example. If you're fortunate enough to have a children's Guzheng then it will probably have guitar type tuning pegs. Most people don't have children's instruments in which case you have to grab the string with one hand and pull on it firmly enough so that the loop can be loosened and pulled tight again with the other hand. This takes a bit of practice but isn't too difficult to accomplish with persistence. Fine tuning is then accomplished by adjusting the moveable bridges located somewhere along the length of the string underneath them.

Hand Position;

The blade on the side of the right palm is placed resting where the stationary bridge meets the sound board. The fingers are inserted between the strings so that much of the pad of the last phallange of the finger is grabbing the string. This is a bit different from guitar. If you were a guitarist before picking up the Guzheng, you will have a habit of not plucking the string with enough of your finger and having a thin tone as a result. To work on being more ambidextrous, it's possible to pluck out bass lines on the 4 low sounding strings usually with the left hand. The right hand may also be suspended above the strings especially when trying to get a warmer tone by playing farther up the strings away from the bridge. You can get more control if you plant all the fingers first before beginning to pluck the strings. This means inserting all your fingers individually between neighboring strings simultaneously and have them resting in a position in which they are ready to play when called upon either separately or simultaneoulsy depending on the circumstance.

Exercises;

Exercises on any instrument tend to be fairly universal. I'll assign numbers to the notes of the strings CDFGAcdfga in two octaves as 1 2 34 5 6 7 8 9 10 respectively like this;

1234,2345,3456,etc...

123,234,345,etc...

121,232,343 etc...

321,432,543, etc...

4321,5432,6543,7654 etc...

You should also play these backwards and with both hands first separately then together. Later, you should make the other hand melodicallly and rhythmically independent from each other.

Patterns:

Melodies:

Effects:

One effect is to produce harmonics. It's the same concept as on guitar or harp. Just place your index finger on the point exactly half way between the stationary bridge and the moveable bridges the pluck the string with the finger then quickly moving the index finger off of the string to let it ring. This places a node in the strings vibration raising it an octave. There are other places along the strings length that will produce other divisions of the string but don't ring as well on the much shorter strings in the high register.

Another effect is string dampening. Sometimes you don't want a note to continue ringing after you've plucked it so it doesn't interfere with a new note you're going to pluck or that you've already plucked. In that case you have to strop the initial string from vibrating by placing your hand on it effectively muting it's sound.

If you move your plucking hand up and down the strings you'll hear that playing closer to the stationary bridge creates a thing tone and playing farther along the string creates a warmer and fuller sound.

Vibrato is accomplished by placing the left hand on a string at the opposite side of the moveable bridge from where you plucked it and then pushing quite firmly up and down. This creates the Guzheng's characteristic wide vibrato which can be slow or fast.

You may also prebend the string with the left hand before you pluck it creating a downward slide in the tone.

One final technique is that of flicking one of the fingers, usually the index at a string in a direction away from your body with the back of your finger nail.

Good luck and I hope that helps.

About The Music

I compose music because its a big part of myself. If I don't put something on paper and play an instrument everyday, I will get cranky. Now, when I'm composing music, I start with the big picture and I mean really big.

In talking about it, it quickly veers into politics, sociology and the philosophy of religion. I ask what I'm trying to communicate. I'm usually trying to communicate something mystical, transcendant, infinite, communal and/or abundant.

I try to recreate a feeling of the mystical, transcendant and infinite through the use of drones, chimes, gongs and finger cymbals, and through the use of rhythmic cycles. I also try to create a sense of transcendence by including techniques and instrumental timbres foreign to my own roots of rock, jazz, classical, guitar, sax, violin and piano.

As far as the music communicating or, better yet, actually building and strengthening ties between community members, I try to write music with at least a few easy parts so that anyone, even children, can also participate and I try to have a high tolerance for change and diversity based on the needs of other people playing with me. However, even I have limits. I would like to create music for people's daily activities or at least tied to utility somehow such as when two people make love, exchange massage or good conversation.

I'd like to explore more dance and rave music. Sometimes, I try to mix quartal jazz piano voicings (because its good for minor and pentatonic music)