Developing Ideas: A case study.

a.k.a. "How-to Song for Xel"

Basically, one day Xel asked "Write a piece of music, and tell me how what you do on each step of the way. I said "Okay, give me something to start off." He gave me (=aecdgf#), and this is what I did with it:

(Play examples on Starbuck harp at 120)



Started with the motif "=aecdgf#"
Gotta figure out something interesting to do with it. By themselves, the notes aren't very connected, and don't sound terribly good together.

First, (aec) is an arpeggiated A minor chord, so I thought I'd try emphasizing that by doubling it. Add a loop, and you have:
(=aec)2dgf#

It sounds to me like that the (dg) is a transition to the next chord, which would start on f#. So, I tried something like this:
((=aec)2dg(f#d\a=)2f#g)

Then I tried something like this:
((/aec)2dgF#8d8)2

Pretty good, but it needs accompaniment. It's usually best to start a song off with relatively sparse accompaniment, so you can build to a denser sound later in the piece.

A bass line is always a good place to start, so I tried adding one. This basically just follows the chord progression: a minor - d major. This key is in G major or e minor. I think probably G major. Therefore, the chord progression is ii - V.
([\a]6/aec[\a]2/a[\a]/ecdg[F#]8=d8/d8)2

That doesn't really sound too good, so maybe I'll try spicing it up a bit by adding some extra notes while the melody is being held (the length 8 notes), and by changing the rhythm around in the part that doesn't sound good.
([\a]6/aec[\a]/ae[=e]/cd[=c]2/g[F#]8=d3d1cd/d8)2

And then
([\a]6/aec[\a]/ae[=e]/cd[=c]2/g[F#]8=d3d1cd[/d]8=F#d1c1\b1g1)2

I think I've crammed about as much as I can into that bass line. I'll need to add either real chords or another counterpoint line soon.

However, first I want to try making another section. After all, if my entire song consists of only two chords, there better be something incredible about the melody or rhythm, otherwise people are just going to get bored. So, I'll try using some different chords with a different melody, with the same rhythm.
<([\a]6/aec[\a]/ae[=e]/cd[=c]2/g[F#]8=d3d1cd[/d]8=|1F#d1c1\b1g1|2F#ab)2>
([\e]6/cc1d1e[\e]/cd[\g]/eg[\g]2/b[A]8\F#A/[D]8=CD)2


The first part is the previous line, which has a transition to the new chords. The new chords I selected were C major and D major, making the progression IV - V. This isn't terribly different from ii - V, but it's a start. It's always best to start by making smaller changes, and working up to making entire new song sections.

I'm still not terribly happy with the last 16 beats, but I can't do anything about that now, 'cause I have to go to work.

Back. I decided to try to create a verse-ending thingie. I have a beginning and a middle, so I need an end. The chord progression of the last bit I did was IV - V, so for the ending I'll do IV - V - I. This is a very common ending, so I'm sure that it can sound good. Now I just need to find a way to make it work.

The last few segments have been getting pretty complex, and they've moved quite a ways away from my original idea, so I'm going to go back to the original idea for the last phrase or two, as a way of connecting the beginning and the end. It's like a bell curve thingie: You start somewhere, you move away from it in the middle, and then you move back towards it at the end. What this means practically is that I'm going to go back to the arpeggiated chord melody and relatively simple rhythm.

Right now I'm going to go into detail about how I chose the melody for this bit. First off, since I'm using a C major chord, I can start on C, E, or G. Because the melody is (mostly) in the / octave, that reduces the number of places I can start to four: /c, /e, /g, and /b#. I'm not going to start on /b#. Why not? Because I said so. I'm thinking that I want to do something like /__gf#d, because that sounds good to me (It's IV-III-I (notes, not chords) in D major). That means that I can either have /cegf#d or /ecgf#d. Which one did I choose? I chose the second. Why? Because it sounds better to me. I have no better reason than that. Really. Thus, I end up with:
/ecgf#d=a/f#aG8p8


So, how do I add a bass line? Like this: I figure out which chords I have (C major - D major - G major), and think about which note from the chord I have in the melody. For instance, the first note of the melody is /e. This means that for my bass line I can use either C or G. Now, generally, it's good to have the root of the chord in the bass, but it's not always necessary. If the root of the chord was being played in the melody, it would be okay to have the 3rd in the bass line. It's generally unsatisfactory to have the root in the melody and the 5th in the bass line, unless the 3rd is being played by another voice. Anyway, that 'rule' is of roughly equal importance with the other rule, which is to make the bass line a coherent (is boring) melody. So, try not to have strange leaps, stepwise motion is best, etc. With a simple bass line added I get:
[\c]6/ecg[\d]/f#d[\f#]=a/f#[\f#]/a[\g]8/G8


If you listen to that bit, the ending is kinda weak. So, I'll double it and make the first ending weaker and the second ending stronger. How I'll do that is to extend the first one a bit so that the melody doesn't end on G. Ending on the tonic is a very final-sounding maneuver, so I'll end on the dominant, D, instead. To make the last phrase more final, I'll have it end on G, and also add a third voice of harmony. Basically, how I make this is look at which chord I'm playing, and try to add the missing note. i.e. if I have C and E from a C major chord, I try to play G. If I can't do that, I'll double the root, then the 5th, in that order of preference. With a little bit a trial and effort, I get this:
[\c]6/ecg[\d]/f#d[\f#]=a/f#[\f#]/a[\g]8/GB[d]8p\gab
[\c=c]6/ecg[\da]/f#d[\f#=d]a/f#[\d=f#]/a[\g=db/g]8G8p8


If you take a bunch of the phrases I've written down here and stick them together, you get a decent sounding verse:
((/aec)2dgF#8d8)2
([\a]6/aec[\a]/ae[=e]/cd[=c]2/g[F#]8=d3d1cd/d8)2
([\a]6/aec[\a]/ae[=e]/cd[=c]2/g[F#]8=d3d1cd[/d]8=F#d1c1\b1g1)2
([\a]6/aec[\a]/ae[=e]/cd[=c]2/g[F#]8=d3d1cd[/d]8=|1F#d1c1\b1g1|2F#ab)2
([\e]6/cc1d1e[\e]/cd[\g]/eg[\g]2/b[A]8\F#A/[D]8=CD)2
[\c]6/ecg[\d]/f#d[\f#]=a/f#[\f#]/a[\g]8/GB[d]8p\gab
[\c=c]6/ecg[\da]/f#d[\f#=d]a/f#[\d=f#]/a[\g=db/g]8G8p8

With a bit more fine tuning, you get a pretty good first verse:
((/aec)2dgF#8d8)2
([\a]6/aec[\a]/ae[=e]/cd[=c]2/g|1[F#]8=d8/D8|2[F#]8=d3d1cd/d8)2
([\a]6/aec[\a]/ae[=e]/cd[=c]2/g[F#]8=d3d1cd[/d]8=|1F#d1c1\b1g1|2F#ab)2
([\e]6/cc1d1e[\e]/cd[\g]/eg[\g]2/b[A]8\F#A/[D]8=CD)2
[\c]6/ecg[\d]/f#d[\f#]=a/f#[\f#]/a[\g]8/GB[d]8p\gab
[\c=c]6/ecg[\da]/f#d[\f#=d]a/f#[\d=f#]/a[\g=db/g]8G8p8

The ending of that middle line (([\e]6/cc1d1e[\e]/cd[\g]/eg[\g]2/b[A]8\F#A/[D]8=CD)2) is still bugging me, though. I want to do something about it. It makes a decent transition, but the first go-through will need a different ending. How about I try to spice it up rhythmically? I did so, and ended up with this:
([\e]6/cc1d1e[\e]/cd[\g]/eg[\g]2/b|1[A]8\f#3f#1ab/[D]8=Cd1\b1g1d1|2[A]8\F#A/[D]8=CD)2

Plugging that into my verse gives me:
((/aec)2dgF#8d8)2
([\a]6/aec[\a]/ae[=e]/cd[=c]2/g|1[F#]8=d8/D8|2[F#]8=d3d1cd/d8)2
([\a]6/aec[\a]/ae[=e]/cd[=c]2/g[F#]8=d3d1cd[/d]8=|1F#d1c1\b1g1|2F#ab)2
([\e]6/cc1d1e[\e]/cd[\g]/eg[\g]2/b|1[A]8\f#3f#1ab/[D]8=Cd1\b1g1d1|2[A]8\F#A/[D]8=CD)2
[\c]6/ecg[\d]/f#d[\f#]=a/f#[\f#]/a[\g]8/GB[d]8p\gab
[\c=c]6/ecg[\da]/f#d[\f#=d]a/f#[\d=f#]/a[\g=db/g]8G8p8

And that, I am pretty happy with.

The next step is taking that one verse and making further verses. Of course, I could try writing it in a non-verse format. Either way, I want to use that other original idea I had: ((=aec)2dg(f#d\a=)2f#g). I think that using it will aid me in continuing my piece. More on that later, sleep now. :P

So, I start by restating the first theme, then introducing my variation. Big long words, very simple idea:

((=aec)2dgF#8d8)2
((aec)2dg(f#d\a=)2f#g)2

So... what can I do? Well, I'll try adding some accompaniment by adding notes from the chords to my new idea. The chord progression here is [A minor]12 [G major]4 [D major]16 [A minor]12 [G major]4 [G major]16. See if you can 'hear' the changes. Anyway, doing this gives me:

((=aec)2dgF#8d8)2
((aec)2dg(f#d\a=)2f#g)2
[\a]6=aec[\e]6=aec[b]2\g[b]2=g[\a]=f#d\a[d]=f#d\a[a]2=f#[g]2\b
=[c]6=a/ce[=e]/aec[c]2=cb[\b]6=gd\b[\g]6=gd\b[d]=b[g]2\e

Not bad.... I double the last two lines and change the ending a bit, and I get:

((=aec)2dgF#8d8)2
((aec)2dg(f#d\a=)2f#g)2
([\a]6=aec[\e]6=aec[b]2\g[b]2=g[\a]=f#d\a[d]=f#d\a[a]2=f#[g]2\b
=[c]6=a/ce[=e]/aec[c]2=cb
|1[\b]6=gd\b[\g]6=gd\b[d]=b[g]2\e
|2[\b]6=GD\B[G]/D)2

Pretty good! But how can I continue? Well, it's easiest to use what you've used before, so I'll just copy the last two lines of the previous verse and stick them on the end. How does that sound?

((=aec)2dgF#8d8)2
((aec)2dg(f#d\a=)2f#g)2
([\a]6=aec[\e]6=aec[b]2\g[b]2=g[\a]=f#d\a[d]=f#d\a[a]2=f#[g]2\b
=[c]6=a/ce[=e]/aec[c]2=cb
|1[\b]6=gd\b[\g]6=gd\b[d]=b[g]2\e
|2[\b]6=GD\B[G]/D)2
[\c]6/ecg[\d]/f#d[\f#]=a/f#[\f#]/a[\g]8/GB[d]8p\gab
[\c=c]6/ecg[\da]/f#d[\f#=d]a/f#[\d=f#]/a[\g=db/g]8G8p8


Not a bad second verse, though it should really have something that resembles the 4th and 5th lines from the first verse, but oh well. It sounds fine as it is. :)

I might add another verse or two, but what I have now could stand alone as a decent piece of music.

@120((/aec)2dgF#8d8)2
([\a]6/aec[\a]/ae[=e]/cd[=c]2/g|1[F#]8=d8/D8|2[F#]8=d3d1cd/d8)2
([\a]6/aec[\a]/ae[=e]/cd[=c]2/g[F#]8=d3d1cd[/d]8=|1F#d1c1\b1g1|2F#ab)2
([\e]6/cc1d1e[\e]/cd[\g]/eg[\g]2/b|1[A]8\f#3f#1ab/[D]8=Cd1\b1g1d1|2[A]8\F#A/[D]8=CD)2
[\c]6/ecg[\d]/f#d[\f#]=a/f#[\f#]/a[\g]8/GB[d]8p\gab
[\c=c]6/ecg[\da]/f#d[\f#=d]a/f#[\d=f#]/a[\g=db/g]8G8p8
((=aec)2dgF#8d8)2
((aec)2dg(f#d\a=)2f#g)2
([\a]6=aec[\e]6=aec[b]2\g[b]2=g[\a]=f#d\a[d]=f#d\a[a]2=f#[g]2\b
=[c]6=a/ce[=e]/aec[c]2=cb
|1[\b]6=gd\b[\g]6=gd\b[d]=b[g]2\e
|2[\b]6=GD\B[G]/D)2
[\c]6/ecg[\d]/f#d[\f#]=a/f#[\f#]/a[\g]8/GB[d]8p\gab
[\c=c]6/ecg[\da]/f#d[\f#=d]a/f#[\d=f#]/a[\g=db/g]8G8p8

Go back to my music.