A World in Kaleidoscope

A Brief intro to Song Composition & Arranging 2

Song Anatomy•Melody is a linear expression of musical thinking

•Composition & Arrangement creates multi-voice parts through harmony & instrumentation

•Basic composition anatomy（melody, counter-melody, harmonic layer, rhythmic layer, bass-line & noise layer)

•Counter-melody supports main melody in certain passages

•Ability of Arranging – depends on one’s familiarity with the technique & instrumentation of instruments used and his ability of writing counter melody

•Harmonic layer is the skeleton of the music progression， good harmony adds colors to your music

•Bass-line is the basis of music progression （ like the groundwork）， usually a simple line but music will feel unsupported without it

Song Anatomy

•Rhythmic layer can be both tonal and non-tonal instruments

•Percussion has rhythmic function. In traditional pop music piano or guitar usually play percussion part when there is no percussion instruments or during the beginning of the songs

•Noise layer comprises everything that adds effects or creates moods to the music, such as environmental sounds, drones and many non-tonic pads

•Once you have finished writing all layers, you are done with composition & arranging

•Have a good understanding of the functionality of each layer can help you choose appropriate instruments accordingly and use them to their greatest potential

Song Anatomy

Procedure of Arranging•Study theme, define style, choose instruments (beginning of arrangement)

•Write intro, interlude, (bridge), ending of the song, it is not only the arranger’s job, but also composer’s

•Intro is the preparation before voice coming in, it builds foundation for entry of main melody

•You have to consider which instrument(s) to be used for intro before writing it, or it may result in instrumentation inconsistency

•E.g. if the intro uses brass, you have to consider the characteristics of brass: bright and magnificent sounding but short note length

•Interlude is very important, it connects song parts and further develops musical idea

•Singing stops, but music continues, it carries fur-ther and clarifies the musical idea

•The importance of the intro and interlude makes itnecessary to have a good and natural flow when writing them to avoid haphazardly piecing together something

•Good Intro and interlude build a good foundation tomelody progression

Procedure of Arranging

•There are basically two ways of writing ending

•Some songs have got all the parts done but don’t sound like they have ended, so we need to write a separate ending

•Repeated singing or playing is an effective way of push--ing the music to its climax

•Or choose used music parts or licks and simplify them, from complex to simple, making the ending lighter

•Sudden stop or ending with forte notes are good ways too, depends on music genres

Procedure of Arranging

•It is sometimes more difficult to write the counter-melody than writing main melody

•It requires not only knowledge of harmony but also training of polyphonic writing

•It is not practical to practise counterpoint for a long time, a better approach is to study harmony and learn to construct good chord progression for the music

•The counter-melody theory comes from harmony, carefully study chord progression and listen to the arrangement of accomplished works and you will be able to write good counter-melody

Writing Counter-Melody

•Usually, the counter-melody appears when the first motif repeats itself, it adds more en-ergy to the music progression

•Counter-melody should not surpass main melody in pitch, best to be in different oc-taves

•It should be distinctive enough in rhythm and pitch from the vocal. It is possible to use in-struments that are not part of the intro to play counter-melody eg. String section in chinese pop

Writing Counter-Melody

Music Appreciation

(Brit Pop) Radiohead - Creep Coldplay - Yellow

(Trip Hop) Goldfrapp - Pilots Portishead - Hunter

(Bossa Nova) DIANA KRALL - BEASME MUCHO Lisa Ono - Les Feuilles Mortes

(New Age) Enya - A day without rain Secret garden - Song from a secret garden

(Blues) Robert Johnson - Sweet Home Chicago

(Indie) Club 8 - Hope for winter TizzyBac - Sideshow Bob My Little Airport - 在动物园散步才是正经事

(Brit Pop) Radiohead - Creep Coldplay - Yellow

(Trip Hop) Goldfrapp - Pilots Portishead - Hunter

(Bossa Nova) DIANA KRALL - BEASME MUCHO Lisa Ono - Les Feuilles Mortes

(New Age) Enya - A day without rain Secret garden - song from a secret garden

(Blues) Robert Johnson - Sweet Home Chicago

(Indie) Club 8 - hope for winter TizzyBac - Sideshow Bob My Little Airport - 在动物园散步才是正经事

HOMEWORK• Choose 3 pieces of music (of different genres , including one

song with lyrics) that you like, analyze their music anatomy (the different layers) and write a short description for each piece

• Find a piece of music (can be one of the above) and study its arrangement, transcribe its Intro (instruments do not have to be the same if you do not have the sampler/synth available, can substitute with other instruments)

• Submit your completed work to the EML Forum. I will open a thread in the EML Lessons Forum Category.