composing using chords & harmony
DESCRIPTION
gcse compTRANSCRIPT
Composing techniques…
There are SO MANY:
• Chord progressions • The use of pedal notes/drones • Balanced phrases within melodic writing • The use of riffs and ostinatos • The use of dotted rhythms, triplets and syncopation • Tonality: major / minor / modal / pentatonic • Techniques specific to a musical period or style, i.e. Club
Dance, Waltz • Sequence • Imitation • Call and response • Modulation • Use of major, minor and dominant seventh.
Intended Outcomesutcomes
ALL MUST: Understand what the PRIMARY and SECONDARY chords are
SOME SHOULD: Understand how to compose a chord progression using PRIMARY and SECONDARY chords
SOME COULD: Understand how to harmonise a melody with appropriate PRIMARY and SECONDARY chords.
Chords & Harmony
You can either START with a set of chords and write your melody afterwards
OR….
Write your melody and ADD your chords afterwards
Starting with chords and adding a melody afterwards….
1. Decide on a key or scale (notes you will use in your piece).
- Assume we choose C major for this. It uses all the white notes from C C.
C D E F G A B C
2. Work out what the chords are for each note of the scale.
C D E F G A B C E F G A B C D G A B C D E F
Starting with chords and adding a melody afterwards….
3. Find the PRIMARY chords (chords 1, 4 & 5)
C D E F G A B C E F G A B C D G A B C D E F
These are usually always MAJOR chords (in a major key)
Starting with chords and adding a melody afterwards….
4. Find the SECONDARY chords (chords 2, 3 & 6)
C D E F G A B C E F G A B C D G A B C D E F
These are usually always MINOR chords (in a major key) and they add
SPICE AND FLAVOUR!
Starting with chords and adding a melody afterwards….
5. Create a set of chords (4 is a good number) from these …
C D E F G A E F G A B C G A B C D E
C Dm Em F G Am
Starting with chords and adding a melody afterwards….
5. Use the notes in the chords to create a simple melody which changes with the chords.
C E F G E G A B G B C D
C Em F G
Starting with chords and adding a melody afterwards….
5. Create a set of chords (4 is a good number) from these …
C E F G E G A B G B C D
C Em F G
Starting with chords and adding a melody afterwards….
Starting with a MELODY and adding chords afterwards
Make sure your melody has a key and you have used notes from the key to compose your melody
We will assume you have used C major for this – all the white notes from C C.
Starting with a MELODY and adding chords afterwards
1. Write your melody, making sure it starts and ends on the tonic (first note of the key):
C G A F G A B C E C D B C C
Starting with a MELODY and adding chords afterwards
2. Check what the PRIMARY and SECONDARY chords are for your key:
Starting with a MELODY and adding chords afterwards
3. Look at the notes of your melody and match them with the notes of your chords. Play them to check they fit together.
C G A F G A B C E C D B C C
Starting with a MELODY and adding chords afterwards
C G A F G A B C E C D B C C
How To Make Chords More Interesting
And Impress The Examiner
Basic Chords
Here are the chords added to the melody
C chord =C E G
G chord =G B D
F chord =F A C
G7 chord =G B D F
Varying the accompaniment
Instead of chords try creating a single note bass-line
This is a good idea to use but on its own it is very boring
Try using it at the same time as another accompaniment
Try varying the rhythm
Bass line
Try using the other notes of the chords to vary your single note bass-line
E.g. C chord is made up of the notes C E and G
C chord = notes C E GG chord =
G B DF chord =
F A CG chord =
G B D
F= F A
C
G=
GB
DF
C chord =C E G
Developing the basic chords
Once you have worked out the basic chords there are many ways of changing them to make them more interesting
Broken ChordsBreak up the chords so that the notes are
played one at a time instead of all at once
Try breaking them up in different directions- ascending and descending
Ascending Descending
Chord Inversions
If you like the sound of block chords try varying the order of the notes to make them more interesting
GEC
ECG
CGE
ECGC
GEC
ECGC
ECG
DBG
GDB
CAF
FCA
DBG
GDB
CAF
FDBG
Varying the Rhythm
Dotted rhythms make the accompaniment more interesting
Because the rhythm of the melody is different to the rhythm of the accompaniment we call this a cross-rhythm
Pedal NoteA long, low, sustained note is called a
pedal note
Try adding a pedal note underneath the chords
Arranging chords and a pedal note on one stave
Condensing the pedal note onto the same stave as the chords look like this
Altering the rhythm
Try changing the rhythm of the accompaniment to triplets
This creates more cross-rhythms
Changing the broken chords
If you change the broken chords to semiquaver (quarter) notes the accompaniment sounds much busier and more detail can be added to them
Try varying the direction of the notes
(ascending, descending, mixed)
Ascending
Descending
Mixed
Semiquaver Accompaniment
Here is an example of a semiquaver accompaniment using ascending, descending and mixed patterns