Music Composition: Anyone Can Do It! Developing Musical Skills
in Non-Musicians Jenine Brown Oakland University June 8, 2012
Slide 3
Todays Talk: Three Composition Projects 1.Project 1: Compose a
song in Verse/Chorus form in GarageBand. 2.Project 2: Take a vocal
track that someone else made and compose a drumbeat for it at
advanced.aviary.com 3.Project 3: Build a song around a recording of
you making music with the every-day objects around you at
advanced.aviary.com
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Project 1: Writing a song in verse/chorus form in GarageBand
GarageBand is a program that comes installed on every Mac. Mixcraft
is a similar, inexpensive program for PCs.
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Project 1: Writing a song in verse/chorus form in GarageBand
What do students learn about during this project? Tempo: How
fast/slow is their song? Songs usually have a formal design, and
students learn to analyze their favorite pop tunes and imitate
verse/chorus form. Students learn to combine drums, bass, and some
melody instrument to create their desired mood. Dynamics: Which
parts should be louder/softer?
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Verse/Chorus Form Popular music often is in Verse/Chorus form.
Intro: Usually very short (no more than 15 seconds) Verse 1:
Chorus: Higher notes, more exciting. Verse 2: Same melody as Verse
1 but uses different words Chorus: Exactly the same as the previous
chorus Outro: A short ending
Slide 7
Verse/Chorus Form Elton Johns Your Song: Intro Verse 1: Its a
little bit funny Chorus: And you can tell everybody Verse 2: I sat
on the roof Chorus: And you can tell everybody Outro
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Project 1: Writing a song in verse/chorus form in GarageBand Im
first going to share with you a song that one of my students
composed. Then, Ill compose a short piece in GarageBand for you so
that you can understand the ease of the process.
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Project 2: Writing a drumbeat to go with a vocal track 1.
Students choose a vocal track from ccmixter.org 2. They then
compose a drumbeat at http://advanced.aviary.com.
http://advanced.aviary.com 3. Finally, students combine their
drumbeat, vocal track, and other loops together in
advanced.aviary.com make a more polished, professional song.
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Project 3: We can make music with every-day objects 1. In
advanced.aviary.com, students record themselves hitting objects
that make a rhythmic, percussive noise. 2. They also record
themselves playing an object that sounds like a musical note. 3.
They then import other loops and create a larger song.
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Conclusion When composing, students consider the following
elements of music: Tempo Dynamics How to combine different
instruments Formal design Emotional implications Recording and
manipulating their own sounds Repetition and contrast Most
importantly, students feel empowered, creative, and more
knowledgeable.
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Websites/programs that aid in music composition: GarageBand
(for Macs) Mixcraft (a GarageBand-like program for PCs)
http://advanced.aviary.com www.ccmixter.org Other websites:
www.jamstudio.com www.jamstudio.com www.noteflight.com
www.noteflight.com
Project 3: Using music notation applications to compose music
Composing music at www.noteflight.comwww.noteflight.com Lets study
a piece of music that I have composed for a bass, piano, and
vibraphone. I write my music in a software program called Sibelius.
If time: Well look at an example of a piece of music that a student
composed for piano.
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Project 3: Using music notation applications to compose music
There are many decisions that guide my creative process while
composing: What instruments am I composing for? Vibraphone
(melody), piano (accompaniment), and bass (accompaniment). What is
the tempo (speed) of the music? 180 beats per minute, which is
pretty fast. What is the mood of the music? How do I achieve this
musically? The mood is hesitant, relaxed, anxious. The melody is
slow and relaxed. The piano part is fast an anxious. Will I be
using chords as an accompaniment to my melody? Ill be using chords
in the piano part. What is the form of the music? In what youre
about to hear, you simply hear one very long melody and then it is
repeated.
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Project 2: Using the loops in GarageBand to write a song There
are many decisions that guide my creative process while composing:
Do you want a regular beat in the music? Like most pop songs, my
compositions have a consistent drumbeat that lasts throughout the
composition. So, I usually find a drumbeat first. What is the tempo
(speed) of the music? 120 BPM means that there are two pulses
(beats) per second, and therefore 120 beats per minute. Thats a
nice, upbeat speed for a composition. What is the form of the
music? You may want to write a song in verse/chorus form. When I am
finding loops for the verse and chorus, I try to have an
accompanimental instrument (like a bass) and a melodic instrument
(like a flute, piano, violin, singer). In my opinion, the verse
should be different from the chorus to create variety in my
composition. When I use loops, I use them in groups of 4 because
thats common in popular music. Throughout, Im thinking about the
mood of my composition and how I express this musically.
Slide 18
Project 2: Writing a drumbeat Students take a vocal track from
ccmixter.org and write a drumbeat to accompany it. Questions that
guide our creative process when composing drumbeats: Genre: What
style is your drumbeat: Hip-hop, techno, rock, country Speed: How
slow/fast do you want your drumbeat? This will determine the mood
of the drumbeat. When the drumbeat accompanies a vocal track, do
you want it to occur during the verse, or the chorus, or both?
Slide 19
Todays Talk: Four Composition Projects 1.Project 1: Compose a
song in Verse/Chorus form GarageBand. 2.Project 2: Take a vocal
track that someone else made and compose a drumbeat for it at
advanced.aviary.com 3.Project 3: Build a song around a recording of
you making music with the every-day objects around you at
advanced.aviary.com 4.Project 4: Choose chords for a short 4-chord
verse in JamStudio.com
