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A Quick and Easy Composition Method
Here's the method I use every time I want to capture an idea. I draw out 8-bars (or measures) first. Why 8 bars? Because it is an ideal framework to work in. Eight bars of music are enough to generate a complete musical sentence and can usually be repeated once or twice. Next, I improvise and see what comes up. THEN I will write down the chords I am playing and the first 2-bars of melody. Writing down the first 2-bars of melody helps me remember the entire theme for the 8-bar phrase. I usually stay within one key to make it easy. This means I'll have 6 chords to work with. In C Major, the chords would be, C Maj. - D min. - E min. - F Maj. - G Maj. and A min. This is more than enough material to work with. In fact, I rarely use more than 3 or 4 chords for the first 8-bars. Once you get your first 8-bars down, your more than halfway home. Why? Because you already have the beginning. The rest of the piece, if there is a rest of the piece, can be finished by drawing more bar lines AND LISTENING FOR THE NEXT SECTION OF MUSIC. This is always accomplished through improvisation. Your best material will ALWAYS come from improvisation because you are not thinking about creating something. Instead, you are allowing the music that is inside of you to come to the surface without forcing it or willing it into being. You use the 8-bar framework to hold your ideas so to speak. There is no rule that says you must work within 8-bars. You can use 4 or even 16 bar phrases, however, its good to be able to feel the form and structure of an 8-bar phrase first. It is the structure used by most composers and it is wise to understand it. Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music's online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic .com/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!
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Guitarists...Are You A Victim and A Loser? I was thinking today about THE most dangerous enemy of musical progress?the victim mentality. What do I mean by this? Good News for the Musically Untalented Have you ever been told that you were good at something but not good enough to make it a career or life ambition? Especially with music, if you're passion is music you are hopelessly outnumbered right from the beginning. "You better have a back-up job" or "Don't put all your eggs in one basket" are common refrains heard from well meaning adults who inadvertently had their dreams crushed out of them. Performing, Whats the Big Deal? Performance anxiety is not something that only happens to musicians, singers, actors and dancers. It happens any time we feel pressure to "perform" in a specific situation or over a period of time. Writing a book or creating a painting or sculpture may evoke symptoms as well. Improvising On The Piano: Jazz Musicians Do It -- Why Not Other Styles? Why jazz piano improvisation? Guitar Humidification Problems with humidity can lead to heartbreak for the classical (or other) guitarist. Excessive humidity or dryness can ruin an instrument probably quicker than you think. Greg Koch Fender Guitar History The Greg Koch Fender guitar began to take shape all the way back when Greg Koch was in the third grade. Greg cut out cardboard Fender Stratocaster guitars, then Koch used his sisters sewing machine pedal as a wah-wah. By watching, listening and copying what he heard on records he was able to advance quickly. Why Play Guitar? As a full-time guitar instructor, I am constantly faced with people in all walks of life who, for all different kinds of reasons, believe that playing the guitar will add something to their lives. Most people that are just starting the guitar for the first time are young (pre-university) although certainly not all. One of my favorite students last year was a 65-year-old retiree who wanted to learn enough to be able to start a bar band with his friends. Creating Stark Atmospheres One of the things New Age pianist George Winston is known for is what he can do with just a few notes. In fact, in his piece Colors/Dance from the CD "Autumn" he uses an ostinato pattern in his left hand to create a wonderful stark mood. Micheal Jackson I bet your wondering all about the Micheal Jackson Trail. Do you think he's guilty. All of us are entitled to have different opinions. I believe Micheal Jackson isn't guilty, because not enough evidence was shown during the trial. Rickenbacker 4003 Electric Bass Guitar The Rickenbacker 4003 electric bass guitar is one of the few electric basses to have earned the accolade "classic" as a title for itself. The Rickenbacker 4000 Series guitar is attributed for creating new dimensions of bass playing capabilities. Basses by Rickenbacker are made by hand in America, using traditional methods refined and honed. Its Jewish Music, But Is The Music Jewish? A while back I was driving along the Jerusalem highway scanning the radio stations. On one frequency, a very intense dance beat was exploding out of the speakers. I was about to move the dial some more in search of a Jewish tune when the vocalist started in. Shock of shocks, he was a heavily Hassidic singer, complete with eastern European pronunciation. And what was he singing? "Kumee oy'ree ki va oy-reich.." from 16th century Rabbi Shlomo Alkavetz' classic Sabbath poem, L'cha Dodi. Before he had began his rendition I had been expecting something like "Oh baby, the way you move with me ..."! Surf Waves With Jack Johnson Lately I've been listening to some pretty cool music by some beach bum named Jack Johnson. The tunes he plays really touch a chord within me. They are just so honest and selfless, like stories being told by a wise old palm tree that has endured countless days of peaceful monotony, and yet have also experienced the rare tropical storm with gale force winds. I decided to have a look for his website, as I have come to know that humans have written about just about anything of interest on the Internet. Win Friends & Influence People Through Music -- Is It Possible? The idea that studying music improves the social development of a child is not a new one, but at last there is incontrovertible evidence from a study conducted out of the University of Toronto. The Various Countries - A Rant About Country Music It is no secret that over the past couple decades country music has struggled with it's identity far more than any other genre in the industry. At this point nobody can really claim to be a country music fan without being questioned what kind of country fan? The answers being seemingly endless, I've broken them down into a few main categories (but really, there could be so many more). Arpeggios and New Age Piano Playing Chopin used them extensively. So did Beethoven and Mozart. Arpeggios are beautiful and are perfect for the New Age piano style too! How To Make a Fortune Teaching Piano (or Guitar, or Drums, or Singing, or?) To Beginners "But I'm not in it for the money" you say. Performance and Gigs "For optimum amp tone onstage, plug your amp into your own AC outlet.." - Eric Johnson Mp3s ? The Future of Music? Mp3 music is audio that has been digitally encoded and compressed to make the amount of data smaller without compromising the overall sound quality. It's a revolutionary technique with incredibly good results; mp3 music is frequently indistinguishable from music found on a CD (though some audiophiles with very sensitive ears dispute that statement). Top 50 Music Quotations Discover the phenomenonal complexity of music and reflect on the way it can positively influence your life with this sound collection of riveting quotes... Social Networking and Music: MySpace Puts It All Together in a Virtual Community Today's music fan interacts with a "community" that is far larger than anyone ever dreamed possible before the widespread personal use of the Internet. This social networking is changing the way people market and sell music and it's doing so on a global scale.
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