Tips on composing songs
Organized for a while! I'll make another post about composition tips!
It's all a bit of personal experience! I hope it's useful to everyone!
Before composing, you guys need to determine how many stanzas of the song you're going to write! One stanza, two stanza, or three stanza!
The two-paragraph and three-paragraph bodies are more common, so I won't go into that! The most typical example of a one-paragraph body is the work of the king of the Western Song King, Mr. Wang Luobin, "In That Faraway Place"!
1. Use chords with passing tones. It is suitable for writing the harmonic progression first, and then adding the melody. The melody of such compositions is very harmonized in relation to the accompanying chords! The harmonic direction of the melody is particularly evident! However, it is generally short in length!
This is where the different speeds and sweeping rhythms of the guitar, the different fingerings that break up the chords. We can feel the different melody with the different changes of the strong and weak beats! It will produce different creative inspirations!
For example, the chords in the climax of Lee Shengjie's <<Obsessed with the Absolute>>(the chorus) are very obvious!
Also, you can sing the intro, melody, interlude and coda of Michelle Chen's <<A Thousand Que Songs>> to try to get a feel for it!
2. Compose using purely natural scales. For writing long sections of melody! Write the melody first, then the harmony!
E.g.
Major natural scales: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Minor natural scales: 6 7 1 2 3 4 5
3. Compose using a variety of characteristic scales.
This is the point I want to focus on!
We can compose using the characteristic scales of each country, or each nation!
Such as:
a. Pentatonic scales commonly used in our country:
Major pentatonic scale: 1 2 3 5 6
Minor pentatonic scale: 6 1 2 3 5
b. Harmonized minor scales: 6 7 1 2 3 4 #5
c. The Grand Phrygian scale: 1 b 2 3 4 5 b 6 b 7 (Phrygian-Dominant). Dominant) Some people also call it; the Flamenco scale!
d. The various modes of the natural scale:
Ionian mode: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (Ionian) also known as the major natural scale!
Dorian mode: 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 ( Dorian )
Frigian mode: 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 ( Phrygian )
Lydian mode: 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 ( Lydian )
Mixed Lydian mode: 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 ( Mixolydian )
Locrian mode: 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 (Locrian)
The way the above natural scales start with different tones and work their way down is called: melodic modes!
e. Diminished scales: 1 2 b3 4 b5 b6 bb7(6) 7
f. Half-full diminished scales: 1 b2 b3 3 b5 5 6 b7
g. Whole-tone scales: 1 2 3 #4 #5 #6
h. Blues scales: 1 b3 4 b5 5 b7 ( Blues )
i. Mixed blues scales: 1 b3 3 4 b5 5 b5 5 b6 ( Blues )
i. b3 3 4 b5 5 b7
j. Dalecian Scale: 1 2 3 #4 5 6 b7 ( Lydian-Dominant )
k. Super-Locrian Scale: 1 b2 b3 b4 b5 b6 b7 ( Super-Locrian )
l. Indian Scale: 1 2 3 4 5 b6 b7 ( Hindu )
m. Gypsy Scale: 1 b3 #4 5 b6 b7 (Gypsy)
n. Hungarian Scale: 1 #2 3 #4 5 6 b7 (Hungarian)
o. Hungarian Minor Scale: 1 2 b3 #4 5 b6 7 (Hungarian Minor)
p. Melodic Major Scale: 1 2 3 4 5 b6 7 1 b7 b6 5 4 3 2 1
q. Melodic Minor Scale: 6 7 1 2 3 #4 #5 6 5 4 3 2 1 7 6
r. Japanese Scale: 6 7 1 3 4
Actually, it's simply that in the natural scale melody you're composing, you're always ready to improvise by adding one or more altered tones, or chromaticism! You can raise a semitone, or lower a semitone! It's up to you!
4. Compose with the scale characteristics of various instruments.
Such as: the Yunnan instrument hulusi, bawu only an octave plus a tone, so when composing, it is best to take into account the range of this instrument!
Re: Xinjiang instrument Dutar, is a plucked instrument, there are two nylon strings, when composing, you can add a lot of smooth sound, etc.
5!
5. Compose in a way that mimics the pitch of speech. That is to say, when you read the lyrics, read them with the same rhythm, the same melodic highs and lows as the Chinese character readings. It's like singing and talking! Compose according to the four tones of Hanyu Pinyin. Applicable to lyrics first, then the song.
The secret of composing by imitating the pronunciation!
The secret, in two words: good sound!
Write what you feel!
Specifically:
There are four pronunciations of Chinese characters:
Yinping, Yangping, Shangsheng, and Deheng. The character "上" is pronounced in the third tone!
If you use it to compose a song:
Let's say:
The character after the first one is yinping, which is the first tone, then the melodic tone above this character can be the same as the first one before it, but of course it can be higher or lower!
If the second character is yangping, that is, the second tone of Hanyu Pinyin, the melodic tone above this character can be slightly higher than the first character before it!
If the second character is Shangsheng, the third tone of Hanyu Pinyin, the melodic tone above this character can be slightly lower than the first character before it!
If the second character is the fourth tone, the melodic tone above the character can be slightly higher or lower than the first character before it!
This is just my own understanding of the general rule, just for reference! You can break out of this box when composing! Or partially utilize this method!
The above, the pitch comparison, is not fixed, nor is it prescribed! It's just something I made up myself to make it easier for you guys to understand! I hope it helps you guys!!!! Love is not an option>>
Zhou Hui's <<Promise>>
Yang Kun's <<It doesn't matter>>
Adu's <<<He must love you very much>>
Beyond's <<<Like You>. >,<<<Intertwining a Thousand Hearts>> and the lyrics and melodies of Beyond's <<<Like You> are very obvious!
Additionally:
This kind of imitation of the way of speaking compositions, the most typical singer is:
Ren Xianqi
such as his < < heart is too soft>>,< < < hurt>> and so on the song, there are a lot of them are!
Xu Wei
There are so many! Such as <<hometown>> etc., I will not list them all! I'm not going to list all of them, there are too many!
In addition, you can also pay attention to the singer Wang Feng's <<Flower Fire>>,<<<In the Rain>> and other songs!
In short, all the songs that make you feel like you're talking or chatting to you when you first listen to them are created this way! Most school songs are like that!
The most typical examples are:
Singers who sing like an old friend confiding in you:
Cai Qin
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Your Eyes
The most important thing is that you can't be sure of the quality of the song you're singing.
Sometimes, it can be composed in imitation of various tones and emotions!
Singers who like to shout and call out:
Hui Mui Chang
<< < Give me the feeling>>,<< cut love>> etc.!
And so many other songs by so many very good singers!
such as:
Zhou Hui, Wang Fei, Na Ying ......
Qi Qin,Yu Quan,Dick Cowboy......
There are too many!!!! I can't say it enough!
The reason why some of these songs sound so good is because they are composed in a way that mimics speech, so there is a kind of music that is almost like semi-rapping! Most of this music is still very good! Most of the school folk music is composed in this way. The most important thing to remember is the fact that you can't get a good deal on your own.
There are also some rappers who sing and talk! They can't compose at all! They just need a good sense of rhythm! The actual fact is that they are not going to be able to get a lot more than just a few of them. The actual fact is that they've got to be very clever!
Of course, you can't beat everything to death!
There are very few rappers and their music is good!
6. Compose with scale modal progression.
Scale Modulation: That is, the scales form a melody that follows the same pattern, going up or down the scale!
That is, the melody that follows imitates the melody that precedes it!
For example:
Upward: 1234 2345 3456 4567 5671
(the last 1 is an octave higher than the first 1!)
171 212 323 434 545 656 767
(The first 7 is a bass, the rest are alto!)
1671 2712 3123 4234 5345 6456 7567 1
(6 and 7 in the first two bars are basses, the rest are in the alto range, and the last 1 is a treble!)
Note: the first note of each measure is on the top line of the scale!
And the inner part of each measure is formed in the same way as the other measures!
Bottom line: 4324 3213 2172 1761 7657 6546 5
(Starting from the third measure, 7,6,5,4 are the bass notes, and the rest of the notes are the altos!)
6316 5275 4164 3753
(From the first 3 bars, 1,2,3 are treble, the rest are alto!)
Note: the first note of each measure is on the downward side of the scale!
And the internal structure of each measure is the same as the other measures!
To elaborate!
Such as: 1671 2712 3123 4234 5--- (where 6 and 7 are the bass notes))
Let's analyze the structure of the notes in this section:
Let's consider each note as a 1/16th note for the time being, so every 4 notes is a beat, and the first note of the beat is in the following order:
1 2 3 4 5
The tones are going up! It's like going up a staircase, taking the steps, one at a time! Of course, you can also go up two steps at a time! As long as the melody of the song is good!
Let's analyze each measure:
1671
1 to 6 is a 3-note interval, 6 to 7 is a 2-note interval, and 7 to 1 is a 2-note interval!
2712
2 to 7 are 3rd intervals, 7 to 1 are 2nd intervals, 1 to 2 are 2nd intervals!
3123
3 to 1 are 3rd intervals, 1 to 2 are 2nd intervals, 2 to 3 are 2nd intervals!
The following is the same!
As you can see, they have the same structure!
That is to say, they follow the same pattern of ascending scales!
Of course, just like going up the stairs, you can also go down the stairs!
Example: 4132 3721 2617 1576 (from the second bar, 567 is the bass)!
Well, I'm going upstairs too! Someone in the cafeteria on the 5th floor is calling me for dinner!
I jump, I jump, I jump, I jump!
I'll jump two levels, then the next, then the next, then the next!
1321 7217 6176 5765 ...... (Starting at measure 2, 765 is the bass)!
Hey? I'm going down more and more, I'm supposed to be on the 3rd floor of the office, why am I on the 1st floor?
7. repeatedly.
When composing a song, you often use the repetition of the melody to make the song catchy,
It's easy for people to memorize the melody of the song in one go! This kind of song is often very good!
For example, the climax of many songs, that is, the chorus, is often used repeatedly!
Of course, it is often used in the main song as well!
It can be part of the melody that is repeated, or it can be the entire phrase that is repeated, depending on the situation.
Repeated melody, this concept, we can understand, so we will not give specific examples!
8. (I'll define it this way for now!)
Surrounding, that is to say, the development of a musical theme, a tone, or a small section of a melody!
What I mean by a musical theme is the main melodic motif that you have in mind when composing! You can continue to develop it smoothly by wrapping it around!
For example!
I want this little section of the melody to be dominated by the note 3, and I can compose it like this!
5 3 1 3 4 3 2 3｜2 22 34 3 3-｜
Note: Each note in each measure is a half beat, the last note 3 itself is timed to one beat, and the last two notes are legato! There are no hyphenated lines or double underscores, so it's a little tricky to write it this way! It's a good idea to read it!
And then:
Yuquan's <<rainbow>> in the line "my world from now on more than one you", is that I surrounded around the sound of the 5 to the 5 sound as the center of the development of the next!
Similarly, the other sounds are the main ones!
Example:
The melody of <<I am not Huang Rong>> sung by Wang Rong!
<<Courage>> by Jennifer Liang and Dick Cowboy;
<<Butterfly Blossom>> by Shui Mu Nian Yi;
<<Cinderella>> by Zheng Jun
<<Starry Wish>> by Cecilia Cheung;
<Jay Chou's <<Love Before Dawn>>
Chou Huajian's <<I'm going to marry you tomorrow>>
And there are so many more! You guys can look for yourselves again!
These songs all use repetition and wrap-around techniques in the melody! You can analyze them on a bar-by-bar basis!
At this point, I'd like to boldly introduce two concepts!
These are: "beauty" and "groove"!
Beauty means symmetry! As you can see, the Chinese character "美" is written almost symmetrically from left to right!
So, in our compositions, we should also strive for symmetry!
But since the character "美" is not completely symmetrical, it means that not all of our compositions will be perfect! So, I hope that we will continue to accumulate experience! We have to keep improving!
9. Reflection. This is similar to the surround, in that it involves moving up the scale, centered on a single note, and then moving down the scale by the same distance. Of course the order is interchangeable! Write it out on a pentatonic scale, and see that the notes all go up and down with that note as the axis of symmetry! It's like a reflection in a lake! The top and bottom are perfectly symmetrical! This makes the tune sound more focused and less scattered.
E.g. 55 432 55 671
And concave means complementary! It can also mean contrast!
When composing a song, the highs and lows of the melody, the speed of the tempo fast and slow, should be contrasted!
The first section of the scale upward are more all, the latter section should be best downward, so that there is a sense of balance!
The first section of the scale is more dense, the latter should be more sparse!
That is to say, make some proper 4.8.16.32 note contrasts!
The mood is smoother at the beginning of the main song, and it rises in the chorus, the climax! There has to be a strong contrast of emotional turns to make it sound better!
10. Thimbles. When we used to study ancient poetry, there was a rhetorical method called: thimble. It's like a game we often play, "Idiom Solitaire", where the first word of the next word is the last word of the first word!
When we compose music, we can also use this method. That's why art is all connected!
E.g. 11 321 55 55 567 11
11. Solo. Also, all of us like to play the guitar, and we can take some inspiration from the guitar's improvised Solo method!
11. Solo. Also, we all like to play the guitar, so we can get some inspiration from the way we improvise solos on the guitar, and of course, on other instruments!
E.g. Peking Opera, Northeast Chinese Opera, etc. Take the scales you need from these. Take the scales and melodies you need!
For example: "Pink Ink Life" by Zero, "Big China" by Peak, etc.
And then there's, e.g., the intro to "Let's Go to a Faraway Place" by Mizukage, which is a parody of the famous foreign folk song "Santalucia"!
The interlude in "Epitaph", arranged by Li Yanliang for Shui Mu Nian, is a variation of the Kazakh folk song "Why Are the Flowers So Red"!
13. fetch.
Gather together all your favorite pop songs, or the best bits of other songs and pieces, usually the climaxes. Take those best bits and put them together. That's "taking"! It's also taking the best of the best! Make it your own music.
There is also the case of covers! It's taking an existing work and changing it a little bit! Re-arranged to be re-interpreted!
The most typical singer is: Dickie!
14. Record what you have written when you are inspired. Keep revising. Pick and choose the parts you are most happy with. Add ornaments, slides, staccato, rests, etc. to the finalized piece.
15. Try practicing your work in different moods and emotions, and your work will definitely feel different!
Depending on the mood, you can make a piece with a change of key.
16. The correspondence between words and music! That is, the style embodied in the lyrics should be the same as the style of the tune! The words are rock and roll, the song is a lyrical ballad! This is not a good match!
And then, there's the matter of being careful to compose a song in such a way that it doesn't make the already existing lyrics sound misleading!
For example, a great song, Tang Lei's "Lilac Flower"!
There's a line: That grave is full of flowers, how you long for beauty!
The pronunciation of the word "grave" here was originally the second tone of Hanyu Pinyin, but it was done to make the melody sound good!
When he sang it, he sang it in the fourth tone, and I thought he was singing: "A flower is stuck on a cow's fen"! I thought he was singing: "A flower on a cow's fen!
That's the beauty of this song!
I'll talk briefly about the lyrics!
Lyrics are about seizing the fleeting moment of inspiration and putting the truest thoughts of the heart on paper! You have to choose words that rhyme, so that the song will sound good!
To pay attention to the parity of the number of lyrics! Generally, each small fragment is more odd number of better sound! It's the same thing with Tang poetry!
And then, there's the composing of lyrics that take into account that there are short breaks, or logical air gaps, i.e., breath changes, in the right places! Otherwise, if a song is sung in one breath, then I guess the singer is Superman! Either that or he/she needs to get a first aid bottle too!
Finally, to what extent is your tune considered perfect? It's when you revise it, and one more note is too much! One less note is too little! That means you can stop revising your tune!
At this point, the tune is complete! Just don't revise it! If the lyrics and the tune don't correspond well! Then modify the lyrics! Because it's relatively easy to do so! If you modify the tune, there's a chance that the whole song will be completely different from what you've modified!
Finally, I wish you all the best of luck in writing good tunes, good lyrics, and good musical compositions!