Easy ideas to start creating music
Happy 2020 everyone!
And what can you do today that will definitely better your future self?
….... Be creative!…..
You could learn more about music by taking those piano lessons you always wanted, or re start lessons from where you left off. It's like riding a bike - you never really forget it! Go for it and book a lesson with a local teacher or online!
Having a creative outlet is so important for our mental and physical health in daily life and our thinking. Our brains are wired to make creative solutions to problems, and we ensure children and young adults have creative outlets but we neglect ourselves as adults.
Why is this?
We don't just stop being creative, it's that we don't have the free time to dedicate to hobbies anymore once we enter the working world. It is difficult to keep a creative passion burning and working on hobbies on your time, but it is doable, time, patience, self empathy and self compassion are needed or burnout will happen.
For those not yet able to take the plunge into buying and learning an instrument, you can still learn about music and begin to understand it without playing.
Why learn more about music? Well it's everywhere it has become part of supermarkets, to nights out, to nights in, games, TV, cinema, advertising, elevators, restaurants, pubs, coffee, shops, busses - all around us it adds to our experience.
Don't be off put by what you think piano / music lessons are or were - memorising music or feeling overwhelmed and not understanding it, music is for playing for yourself and if you like eothers. With easy enough video and audio editing apps available for free on smartphones and tablets we all can take a stab at composing and be able to immediately hear what we have written down (or input into the program).
Music Software and recording suggestions
Music is cheaper for amateurs to produce now than at any other time thanks to advances in software and computer hardware as well as microphones you can record yourself and put it on social media or YouTube at minimal cost. To think I could use cubase or sibelius to compose film music for piano and cello, or even a full orchestra, and I would have a rough idea of what it should sound like played live without being able to hear it in my head from years of practice.The sheer cost of employing a full orchestra and conductor to rehearse and perform your music put an obstacle in for amateur composers and professional, you have to have a finished product with minimal editing before they let you near the orchestra, in order to keep time and costs down. Realistically you can't keep an orchestra (about 20-50 people depending) waiting as you make adjustments because it doesn't sound like you thought it would, and have them redo a take.
Now a composer should have a very close idea of what the music sounds like while reading the score or sheet music or Software, which may differ slightly from what they hear in their head or what they are trying to achieve but haven't quite figured out how to do it satisfactory yet. This talent comes with time and deliberate practice, sight-reading and composing with pencil and paper at your instrument and with software as well as aural training. (Audio files and cubase or sibelius scored/sheet music files/format is asked for in composing auditions, competitions and tenders for commissions).
Never let anyone tell you sight reading isn't necessary, it really is imagine being able to speak a language but not be able to read it? With all the recording software and smart phones we have now, you can easily record yourself and use an instrument as a midi controller and input notes directly into a program like Cubase, Ableton or sibelius. You don't have to be a fluent sightreader by any means but just have enough that you can quickly jot down note names and general note lengths. Inputting that into the software using the scoring section and using playback will quickly help you figure it all out, with practice. Start small one melody line, in one instrument, then add layers of other basic chords on the other instruments. Also start with the samples they have in the software before you try to record live audio for composing. Then move onto creating your own samples or loops or melody phrases to slot into a simple song with ABA or a pop verse chorus verse structure. The great thing about the software is that you can now at your leisure mess around with making music, for your own creative output.
Why not start with some ambient music or sound scapes and put them on you tube? You don't need a melody really just a nice sounding chord progression layered over different instruments or synths. Make spacey gaming music, or calm whale sounds whatever you want.
Composing at the instrument or improvising
The same is for making music at the instrument, sit at your instrument and first we will play in c major. No sharps no flats just the notes c,d,e,f,g,a,b,c.
First decide on a rhythm you are going to use for the first bar. Think of a rhythm you know well from a pop song, now using that rhythm replace the notes with any you want. Eg. "Twin-kle Twin-kle lit-tle st-ar" is two bars of 8 notes each one is exactly the same time value or with a minim or hold 2 beats for star.Now play one note any note, now pick a second note to go to, then a third and fourth. Continue this process for 4 notes till you hear something you like, then write or record that melody phrase. Now add one note harmony to this melody line, trial and error till again you find notes to pair with your melody line. You have just composed by improvising one to two bars of music in 4/4 time in the key of C Major. Well done!! You also don't have to abide by the 4 notes max, but for the very first outing having everything in 4/4 and a note to a beat will make the notation of time values of notes less complicated.
If you don't have access to a keyboard to improvise on and your instrument is say guitar. Record either the melody and experiment by playing along with it till you find a harmony you like, or record chords or chord progressions and play the melody over to see what the result is. Is it dissonant or consonant? (Clashing tension tones or recognisable harmony) does it sound like a horror movie or a tense point in a film or does it sound major and happy or jazz/blues folk? Does it remind you of the Beatles or contemporary classical music?
Listening to the results whether you believe you did a good or bad job is also the learning process. Why does it sound different to what's in my head? How can I achieve what is in my head? This is how you begin composing until you find your voice and style and have experience creating different types of sound for different uses.
So why not start the new year exploring sound, music and your own creative talents… you never know where the journey will lead!!
See you in February for my next Blog!