Osorio
Well-Known Member
I know this gets asked a lot, I have seen it before but couldn't find it now that I need it... Sorry for posting about this yet another time.
I need some help with Melody writing and phrasing. I get the basic idea, I know how the basics work, but I have a really hard time trying to make phrases that "flow". I also have problems with "interlocking" phrases, doing variations and such. I feel like went I sit to write, I can't seem to know what I want out of a phrase. I tend to really dislike playing fast, so phrasing like Bach's inventions won't do me any direct good, I find the relentless onslaught of 16th notes terribly annoying.
Could also be worth mentioning that my problems escalate exponentially when writing multiple parts. I can sometimes luck out and make some vert cool 3 part harmony phrases, but if I try to add a forth, more often than not it will destroy everything.
Entirely not sure about what it is that I'm looking for... Maybe some tips on how to develop a better melody? How to juggle multiple parts? How to develop material in a non-extremely-tiresome manner. I'll take what I can get at this point... My studies of counterpoint are not exactly going as far as I would want them to because of this barrier I seem to have with phrasing.
EDIT: Thought I would add some insight into how I write, since some problems could be identified there, or at least ways I could do stuff differently:
I'll start off by saying that I literally WRITE music; and I am generally not near any instrument as I do it. I pick a key (I'll be honest here, it is generally C Major or A Minor, since I know those keys very well and they allow me to write music fairly quickly and visualize the relationships better, I'm also a huge fan of D Minor, but don't generally go there while writing. I am a fan of transposing to it though).Then I choose an "intent", and based on that intent I choose tempo, time sig, etc. I'll generally do a rough draft of how I want the song to go, at least the first "theme" or whatever... meaning "from slow to fast, to consonant to dissonant, from soft to loud" (or the other way around) and etc. Them I build a chord progression. Something that I really do that might be getting in my way is that I don't really deal with MELODY in a very strict sense... I start out with the chord and voice lead them in 4 part harmony until I get something I like... them I get only the bass and soprano voice. From there I built my melody. I generally just "progressively embellish" it. This goes like this: It starts as probably a Whole note / per / chord. Then I turn it into two notes, then 4, then 8. I generally won't go past 8, as it starts to sound very convoluted. I generally do the same thing with the bass, but not necessarily in this order. The end result sometimes sounds great, sometimes the magic of the harmony gets lost in the melody (I'll be generally be either playing or programming it at this point to hear how it feels... I'll leave the "basic" chord progression ringing in the background, as the bass and soprano play over their lines, and it generally displeases me).
I've also got some problems with length, as I'm never sure when I should start developing new ideas or changing into new chord progressions. I'm never sure how much development is enough, or even if what I'm doing could be called "development" in the first place. After about 12 measures, the progression has started to "show its age" and I fell like it could change, but at the same time, I'm not sure if it is too early or if I left the melody too underdeveloped and unexplained...
I need some help with Melody writing and phrasing. I get the basic idea, I know how the basics work, but I have a really hard time trying to make phrases that "flow". I also have problems with "interlocking" phrases, doing variations and such. I feel like went I sit to write, I can't seem to know what I want out of a phrase. I tend to really dislike playing fast, so phrasing like Bach's inventions won't do me any direct good, I find the relentless onslaught of 16th notes terribly annoying.
Could also be worth mentioning that my problems escalate exponentially when writing multiple parts. I can sometimes luck out and make some vert cool 3 part harmony phrases, but if I try to add a forth, more often than not it will destroy everything.
Entirely not sure about what it is that I'm looking for... Maybe some tips on how to develop a better melody? How to juggle multiple parts? How to develop material in a non-extremely-tiresome manner. I'll take what I can get at this point... My studies of counterpoint are not exactly going as far as I would want them to because of this barrier I seem to have with phrasing.
EDIT: Thought I would add some insight into how I write, since some problems could be identified there, or at least ways I could do stuff differently:
I'll start off by saying that I literally WRITE music; and I am generally not near any instrument as I do it. I pick a key (I'll be honest here, it is generally C Major or A Minor, since I know those keys very well and they allow me to write music fairly quickly and visualize the relationships better, I'm also a huge fan of D Minor, but don't generally go there while writing. I am a fan of transposing to it though).Then I choose an "intent", and based on that intent I choose tempo, time sig, etc. I'll generally do a rough draft of how I want the song to go, at least the first "theme" or whatever... meaning "from slow to fast, to consonant to dissonant, from soft to loud" (or the other way around) and etc. Them I build a chord progression. Something that I really do that might be getting in my way is that I don't really deal with MELODY in a very strict sense... I start out with the chord and voice lead them in 4 part harmony until I get something I like... them I get only the bass and soprano voice. From there I built my melody. I generally just "progressively embellish" it. This goes like this: It starts as probably a Whole note / per / chord. Then I turn it into two notes, then 4, then 8. I generally won't go past 8, as it starts to sound very convoluted. I generally do the same thing with the bass, but not necessarily in this order. The end result sometimes sounds great, sometimes the magic of the harmony gets lost in the melody (I'll be generally be either playing or programming it at this point to hear how it feels... I'll leave the "basic" chord progression ringing in the background, as the bass and soprano play over their lines, and it generally displeases me).
I've also got some problems with length, as I'm never sure when I should start developing new ideas or changing into new chord progressions. I'm never sure how much development is enough, or even if what I'm doing could be called "development" in the first place. After about 12 measures, the progression has started to "show its age" and I fell like it could change, but at the same time, I'm not sure if it is too early or if I left the melody too underdeveloped and unexplained...