 some things you can do to change things up?
- Play a different note of the Bb chord –D or F.
- Repeat the note in a different octave – or several!
- Insert a rest before the last note.
- Hold the last note longer or make it staccato.
- Play the note more than once, in any rhythm combination that feels right. Try several variations!
- Experiment with different articulations.
- Combine 2 or more of the above variations.
For a keyboard or other harmonic instrument, if the last notes form a Bb major block chord you could start playing around with these basic variations.
- Break up the chord into an arpeggio.
- Play the chord using a different voicing: Take out the fifth, play the third in a different octave.
- Insert a rest before the chord.
- Play the chord twice in any rhythm you choose.
- Repeat the chord in a different octave.
- Experiment with different articulations.
- Try two or more of the above simultaneously.
- Try two or more of the above in various orders.
More advanced musicians may want to manipulate the final phrase of the song rather than just the last notes.
Of course, you won’t love everything you come up with, but if you give yourself enough room to play it can be a matter of minutes before you generate something that surprises you. The main thing is to try. Composing and improvising can be fun and liberating. Go ahead and try it today!
Coming up in my next article: Having the attitude of a composer
Posted in Improvisation | Tagged: children, composition, creativity, education, improvisation, instrument, keyboard, music, music education, piano, piano lessons, reading music | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Pamela Szalay on November 16, 2012
“I wake up in the morning with an idea, then cut away everything that ain’t that idea.”
– attributed to “Bernie chainsaw artist” and tweeted by Scott Mueller@HandknitWebs
Clearly, a composer is working in a different medium than a chainsaw artist, but this quote got me thinking. What kind of focus is this describing? What kind of commitment? As a musician, if I wake up with music in my head I go to the piano to try and re-create it. I feel like it’s a creative and positive experience of constructing something. But I have never thought of taking an approach of removing the antithesis of my musical idea. It’s like saying “all the world is music, and within it is my idea. If I just peel away what doesn’t look like my idea, then the art will reveal itself!
This approach to composing is a philosophical shift for me, one that I will consider the next morning I wake up and hear music.
Posted in Composition | Tagged: creativity, Musical Composition | 2 Comments »
Posted by Pamela Szalay on November 8, 2012
Last week, I featured a simple activity in polytonality for a beginning pianist (A spooky surprise from a simple transposition). However, the basic premise is one that can serve advanced musicians: playing with musical ideas and being open to new sounds can lead to musical innovation.
For six-year-old Alison, the discovery was that she could make a song sound very different by playing in two keys at the same time. More advanced students may not consider this news, but they may not consider it desirable either. The sound resulting from experiments with polytonality can be perceived as harsh, dissonant and simply wrong. However, those who are willing to persist and experiment might find that playing with polytonality can not only change how you listen to music, but how you arrange, improvise and compose.
As a musician or composer seeking new ways of expressing yourself, one thing that can hold you back is a concept called “premature closure”. Although you may often toy around with musical ideas, you may be quick to judge and discard them, too. In actuality, you could be missing opportunities to develop your sound by rejecting ideas before fully exploring them.
My proposal is that you entertain the “wrong” note a little longer, avoiding premature closure. If you are willing to explore a little further, perhaps mingling in a few other related (or unrelated) ideas, you might push you