Jump to content
IGNORED

Writing melodies that are too "obvious"


Juice Patrol

Recommended Posts

Guys, geez. It all depends on what you are trying to do with the song in question. Composing a tune with a free flowing melody, as fxbip said, works well in some contexts. In others, bringing in some classically uniform techniques such as stating a theme, variations on the theme, and recapitulation will work great. A lot of electronic music doesn't have to stray away from a single key or have any kind of development. Personal preferences will dictate how they are received, as well as the current mood of the listener. 

 

There are no rules, but I think one thing that has been stated in this thread that I completely agree with is that learning theory is not going to hinder your creative output. My opinion is, if you are going to dedicate a serious amount of time to making music, why not learn as much as you can about it? 

 

Yeah, I definitely agree that it's a good thing to learn theory. The crucial point I wanted to make was that theory alone is not going to tell you how to make good music, it's how you internalise and use that theory that matters.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 52
  • Created
  • Last Reply

 

 

I went to school for music and took up to college senior music theory so I know a lot. Its just the use of it is hard make stuff I havent heard a million times. I need my songs to make sense harmonically its just a pet peeve when I hear a song where i can just tell who ever made it has no sense of how notes fit together at all. But music is so much more enjoyable when artists can take common motifs that you recognize but then spin it to something interesting and fresh that still has the same feel of outer movement. I used to write lots of counter points and such but im trying to learn more about using alt chords and being able to substitute for tension and then resolve things more dramatically.

You need to kill counterpoint when making electronic.

Counterpoint works for 18th century.If you follow counterpoint you will sound like 18th century.

Not for good electronic.

imo.

Electronic is a bit like free jazz in the sense that melodies should be flowing freely without having too much thinking about harmonies.

It will be felt if you respect harmonic rules.Music will be squarish and less organic.

 

 

Sorry, I do not buy that.

 

It is probably personal preference but I care little about music that desperately tries to be something new on a theoretical basis - by that I mean atonal music, modular synth music, analog-tubes music, pentatonic music, microtonal music, 440Hz music, vinyl/tape music. The common theme in all those examples is that they try to tag/differentiate themselves before I have even had a chance to listen to the damn thing. By putting your music under this sort of label, it feels as if you are trying to tell me that "this stuff is objectively better than the rest because reasons" and personally I would like to not have to evaluate the theory and techniques of making music along with the end result itself.

 

What I feel you are trying to tell me is that there is some new set of techniques that will make my music more "free" and "organic", but having played keyboards for 20+ years now it is already organic as hell to me. I do think it is worth to learn new techniques and ways to think about composition but on the other hand I feel that if I started out with discarding all my "traditional" knowledge and turned to  microtonics and whatever else, then I could never call the result organic, mostly because the process itself has been artificial as fuck instead of building and evolving (which I consider hallmarks of organic-ness).

 

I think you are probably right though that the availability of any kinds of theoretical mathematical tonal whatever frameworks right now is probably going to reflect in music sooner or later. But the way how music (and other creative stuff) acquires meaning in culture is through the use of context and dialogue with existing stuff, so therefore I find it very difficult to think that I could create something really good by starting from theory and looking to build something exactly opposite or drastically different from existing stuff. I find this kind of thing is interesting only as a science project, but for me personally it is important for it to have some deeper story or emotion to give. I think this is why I enjoy glitchy and cutting edge electronical music more if it is a tribute or cover of some other song I know, because otherwise it is often just some construct in a void and I can not relate.

 

I think I should probably listen to more IDM though.

 

Edit: sorry if this all seems kind of harsh, I do see a lot of point in looking at new ways to think about music and composition. It's just my personal impression that a lot of this IDM stuff is way too heavy on the theoretical side and not enough telling a relatable story side.

 

 

Wait wait wait

I think you guys just got me wrong and i have not been clear enough.

I mostly mean free flowing in the way that the melody does not strictly follow chords contours.Like taking a chord,a triad lets say and making a melody out of this chord.

I mean using notes not in rigid harmony,with rigid harmony rules.

I totally love tonal context and use it all the time.

I do not mean not using chords.

And i am in no way what so ever denying the importance of theory.

Im a total theory geek.I use all kind of modes and tonalities,chords and stuff.

 

And pure chromatism requires a very high amount of theory to be used effectively.Its the hardest way of all to make music imo.

 

Im the guy giving the less fucks about been absolutely new and that kind of stuff believe me.

Emotion is number 1 at all time for me.

 

But i sit with the fact that if you do classical counterpoint its gonna sound 18th century.

Rules of counterpoint were designed to make that kind of music.

 

You asked for new ways to make more interesting melodies and less obvious and i gave you what worked for me the best.

What i've listed just does that for me.

It's the very point of this thread.

I mean:

I know quite a bit about music theory but am no jazz master. I feel like my mind is always pushing for too straight forward melodies and harmonies. It lacks surprising and interesting ornamentaions and harmonic movement. Any one have any rules of thumb they follow for stuff like this? Techniques?

You ask for ways to have less straight forward melodies and harmonies.

I say kill rigid counterpoint.Compose in free melody,in scale or not.Not following chords contour too much or counterpoint rules.

Try every single chord you can imagine.

And the other things i've said.

Im not speaking out of my ass here,my music got better since i did that.

 

Try it if you wish.

Or not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.