One interesting way to think about chords is to view them not as their name (like “major”, “minor”, “diminished”, or “dominant 7th”), but simply as a group of notes. Any group of pitches can make a chord, there might not be a name for it like “augmented”, but there are ways of notating those chords. Some people use numbers where either 0 or 1 is used for the first note, the “root” of the chords. And then numbers are assigned to each note ascending chromatically.
Using this notation a C major chord (C E G) would be written as 1 5 8 or 0 4 7.
This notation also often re-arranges notes to have the smallest intervals at the bottom of the chord. For example a C major 7 chord (C E G B) would be re-arranged to be written as B C E G, so that the half step between B and C is at the “bottom” of the chord. This chord would them be analyzed as 1 2 6 9 or 0 1 5 8.
One thing this notation and style of thinking lets you do is invert chords in a way that’s different than standard chord inversions.
Inversions are normally thought of as changing the bass note of a chord. For example if a C major chord is played with an E note in the bass, or as the lowest pitched note, that is considered “first inversion.” If a G note is in the bass it is considered “second inversion.”
If we “invert” chords in this new way we are re-creating the chord with descending intervals, rather than ascending intervals.
For example we can take that first chord of 1 5 8, spelled as C E G, and “invert” it to get C Ab F. The way this works as an inversion, in this style of analysis, is because C up to E is the interval of a major third and C down to Ab is the same interval, a major 3rd. The interval from C up to G is a perfect 5th and the interval of C down to F is a perfect 5th as well.
This can create some interesting chords and harmonic progressions that still sound related because the structures are still the same in some respect, but they may be harmonic progressions you’d be less likely to come up with or use when thinking in terms of traditional functional harmony.
Let’s look at another example.
A major 7th chords spelled C E G B we’ll re-write as B C E G and use the number notation of 1 2 6 9. If we take these same intervals and spell the chord downwards we’d spell out B A# F# D#. Notice these two chord structures are the same chord quality. They’re both major 7th chords, just spelled out differently. If we spell that same chord downwards from C we’d get a C major 7th chord as well C B G E.
This can be a confusing notation and style of analyzing and thinking about music if you’ve never done it before, but give it a try and write a few pieces thinking about the music this way and it’ll become a whole lot easier.
If you’re stuck in writing and feel like all of your ideas are the same, then this technique can be useful.
Give yourself restrictions while writing.
Try to write a melody using only quarter notes.
Maybe use only 8th notes.
Or only chord tones.
Give yourself some simple restriction and try to be creative within those guidelines. Use only 16th notes. Emphasize the 3rd of every chord.
Emphasize the 6th scale degree a lot.
Try to think of some type of restriction and write a melody or a song using that restriction.
One fun one that I haven’t ever tried, but my composer friends have, is to write a piece of music based on an interval. Base all of your ideas off of that interval. Make your melody, harmonies, and rhythms based off of that interval.
Another fun one is to use a new of unfamiliar scale. My most recent single, Bd + Sn, was created this way. I wanted to write a dance song with a specific sample and using the octatonic scale. And that’s the song that I created.
There’s a video of Guthrie Govan talking about George Benson, and he says that George Benson was asked in an interview about his soloing. George Benson often sings and solos on guitar at the same time. The person asked him if he was playing what he was singing or singing what he was playing and his answer was, “Yes.”
He was thinking of a musical idea and using two different means to communicate that idea. He was using his voice to express the musical idea and the guitar.
But the idea was first in his head. He just used two different instruments to play it at the same time.
I always liked this idea and would often joke with a friend of mine, who’s a piano player about this. Thinking of a musical idea and then figuring it out on your instrument creates a solo that often sounds more melodic and vocal because you have to think of an idea that you’ll be able to play. You’ll be thinking more musically because your fingers won’t be on auto pilot.
It can be difficult if you’ve never done this before because you might not be able to figure out the line quickly enough.
But give yourself some practice in thinking of lines and playing them, or start with simple lines, and you’ll soon be able to play more complicated lines on your instrument.
The more you do this the more easily you’ll be able to think of lines and the more easily you’ll be able to communicate them.
Another great way to practice this is by actually singing what you’re playing and playing what you’re singing. Try to be George Benson for a little bit. Sing and solo at the same time. It’ll force you to think of an idea that you fully understand because you’ll notice right away whether or not you’re singing and playing the same thing.
It’s a great exercise to work on ear training because in order to sing and play the same thing you’ll need to know, intuitively, what scale degrees and notes you’re playing. You’ll also need to know where those notes are on your instrument.
In college one of my professors told us this. “The work is not the work.”
What he meant was that the work of being a musician isn’t writing the music. This class was referring specifically to working as a media composer for film, TV, and video games. Writing the music for the gig isn’t the work. The work is finding the gig. Finding places to write music for and finding paid work is the actual work.
And I think it’s quite true. Performing at the gig isn’t the same as finding the gig that pays well. The harder of those two is to find gigs that pay. That’s where the hard work is; in finding paying gigs.
Ostinatos are short repeated pieces of music that repeat throughout a piece of music or throughout a section of a piece of music. They’re common in lots of different genres and styles of music.
The video above of “Let’s Groove” by Earth, Wind & Fire has an ostinato that starts with a vocoder part and then moves into the bass line. It’s played throughout almost the entire piece of music.
“Bolero” by Maurice Ravel is another piece of music that has an ostinato.
They’re also common in film music and electronic music.
All an ostinato is is a repeating piece of music that repeats over and over again.
Easy arrangements
One way to make arrangements of songs easily is by using ostinatos. Layering ostinatos on top of each other can create a really interesting texture with a lot of lines. Those lines don’t have to be complicated, but they’ll add some interest and a backing for the melody to be played on top of.
One fun way to do this with singers is to take pieces of the melody and create ostinatos out of them. This is done in the elementary and middle school classroom often because it gets the students singing different parts, but the parts are related to each other and somewhat easier to sing than proper harmony or choral parts.
It can also be used to create arrangements with instruments as well.
Use as a starting point
Ostinatos can be a great place to start a piece of music. It gets you out of the rut of constantly writing chord progressions and melodies. You can start with an ostinato and add different parts on top of it to change it up. Another idea is to add multiple ostinatos on top of each other.
All of these things are great places to start to get yourself going with writing music.
Audiation is the skill of hearing music or any audio only in your head. It’s the skill of imagining what something will sound like. That might sound simple, but the way it becomes a skill is in being able to audiate music and understand exactly how to play that music. You might be able to hear a song like “Happy Birthday” or “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” or any other song in your head, but in hearing it do you know exactly how to play it on the piano or the guitar? That’s where it becomes a skill.
This can become incredibly difficult the more parts you add.
For example, orchestral and choral conductors often need to be able to audiate full orchestra or choir arrangements just from looking at the sheet music.
This means they need to know how each separate part will sound. They also need to be able to imagine how it would sound on that specific instrument. They’ll also need to be able to hear multiple lines together and imagine how those lines will sound all played together. Hopefully you can see how this becomes difficult quickly.
Jazz musicians also use audiation all the time. Before playing a solo many jazz performers will audiate what they’re going to play right before playing it. This is done while improvising solos or chord changes or even rhythms.
Singers often audiate as well because they need to be able to “hear” what note they’re about to sing right before they sing it.
Hopefully you can see how it becomes an incredibly useful and important skill.
Do it LOUDLY
One way to improve your audiation skills is to audiate loudly an with more detail. When hearing something in your head, hear it as loudly as possible and as vividly as possible. If the music is quite, hear it quietly but vividly. The goal is to be able to hear tiny details in the music and imagine small details.
The more vividly you can audiate, the more detail you’ll have in your head.
You’ll also be able to play more detailed music because you’re hearing in more detail.
Practice
To start practicing this start hearing a simple song that you know really well. Something like “Happy Birthday” or “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” works well.
Now hear it played by a piano. How does that sound? Try to hear the keys hitting the bottom of the keyboard. Try to hear the wood inside and the hammers hitting the strings. Try to hear as much detail as you can. How does it change if the piano player is using the una corda pedal or the sustain pedal?
Try hearing it played by a flute. How does that compare to the piano? Try to hear the breathe of the player, both an inhale and an exhale into the instrument. Try to hear the keys hitting the instrument as they are pressed down.
Now imagine it being played on an electric guitar with distortion. Imagine the scratching of the pick against the strings. Imagine the scraping sound of the guitar players fingers sliding against the strings. Try to hear it palm muted as well.
Now choose an instrument, any instrument, and imagine it being played staccato with all short notes. Hear the space in between the notes and what it sounds like when the notes are cut off and not held out. Hear the quick attack of the notes. If there are specific sounds of the instrument hear those. Imagine things like the bow scraping against the violin strings. Hear the clicks of the keys on any woodwind instrument or the breathe of the players. Hear the wood on the piano.
Switch it to legato. Hear the notes running into each other. Hear the length of the notes being held out. How does it sound? Is it all exactly the same volume or is there a slight dip in volume at the end of the phrases? Can you hear the breathes of the players on wind instruments? Can you hear the bow of the strings? Imagine vibrato on the long notes.
The goal of all of these exercises is to hear in more detail. Hear the small details that you might not normally imagine. Really hear as much of that instrument as you can.
Hopefully by the end of that exercise you were hearing in a little more detail. It can be a useful way to improve your musicianship without having an instrument.
This Friday I’ll be starting to release a new YouTube video once a week again. I had a pretty good streak going for a little bit, but I moved recently and didn’t have all of my computer gear put together to keep editing.
But this week I’m back.
Make sure you subscribe to get the most recent videos.
I had a teacher tell me this in a conducting class at Berklee. He was referring to cuing orchestra members in and conducting a piece well, but I think about this in reference to a lot of other things.
In the context of conducting, how you gesture for someone to come in helps them understand better where the beat is and exactly when and how to start playing. It also means that knowing the score is important. Learning and studying the score ahead of time affects how well you’ll be able to conduct the music. If you know the music well, you’ll be able to conduct well. If you don’t know the music well then you won’t be able to conduct well.
In other contexts it can be helpful to remember as well. If you’re playing a gig then preparing properly will help the gig go more smoothly. Even for rehearsals the same can be said.
I’d also say the same thing about teaching and any other activity that you want to perform well in. Preparing properly will help it go as smoothly as it can and help you perform as best as you can.
So my teacher was correct in saying, “it’s all in the preparation.”
