Posted
Referring to the beach up in Maine. Here is an instrumental more classically influenced. I did a significant amount of work starting with Synfire Pro. I imported over to Tyros4, and added a couple of tracks using Tyros style generators. Also did a fair amount of editing using Logic's Score Mode.
Thanks to Synfire Pro, I'm using some of it's same techniques using my own brain and hands.. Instead of going back to Synfire Pro to make changes, I stay in Logic. copy/paste/move/modify motifs, the same way as SFP. Much more slower though of course. But Synfire has given me another whole perspective on creating music... Still have a lot to learn with SFP.
I have a lot to learn about modalities, and tonal scales. Problem was when I started as a kid, I would not embrace the black notes. But they are the ones that add the charm and excitement. These piece shifts modes, and tonal scales in a few places. Kind of over my head, I never could have generated the chorc structure.
Tyros 4 uses a chord detect track to generate it's instruments styles.. I use SFP 'chords only' export and then import that into Logic to drive Tyros 4. If I go anywhere beyond basic chords. T4 has trouble determining the chords, Because SFP adds and shifts your motifs as you work, they are building up a more complex chord than originally intended. Which is great, but I do have to spend time in Logic, figuring out exactly what detection chord I need for T4 to work well with original SFP MIDI output..
Old Orchard Beach
(http://www.box.com/s/ybsav73q2g439005xgh3)
Mark Styles ©2012 Pliant Tunes BMI)
Mon, 2012-01-02 - 21:18 Permalink
I have a lot to learn about modalities, and tonal scales. Problem was when I started as a kid, I would not embrace the black notes. But they are the ones that add the charm and excitement. These piece shifts modes, and tonal scales in a few places. Kind of over my head, I never could have generated the chorc structure.
Look at he book : Harmony for computermusician (michael hewitt)
He wrote a serie of 3 books and the best is to start for you with his book : musictheory for computermusicians
I am sure that if you study the book: musictheory for computermusicians that the black keys don't have secrets for you anymore Mark and that you can use them in your own music
Learn the Major scale and the 3 Minor scales ( natural, melodic, harmonic) than you can practice with the black keys
Mon, 2012-01-02 - 22:19 Permalink
Thanx I will check the book out, over the years I've become very versed with the different scales (aolian, dorian, etc). To catch up I do a lot of songs in Db. (it really does have more exciting overtones than other keys). I know the different keys and scales but the theory behind it (when do you shift to a different modality, etc) is what I lack. I was brought up on pop, which rarely ventures into other territories. I do it by ear, I don't understand understand the what, how, and why of it, other than it sounds pleasing to my ears.
Being mostly self taught, (took several years of organ lessons as a kid. I learned some music tricks, but didn't understand the background of them.. I took several Berklee online music courses, (which are great, but expensive). SFP certainly is an opportunity to open our eyes, ears to theory, harmonic construction, much more so, than an online class. I will keep exploring.
For instance with this song, the key changes look fairly straight ahead. Once I load the SFP midi file into Logic Pro, and look at an orchestral score, I see a couple of places where I have shifted keys. I can no longer globally define a key for the song. Too many #, b, bb's etc.
Here is a site I recently discovered and have just started going thru, until somehow I trashed Safari's flash app, so I can't see animations and movies. (trying to fix it now)
(http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/forumdisplay.php/77-Principles-of-O…)
Thanx, Janamdo, I will check out the book. I do remember going thru one his a while ago.
Mon, 2012-01-02 - 23:23 Permalink
Hi Mark, thanks for the interesting link to the composingforum
A scale can be examined in 2 forms : a scale formulae ( whole and halve steps on the keyboardkeys of your Yamaha Tyros ) or in interval notation
A Cmajor has a scale formulae in whole and halve steps : 2 and half- 3 and half
A Cminor(natural) has a scale formulae
......
and so on.
Every scale has a formulae and some scales have the same.. see example
Example
The relative minor key of Cmajor= Aminor ( look in SFP in the circle of fifth diagram) has the same scale formulae as the Cmajor and the other way around
The relative minor of the Cmajor scale starts on the a note below the c note of the Cmajor scale
Cmajor has only white keys and in the circle of fifth diagram you can go right or left clockwise ( right .5 th note of the scale and if you go left the 4 th note of the scale)
So Gmajor has 1 # and that is a black key !! and if you go left clockwise F major (1b) has also 1 black key
Gmajor has the same chord formulae as Cmajor and therefore 1 black key in Gmajor replaced one of the seven white keys in Cmajor to get the same chordformulae
Is this the problem for you ?
Tue, 2012-01-03 - 17:43 Permalink
To catch up I do a lot of songs in Db. (it really does have more exciting overtones than other keys).
Yes Dbmajor has 5 flats ..it means that 5 black keys are used to form the Cmajor chord formulea build on this key Db of your keyboard
Scale Bmajor has 5 sharps and uses also 5 black keys
Realize that a minor scale versus a major scale has importance for the mood of your composition
So your Db major scale with 5 black keys has also a relative minor scale Bbm (relative major/minor connection )( has the same chordformulae as Db major and also as Cmajor ( the basisscale) )
So try out the Bbm scale for a minor mood composition and this scale starts on the Bb note below the Db note
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So with the circle of fifth diagram you can build on every 12( 7 whites +5 blacks) keys of your keyboard in a octave a major scale with flats or sharps
The circle of fifth shows also the shared notes between the scales ..important for modulation
De C major scale at the top of the circle of fifth diagram is a reference point..it has not flats or sharps ..all other scales not
example : the diametrically opposite points(=scales) in the circle of fifth shares only 1 note in common with eachother: a distant related key.
Db <-> Bbm =relative major/minor connection... a major scale and a minor scale with the same chordformulae
You like the Db scale, than try to use the Bbm scale also for a another mood in the composition .. and because the shared the same notes it is ideal for modulation
, because you can find pivot chords( shared chords) for both scales ( SFP has a feature to show those shared chords between the 2 scales when you use the circle of fitfh diagram)
Say when you start on the Db scale and go (modulate)to the Bbm scale the best modulation is when you get a V-1 progression for the Bbm scale than the modulation will have been effected succesfully.
I do hope you get a more insight?
Tue, 2012-01-03 - 17:48 Permalink
The question also arises. Is say you start with the key of C but you place the melody at the 3rd or 5th, more like it's in Em or G. It kind of mudddies up what key the song is. Or for instance some jazz pieces shift keys, it's hard to interpret a universal key for the piece.
Right now, the subtle shifting of keys, fascinates me. I just look at the orchestral score of the piece and can see where the key has changed.. It's more of a challenge than sticking to one modality or key..
Tue, 2012-01-03 - 20:12 Permalink
The question also arises. Is say you start with the key of C but you place the melody at the 3rd or 5th, more like it's in Em or G. It kind of mudddies up what key the song is. Or for instance some jazz pieces shift keys, it's hard to interpret a universal key for the piece.
Key:
An aimless succesion of tones, such as a randomgenerator might produce, means very little to us. This is because good melodies tend to be clearly centered--that is, they have a stong center of gravity to them. Like the sun at the heart of the solar system or the atomic nucleus at the centre of the electron cloud, this center of gracity holds the melody together and gives a sense of direction, identy, and purpose. The musical term for this ccentralizing force is tonality, a force that becomes manifest in the note called the tonic note.
The tonic represents the still center around wich the other notes of the melody tend to circle.
To write a good melody, the first thing you need to decide is the note that will perform the function of a tonic. In this respect, any of the 12 notes of the chromatic scale defined by the keyboard( tyros) can act as the chosen tonic
Scale and Mode
Another important feature of the melody is the scale in wich it is written. Given that a particular note has been choosen to be the tonic, the next thing to decide is the scale in wich the melody will be written
The question also arises. Is say you start with the key of C but you place the melody at the 3rd or 5th, more like it's in Em or G. It kind of mudddies up what key the song is. Or for instance some jazz pieces shift keys, it's hard to interpret a universal key for the piece.
Well a 3th note is e..is tonic and is keynote ..what scale ? Major scale .. Emajor
A g as keynote and in major scale gives a G major scale
The melody starts with the tonic (=first note) of the chosen scale
The key of C( = tonic) means that the the scale is Cmajor and the g note act as a dominant note!: The tonic(1e note) and the dominant(5th note) are related to each other as a polarity.
This polarity between the tonic and th edominant will provide you with the essential backbone of the melody, that central stabilizizing axis around which the melody can be built ... to be continued : SEE BOOK
There is more to tell about the melody.. read this book !
Composition for Computermusicians ( micheal hewitt) where i use some info ( see above)
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Interesting question what scales are involved in say popsongs, jazz standard, classical music.
If i look at the arrangment demo1 in SFP , and i go to the progression editor, than you can view there the "global key" and also
"horizontal scale" and SFP does do the job by analyzing this seems.
To ascertain the key depends of the type of chords belonging to that key..i think
I thought by jazz the use sometimes chords outside a scale, but even in that case there must be also a "key"
To analyze all music on used scale?.. i do use also software what gives colors for the melodynotes/chords when it falls in/outside a key
But with SFP the instruments are adapted to the chords and there is a automatic voiceleading, but you can still make a wrong sounding progression seems to me
I don't understand exactly the meaning yet of : Verical scale , horizontal scale and global key in SFP..time to study again.