Check Out Apps & Programs For Writing Music
Forget pen and paper! Technology has changed the way we do almost everything, and writing music is no exception. Today, there are hundreds of modern applications and programs that can get you started composing on your laptop, desktop, tablet, or smartphone. They range in price from free to several hundred dollars. Here are some of the best ways to create digital sheet music and to find a valuable sheet music writer:
Blues And Rock And Roll
The second book in Piano For All is all about showing basic blues rhythms using some of the chords introduced in the first book.
As examples, the author has chosen tracks from Jerry Lee Lewis and also a line reminiscent of the 1978 Blues Brothers movie starring Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi.
One of the primary things this book explores is the idea of practicing the left-hand more than the right hand.
The second book is very short in comparison to the first book, but its primary goal appears to teach the student a basic understanding of simple blues rhythms.
Additionally, it shows how to play the 12-bar-blues in all key signatures, which is going to come in handy for a number of reasons, including how to transpose your own melodies across different key signatures and also for understanding how these different keys look on the piano.
Take Your Theme And Change The Starting Note
Now play the exact same intervals between notes, but your starting note will be different. This might require some trial and error as you find what is pleasing to your ear but give yourself some time to play and explore! If your theme originally went C-E-G-G, then you might try playing G-B-D-D for this step.
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So You Got A Melody And Need Some Harmony
There are more than one way to create harmony two common ways are counterpoints or chords. We are taking the easiest route and choose chords. Once again, there is more than one way to add chords to a melody. Since this is only an introduction in music composition we are satisfied with two rules: 1) add chords in which the second or third note is the same as the melody note 2) donât add chords to every melody note, one or two in every bar are often advisable. Concerning the motion: the harmony can be parallel or contrary to the melody line. To think about the motion in this way can be helpful. If we have a song in 4/4 time, which is the most common, chord changes often occur on the first or/and third beat in the bars. The first and third beat are also often most accented. But in rock and jazz, in particular, the strong beats can also lay on the second and fourth beat, so-called off beats.
Creating Your Own Piano Melody In Garageband
For someone whos familiar with playing an instrument, coming up with a melody is often as simple as just sitting down and playing around on it for an hour or two. I dont think it would be unreasonable to assume that this is the primary way people come up with riffs, melodies, and other ideas. I know this is certainly the case for me.
And I also imagine that most dont really sit down with musical theory concepts in mind, but rather come to apply those later if they need to take a musical idea in a particular direction. That said, Im going to assume that you arent familiar with musical instruments.
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Funeral March Frdric Chopin
Lastly, another classical piece that works well as Halloween piano music is Chopins Funeral March, for its gloomy, dark character. This lesson is part of Skooves new course for beginner level pianists, where you can start learning this and many other exciting piano arrangements.
Please note that you can access the lesson through the new Beginner Classical Songs course in the mobile app.
Mystical Moments And Atmosphere
A great place to start for beginner level piano players is not a song per-se, but Skooves Mystical moments and atmospherelesson. In this lesson, the first thing you learn is to play the whole-tone scale, which has a quite evocative sonority, characteristic of many Halloween piano songs. By the end of the lesson you get to play a short song to a full piano accompaniment provided by Skoove.
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What Makes Me Want To Compose Music
The best way for me to talk about this is to simply tell you my answers to these questions and hopefully that will act as a starting point for you to think through your answers.
Lots of different things inspire me to compose events, life experiences and my thoughts/beliefs about life are all stimuli for my desire to create music at the piano. I do enjoy performing on the piano, but I love recording my music. I find great satisfaction in the process of composing a piece of music, refining it, recording it and then producing the finished track. Following on from this, I love to share my pieces with other people I dont know whether this is the performer in me or whether it is something to do with the joy of sharing creativity with others probably a bit of both! What I do know is that I love to hear peoples comments about my pieces when I upload them . I love it when people enjoy my music enough to purchase a download or a CD this is a real thrill.
So what?
To Make A Piano Song In Garageband
1) 2) Choose an Apple Loop like Black Tie from the Piano category.3) Choose a drum loop like 4th Generation 01 Beat4) Use another Apple Loop in the same key for the chorus and a new drum loop
At one time, I was privy to always creating things from scratch but its certainly not necessary to operate in this way. As I said above, there is more than one way of making music. Well talk about a few things in this article including how to make your own piano song in Garageband from scratch as well as how to use samples and loops to be even faster.
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Chord Progressions That Characterize Spooky Songs On Piano
Going back to the topic of harmony and dissonance, we can also find chord progressions that are more or less typical of Halloween music. For instance, a great yet simple way to create Halloween-like harmonies is to use minor chords that are a third apart from each other. For instance, play this series of chord pairs and see if they remind you of any movies:
Two minor chords, a major third apart
Two minor chords, a major third apart
Two minor chords, a minor third apart.
Two minor chords, a minor third apart.
This type of progression is used by Danny Elfman in the song This is Halloween from Tim Burtons The Nightmare Before Christmas. After youre done reading, try making your own piano songs combining these basic progressions.
Another common approach to Halloween song progressions is creating chromatically descending voice-leading between chords in other words, progressions whereby a voice is descending one semitone at a time. For instance, play this progression and notice how to top voice slowly descends from A to D# :
Minor key progression with chromatically descending voicing
Give It A Little Space
Finally, were going to push the piano back in the mix using reverb.
If youre sending all of your tracks to one room reverb, then dont forget to send the piano as well. Doing this makes your instruments feel like they are being played in the same space, gluing them together a little more. Just adjust the send amount on the channel to dictate how far back you want to push the channel.
If youre not using a room reverb for your whole mix, then create a send for a new reverb. Id recommend using a small-to-medium sized room reverb with a reverb time of under 2 seconds.
To mix the reverb in, turn the fader of the reverb aux track all the way down. Then, while the track is playing, slowly mix it back in until it feels right to you. Once you reach that place, turn it back down a little to keep it subtle.
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Use A Full Range Of Dynamics
In the studio, there is the freedom to use as many or as few instruments as the artist wants, anywhere in the song. But when its just you and your piano, dynamics and thicker/thinner chords can produce the same effect. Changing from soft to loud can signal the beginning of a chorus or an instrumental, while getting softer can take you back to the 2nd verse, or maybe ending the song.
Experiment With These Techniques To Find What Works Best For You And Your Music
Grand pianos are known for their large sound and deep bass tones. In order to make the most of your grand piano, experiment with different techniques to find what works best for you and your music. For example, try varying the chord progression on different keys to find the right sound for your songs. Additionally, experiment with different tonal qualities to find the perfect sound for your music. By doing this, you can create beautiful sounding compositions that will impress your listeners.
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How To Add Piano To A Song
Theres no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as the best way to add piano to a song will vary depending on the style of the song and the overall sound youre trying to achieve. However, here are a few tips to get you started: If the song is mostly acoustic, consider using a piano with a softer sound, like an upright piano. If the song is more rock or pop-oriented, you might want to use a brighter, more energetic sound. In this case, an electric piano or even a synthesizer might be a better choice. Pay attention to the melody and try to complement it with your piano part. The piano can provide a countermelody, harmonic background, or even a solo, depending on what will work best for the song. As youre creating your part, keep in mind how it will fit with the other instruments in the song. You want your piano part to be an integral part of the arrangement, not just an afterthought.
Decide On A General Song Idea
What I mean is to decide on a theme, or perhaps an audience. For instance, youd think, Ill write this one to my husband about our wedding, or This song will be centered on the political unrest in Africa.
Sometimes its easier to consider the type of song you want to write before you consider the idea of the song. Do you want to write a country song or a jazz song? Classical or pop? Will it be a happy, upbeat song, or a sad, melancholic one? Deciding on these general themes ahead of time can help guide you as you dive deeper into writing piano songs.
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Chord Tones And Passing Tones
To choose which notes to play for the melody, a central concept is to match the chords that are played. Tones that are included in the chord are called chord tones and notes that are between the chord notes in the related scale are called passing tones . The chord tones are strong melody notes and will sound great to play over matching chords. Passing tones is also suited to be included since variation is needed. Below is an example with two bars showing the melody that is played with a piano over an arrangement with other instruments. Look at the notes and you can see how the notes of the melody corresponds with the chords played. Listen to the audio to hear the melody together with the harmony .
One thing to notice in the picture above is that chord notes is chosen in every occasion directly when a new chord is played. These are called landing notes. You don’t have to copy this method, but it is a common approach in playing melodies over chords.
How Do You Play Virtual Piano On Keyboard
You can play the piano by pressing the piano keys or by using your computer keyboard. The top row of letters on a keyboard is made up of white keys, while the bottom row is made up of black keys. Multiple notes can be played at the same time. You can prevent the note names from appearing above the piano by clicking Hide note names.
How Pianu Can Help You Learn Piano
Pianu will teach you all of the fundamentals of piano, allowing you to master your favorite songs and learn the piano at your own pace. Pianu enables you to learn at your own pace, wherever you are. Pianus interactive lessons are enjoyable and engaging, so youll be learning quickly and having a lot of fun. Furthermore, because Pianu is an online platform, you can continue to learn even if you are not at the piano.
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Make Music Spontaneously With Piano Improvisation
Learning how to improvise on piano may seem intimidating at first. What notes should you begin with? What if it doesnt sound good? What if I make a mistake? It can be scary to jump out and improvise or make music spontaneously.
If you think about it, you are already improvising most of the day. You might wake up with a plan for going to the market before heading to work, but then something unexpected happens. What do you do? You cant ignore it you have to act! You have to improvise and learning improvisation in music on the piano is no different!
- Fall in love with the music Learn your favorite songs whether theyre classical, pop, jazz or film music, all at a level that suits you.
- Enjoy interactive piano lessons Learn with courses that help you master everything from music theory, chords, technique and more.
- Get real-time feedback Improve your practice with rich feedback as Skoove listens to your playing and highlights what went well and areas for improvement.
Get Familiar With Mixing And Mastering
The finishing stage of the recording, mixing and mastering, is usually done by a specialized Mix Engineer and/or Mastering Engineer with different equipment and experience. The Engineer should be a separate person, as a fresh set of ears is needed to make the important final decisions on how the music will sound.
Mixing and mastering is like a polishing of your final mix. Overall dynamic levels are adjusted so that they are in an acceptable range to sound good on different playback devices. Adjustments might also be made to the EQ and effects. Multiple songs in an album will be matched in level , and if a physical copy is being made, such as a vinyl or CD pressing, there will be a few seconds of silence added between songs.
You might also ask the Mastering Engineer to add the meta-data to your tracks. Meta-data is the digital information that makes your song searchable in a database or on the web, and is important for tracking the use of your music and for getting paid royalties when your music is used by others.
Mastering Engineers usually charge by the song, so you might want to shop around to compare the costs and services provided. Can you master your tracks yourself? Probably, yes, but its really a good idea to have someone new listen with an objective view towards adding the finishing touches, so that the track you already love will sparkle and shine even more.
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All That Jazz And Blues
The purpose of the sixth book is laying a solid foundation for the understanding of blues and jazz, which is arguably more useful for music producers than classical, which is commonly the most taught genre for piano players.
Frankly, hip-hop, pop music, reggae, EDM, and R& B almost never use elements of classical music, so I think that, because of its emphasis on these particular genres, Piano For All is ideal for understanding contemporary music.
The sixth book includes blues sounds, including chords, scales, before finally exploring jazz instead.
Instead of being pushed toward understand increasingly complex jazz rhythms, the book claims that its a better idea to just analyze the audio recordings for the sake of imitation.
Afterward, it explores seventh chords, which are crucial in todays musical landscape.
If youre a fan of Drake or are at least aware of his influence on the popular culture, understand that music producers who work with him and other artists commonly use the Dorian mode which is typically associated with Minor Seventh chords, in fact, Ive talked about this before in my beat-making guide.
The seventh book in this course explores seventh chords in addition to quartal harmony, however, the former is more important than the latter in my opinion.
