I’ve been composing music for 14 years and I just had to watch this video. It is very well put. It goes to the heart of the matter when composing. It’s not about the technique as much as the message you are portraying in your music paired with an emotional journey that must be resolved in some way. But music can sometimes be very complex in Classical, Opera, and other genres compared to contemporary music. So it all depends on your taste as to how much you make the “themes” obvious or not. Good listeners will still fallow your message and see what parts represent. I tend to make my Motifs or “themes” extremely obvious with a basic sequence in the intros.. it gets more defined as I go but the melody represented is very well defined. This is because I want to always reach a wide audience… not a specific set of ears.
@@MichaelOrtega Thank you for the comment, it was interesting to read you! I agree, the principles stated in this video apply mostly to the historical classical period, when composers made big efforts to make their themes sound as obvious as possible (as opossed to the previous baroque sequential procedures). This is not to be regarded as a universal rule for other periods and styles as you pointed out.
@@Zarty-Music That is true. Music as art form is subjective, but elements can be shared amongst all genders of music. We musicians tend to be very critical with our creations, but there’s nothing wrong about having repetitious melodies as long as it goes with the theme of the story you’re trying to portray. I always say, “variation is your friend”. Making repetitious melodies can help listeners sink into the musical story, just make sure you make variations as to not fatigue the ear.
This is the bridge between anyone making music and actual songwriting. Even the simplest concepts are hard to execute without examples and demonstration. Seeing it presented this way is a godsend.
@@tangerinesarebetterthanora-v8k And it would be, if it weren't at least half true. I doubt most musicians actively try to "do their own thing", instead of choosing the more comfortable path of generically writing in a certain genre, or basing their entire musical vocabulary on just a couple of sources. It seems to me that a lot of musicians (and artists in general) never really move on from the "imitation" stage in their development, and just get better at imitating; not even just personal twists on a style, just imitation. I think a cure for this would be listening to a lot of varied music, from many different ages and genres.
Man you're great. This video is amazing: it's clear, practical, and actually useful. The light humor put in through editing is the perfect balance between making the viewer laugh for a split second and not being distracting: the best for keeping attention. Please continue, i know i have yet so much to learn from your videos.
Sometimes you find a genuine gold mine! Just as I’m really coming into my own with understanding piano and vocal technique! Lots to learn here! That’s for including the sheets as well! Fantastic!! :))))
lovely. this would really have saved me when I was studying classical music (we were somehow never taught any of this??). this actually gives me better insight on how to read a piece as what it actually is than on composition per se. often there is so much happening in a few bars (layers upon layers of thrilling variations coming in and out of themselves) and it is difficult to have a grasp on what the global direction is -- the linguistic analogies were very helpful! and perhaps it is still the main hurdle with composing too, not to lose track of your initial intention. i really liked that you started with the most basic of ideas for your examples.
The Mozart section in A minor is a compound period. It consists of two sentences. Both these sentences are special because after fragmenting the material once, they also fragment the fragmentation: measure 1-8: Sentence 1 measure 1-2: A: Basic idea measure 3-4: A': slightly ornamented exact repetition measure 5-8: Reduction / Fragmentation measure 5: R(a): Reduction of Parts of A measure 6-7: S(R(a): Sequentation of that Reduction measure 8: R(R(a): Half Cadence via further Reduction measure 9-14: Sentence 2 measure 9-10: (A') exact repetition of A' measure 11-12: A'' ornamented repetition with altered harmony measure 13-15: Reduction / Fragmentation measure 13: -2x(a''): variation (augmentation and inversion) of parts of A'' measure 14: (-2x(a''))r: reversal of vertical compression of that (with shortening of note values) measure 15: (-2x(a''))r)/2: Authentic Cadence via diminuation of that
Excellent and very detailed analysis! Just a couple of details with regard to cadences: first cadence between bars 8-9 is not a half cadence but a kind of truncated authentic cadence. The tonal goal is the tonic chord (A minor), with the bass resolving upwards from dominant (E) to tonic (A). However, the upper and inner voices resolve in a non normative fashion: last B of the melody at the end of bar 8 should resolve either downwards to A or upwards to C, but jumps up to E instead; at the same time, inner voices jump in parallel motion, leading to consecutive fifths. This is justified by the fact that bar 9 is actually an exact repetition of bar 1, so it kind of feels like suddenly "going back" to a previous point without properly resolving the cadence. Some theorists call this the "one more time" technique. The cadence between bars 15-16 is a half cadence as it resolves on a dominant function chord: G major, dominant of C major/minor. This one is known as the converging half cadence, with the bass moving through grades 4 - ♯4 - 5 (of C) and the top line descending by stepwise motion. Overall we've got a special type of compound period, which ends on a haf cadence instead of a perfect authentic cadence. It is also a modulating type: the whole antecedent sentence is in A minor and the second one ends on the dominant of C major. Thanks for the comment!
Lessons such as this don't replace or compete with inspiration... once internalized, they inform inspiration towards creating more classical sounding music. I think you chose good examples, obvious enough for anybody to understand. Books are wonderful, and so are audio-books, and a video that combines the best features of both is most effective. You can see the score while hearing it played, and listen to the description while seeing the important terms written out. At least for simple concepts with many examples, this is a great format.
One example I think of the compound sentence that should have been mentioned is Mozart's 40th Symphony, since it's such a prominent melody worldwide. Actually I don't know if it would be considered that, but it is certainly one. Another one is Brahms' 4th symphony, the first movement, which also uses an inverted period for the first part.
Amazing examples. Mozart's 40th Symphony beginning is very similar to the piano Sonata in A minor (both in the so called Sturm und Drang style). In Mozart's 40th we have a variant of a compound modulating period from bars 1-38, in which both halves end with a half cadence, the first on the V of Gm (bar 16) and the second time V of B flat major (bar 38). The first sentence, from bars 1-38 is not really a compound sentence, despite lasting for more than 8 bars, as it behaves like a normative sentence (one of those cases where written time signature doesn't quite match listener's perception. For me it's a normative sentence according to a hypermeter of 4/2 instead of the written 2/2 time signature. Brahms' example also follows a variant of the compound Period, in this case both halves end with an authentic cadence (not following an strict classical voice leading as describbed in this video), the first modulating to A minor in the end (bar 15) the second one on the initial key E minor (bar 33). In this case, just like in Mozart's, I feel the hypermeter is 4/2 with respect to the 2/2 time signature, so according to their behaviour both halves are essentially Sentences and not compound Sentences despite their length, but it might be argued that some extension processes are going on within them. Well, that's my take, but maybe other authors analyze them differently :D
Very nice video and well done on the hard work. As a professional composer - at least in my opinion - I'd say everyone is different and it's hard to generalise. Personally I rely heavily on an intuitive way of composing - where logic and thinking are supported through the study I've already done in the past. I think very little. I know other composers that definitely work on their ideas much more thoroughly and more like the way you describe. Personally this doesn't work for me so I'd say to any person looking to work in this field - be open to either way, or anything in between. All are correct. So finally - I'd say masters did rely on inspiration. Many did. But some didn't. It would be untrue to say that inspiration wasn't part or even the entirety of the greatest pieces.
@@mattjazzml Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience, for me it's always interesting to learn about composers' points of view! I also agree with what you said, thanks for the comment.
Very cool video bratishka. I would love a breakdown on what constitutes co trast on an even deeper level. We saw a lot about form and truth be told while this video certainly is above many others in its conciseness and the sheer volume of examples i feel that part is always nefariously overlooked,yet is the most crucial part to achieving variety and fighting boredom.
@@davidgleba3832 Oh? Could you please share your sources so I can read more about that? I knew that was the case for Mozart's piano sonata 13 Kv.333, first dated to 1778 then to 1783, but I hadn't heard of a similar thing happening to Kv.310.
@@Zarty-Music: I am so glad that you asked me that, because I just looked into it, and it turns out that you were absolutely right: all my sources say that KV310 was composed in 1778 in Paris. I was mistaken; I apologize for the confuzzlement, and will delete my erroneous comment.
Very interesting, but I wonder if the composers of that period thought like this. If you read Der Vollkommene Capellmeister for instance (although written in late baroque and mainly dealing with constructing vocal melodies), then it seems there is a big influence of rhetorics on building a melodic phrase? And who can deny that the instrumental themes of Mozart are always somewhat vocal/ operatic in nature?
Very interesting comment. Contemporary theorists suchs as Riepel, Kirnberger or even Rousseau always compared music to linguistics, which was a huge change with respect to late baroque aesthetics. The rhetorics in Mattheson and J.S.Bach had more to do with the disposition of materials and their expressive function, following classical rhetorics masters suchs as Cicero or Quintilianus, but down to the strict musical terms, They conceptualized harmony first and melody second as a consecuence. For classicals though, music was melody, compared to the speech, and harmony a way to colour It.
@Zarty-Music that's true, the remark of Haydn:" music is the only universal language" ( or something like that). I often wonder in all these matters regarding musical construction if there were certain tricks/ insights these composers had, a ' secret knowledge' to quote the painter David Hockney in regard to the painting techniques of the old masters, that was deliberately hidden from the public, and was transferred from master to pupil and got lost somewhere (the 19th century perhaps). And it seems i.m.o that the treatises like those of Mattheson, give only partial glimpses in all these matters, maybe just because of this secrecy. I see these baroque treatises also as a kind of early Enlightenment, the rise of (proto-) encyclopedists, like Athanasius Kircher, trying to bring together all these hidden knowledge out into the open. Anyway, to conclude my comment, the theories of Chaplin are certainly interesting, but maybe not the whole explanation yet.
@@christophedevos3760 "I see these baroque treatises also as a kind of early Enlightenment" that's spot on and it applies to later treatises as well! The way I see it, it's not like composers deliberately hid their secret knowledge, it's more like there wasn't any need for them to share it with anyone apart from their own students, just like a shoe maker or anyother kind of artisan wouldn't either. Treatises like Mattheson's and the like weren't meant for actual music students (those learned directly from their masters), they were mostly meant for amateurs and dilettanti who were interested in learning the basics of music (for a price), so the depth of their content is quite limited and wasn't a substitute for an actual teacher. A final thought on this: music then was learned mostly from imitation and not from theoretical principles (counterpoint was the only exception). Most composers and artists did the things they did because they had seen them before and they knew they worked, but that doesn't mean they could explain why they worked at a theoretical level. Working side by side with a teacher was then (and now) the only reliable way to actually learn how to do something, as the student can see how things are meant to work on the spot instead of getting some generic theorertical dissertation. And even in these cases, being a good composer didn't mean you could be also a good teacher. There is a famous quote from Mozart in which a random guy once asked him about the secrets of composing a symphony and Mozart's reply was something like: "I couldn't really teach you how to compose a symphony, I simply compose them".
@Zarty-Music exactly. I think it was an attempt perhaps to what we now call 'popularization' of science. Of course the people who could access/buy this books were not the common people ( in terms of wealth). And there was certainly an aspect of political competition (early modern age and the birth of the nation state) also involved, Leibnitz the philosopher/mathematician had a ' team' of people, including himself, searching in Europe for new scientific information. And J.S. Bach was btw in his later life also part of an environment of early encyclopedists/ musicologists, the background to which the Kunst der Fuge was written, probably other pieces as well. Regarding classicism, what I also wanted to mention regarding musical construction is the influence of national styles having an influence on structure: Italian style had typically many repetitions in melody, I presume this originated in opera buffa... and gradually there was a fusion of these national styles, Quantz spoke of 'ein vermischten Geschmack', Von Dittersdorf wrote even a symphony where every part represents a national style, and Mozart boasted ' I can write in every style I want', probably meaning these national styles, which are for an average contemporary listener not that clear anymore, because seen as a homogenous 'classical' style.
A very intellectual but somewhat soulless approach to what is a deeply creative and emotional endeavor. It is wonderfully explained and full of technical details that can assist beginners, but anyone following this method is only constructing music, not sharing who they really are. Music is not merely a series of notes and phrases with grammar. Beethoven regarded music as the highest philosophy and I agree with him. Without inspiration, all we are creating is artifice, not art.
@@ihaveacoolnickname I agree, but these tools are as essential to music creation as grammar is for a writter. You cannot make art unless you learn how to create artifice first (a lesson the masters knew very well, including Beethoven), otherwise we'll lack the proper knowledge to transform our musical ideas into a coherent work, just like trying to write a novel in a language we don't speak.
To those of you that say “this isn’t how you play music, this is soulless structure!” It’s not. Imagine music basically being a sport, let’s take soccer for example. Soccer is considered the beautiful game and it is rather simplistic, get the ball into the opponents net. BUT you can’t use your hands. You also can’t be found to be offsides, you also cannot foul players. Goalies can only grab the ball in a certain limited area. If another defensive player commits a foul or commits a handball in said area, other team is awarded a penalty kick. These are the structures that make the game of soccer soccer. What he is explaining is what makes music music. If you seriously think that there are other structure methods outside of this stuff then you don’t know much about music theory. And it’s also going to break your poor little heart when you find out that 95% of music consists of I-IV-V-I chord structure and that basically ii, iii, vi and viiidim are basically sad embellishments of those three chords. Even transposition many of times is just playing a trick on the ear by quickly changing a chord to becoming a V-I in a different key (most common I’ve noticed in key of C is going Gmaj-Emaj-Amaj- the back to usually a dmin) giving you that sense of like grandiose or higher than you thought big could get, before it comes back down to ac chords. Trust me it has all been done and tried, if you don’t believe me look up chromatic music or anything done by John Cage, from his famous “4:33” which is literally four minutes and thirty three seconds is nothing, basically the song consisted of the coughing and sounds the audience members make while he sits infront of a piano doin nothing, to putting utensils inside his piano in order to give the sound a wild unexpected sound that is almost impossible to replicate on command. The genius behind music isn’t “how can I not do this” but instead how can I do this and make it my own. And yes there will be times when your music calls for breaking out of the box, and going outside of the implemented rules and structures you are given. But you can’t break the rules if you don’t know what the rules are. And even Hendrix or The Beatles who couldn’t read music could still tell you by how keen their ears were when the rules were being broken and when they weren’t
Thank you for the wonderful video @Zarty-Music. Regarding the Mozart Piano sonata in a minor: Is it a Compound Modulating Period? With the consequent "sentence" truncated to 6-bars. I was first going to say a compound sentence due to the lack of definite cadences but the repetition of the basic idea in bars 9 and 10 convinced me that it is indeed a period structure.
Very well! Also the structure ends with a half cadence at bar 16, which is not the usual choice (the reason behind it has to do with the sonata's exposition form, which I'll discuss in future videos). Thanks for your comment.
I have a little question, can this apply to Jazz, Rock, Metal & pop music? I am quite new in harmony and I am a bit lost because we can't find in those style this " I-V" that often.
Good question! Indeed I-V cadences aren't as usual in modern musical styles as they were in classical music, and the concept of what constitutes a "strong" or "weak" cadence has varied a lot since then. For instance a "plagal" cadence IV-I was never used in the classical period to end a theme, but today many consider it as conclusive as a perfect authentic cadence with regard to pop music. So, in oder to apply these principles to a more modern style, I'd recommend you pay attention to what is considered a "strong" or "weak" cadence within each musical style (and especially if it sounds "strong" or "weak" to you). It's also worth noting that, while we can still find plenty of examples of actual "Sentence" and "Period" structures today (especially in film music and the like), in pop music thematic structures tend to be a little more simple, such as one single phrase repeated exactly two or more times, both times ending with the same type of cadence or no cadence at all. At the level of the basic idea however, some of these principles are still applied, especially the so called 1 + 1 + 2 technique, in which two related motivic cells are replied by a longer one to conform a recursive basic idea. A more specific video on pop music songwritting should be necessary to cover all the different procedures used today. In conclusion, take this video as a tool box of "classical" ideas that is good to have in your repetory but you don't have to use every time.
@@Zarty-Music Thanks so much for this answer. I'm gonna take a good care about hearing those "weak" and "strong " cadence and try to apply those construction method into my music. If you make another video, I'll 100% watch it ! I am actually working on "horor" music, with chromatic minor cadence. Its kinda hard to feel wich is strong or weak and to make a "linked" theme between those chords avoiding classic arpegios that make sounds like 2 different scene/world at each chord change. If you have tips for it too. I would be very happy to hear it.
@@sic94 That sounds interesting and intriguing. I'm currently offering feedback on people's works through my patreon (link in the description), you may consider joining me there so we can review your music in more detail if you wish!
No great difference between music genres and periods. There are just as many interesting as well as boring pieces in classical music as in jazz, pop and other genres (baroque, medieval, contemporary...) . It's a question of inspiration in consideration with the ability of creating good melodies AND interesting, artful arrangements. Also a question of being able to KEEP being interesting, which is a common point I can find between Bach and Coltrane or Ravel, Debussy, Purcell, Vivaldi and many others.
Sir . I've never seen such a useful and well crafted content on youtube and I've been here for like 5 years . I really like to support you with money so please tell me how . My country's money is very invaluable so I can't make big donations but I'll give as much as I can .please keep up making this content it helps me a lot .👏👍❤
Hello and thanks for your kind words, it makes me happy to hear that my content is useful! Your support is very appreciated. Donations will be available soon on the channel in case you want to contribute that way (it might take a few days or week, as it depends on youtube criteria and I can't activate it yet). Thanks again!
That's very close! The behavior of the cadences however, doesn't correspond to a normative compound modulating period, so we might choose an alternative name according to that...
@Zarty-Music the book I am reading does talk about periods having the antecedent ending with a pac and usually after that the consequent modulates as an example he puts schumann's op68 n2, he also lables things differently and would have probably called it a parallel modulating compound period.
@Robotron-wd9em Oh I see, that's a valid alternative approach, in this video I used Caplin as reference but there are other authors and methodologies. I used the term "Antiperiod" borrowed from Webster to describe themes like this one, but I'm ok with it being named just a Period in which the antecedent ends with a strong cadence, so if that's your way of naming themes I agree with your first answer, well done!
@@Zarty-Music yeah unfortunatelly every manual has slightly different pov, the book i am reading is style and structure of the study and analysis of musical forms by leon stein it's a great book it usually is very specific on topics tho it lacks the definition of sentence.
Because the voice leading corresponds to a perfect authentic cadence with a leap of descending perfect fifth on the bass while the top voice proceeds to its root by stepwise motion. In other words, the last chord is treated as a new tonic not a dominant.
@@Zarty-Music First of all, I have to say I love your videos. They are fantastic. I do however disagree. Yes it cadences on a G, but the D major triad is simply a V/V. It tonicizes the G (V), but then it's back to C major. It's just a half cadence. With a modulation it has to continue in that key. The ear doesn't hear the key of G since it returns to C the measure after. Anyway, either way I still appreciate all the work you put into your videos. They are first class.
@@Mrapg32 You introduced different questions here and they are quite controversial depending on the author, so there is nothing wrong if we disagree on them: Firstly, analysis on modulations depend on wether we analyze as we listen or if we analize backwards once we already know what happens next. In this case you pointed out that the piece goes back to C next, which is correct, but if we stop right at the cadence we don't have that information yet, it could go back to C or stay in G. I consider these kind of cadences as retrospective half cadences, which means they are articulated as PAC but the music's behaviour afterwards corresponds to a half cadence. However, from the theme's articulation perspective, which is the focus of the video, the behaviour of the voice leading matters a lot, so even if I consider it a retrospective half cadence, within the analyzed theme it functions as a PAC, way more conclusive than a normative half cadence, which would progress either by a descending fourth leap on the bass or by ascending stepwise motion on the bass. Notice that I didn't say that I don't agree with your point, I just explained why I used a different approach this time. Thanks for watching and for your comment.
@@Zarty-Music To my way of thinking, music doesn't exist on paper, it's an aural art form. I highly doubt that any musician would hear the V chord as a modulation. It is a classic half cadence setup with a secondary dominant (V/V). It continues in C major so no modulation. There is isn't anything that suggests the key of G major. The music would have to continue in G. Modulation takes time - it doesn't happen in one measure. A good example of a simple modulation is in Clementi's Sonatina in C major where he actually does modulate to G. In the 9th measure of the Sonatina, Clementi could have chosen to continue in C, but he decided to continue in G major for the second theme which is classic as you know. In the 8th measure, the listener doesn't know whether it is the new key of G or a half cadence until the piece stays in that key and eventually cadences in G at the end the exposition. Keep the fantastic videos coming, I have enjoyed them a lot. I was a subscriber after 2 minutes of watching. Cheers, Aaron.
I can appreciate the notion of a part of music meaning something while being heard and meaning something different once you hear what comes next. This is especially so for enharmonic modulations (such as Augmented 6th chords becoming Dominant 7ths in hindsight). That said, this example doesn’t suggest a modulation to G whatsoever. It is very plainly an HAC. I can’t recall the name of this particular thematic structure (might be a hybrid theme), but it’s not a simple Period. The full theme appears to be 32 bars and resembles a Sentence’s structure. First half is two HACs (resembles the Antecedent) whereas the latter two are PACs (resembles the Consequent). Collectively they set up and establish the tonality of C.
"Discipline. Consistency. Deadlines. Creativity. Reflection. Repeat." --an award-winning author Unfortunately, the majority of mankind is incapable of doing these things--heheh--with *consistency.* 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨
I‘d add playfulness and focus (= no distraction from phone/tv/etc.). When I get off my phone for a week for example, I have much more melodies inside my head, sometimes some I heard before but also new ones. I don’t know why that is, maybe because I don’t fill my head with external content and thus have the ability to generate my own stuff. So silence is very important for me. And also playfulness, to allow yourself to just play around. Maybe even without a certain goal. Just experiment with stuff as a child (your younger self) would do.
Had a different expectation for this video: I was hoping to see a theme you outlined for composing - and hoped to see it fully developed in a few iterations of how it could be done differently. I'd still like to see a video like this. (Less example references and more composing)
I get your point and that's an interesting idea for a future video!, although I did that until some extent in this video working out different kinds of themes from the same basic idea, this time I wanted to focus on the basics before proceeding to more complex stuff, so I make sure all the concepts are clear for everyone. Since I'm planning to talk more about the sonata form in the future that will be an excelent oportunity to explore what you suggested in more depth. Thanks for passing by.
What recording of Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik 2nd mvmt is that? It sounds so wonderfully clear. Brilliant video by the way, this is the best video on theme creating I’ve seen by far!
art and inspiration are inseparable - the true artist is constantly inspired - but I suppose people who have no natural creativity can not imagine such a thing - for them all art can be analyzed logically so all the feeling and spirit contained within the art must be captured and contained by it - heaven forbid one should ever contemplate the notion that the artist just might possess an expanded state of spiritual consciousness
Thanks for the comment. I believe both approaches (inspiration and methodical work) aren't mutually exclusive. Inspiration is worthless without the proper tools to materialize it, as much as methodology alone is also pointless without having something interesting to say. Good artists learn how to balance both worlds.
there is no "true artist" or "constant inspiration", inspiration and creativity are nurtured by insights and sometimes tools that help reading the world around you in certain ways. this is why we often study art analytically, so that we can try to get a little bit of that insight and see how that may inspire you. analyzing and giving structure to a piece is not ripping it off its spirit, it's trying to make more substance out of it. it actually *fuels* creativity.
I think they are just tricks to water the wine. You can only create standardized music, music of the past, not very original, by applying such tricks. Fortunately modern and contemporary music is very far from this, and that's why there are no modern or contemporary examples in the video. I think the video helps to analyze standardized music of the past, but it's not so useful to compose modern or contemporary music. However it was interesting, thanks for the effort.
@@videogamesart8057 Hello and thanks! There are no modern examples in this video because it's explicitly focused on music of the past :D I agree in part with you, contemporary music is less standarized, but that doesn't mean we can't still find these thematic principles (in a less rigid fashion) here and there in some types of modern music, especially in those heavily focused on melody such as movie soundtracks (think of John Williams for instance). In my opinion this knowledge is still useful today like anyother musical tool, which you can adapt to your musical style as you see fit, not necessarily as an imitation of the past. Remember it was Schoenberg the one who stressed the importance of knowing the practices of the past if we really want to come up with something trully original (he wrote one of the most important harmony treatises of the 20th century and some of the melodic concepts from this video were first describbed by him, and yet his musical style as composer evolved in a completely different direction).
What a compendium of intolerable cliches. Please stop promoting such ossified methods - it results in the worst music in the world. Express your own era!
@@joelpeterson7578 This video is focused on the classical repertoire, there are plenty of interesting videos discussing modern music out there that you might want to check out.
The point of the video is to demonstrate methods for creating strong melodies using specific techniques that composers have used for hundreds of years. These basic principles are still valid today. I don't think the author was trying to create masterful melodies in his examples, but instead was using simple melodies that people can easily follow. I would love to see you produce an alternative video on how to compose melodies that express our era.
lol, yeah.. that is, if our "era" (whatever that might even be) in its radio, earworm mediocrity has got anything thoutful or inspiring, at all.@@Mrapg32
Lots of musical examples in this video, took me a lot of hours of edition and got me a handful of copyright claims. Hope you like It!
Superb work! It was absolutely worth it. Thanks for sharing
I always appreciate what you upload. Thnx.
It's content like this which has led to me watching RUclips more than I watch television.
Quality work. Many thanks sir.
AI: asinine Intellects
Absolutely 💯 wonderful 🎉
I’ve been composing music for 14 years and I just had to watch this video. It is very well put. It goes to the heart of the matter when composing. It’s not about the technique as much as the message you are portraying in your music paired with an emotional journey that must be resolved in some way. But music can sometimes be very complex in Classical, Opera, and other genres compared to contemporary music. So it all depends on your taste as to how much you make the “themes” obvious or not. Good listeners will still fallow your message and see what parts represent. I tend to make my Motifs or “themes” extremely obvious with a basic sequence in the intros.. it gets more defined as I go but the melody represented is very well defined. This is because I want to always reach a wide audience… not a specific set of ears.
@@MichaelOrtega Thank you for the comment, it was interesting to read you! I agree, the principles stated in this video apply mostly to the historical classical period, when composers made big efforts to make their themes sound as obvious as possible (as opossed to the previous baroque sequential procedures). This is not to be regarded as a universal rule for other periods and styles as you pointed out.
@@Zarty-Music That is true. Music as art form is subjective, but elements can be shared amongst all genders of music. We musicians tend to be very critical with our creations, but there’s nothing wrong about having repetitious melodies as long as it goes with the theme of the story you’re trying to portray. I always say, “variation is your friend”. Making repetitious melodies can help listeners sink into the musical story, just make sure you make variations as to not fatigue the ear.
This is the bridge between anyone making music and actual songwriting. Even the simplest concepts are hard to execute without examples and demonstration. Seeing it presented this way is a godsend.
This sounds pretty pretentious
@@tangerinesarebetterthanora-v8k And it would be, if it weren't at least half true. I doubt most musicians actively try to "do their own thing", instead of choosing the more comfortable path of generically writing in a certain genre, or basing their entire musical vocabulary on just a couple of sources. It seems to me that a lot of musicians (and artists in general) never really move on from the "imitation" stage in their development, and just get better at imitating; not even just personal twists on a style, just imitation.
I think a cure for this would be listening to a lot of varied music, from many different ages and genres.
Man you're great. This video is amazing: it's clear, practical, and actually useful. The light humor put in through editing is the perfect balance between making the viewer laugh for a split second and not being distracting: the best for keeping attention. Please continue, i know i have yet so much to learn from your videos.
Thank you, I'm glad you found the video useful :D
Sometimes you find a genuine gold mine! Just as I’m really coming into my own with understanding piano and vocal technique! Lots to learn here! That’s for including the sheets as well! Fantastic!! :))))
Thank you!
This is the best presentation of these ideas I've found in 20 years of studying theory 👌🙏
4:20 I was fully prepared for the Paukenschlag!
I'm just a metal guitarist but I love implementing these techniques this is an awesome video thank you
Dear Zarty, you did an awesome job, 25 mitutes of useful data with examples is really gold, thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge 🥂
@@Moeen_Music Thank you, I appreciate it!
lovely. this would really have saved me when I was studying classical music (we were somehow never taught any of this??). this actually gives me better insight on how to read a piece as what it actually is than on composition per se. often there is so much happening in a few bars (layers upon layers of thrilling variations coming in and out of themselves) and it is difficult to have a grasp on what the global direction is -- the linguistic analogies were very helpful! and perhaps it is still the main hurdle with composing too, not to lose track of your initial intention. i really liked that you started with the most basic of ideas for your examples.
Very useful for beginner composers like me. Wonderful video and really dedicated channel. Really a great one. Keep it up!!❤❤
Thank you!
The Mozart section in A minor is a compound period. It consists of two sentences. Both these sentences are special because after fragmenting the material once, they also fragment the fragmentation:
measure 1-8: Sentence 1
measure 1-2: A: Basic idea
measure 3-4: A': slightly ornamented exact repetition
measure 5-8: Reduction / Fragmentation
measure 5: R(a): Reduction of Parts of A
measure 6-7: S(R(a): Sequentation of that Reduction
measure 8: R(R(a): Half Cadence via further Reduction
measure 9-14: Sentence 2
measure 9-10: (A') exact repetition of A'
measure 11-12: A'' ornamented repetition with altered harmony
measure 13-15: Reduction / Fragmentation
measure 13: -2x(a''): variation (augmentation and inversion) of parts of A''
measure 14: (-2x(a''))r: reversal of vertical compression of that (with shortening of note values)
measure 15: (-2x(a''))r)/2: Authentic Cadence via diminuation of that
Excellent and very detailed analysis!
Just a couple of details with regard to cadences: first cadence between bars 8-9 is not a half cadence but a kind of truncated authentic cadence. The tonal goal is the tonic chord (A minor), with the bass resolving upwards from dominant (E) to tonic (A). However, the upper and inner voices resolve in a non normative fashion: last B of the melody at the end of bar 8 should resolve either downwards to A or upwards to C, but jumps up to E instead; at the same time, inner voices jump in parallel motion, leading to consecutive fifths. This is justified by the fact that bar 9 is actually an exact repetition of bar 1, so it kind of feels like suddenly "going back" to a previous point without properly resolving the cadence. Some theorists call this the "one more time" technique.
The cadence between bars 15-16 is a half cadence as it resolves on a dominant function chord: G major, dominant of C major/minor. This one is known as the converging half cadence, with the bass moving through grades 4 - ♯4 - 5 (of C) and the top line descending by stepwise motion.
Overall we've got a special type of compound period, which ends on a haf cadence instead of a perfect authentic cadence. It is also a modulating type: the whole antecedent sentence is in A minor and the second one ends on the dominant of C major.
Thanks for the comment!
Thank you! This is light for my study, thank you so much. Hugs from Brazil!
I have been a musician for many years and I got more helpful information in this video then i did the first six months of music school
@@JoshuaDb_The_Witness I'm glad to hear that!
Its hard to keep it all together in music study but this videos help
Wonderful video ! Hope I can learn this and put some ideas into practical use!
Lessons such as this don't replace or compete with inspiration... once internalized, they inform inspiration towards creating more classical sounding music. I think you chose good examples, obvious enough for anybody to understand. Books are wonderful, and so are audio-books, and a video that combines the best features of both is most effective. You can see the score while hearing it played, and listen to the description while seeing the important terms written out. At least for simple concepts with many examples, this is a great format.
Wonderful presenation
Excellent video, thanks for making it!
This is wonderful. What a fantastic resource. Thank you for all your hard work.
One example I think of the compound sentence that should have been mentioned is Mozart's 40th Symphony, since it's such a prominent melody worldwide. Actually I don't know if it would be considered that, but it is certainly one.
Another one is Brahms' 4th symphony, the first movement, which also uses an inverted period for the first part.
Amazing examples. Mozart's 40th Symphony beginning is very similar to the piano Sonata in A minor (both in the so called Sturm und Drang style). In Mozart's 40th we have a variant of a compound modulating period from bars 1-38, in which both halves end with a half cadence, the first on the V of Gm (bar 16) and the second time V of B flat major (bar 38). The first sentence, from bars 1-38 is not really a compound sentence, despite lasting for more than 8 bars, as it behaves like a normative sentence (one of those cases where written time signature doesn't quite match listener's perception. For me it's a normative sentence according to a hypermeter of 4/2 instead of the written 2/2 time signature.
Brahms' example also follows a variant of the compound Period, in this case both halves end with an authentic cadence (not following an strict classical voice leading as describbed in this video), the first modulating to A minor in the end (bar 15) the second one on the initial key E minor (bar 33). In this case, just like in Mozart's, I feel the hypermeter is 4/2 with respect to the 2/2 time signature, so according to their behaviour both halves are essentially Sentences and not compound Sentences despite their length, but it might be argued that some extension processes are going on within them.
Well, that's my take, but maybe other authors analyze them differently :D
Very nice video and well done on the hard work. As a professional composer - at least in my opinion - I'd say everyone is different and it's hard to generalise. Personally I rely heavily on an intuitive way of composing - where logic and thinking are supported through the study I've already done in the past. I think very little. I know other composers that definitely work on their ideas much more thoroughly and more like the way you describe. Personally this doesn't work for me so I'd say to any person looking to work in this field - be open to either way, or anything in between. All are correct.
So finally - I'd say masters did rely on inspiration. Many did. But some didn't. It would be untrue to say that inspiration wasn't part or even the entirety of the greatest pieces.
@@mattjazzml Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience, for me it's always interesting to learn about composers' points of view! I also agree with what you said, thanks for the comment.
Very cool video bratishka. I would love a breakdown on what constitutes co trast on an even deeper level. We saw a lot about form and truth be told while this video certainly is above many others in its conciseness and the sheer volume of examples i feel that part is always nefariously overlooked,yet is the most crucial part to achieving variety and fighting boredom.
@@tckgkljgfl7958 Thanks, and you are so right, I might go down to the motivic level in the future because that definitely deserves more atention!
found this video super helpful. it's great information with an excellent presentation. really appreciate your efforts, thank you!!
@@bobby5850 Thank you, I appreciate it!
BRAVO! 💯👌 Fascinating! Invaluable. 👍
This video is amazing dude how do you make music theory sound so not confusing???
@tubb1 Thank you! I try to explain it in a way that I'd understand too xD
The last excerpt (Mozart's 8th Piano Sonata) was composed after his mother's sudden death.
It's very likely, although the exact date of composition is unknown. The initial theme is actually a fast paced funeral march.
@@davidgleba3832 Oh? Could you please share your sources so I can read more about that? I knew that was the case for Mozart's piano sonata 13 Kv.333, first dated to 1778 then to 1783, but I hadn't heard of a similar thing happening to Kv.310.
@@Zarty-Music: I am so glad that you asked me that, because I just looked into it, and it turns out that you were absolutely right: all my sources say that KV310 was composed in 1778 in Paris. I was mistaken; I apologize for the confuzzlement, and will delete my erroneous comment.
Great video, very dense information, I don't know how much time I will need to process it. Thanks a lot.
Very interesting, but I wonder if the composers of that period thought like this. If you read Der Vollkommene Capellmeister for instance (although written in late baroque and mainly dealing with constructing vocal melodies), then it seems there is a big influence of rhetorics on building a melodic phrase? And who can deny that the instrumental themes of Mozart are always somewhat vocal/ operatic in nature?
Very interesting comment. Contemporary theorists suchs as Riepel, Kirnberger or even Rousseau always compared music to linguistics, which was a huge change with respect to late baroque aesthetics. The rhetorics in Mattheson and J.S.Bach had more to do with the disposition of materials and their expressive function, following classical rhetorics masters suchs as Cicero or Quintilianus, but down to the strict musical terms, They conceptualized harmony first and melody second as a consecuence.
For classicals though, music was melody, compared to the speech, and harmony a way to colour It.
@Zarty-Music that's true, the remark of Haydn:" music is the only universal language" ( or something like that). I often wonder in all these matters regarding musical construction if there were certain tricks/ insights these composers had, a ' secret knowledge' to quote the painter David Hockney in regard to the painting techniques of the old masters, that was deliberately hidden from the public, and was transferred from master to pupil and got lost somewhere (the 19th century perhaps). And it seems i.m.o that the treatises like those of Mattheson, give only partial glimpses in all these matters, maybe just because of this secrecy. I see these baroque treatises also as a kind of early Enlightenment, the rise of (proto-) encyclopedists, like Athanasius Kircher, trying to bring together all these hidden knowledge out into the open. Anyway, to conclude my comment, the theories of Chaplin are certainly interesting, but maybe not the whole explanation yet.
@@christophedevos3760 "I see these baroque treatises also as a kind of early Enlightenment" that's spot on and it applies to later treatises as well!
The way I see it, it's not like composers deliberately hid their secret knowledge, it's more like there wasn't any need for them to share it with anyone apart from their own students, just like a shoe maker or anyother kind of artisan wouldn't either.
Treatises like Mattheson's and the like weren't meant for actual music students (those learned directly from their masters), they were mostly meant for amateurs and dilettanti who were interested in learning the basics of music (for a price), so the depth of their content is quite limited and wasn't a substitute for an actual teacher.
A final thought on this: music then was learned mostly from imitation and not from theoretical principles (counterpoint was the only exception). Most composers and artists did the things they did because they had seen them before and they knew they worked, but that doesn't mean they could explain why they worked at a theoretical level. Working side by side with a teacher was then (and now) the only reliable way to actually learn how to do something, as the student can see how things are meant to work on the spot instead of getting some generic theorertical dissertation. And even in these cases, being a good composer didn't mean you could be also a good teacher.
There is a famous quote from Mozart in which a random guy once asked him about the secrets of composing a symphony and Mozart's reply was something like: "I couldn't really teach you how to compose a symphony, I simply compose them".
@Zarty-Music exactly. I think it was an attempt perhaps to what we now call 'popularization' of science. Of course the people who could access/buy this books were not the common people ( in terms of wealth). And there was certainly an aspect of political competition (early modern age and the birth of the nation state) also involved, Leibnitz the philosopher/mathematician had a ' team' of people, including himself, searching in Europe for new scientific information. And J.S. Bach was btw in his later life also part of an environment of early encyclopedists/ musicologists, the background to which the Kunst der Fuge was written, probably other pieces as well. Regarding classicism, what I also wanted to mention regarding musical construction is the influence of national styles having an influence on structure: Italian style had typically many repetitions in melody, I presume this originated in opera buffa... and gradually there was a fusion of these national styles, Quantz spoke of 'ein vermischten Geschmack', Von Dittersdorf wrote even a symphony where every part represents a national style, and Mozart boasted ' I can write in every style I want', probably meaning these national styles, which are for an average contemporary listener not that clear anymore, because seen as a homogenous 'classical' style.
Can anyone please tell me which song is playing in 1:52 ?
Ofc, it's the Rondo (3rd movement) from Mozart's piano concerto no. 6, Kv. 238.
Great video, thanks!
A very intellectual but somewhat soulless approach to what is a deeply creative and emotional endeavor. It is wonderfully explained and full of technical details that can assist beginners, but anyone following this method is only constructing music, not sharing who they really are. Music is not merely a series of notes and phrases with grammar. Beethoven regarded music as the highest philosophy and I agree with him. Without inspiration, all we are creating is artifice, not art.
@@ihaveacoolnickname I agree, but these tools are as essential to music creation as grammar is for a writter.
You cannot make art unless you learn how to create artifice first (a lesson the masters knew very well, including Beethoven), otherwise we'll lack the proper knowledge to transform our musical ideas into a coherent work, just like trying to write a novel in a language we don't speak.
A.I. : Hold my beer…
To those of you that say “this isn’t how you play music, this is soulless structure!” It’s not. Imagine music basically being a sport, let’s take soccer for example. Soccer is considered the beautiful game and it is rather simplistic, get the ball into the opponents net. BUT you can’t use your hands. You also can’t be found to be offsides, you also cannot foul players. Goalies can only grab the ball in a certain limited area. If another defensive player commits a foul or commits a handball in said area, other team is awarded a penalty kick. These are the structures that make the game of soccer soccer.
What he is explaining is what makes music music. If you seriously think that there are other structure methods outside of this stuff then you don’t know much about music theory. And it’s also going to break your poor little heart when you find out that 95% of music consists of I-IV-V-I chord structure and that basically ii, iii, vi and viiidim are basically sad embellishments of those three chords. Even transposition many of times is just playing a trick on the ear by quickly changing a chord to becoming a V-I in a different key (most common I’ve noticed in key of C is going Gmaj-Emaj-Amaj- the back to usually a dmin) giving you that sense of like grandiose or higher than you thought big could get, before it comes back down to ac chords.
Trust me it has all been done and tried, if you don’t believe me look up chromatic music or anything done by John Cage, from his famous “4:33” which is literally four minutes and thirty three seconds is nothing, basically the song consisted of the coughing and sounds the audience members make while he sits infront of a piano doin nothing, to putting utensils inside his piano in order to give the sound a wild unexpected sound that is almost impossible to replicate on command. The genius behind music isn’t “how can I not do this” but instead how can I do this and make it my own.
And yes there will be times when your music calls for breaking out of the box, and going outside of the implemented rules and structures you are given. But you can’t break the rules if you don’t know what the rules are. And even Hendrix or The Beatles who couldn’t read music could still tell you by how keen their ears were when the rules were being broken and when they weren’t
"Inspiration is for amateurs" - I believe it was Banksy who said this
Awesome content! Subscribed. You explain clearly and quickly with great examples. Subscribed!
2:30 ahí es donde lloré yo.
Pensaba que era sobre temas o cantus firmus para escritura más contrapuntística
O: Todo eso mercería un vídeo aparte!
Liked it, subscribed to the channel. I appreciate the effort, and am certainly doing my best to avail myself of what it offers. Thank you.
top notch video! thank you for this!
The first half second of you speaking made my brain think you were Guga about to show me if putting some random liquid on steak tastes good.
@@CrustaceousB haha good idea for my next video!
Thank you.
Thank you for the wonderful video @Zarty-Music. Regarding the Mozart Piano sonata in a minor: Is it a Compound Modulating Period? With the consequent "sentence" truncated to 6-bars. I was first going to say a compound sentence due to the lack of definite cadences but the repetition of the basic idea in bars 9 and 10 convinced me that it is indeed a period structure.
Very well! Also the structure ends with a half cadence at bar 16, which is not the usual choice (the reason behind it has to do with the sonata's exposition form, which I'll discuss in future videos). Thanks for your comment.
wowww, i love this video, thanks!!
I have a little question, can this apply to Jazz, Rock, Metal & pop music? I am quite new in harmony and I am a bit lost because we can't find in those style this " I-V" that often.
Good question! Indeed I-V cadences aren't as usual in modern musical styles as they were in classical music, and the concept of what constitutes a "strong" or "weak" cadence has varied a lot since then. For instance a "plagal" cadence IV-I was never used in the classical period to end a theme, but today many consider it as conclusive as a perfect authentic cadence with regard to pop music.
So, in oder to apply these principles to a more modern style, I'd recommend you pay attention to what is considered a "strong" or "weak" cadence within each musical style (and especially if it sounds "strong" or "weak" to you).
It's also worth noting that, while we can still find plenty of examples of actual "Sentence" and "Period" structures today (especially in film music and the like), in pop music thematic structures tend to be a little more simple, such as one single phrase repeated exactly two or more times, both times ending with the same type of cadence or no cadence at all.
At the level of the basic idea however, some of these principles are still applied, especially the so called 1 + 1 + 2 technique, in which two related motivic cells are replied by a longer one to conform a recursive basic idea. A more specific video on pop music songwritting should be necessary to cover all the different procedures used today.
In conclusion, take this video as a tool box of "classical" ideas that is good to have in your repetory but you don't have to use every time.
@@Zarty-Music Thanks so much for this answer. I'm gonna take a good care about hearing those "weak" and "strong " cadence and try to apply those construction method into my music.
If you make another video, I'll 100% watch it !
I am actually working on "horor" music, with chromatic minor cadence. Its kinda hard to feel wich is strong or weak and to make a "linked" theme between those chords avoiding classic arpegios that make sounds like 2 different scene/world at each chord change. If you have tips for it too. I would be very happy to hear it.
@@sic94 That sounds interesting and intriguing. I'm currently offering feedback on people's works through my patreon (link in the description), you may consider joining me there so we can review your music in more detail if you wish!
@@Zarty-Music I am interested but I am only guitarist and bassist, not pianist. Is it a problem?
@sic94 Not at all, as long as we don't get into specific questions with regard to guitar and bass technique :D
As a grade 7 ABRSM theory taker, THIS IS SOOOOO USEFUL, HONESTLY IDK HOW TO COMPOSE
This is gold
La verdad que si.. saludos
May I also recommend Robert Gjerdingens "Music in the Galant Style"?
What does "ending with a cadence" mean?
@@Li0nMa5K A cadence is a conclusive musical pattern. A few examples are shown at 11:45.
No great difference between music genres and periods. There are just as many interesting as well as boring pieces in classical music as in jazz, pop and other genres (baroque, medieval, contemporary...) . It's a question of inspiration in consideration with the ability of creating good melodies AND interesting, artful arrangements.
Also a question of being able to KEEP being interesting, which is a common point I can find between Bach and Coltrane or Ravel, Debussy, Purcell, Vivaldi and many others.
I believe Caplin called that last theme-type a "dissolving consequent" right?
Nice. That's what Hepokoski & Darcy call it, I'm not sure if Caplin has ever used that exact term, but I think it's appropriate in this case.
Thanks a lot, Bro!
Sir . I've never seen such a useful and well crafted content on youtube and I've been here for like 5 years . I really like to support you with money so please tell me how . My country's money is very invaluable so I can't make big donations but I'll give as much as I can .please keep up making this content it helps me a lot .👏👍❤
Hello and thanks for your kind words, it makes me happy to hear that my content is useful! Your support is very appreciated. Donations will be available soon on the channel in case you want to contribute that way (it might take a few days or week, as it depends on youtube criteria and I can't activate it yet).
Thanks again!
Superb Class, the copyrighters should be more thoughtful and considerate with the scope of the use
Amazing! Thank-you so much! Now I'm in the hopes that you may write one about Barroque Music (Vivaldi, Marcello, Lotti)! 😃😄
Ty. Oh that sounds like a challenge, I'll add that to my list!
the sonata in a minor looks a compound modulating period
That's very close! The behavior of the cadences however, doesn't correspond to a normative compound modulating period, so we might choose an alternative name according to that...
@Zarty-Music the book I am reading does talk about periods having the antecedent ending with a pac and usually after that the consequent modulates as an example he puts schumann's op68 n2, he also lables things differently and would have probably called it a parallel modulating compound period.
As an alternative we could maybe call it a modulating sentence group.
@Robotron-wd9em Oh I see, that's a valid alternative approach, in this video I used Caplin as reference but there are other authors and methodologies. I used the term "Antiperiod" borrowed from Webster to describe themes like this one, but I'm ok with it being named just a Period in which the antecedent ends with a strong cadence, so if that's your way of naming themes I agree with your first answer, well done!
@@Zarty-Music yeah unfortunatelly every manual has slightly different pov, the book i am reading is style and structure of the study and analysis of musical forms by leon stein it's a great book it usually is very specific on topics tho it lacks the definition of sentence.
How are you calling the 8th measure of Haydn's 94, II a PAC? (4:20) It ends on the dominant which is prepared by a V/V.
Because the voice leading corresponds to a perfect authentic cadence with a leap of descending perfect fifth on the bass while the top voice proceeds to its root by stepwise motion. In other words, the last chord is treated as a new tonic not a dominant.
@@Zarty-Music First of all, I have to say I love your videos. They are fantastic. I do however disagree. Yes it cadences on a G, but the D major triad is simply a V/V. It tonicizes the G (V), but then it's back to C major. It's just a half cadence. With a modulation it has to continue in that key. The ear doesn't hear the key of G since it returns to C the measure after.
Anyway, either way I still appreciate all the work you put into your videos. They are first class.
@@Mrapg32 You introduced different questions here and they are quite controversial depending on the author, so there is nothing wrong if we disagree on them:
Firstly, analysis on modulations depend on wether we analyze as we listen or if we analize backwards once we already know what happens next. In this case you pointed out that the piece goes back to C next, which is correct, but if we stop right at the cadence we don't have that information yet, it could go back to C or stay in G.
I consider these kind of cadences as retrospective half cadences, which means they are articulated as PAC but the music's behaviour afterwards corresponds to a half cadence.
However, from the theme's articulation perspective, which is the focus of the video, the behaviour of the voice leading matters a lot, so even if I consider it a retrospective half cadence, within the analyzed theme it functions as a PAC, way more conclusive than a normative half cadence, which would progress either by a descending fourth leap on the bass or by ascending stepwise motion on the bass.
Notice that I didn't say that I don't agree with your point, I just explained why I used a different approach this time.
Thanks for watching and for your comment.
@@Zarty-Music To my way of thinking, music doesn't exist on paper, it's an aural art form. I highly doubt that any musician would hear the V chord as a modulation. It is a classic half cadence setup with a secondary dominant (V/V). It continues in C major so no modulation. There is isn't anything that suggests the key of G major. The music would have to continue in G. Modulation takes time - it doesn't happen in one measure. A good example of a simple modulation is in Clementi's Sonatina in C major where he actually does modulate to G. In the 9th measure of the Sonatina, Clementi could have chosen to continue in C, but he decided to continue in G major for the second theme which is classic as you know. In the 8th measure, the listener doesn't know whether it is the new key of G or a half cadence until the piece stays in that key and eventually cadences in G at the end the exposition.
Keep the fantastic videos coming, I have enjoyed them a lot. I was a subscriber after 2 minutes of watching. Cheers, Aaron.
I can appreciate the notion of a part of music meaning something while being heard and meaning something different once you hear what comes next. This is especially so for enharmonic modulations (such as Augmented 6th chords becoming Dominant 7ths in hindsight). That said, this example doesn’t suggest a modulation to G whatsoever. It is very plainly an HAC.
I can’t recall the name of this particular thematic structure (might be a hybrid theme), but it’s not a simple Period. The full theme appears to be 32 bars and resembles a Sentence’s structure. First half is two HACs (resembles the Antecedent) whereas the latter two are PACs (resembles the Consequent).
Collectively they set up and establish the tonality of C.
"Discipline. Consistency. Deadlines. Creativity. Reflection. Repeat." --an award-winning author
Unfortunately, the majority of mankind is incapable of doing these things--heheh--with *consistency.*
🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨
I‘d add playfulness and focus (= no distraction from phone/tv/etc.).
When I get off my phone for a week for example, I have much more melodies inside my head, sometimes some I heard before but also new ones. I don’t know why that is, maybe because I don’t fill my head with external content and thus have the ability to generate my own stuff. So silence is very important for me.
And also playfulness, to allow yourself to just play around. Maybe even without a certain goal. Just experiment with stuff as a child (your younger self) would do.
commenting to boost this video in the algo
you rule! thank you
What music is played in the backround most of the video?
3rd movement from Mozart's piano concerto no. 6, K. 238.
@ thank you!
So what was the example music you kept using repeatedly? Just a basic piece you came up with?
You mean the examples developed from the basic idea at 4:30? yes those are mine.
Is it honestly really helpful
wow very good man
¿Generalización?
Had a different expectation for this video: I was hoping to see a theme you outlined for composing - and hoped to see it fully developed in a few iterations of how it could be done differently. I'd still like to see a video like this. (Less example references and more composing)
I get your point and that's an interesting idea for a future video!, although I did that until some extent in this video working out different kinds of themes from the same basic idea, this time I wanted to focus on the basics before proceeding to more complex stuff, so I make sure all the concepts are clear for everyone.
Since I'm planning to talk more about the sonata form in the future that will be an excelent oportunity to explore what you suggested in more depth.
Thanks for passing by.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
❤
What recording of Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik 2nd mvmt is that? It sounds so wonderfully clear.
Brilliant video by the way, this is the best video on theme creating I’ve seen by far!
Thanks! it's the Budapest Scoring Symphonic Orchestra conducted by Daniel Somogyi.
art and inspiration are inseparable - the true artist is constantly inspired - but I suppose people who have no natural creativity can not imagine such a thing - for them all art can be analyzed logically so all the feeling and spirit contained within the art must be captured and contained by it - heaven forbid one should ever contemplate the notion that the artist just might possess an expanded state of spiritual consciousness
Thanks for the comment. I believe both approaches (inspiration and methodical work) aren't mutually exclusive. Inspiration is worthless without the proper tools to materialize it, as much as methodology alone is also pointless without having something interesting to say. Good artists learn how to balance both worlds.
there is no "true artist" or "constant inspiration", inspiration and creativity are nurtured by insights and sometimes tools that help reading the world around you in certain ways. this is why we often study art analytically, so that we can try to get a little bit of that insight and see how that may inspire you. analyzing and giving structure to a piece is not ripping it off its spirit, it's trying to make more substance out of it. it actually *fuels* creativity.
Yt3
I think they are just tricks to water the wine. You can only create standardized music, music of the past, not very original, by applying such tricks. Fortunately modern and contemporary music is very far from this, and that's why there are no modern or contemporary examples in the video. I think the video helps to analyze standardized music of the past, but it's not so useful to compose modern or contemporary music. However it was interesting, thanks for the effort.
@@videogamesart8057 Hello and thanks! There are no modern examples in this video because it's explicitly focused on music of the past :D
I agree in part with you, contemporary music is less standarized, but that doesn't mean we can't still find these thematic principles (in a less rigid fashion) here and there in some types of modern music, especially in those heavily focused on melody such as movie soundtracks (think of John Williams for instance).
In my opinion this knowledge is still useful today like anyother musical tool, which you can adapt to your musical style as you see fit, not necessarily as an imitation of the past. Remember it was Schoenberg the one who stressed the importance of knowing the practices of the past if we really want to come up with something trully original (he wrote one of the most important harmony treatises of the 20th century and some of the melodic concepts from this video were first describbed by him, and yet his musical style as composer evolved in a completely different direction).
@@Zarty-Music Agree! Thanks again.
What a compendium of intolerable cliches. Please stop promoting such ossified methods - it results in the worst music in the world. Express your own era!
@@joelpeterson7578 This video is focused on the classical repertoire, there are plenty of interesting videos discussing modern music out there that you might want to check out.
The point of the video is to demonstrate methods for creating strong melodies using specific techniques that composers have used for hundreds of years. These basic principles are still valid today. I don't think the author was trying to create masterful melodies in his examples, but instead was using simple melodies that people can easily follow. I would love to see you produce an alternative video on how to compose melodies that express our era.
I was disappointed to see your comment
lol, yeah.. that is, if our "era" (whatever that might even be) in its radio, earworm mediocrity has got anything thoutful or inspiring, at all.@@Mrapg32
"worst music in the world" 😂
I can’t with this accent
Nothing we can do about it.
Captions man 🤷🏼♂️