So,
The idea's come alive in the head.
The piano and parchment are still warm with your determined efforts to mold that melody into something worth listening to, and even the cat will stay and not run off wailing at the sound, so you're making progress!
There's a lot written about 'outer space' in music, with a determination to spread the orchestral sound and place everything in a spacially correct location. How you get a full size orchestra to sound like it's playing on a large stage is well documented, and many threads here and elsewhere will sing with the personal experiences good and bad. The impending release of MIR will take us to new places in our 'Aural Solar System', and render us 'Musical Astronuats' even more capable of delicate and precise placement. (Depending how heavy handed you are!) For us no longer the limitation of mere distance between speakers, but the wonderfully spacial impression of Room, Halls, Canyons, Planets etc...(All right, maybe not planets.)
But there's another musically exciting place to go, and that's Inner Space.
Your melody is ready for the next stage in the evolutionary process.
Harmony.
Hmmm... Work out the bass line, write the chords in pencil under the stave, and now for the 'Inner Space'.
The gap between the top and bottom lines beckon seductively to be filled with wonderful stacked notes each on the top of the other reaching up earnestly towards the extra ledger lines.
And there's more.
Each one wants to be heard as long as possible, like a dubious pop starlet mimng to someone else's creation, secure in the knowledge she's got the figure to distract the unwary from the lack of any musical abilty.
So, the long notes start. One after another, each one seemingly never ending, determined to leave no 'Inner Space.' And the drone goes on, one bar after another, relentless in the determination to drive the listener to despair with boredom. Much of today's film music reflects this desire to leave no bar unscathed and spare of sound in any way, and frankly, in my humble opinion, this approach hides poor arranging skills, or the realization the melody isn't up to the task, and has to be hidden or muffled in some way.
Clearing out the inner harmony is a good way to take the ponderous nature of the block chord approach out of your creation, and let each line breathe with 'Inner Space', sounding clearly and distinctly, allowing the wonderful sound characteristics of instruments to do their job, and give you a complete sound without the neccessity to fill bars just because you feel you need to. A single or double line of harmony between upper and lower part is, many times, in my opinion, more than enough. For me, continual exercises in writing 2 lines or three provides a challenge of my knowledge, helps me realise i know so little and there's so much more to learn, and sharpens the musical skills. Then, when a 4th, or more rarely, 5th line is added, the work sounds so much fuller and importantly, cleaner, with no accusatory muffled noise blaring my musical inadequacy for all to hear.
So, Inner space is as important as Outer Space, and offers a unique and special opportunity to improve the sound of your masterpiece.
There may be a lot of lines and spaces between upper and lower parts, but there's no rule that says you have to use them all at once.
My regards to you all,
Alex.
The idea's come alive in the head.
The piano and parchment are still warm with your determined efforts to mold that melody into something worth listening to, and even the cat will stay and not run off wailing at the sound, so you're making progress!
There's a lot written about 'outer space' in music, with a determination to spread the orchestral sound and place everything in a spacially correct location. How you get a full size orchestra to sound like it's playing on a large stage is well documented, and many threads here and elsewhere will sing with the personal experiences good and bad. The impending release of MIR will take us to new places in our 'Aural Solar System', and render us 'Musical Astronuats' even more capable of delicate and precise placement. (Depending how heavy handed you are!) For us no longer the limitation of mere distance between speakers, but the wonderfully spacial impression of Room, Halls, Canyons, Planets etc...(All right, maybe not planets.)
But there's another musically exciting place to go, and that's Inner Space.
Your melody is ready for the next stage in the evolutionary process.
Harmony.
Hmmm... Work out the bass line, write the chords in pencil under the stave, and now for the 'Inner Space'.
The gap between the top and bottom lines beckon seductively to be filled with wonderful stacked notes each on the top of the other reaching up earnestly towards the extra ledger lines.
And there's more.
Each one wants to be heard as long as possible, like a dubious pop starlet mimng to someone else's creation, secure in the knowledge she's got the figure to distract the unwary from the lack of any musical abilty.
So, the long notes start. One after another, each one seemingly never ending, determined to leave no 'Inner Space.' And the drone goes on, one bar after another, relentless in the determination to drive the listener to despair with boredom. Much of today's film music reflects this desire to leave no bar unscathed and spare of sound in any way, and frankly, in my humble opinion, this approach hides poor arranging skills, or the realization the melody isn't up to the task, and has to be hidden or muffled in some way.
Clearing out the inner harmony is a good way to take the ponderous nature of the block chord approach out of your creation, and let each line breathe with 'Inner Space', sounding clearly and distinctly, allowing the wonderful sound characteristics of instruments to do their job, and give you a complete sound without the neccessity to fill bars just because you feel you need to. A single or double line of harmony between upper and lower part is, many times, in my opinion, more than enough. For me, continual exercises in writing 2 lines or three provides a challenge of my knowledge, helps me realise i know so little and there's so much more to learn, and sharpens the musical skills. Then, when a 4th, or more rarely, 5th line is added, the work sounds so much fuller and importantly, cleaner, with no accusatory muffled noise blaring my musical inadequacy for all to hear.
So, Inner space is as important as Outer Space, and offers a unique and special opportunity to improve the sound of your masterpiece.
There may be a lot of lines and spaces between upper and lower parts, but there's no rule that says you have to use them all at once.
My regards to you all,
Alex.
