The biggest hurdle is simply acknowledging that creating music is something you can do. The things that we create have structure. Structure emerges naturally...just like breathing in and breathing out (which is a two part structure which we call binary, and is sometimes described as question/answer or antecendent/consequence). In music, we often describe musical ideas in terms of themes, phrases, motives, etc. These are simply labels that help us communicate about music and structure using language. You are learning structure every day as you listen to music, read a poem, or see a film.. Every song you hear, every piece of music, films that you see, books and poems that you read, all are communicating structure to you. Of course, one of the most basic structures is to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. In music we sometimes make the end just like the beginning. So structure in music is often created by repetition and contrast.

Using Models To Get Started

Most composers have used models. In the Baroque period, it was quite common to learn from other composers by copying out the musical score in your own hand. Such a process enabled the student to observe certain features of the music in detail. The developing composers would use the composition of another composer as a model for their own composition. In other words, they would write a piece that followed the same structure as another piece, but they replaced the musical content with their own music.

One of the best ways of learning notation software is to use models of works by various composers to put into score form. This provides specific problems which must resolve with regard to the notation software without having to make aesthetic decisions about the compositions. After you know the software, you may find ways to use it to enhance your own creative process. In addition, if you select good models, you will learn a great deal about structure, doublings and musical syntax. If you use the MIDI feedback feature as you insert notes, you will also be engaging in some ear-training. As you put in the music, notice how repetition and contrast are used to make the structure of the piece.

For example, for an assignment of entering one musical line per staff with the great staff, find a Bach Two Part Invention that you like. For learning to create independent voices on a single staff, use a Bach Chorale. For an instrumental work, start with perhaps a string quartet or small chamber work. For a piano/vocal score, choose a popular song that you like. Using these models will help you learn about the notation program, but you are also engaging musical works in a process that will help you discover things about the music.

Listen to songs and identify the use of repetition and contrast. You usually will hear a musical idea (in the form of the melodic shape and rhythmic pattern of the melody). This may be repeated or followed by an idea which contrasts with the first melodic shape. As we recognize materials, we can assign letters to materials. You will find that sequencers often provide for structure by enabling you to save your musical ideas into different sections (A, B, C, etc.) which you can then shuffle arround to make different structure of material that repeats or creates contrast. Structure exists at the smallest level of musical ideas such as a two-note musical motive, to the organization of musical phrases (such as 4 measures, 8 measures, etc. (which might be labelled a, b, etc.), to the organization phrases into sections (A, B, etc.), to the organization of sections into movements or a complete musical work (single movement or multi-movement).

Simple Forms

The simple forms of binary (a b) and ternary structures (a b a) are good models to use to create musical structures. In fact larger structures are often created by expanding upon these structures or nesting these smaller structures within a larger structure:

-----a-------|------b-------- -----b-----|----a----- ----b----|----a------
|:------------A--------------:|-----------B-----------|----------A----------|

A basic understanding of form is helpful, but if you were to simply start composing a song, you would find that a structure would emerge without your necessarily consciously applying a form. We have our awareness of songs which we have listened to that helps us shape melody. We usually begin by imitating what we have heard. Of course, songs are also helped along by the words.

Binary Form

Among the simplest of binary forms is the simple repetition and sequence (repetition of phrase, melody, or motive at different pitch) of the same motive to build a structure:

Example 1. Binary melody using repetition (sequence) and exact repetition

Click on Player to listen to the example above.

In looking at the notation and listening to Example I, the use of repetition to create the structure is evident. The second phrase is a diatonic (meaning belonging to the key) sequence of the of the opening melodic phrase which serves to bring us to the dominant (the fifth above the tonic or home note of the key) and is a typical cadence (half cadence on the dominant) and sets up the expectation of a return to the opening idea. It is this tension which sets up an expectation that is the essence of the structure. The second half of the melody is an exact repetition of the opening phrase and the final two measures of the last phrase are adjusted to end the melody on the tonic or home base of the key. This use of the same melodic shape to begin the second half of the melody is sometimes referred to as parallel construction.

Another binary structure for melody makes deliberate use of contrast to achieve structure as can be heard and seen in Example 2:

Example 2. Binary melody using contrast

Click on Player to listen to the example above.

Notice how each two measure phrase is deliberately contrasted with the preceding phrase. The A section which appears to move from a minor to C major is answered by the four measures of the B Section which cadences in the a minor mode of the opening phrase. Notice that the piece creates tension with the symmetry of the 8 measure form by reaching the climax in measure 6 and using the final 2 measures for the descent from the climax to the end.

An important feature of form, then, is the achievement of a climax or high point of the structure and the release from the climax to achieving an equilibrium or stasis (at rest) at the end. Musical structure moves toward a climax and then resolves the tension of the climax through a release of energy and settling down to rest (denouement). The larger the form, the more structural highpoints that may be present, all contributing to and moving to the pinnacle moment of the structure. Climaxes in musical structure can be achieved through any expressive musical element (dynamics, melody, harmony, rhythm, etc.) or combination of musical elements.

Example 3. Ternary melody: Repetition and Contrast

Click on Player to listen to the example above.

This ternary melody is a 16 measure structure known as Period Form. In this case it is a Contrasting Period Form in that the last 8 measures begins with material which contrasts the opening melodic idea. Period forms can also be Parallel Periods in which the second 8 measures begins by repeating material from the opening melodic idea. This form is extremely common in songs. Also notice that the A Section is made up of two contrasting phrases which are repeated, while the B section is largely an extension of descending stepwise material. This principle of repetition and contrast as manifest in ABA forms can be extended (ABABA) or developed by adding sections (ABACADA) and can work at all levels: motives, phrases, sections, and movements. Another way of thinking about Ternary Form is that it is based on the principle of a contrasting binary form with a return to the opening section. This has been called DaCapo form (DaCapo meaning "the head"), in which at the end of the B section the words "da capo" tell the performer to go back to the first section and perform ot until the end of the section. Thus the end of the repeat of A is the end (finé) of the piece:

---------------A------------------||------------B------------------| (da capo)

FreeStyle is a MIDI sequencer which lends itself especially well to developing form through sections. In the Example Below "Suite for Strings and Mallets," a number of sections were created and placxed on the "Arrangement Palette." The sections are all in a menu at the left. You can drag the Sections and place them one after another to try out contrasting ideas. Finally, the structure you hear below is the one that was chosen to illsutrate how the principle on contrast provides a strong approach to structure.

Section A begins with legato strings in a free linear rhapsody, Section B is for mallets on marimbas and vibraphones, using the linear material of the first section in vertical sonorities, and the A section is Returned to (A') modifying the material of Section A and the Coda is based on Section A. Notice that Freestyle allows you to overlap Sections, so that Section A' begins while Section B is still playing. This dovetailing of structure is also a basic principle at the phrase level in orchestration in through joining textures by letting the concluding phrase of instruments overlap the beginning of a new and contrasting phrase in other instruments.

Suite for Strings and Mallets; Example of ABA' Coda, Using FreeStyle Arrange Window

Listen to Suite for Strings and Mallets. (5000k)

Composing for a Purpose

Many composers do their best work when they are writing music for a specific occasion either as a commission or a labor of love. Bach was always composing music for deadlines either to fulfill his obligations to providing music for the church services or in composing works which were specially commissioned.

As educators we often have opportunities to compose and make arrangements to fit the needs of our students and specific events. You should look for such opportunities and often create your own opportunities by planning concerts or musical events that call for special arrangements and original music. This allows you to tailor the music to the needs of your students. It also encourages students to follow your lead. You should be asking students to make arrangements for your class or ensemble. You may find that many have computers and music programs at home, and they are looking for opportunities to have their music performed.

Several of the examples described here are created to demonstrate the process of arranging and composing so that you might explore the possibilities of writing music which fits the technical needs of your class or ensemble and at the same time be aesthetically satisfying. Maybe you have a beginning string ensemble and want to provide some music the ensembl members would enjoy as they develop their skills. Perhaps you are composing pieces which develop or challenge their abilities with specific techniques such as a work that explores pizzicato, or a work that focuses on first position. The creative challenge is to create interesting and satisfyiung works within a specific limitation. Exploring the expressive range within specific limitations can provide you with almost limitless ideas. Challenge you students to work in the same way. The focus is always on continuing to grow from whatever point you have achieved.

You might plan an assembly in which you explore a theme through original and arranged music, or you might write a musical theatre work that seeks contributions from yourself and your students. You will find that having a purpose for your composing and meeting deadlines stimulates the creative process. In a music appreciation class, ask students to compose melodies and to write songs. Use their work as a basis of learning about music, feeling, and expresssion.

Making music should be a natural, creative, and spontaneous experience that flows from you as the educator and facilitator, and that your students recognize as their opportunity to compose and perform the music of their world. As they define their own musical world, they will be better prepared to explore the musical worlds of other composers and performers.

Do you have one very talented student who is so far above the rest of the class or ensemble that the student doesn't feel challenged? Compose a solo piece for the student that explores the technical abilities of the student. As you compose the work, have the student engage in the creative process with you. Make the project a "workshop" where the student performs the work as it develops and you incorporate the student's ideas into the work. This kind of collaborative atmosphere can be dynamic and contagious.

Copyright by Prof. John V. Gilbert

Send feedback or questions to gilbert@is2.nyu.edu