




Episode 10 of the Art of Composing Podcast. In this episode, you'll get a good grasp of what harmony is and why harmony works the way it does. If you've ever wanted to know how to create a chord progression from scratch, this is the episode for you.



What is in this episode:




* The basis for our harmony - the overtone series



* How functional chord progressions work



* How to add chromatic harmony to your chord progressions




Support the Podcast!



Click Here to go to Jon's Patreon page, and support the podcast!



http://patreon.com/artofcomposing



Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:



Here are the charts mentioned in the episode. If you're interested more in using these charts, you can check out my article on diatonic harmony.



Major







Minor





Understanding Harmony

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In Episode 13 of the Art of Composing Podcast, I talk to William Caplin, author of two of my favorite books on form and music theory in general. This is a great interview where we go into all sorts of



What is in this episode:




* What is form?



* How did great composers like Beethoven actually think about form?



* How can you apply it to your own compositions?




Support the Podcast!



Click Here to go to Jon's Patreon page, and support the podcast!



http://patreon.com/artofcomposing



About William Caplin



William Caplin is the James McGill Professor of Music Theory at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He is author of two of my favorite books, Classical Form: A Theory of Formal Functions for the Instrumental Music of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, which won the Wallace Berry Award from the Society for Music Theory, and the more recently published, Analyzing Classical Form: An Approach For the Classroom.



Dr. Caplin studied Music Composition at the University of Southern California and then followed on with Graduate Studies at the University of Chicago working with Leonard Meyer and others, as well as further studies at the Berlin Technical University where he studied with Carl Dahlhaus.



Dr. Caplin served as President of the Society for Music Theory from November 2005 to November 2007 and continues to serve on the editorial boards of Eighteenth-Century Music, Indiana Theory Review, Rivista di Analisi e Teoria Musicale, and Eastman Studies in Music.



William Caplin's Books

















*These are affiliate links to Amazon.

William Caplin and Analyzing Classical Form


In Episode 12 of the Art of Composing Podcast, I talk to Samuel Adler, author of one of the most popular books on orchestration, The Study of Orchestration.



What is in this episode:




* The most beneficial activities for composers learning orchestration.



* Samuel Adler’s thoughts on getting published when you’re young.



* Golden nuggets from some of the greatest teachers and composers of the twentieth century.



* Why you should copy great composers like Bach and Hindemith.



* Why the composition teacher is like a midwife.




Support the Podcast!



Click Here to go to Jon's Patreon page, and support the podcast!



http://patreon.com/artofcomposing



Tips from Samuel Adler




* Composers should play an instrument.



* Learn to sing.



* Start as early as possible. This includes the study of harmony, counterpoint, and analysis, as well as your instrument.



* Get a teacher as early as possible - this subject is too complicated and too complex to learn completely on your own.



* Get familiar with the main corpus of music that has been created, as far back as medieval times.



* Listen to and read a much music as possible.



* Get into an ensemble.



* Play chamber music on the side.



* Keep writing and keep learning.




What are characteristics of good Orchestration?



TransparencyLet the orchestra choirs sound so that it doesn't all sound like a big mish-mosh.



Great Orchestrators



Igor StravinskyClaude DebussyMaurice RavelHenri Dutilleux




The American's knew how to orchestrate better than anybody.




CoplandPistonSessionWilliam ShumanNed RoremSamuel Barber



Thoughts on Walter Piston




He wasn't the best teacher because he taught by sarcasm.




Thoughts on Hindemith



You had to write a new piece for every single lesson. He would then rewrite it. You ended up writing what he would like.




I wrote like a little Paul Hindemith for a very long time.




Thoughts on Copland



He was the best teacher because he would point out there was something wrong with your piece, but he wouldn't tell you exactly what.




He would show you - identify some kind of weakness, or mistake, or wrong chord, or something like that. And instead of, like Hindemith putting the right chord, he would say, "Go home and do it." And you learned more by worrying. He said "Somethings wrong," so something must be wrong, and you tried very hard to correct it. And this was a terrific way of teaching.




On teaching in General




The composition teacher is like a midwife. He can't have the baby but he can help along.




Always try to live into the music or style that the student is writing.



Samuel Adler's Thoughts on Technology




I can tell, by looking at a score, whether that composer has composed with the computer. You have delete on the computer and you have repeat on the computer,

Samuel Adler and The Study of Orchestration






Episode 11 of the Art of Composing Podcast. We interview Robert Gjerdingen, author of the book "Music in the Galant Style". We talk about Partimenti, the tool used to train the greatest composers from Mozart to Debussy and Stravinsky, as well as his new research into how music fits really well into constructionist linguistic theory.



What is in this episode:




* What Partimenti are and why you should care.



* How composers like Mozart would have actually learned to composed.



* How composition is very similar to speaking a language.




Support the Podcast!



Click Here to go to Jon's Patreon page, and support the podcast!



http://patreon.com/artofcomposing



Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:



Joint Improvisation by Alma Deutscher and Tobias Cramm




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nubC3dktQ24




Four Improvisations for Piano by Arensky, Rachmaninov, Glazunov & Taneyev




https://youtu.be/PlFPOWuwBHI?t=2s




Robert Gjerdingen's Book



Music in the Galant Style*This is an affiliate link to amazon



Schema Theory as a Construction Grammar



http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.15.21.2/mto.15.21.2.gjerdingen_bourne.html



Robert Gjerdingen’s Website



http://faculty-web.at.northwestern.edu/music/gjerdingen/index.htm



Monuments of Partimenti



http://faculty-web.at.northwestern.edu/music/gjerdingen/partimenti/index.htm



Robert Gjerdingen’s Free Course On Playing Partimenti




https://sites.google.com/site/partimenti/courses




1000 Harmonic Exercises by Anton Arensky




https://www.scribd.com/doc/305313092/1000-Problems-for-the-Practical-Study-of-Harmony-by-Anton-Arensky


Partimenti and the Secrets of the Greatest Composers – An Interview with Robert Gjerdingen






Episode 9 of the Art of Composing Podcast. In this episode, you'll learn some valuable questions to ask yourself before orchestrating anything, and then my technique to efficiently learn the art of orchestration.



What is in this episode:




* Why you shouldn't orchestrate... yet.



* Valuable questions to find out if you are ready for orchestrating your own music.



* My technique for orchestrating your own pieces quickly, efficiently, and without getting overwhelmed.




Listen to the Final Orchestration of Sketchy Business From the Podcast







Download the Score and Sketch Sheet



Here is an example of a descriptive sketch. Notice, just the melody, the chords, and a description of what I want to do.







That is followed with actually sketching ideas. Here is Section 1.







Section 2.







Section 3.







I then turn it into a full score, which you can hear and see below.







Sketchy Business - Score and parts



Sketchy Business - Sketch



Support the Podcast!



Click Here to go to Jon's Patreon page, and support the podcast!



http://patreon.com/artofcomposing



Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:




* The Study of Orchestration (Third Edition)



* Sibelius



* Noteperformer




Transcript



Welcome



Hey everyone, we're back with another art of composing podcast. In this episode, we are going to learn about orchestration. What is it, and why you should or shouldn't be doing it. We are also going to go over, my technique for orchestrating small, practice pieces that sharpen your orchestration skills.



Featured Content



Orchestration, the technique of composing for orchestra is something that everyone needs to eventually learn. But when you are just starting off, I liken it to treasure hunting on the beach. You walk around with a metal detector, (aka your ear), looking for a chest of buried gold from 200 years ago. Turns out, all you find are the occasional bottle cap, maybe a quarter, and a lot of wasted time.



So my first question to you is - why are you orchestrating?



Just like many of you, I attempted to orchestrate pieces of music when I was younger. And I still have those files on my computer. Guess what, they're pretty terrible.



I mean, maybe I shouldn't be so hard on myself, I was 15 at the time, and I just wanted to copy what I heard from my favorite composers. There is nothing wrong with that desire. But just realize,

Understanding Harmony

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