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In this series…
I’ll have a lot to say about song writing and improvisation, with specifics on writing music using numbers from dates.
I’ll be speaking to musicians, but use that term loosely. You’re qualified if you can strum or plunk out a few chords. It’s a cliche’, but advanced musicians will benefit, as well, because there truly are some tricks of the trade that work for both advanced and beginning musicians.
There will be examples given in music notation, but if that’s too much for you, hold on because later I’ll wax eloquent on the psychology of improvisation, what REALLY goes on in the heads of improvisors, or should.
There also are MORE GIVEAWAYS coming up, and not just music tracks.
I’ll do my best to write concisely, going right for the crux of the issue, giving you the one or two things that can unlock the door.
But remember, this is not serious. It’s a way to move your mind into a different space, a creative relaxation, a form of meditation.
But we’ll get to that. The first order of business is the free track you heard or downloaded above.
Katia’s Waltz is based on the notes D-E-C-B-D, the scale tones 2-3-1-7-2 of the C scale. Those numbers are taken from the birth date 23 January, 1972.
The person in question (a lovely Brazilian) is from a country where the day is normally given before the month. That’s why it’s 23 Jan rather than Jan 23.
I know how quickly writing about music theory can cause the eyes of the most ardent music lover to glaze over. Music just doesn’t translate well to verbal descriptions ("and then the second theme enters, a rousing march, in the subdominant"…blah, blah). I’m going to try to give you the bare minimum so that you can experiment and create something fun and entertaining. Please let me know if you want less technical depth, or more.
When I first pecked out the date notes on the piano for this track, Katia’s Waltz, I remember thinking, "there’s no way". It didn’t sound like a melody at all. The problem was that the B sounded so out of place, so disjointed. When writing these birth date tunes, you are free to change chords, it’s only the melody that has to stay put. But when I tried harmonizing the B with various chords it was either too dissonant, or too bland.
In the next newsletter I’ll go into how you fit chords to melodies and find your own way that’s unique to your personality and, hopefully, interesting to others. In this case, I found that, believe it or not, an F major chord was the key that opened the door. The note B is not even in the F scale ((F-G-A-Bb-C-D-E). But it’s common to raise the Bb in the F scale to a B (which makes it Lydian mode, if you must know).
The Lydian mode is used more than you would think. It’s used in "Somewhere Over The Rainbow". It’s used in another very common folk tune which I can’t remember (can someone tell me?). It’s considered perfectly ordinary in jazz. So I used it here, twice.
But this is getting too cerebral. Writing songs from dates is much more organic than it may appear. We’ll get into that next time when I discuss how you find chords that fit a melody. And what’s a chord, anyway? Please leave your questions in the comments section of the YourSongcode.com site, or just reply to this email.
Once again, welcome.
Ron Newman
Ron Newman received a MME in Music Education and a MS in Computer Science from the University of North Texas, has film and commercial credits and opened for Willie Nelson and Tricia Clark as a member of the Great Northern Band. more…
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