so i guess i suck at composition

Re: so i guess i suck at composition

Do you read guitar tablature books when you feel like listening to music?

Seriously, export this stuff as an mp3 and let us hear it, there's not much we can do with pictures of music.

Re: so i guess i suck at composition

Come on, there's plenty you can do without hearing something, get some basic theory in you.

Firstoff, without even looking at the notes, the rhythms are too static. More rhythmic variety, you've just got chords chunking along, which is booooooring.

2nd, in mms 7-10, chords like that in the bass just sound muddy, spread out the notes a bit more. Unless that's the sound you're going for. Also, I'm not sure if you're planning this for piano or not, but that last bass chord in the 3rd picture is super awkward and a bit too big. I'm not even going to go into awkwardness of playing though.

The note palate looks pretty interesting, but I can't really comment on the modality without hearing it. minor to major looks like a pretty normal/cliche shift, try switching key areas. Then again, it all kinda depends what you're actually trying to do with the composition. Care to comment on that?

Upload the .midi or the .mus, I can take a deeper look at it if you want.

Re: so i guess i suck at composition

I would say too much chords if you want melody to stand out and a little bit more of rythm could be nice.

Re: so i guess i suck at composition

Basic theory? I understand this site has a lot to do with music but when it comes to pieces where we're just looking at a screenshot of musical notes, 98% of this community probably can't really comprehend this.

Either that or my school really sucked at 'basic' musical knowledge...

Re: so i guess i suck at composition

What kind of school/how old are you? I'm talking Theory I in college, high school theory is usually a joke. And if you can't see a bunch of notes stacked on top of each other and hear a triad, or see a melodic line and be able to sing it, then yes, your school may have been lackluster at 'basic' musical ability.

I keep on forgetting that ffr =/= music.

Re: so i guess i suck at composition

Well I cant hear it, but...
All the seventh chords give it a very open sound, with some "planing" (moving entire chords by the same interval), both of these traits present within impressionist composers. The mood shifts from G Phrygian to C minor, with the exception of some awkward chords (C,D,F,G? - A,C,E-Flat + B-Flat, D). The latter of these two represents more of a tone cluster than a chord, and without hearing it, I'm not sure if its a good place to use one. The form is rather open as well, without clear cadences, it simply moves and stops and it pleases.

So it general, it has little structure and pretty much goes where it pleases, rhythmically, melodically, and harmonically. To have a more structured piece (if that's what you want), build you chords off of triads, using inversions to make the transitions between sound more smoothly. Also consider creating a progression of Dissonances and Consonances (referring to the amount of "tension" in two sounding pitches). The pieces have both, but it lacks a sense of direction in its at times careless use of dissonance.

Note I agree with what Xander said as well.


When I started on finale, I knew nothing about music theory (or even how to read bass clef, lol). Musical training isn't required to write songs, it simply gives you more options to control the sounds you are creating. I still have some of my older files, if you'd like to see them.

Remember at all times that composing is an aural art - the most important aspect of composing (and performance for that matter) is how the result sounds. Be careful with your chords - don't use notes which do not serve a purpose within the piece unless you want it to sound disjunct and formless.

When I first saw it, it reminded me of some of my first pieces, bring back good times.

Awkward spot example:
Note - I like to think in scale degrees, even within chords. Since this piece was composed without harmonic structure, examination will occur at an intervalic level

M2, B1 - A-flat + E - flat (fifth) LH - G + B-flat RH
The dissonance caused by the A-flat against the G is unprecedented and unsettling.
Isolating it as a triad from the bottom up (E-flat, G, B-flat, i.e. 1,3,5) Leaves the A-Flat (4) as the outsider. It has a major sound without this note, and a very dissonant one with it. If you're shooting for something in between, go with a C as the bottom note, with an E-flat above it. This would create a minor seventh chord, which could be adjusted to simply a minor triad by shifting the top B-Flat up to a C as well.

Most pieces of music establish some kind of "home base," be in a key relationship (most common), a rhythmic one, melodic one, or a stylistic one, before adding contrasting sections later in the piece. Starting off with a dissonant chord (in the first "Full" Measure) leaves the listener without much to hold onto.

Ultimately it boils down to a question of form.
Does all music need form?
No.
But you wont be writing with much variety until you try different organizations of your musical ideas and have the piece flow in a logical way.

Try this:
1) Think of a musical theme.
2) Notate it into finale.
3) Examine its structure, and think of ways it could be changed
4) Once your theme is established, create a variation of equal length that has some of the attributes of the original, but differs in a melodic, rhythmic, or if you added it already, a harmonic way.
5) Modulate to a related key at least once (If you dont know how to do this, simply put it up or down an entire line or space for a variation and see how how it sounds)
6) Return to the original key
7) Add an ending

Trying this will have you thinking about form, pitch relationships, and structure.

Final Note: Most of this is built on the assumption that there should be form, structure, and continuity within the piece