The music composition book tends to think you've already read your music theory, just to warn you. If you read one before the other, you should read the music theory book beforehand. And if you have any questions, just ask.

Quote:Original post by Republicanist
The music composition book tends to think you've already read your music theory, just to warn you. If you read one before the other, you should read the music theory book beforehand. And if you have any questions, just ask.

I know a lot of music theory already. I may not know some of the more advanced topics but I know the basics. The problem I've had is that a lot of what I've looked at in the book is like "Here's what chord progressions sound good" which is nice for reference, but I just was expecting more general information. Like instead of listing a bunch of chord progressions, it would've been more helpful to explain rules about chord progressions or something. I don't like following instructions to learn, I prefer to learn some information and then use that to figure out things on my own.

In music they are many rules, but they don't all have to all be followed. A chord progression, in essence, requires that one chord progresses to another. The book gives a couple a progressions, yes, and on page 27 (in my book), gives a list of which chords in a key tend to lead to. It also talks about cadences a few pages later, which break some of the rules on page 27. The key to a good chord progression is that it sounds good to the ears. Something like I-IV-V that doesn't go back to I (at the top of my head) just ends and doesn't resolve. Including an ending I (like so many others) resolves the progression.

And advice on advice: me and many others may give you advice, but we all don't know where your headed for each individual piece. So, you will always, like you have, continue to take each piece of advice into account and accept or refuse it based on your vision. Good work.

And a word on "letting it go": no piece in the world has truly made it on this. And on those that seem like it, it takes a large repertoire to be able to make it to this stage. Their is always some sort of planning involved. And let your compositions, as you have been doing, continue to evolve. Good work.

I don't really know any other resources on music composition, but you might be able to find what your looking for on Google or Yahoo.

Well, it is time. I must go.

One other thing I forgot to mention: "letting it go" allows you to find some good melodies, sounds, moods, etc., so keep experimenting. Planning and writing a score are some really good things to do (your synthesizers allow you to do that, right? I don't really know about many synthesizers... I just have my keyboard and Mozart 7). So a combination of discovered melodies and pre-planned pieces will work very well. I see that you will go far. Keep up the good work!

Quote:Original post by Republicanist
In music they are many rules, but they don't all have to all be followed. A chord progression, in essence, requires that one chord progresses to another. The book gives a couple a progressions, yes, and on page 27 (in my book), gives a list of which chords in a key tend to lead to. It also talks about cadences a few pages later, which break some of the rules on page 27. The key to a good chord progression is that it sounds good to the ears. Something like I-IV-V that doesn't go back to I (at the top of my head) just ends and doesn't resolve. Including an ending I (like so many others) resolves the progression.

And advice on advice: me and many others may give you advice, but we all don't know where your headed for each individual piece. So, you will always, like you have, continue to take each piece of advice into account and accept or refuse it based on your vision. Good work.

And a word on "letting it go": no piece in the world has truly made it on this. And on those that seem like it, it takes a large repertoire to be able to make it to this stage. Their is always some sort of planning involved. And let your compositions, as you have been doing, continue to evolve. Good work.

I don't really know any other resources on music composition, but you might be able to find what your looking for on Google or Yahoo.

Well, it is time. I must go.

Hmmm...well the book to me just wasn't very useful but maybe I should get the music theory book and try reading that first.

As for your other advice, I kinda disagree with you on music requiring planning. Several of my songs had almost no planning involved. I sat down put out a 4/4 drum beat or something along those lines and went through sound after sound and played with them until I found something I liked, and everything else just kind of happens from there. Essentially on songs like "Simple" and "Oblivion" I'm just making the kind of music that comes naturally to me.

"Drain," "Sleep" and a few others I've written are planned though, I guess they do sound better, but it kind of varies depending on what mood I'm in.

Quote:Original post by Republicanist
One other thing I forgot to mention: "letting it go" allows you to find some good melodies, sounds, moods, etc., so keep experimenting. Planning and writing a score are some really good things to do (your synthesizers allow you to do that, right? I don't really know about many synthesizers... I just have my keyboard and Mozart 7). So a combination of discovered melodies and pre-planned pieces will work very well. I see that you will go far. Keep up the good work!

Exactly, just letting myself play is how I come up with a lot of great loops (sadly most never get developed into full songs). My MO8 doesn't let me actually write out the notes, I can edit the notes I play though. It has a sequencer and a pattern and song mode. I can create loops and combine them to make songs (this is what I did with "Sleep" and "Simple") or I could just perform the whole song in song mode. There are various features in there I haven't played with yet like some groove effects, a tempo change track and such but I don't really feel most of it's necessary in any of the songs I wrote.

Actually, I forgot to mention: you planned. That's exactly what I would do (and do): set up some rules. There is still some pre-planning involved. Some examples of rules:

4/4 beat (like you have done)
A certain key (like D-flat minor or G-flat pentatonic)
A certain bass
A certain chord progression (and melody, sometimes. Theme & variation works here)
And so on.

Some songs work better with planning than others. Something like an orchestra or band piece, definitly yes, but a single instrument (or synthesizer) requires less planning. There is still definitly planning involved, put it also depends on the person. Jazz players normally will improvise on the spot, but (almost) always follow some rules (such as play the notes of the G7 chord).

And for compositions: normally (especially for, say, keyboard recordings) they will need some editing before they hit as the final project. And for games, especially on consoles, you will more-likely-than-not have a time limit (and less sound effects). This limit normally doesn't apply to PC games, but songs don't normally average over a few minutes in length (except in dialouges; this can be longer if the dialouge is). Usually (at least in RTS) the background songs tend to be about 30 seconds to a minute apiece (but switch around, battle music for battle, idle for idle, etc.). And it also depends. Empire Earth II has a lot of background clips, while can can count the ones to Age of Empires III with my fingers (I think they are 3 battle songs; I haven't looked through the files in a while). As you might have guessed, the first one I mentioned has shorter clips than the second, but more variety in styles (because they are more songs).

I should stop babbling off and leave it at that. :)

Quote:Original post by Republicanist
Actually, I forgot to mention: you planned. That's exactly what I would do (and do): set up some rules. There is still some pre-planning involved. Some examples of rules:

4/4 beat (like you have done)
A certain key (like D-flat minor or G-flat pentatonic)
A certain bass
A certain chord progression (and melody, sometimes. Theme & variation works here)
And so on.

Some songs work better with planning than others. Something like an orchestra or band piece, definitly yes, but a single instrument (or synthesizer) requires less planning. There is still definitly planning involved, put it also depends on the person. Jazz players normally will improvise on the spot, but (almost) always follow some rules (such as play the notes of the G7 chord).

And for compositions: normally (especially for, say, keyboard recordings) they will need some editing before they hit as the final project. And for games, especially on consoles, you will more-likely-than-not have a time limit (and less sound effects). This limit normally doesn't apply to PC games, but songs don't normally average over a few minutes in length (except in dialouges; this can be longer if the dialouge is). Usually (at least in RTS) the background songs tend to be about 30 seconds to a minute apiece (but switch around, battle music for battle, idle for idle, etc.). And it also depends. Empire Earth II has a lot of background clips, while can can count the ones to Age of Empires III with my fingers (I think they are 3 battle songs; I haven't looked through the files in a while). As you might have guessed, the first one I mentioned has shorter clips than the second, but more variety in styles (because they are more songs).

I should stop babbling off and leave it at that. :)

Thanks for more advice. :) As an update, I did manage to find a team that's hired me as a composer. I'm excited to be working on a game, especially an RPG, my favorite genre, especially for the music!

Great news! It's great to hear that you've been hired. Good luck on your project!