The Tao of Music Tip No- 12

                      "That which shrinks, Must first expand
                    Soft and weak overcome hard and strong."

Once again we return to the subject of Dynamics except we'll add song development and construction to the mix. Just how a musician or composer is able to start a song from a kernel of music and develop that seed into a huge production is a master-level skill-to say the least. So when Genius is involved, all one can say is "Get out of their way, witness greatness in action, and observe!"

The Tao of Music

But when it comes to techniques the trick underlying song development and advanced song construction is usually based on simply expanding small musical ideas, but not always. I have done both. On the one hand, I have completed songs that took years to ferment in order to ripen. On the other hand, I have also known exactly what I wanted the piece to be, how I was going to compose it, and did it according to plan with fabulous results.

So how do you build a song up and tear it down again or strip it of its nonessentials while retaining its most identifiable qualities? Starting from a small musical idea, you need to generate as much related material to the original idea so you have enough content to work with. Having a good understanding of music theory, counterpoint, and composition is very important here.

In order to start working on a more sophisticated sketch by generating a greater quantity of material to extract from here's one simple exercise I like to use. It goes as follows: Starting with a melody and some words take out a metronome and set it to the meter of the melody and begin to recite the words, as they should be, in time with the metronome click. Do this several times, and then start to expand the theme by slowly wandering away from your original words and melody. In this way you maintain the meter, reinforce the flow of words with new ideas, and over time adding variations on the melody off of the original theme. This can be done for music (melodic and chords structures) as well as words and lyrical themes.

Next, what kind of notes do you think of when you hear or see the word "uplifting." Take a second. Well, whatever you thought of I would guess you conceived of higher notes or an intense or emotional vocal delivery. Am I right? Now let's connect the two concepts of starting with a small musical idea and "uplifting" the piece with song construction and development. So if we start from the premise that uplifting the piece equates to adding higher notes and intensifying or emotionalizing the vocals, then we can move forward constructively.

I have found that there are three basic ways you can transition from a small musical idea into the uplifting part of the piece: 1) gradually 2) suddenly and 3) discontinuously.

By a gradual transition, you would warm up or alert the listener to the fact that a change is coming by giving them little warning signs. These can be slight rises in your voice, momentary swelling in the music, hinting at the chorus section by entering it briefly and then returning to the verse or an instrumental section. This approach is useful in musical forms such as R&B, Rap, Rock, Jazz, among others. Whichever way you choose to apply a gradual transition, just remember there are numerous way of doing this, so be experimental, remain open to new possibilities and keep several methods at hand in your musical mental toolbox.

A sudden transition is just that - all of a sudden. This approach is extremely effective in really active forms of music where the energy is high. A sudden transition maintains the energy level and can even increase it. In other cases, a sudden transition can add an element of surprise to a slow or lower volume piece, by adding a vicious surge of energy, which increases the Dynamic level to an extreme. Used in this way, the sudden transition acts as a musical slap or punch to the unwary listener. This method is useful in almost every musical form.

A discontinuous transition is similar to a sudden transition in that it can also be sudden, but not always. Discontinuity means an empty space or gap between two things that can be, but are not always connected. So in music, this is represented as silence or lowering volume levels with an apparently new piece of music arising out of the original composition. A discontinuous transition can bring you into a new key, a different set of rhythms, a second singer's voice, a guitar solo, and many other seemingly unrelated musical elements. From these examples we can see how this method can be applied. A first time listener will not anticipate an upcoming gap of silence or what appears to be a new song arising out of the original piece so a discontinuous transition always comes as a surprise.

To summarize then, gradual, sudden, and discontinuous transitions allow you to musically, slap your listener's in the face. Using any one of these transitions also allows you to do switch meters, change keys, phase into seemingly new songs, introduce a guitar, vocal, or rhythmic solo, add a silence, or perform variations of the original themes. Try each type of transition out and even conceive of some of your own. Discover for yourself what works and what doesn't.