Re: If you had to state 5 rules of a successful music compositionfor 12th grade students...

[Tom Ulichny <tom@ulichnymusic.com>]

If I may add my 2 cents...

Ok, first of all, a successful composition can certainly be tagged in a 
number of ways, to each his/her own, it’s all about art, etc. etc. etc.

Yes, we all know and agree with this.  That being said, the question was 
in regards to a high school composition class, and regardless of our 
artistic ego, there are a number of elements that make said composition 
more or less relevant/interesting/catchy, regardless of if we like or 
respect the work.

As a Berklee graduate and now educator, I'd like to think that the 
following elements are vital to a 'successful' compostion:

1) A 'hook' -  every song (we're talking popular, accessible, majority 
music here) needs a catchy repeating theme that the listener can come back 
to.  It doesn't have to be 'poppy' or genre specific, but reasonably 
accessible and at the very least recognizable. 

2) Regular thematic development- We have our hook, so then what happens?  
the song must develop, hopefully in an interesting and engaging manner.  
That can mean lyrically, melodically, rhythmically... anything.  Now more 
than ever, songs need to continually evolve and keep attention, in a 
coherent manner that reflects the composer's emotional narrative. 

3)  Typically speaking (again, majority music here, there are a TON of 
exceptions!), melodic lines need some consistency.  This means sticking to 
a progression that has a defined characteristic, whether that be major or 
minor tonality, a specific mode, or anything that regularly repeats and 
holds particular tonal attention.

4)  To best average by successful, I believe a song must have dynamics, 
and emotion.  We can all write up a diddy, play it square and call it a 
day.  But songs that move us require true emotion, regardless of medium. 

5)  Lastly, I would love to say that a successful composition requires 
originality, freedom, expression, voice etc.  But, and very unfortunately 
might I add, this is quite simply not the case.  This is obviously highly 
dependent on our definition of successful, but there are a number of 
formula's that work, and we can inject our variations, re-title it, and 
call it our own.  This is a staple in the songwriting business- utilizing 
bpm, retrograde, inverse melodic ideas etc...  not that i condone this or 
call it a 'work or art' (in fact, i find it unsettling in many ways), but 
many a damn good song has been written this way and i suppose we ought to 
just accept it.  So lastly, I guess I'll say that a successful composition 
needs structure.  It can be pre-formulated, or not, emotionally charged or 
academically configured, but there should be some sort of sense to the 
over-all picture.  

*AGAIN*  This is not a complete picture- I regularly strive to break out 
of these molds, and continue to search for an element to my music that can 
be heard, appreciated, and listened to again...  because that is the goal, 
is it not?  We want our music on repeat, whether we would like to admit it 
or not.  Justification perhaps.

Tom  
----- Original Message -----
From: "mark francombe" <mark@markfrancombe.com>
To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 3:45:22 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: Re: If you had to state 5 rules of a successful music composition 
for  12th grade students...








So, I'd love to hear your top 5 (or more) descriptors/performance criteria 
of a "successful" composition. 




What is a successful composition? Is that what you are asking? As a 
teacher I would have thought that you would know that music is all about 
having different definitions per person. It fitting your personal taste is 
what makes a successful composition. 

But to state 5, as per the question, regarding that they are probably just 
MY descriptors. 

1) It should be overly repetitive (Oops Sorry Kev, but I couldn't resist, 
its true though, for me...) 
2) It should move you, make your heart beat faster, give you goosebumps, 
hairs stand on back of neck. 
3) It should sound slightly unlike something else... As in, it CAN be of a 
genre, or relate to a genre, but not completely fitting in that genre. 
4) Dynamics, dynamics, dynamics. Loud only works when compared to soft. 
5) No Saxaphones! 


Mark 



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