Welcome to the course a practical guys to music expression. My name is Pedro. I am a composer for media and guitarist. And with this course, I wish to provide you with insights and some tools based on practical examples that will enable you to unlock your creative potential in music. Whether you are starting out to see my bro, musician or an Enthusiast. This course was made to help you
overcome. The difficulties of implementing your musical ideas in a way, that actually expresses your intense without being dominated by the music. And instead you dominate the flow of musical events. You are creating in, whatever. Genre, you are composing.
He's course will also help you to get fast the blank page block, how to plan your musical composition, and how to use your current knowledge of Music Theory, without losing your musical, Instinct in the process and also to have fun making music Any of this resonates with you, then this is a good place to start the journey to find your own voice in your Creations. The focus of this course is not in music theory, since this is not its purpose.
And also because I assume that you already have a basic knowledge of things like scales or chords. Instead. We will be looking on focusing more on how you can use. Contexts. Images ideas emotions to give us a hint. It's on how he can use the various musical elements to express ourselves in our music compositions. It is expected that you use. What is discussed in this course and apply it in a project that will be proposed to you.
My goal is that, by the end of this course, you will be able to express yourself through music and hopefully you will be able to use this information as guidelines. So you can experiment and develop your own ideas thoughts. All senses workflow, expand your knowledge and be the musician. You want to be? Conveying emotions and experiencing emotions, largely depends on social and cultural aspects. And that said you should be aware of the emotional qualities.
You perceive when you listen to certain sounds chords rhythms Melodies, so you can translate that into your music, the manipulation of musical elements in order to convey emotions comes as far as from the Renaissance period musical practices, which in turn comes from the ancient Greeks idea. About the symbiosis of oratory and music and how one should
influence the other. For instance, in Renaissance, certain instruments would be used to depict contexts or Associated to certain characters, fast tempo, agitated basis and frequent, modulations were commonly used to express anguish excitement, terrorism or rage and ascending melodic lines in minor tonalities would be used to depict suffering. This way of thinking, and ways to use the musical elements has
influenced modern music too. So all that said, everything Counts from the way you sing The Sounds, you choose the way you play your instrument, the chords, the melodic lines and motives scales rhythmic approach and so on. Well, then taking all this in consideration should get your creative juices started. And now let's make a quick overview of the musical elements. So we are all on the same page. Bitch, that is how high or low we perceive a sound which can be organized in patterns or
succession of sounds or notes. This is the category of Harmony cards and scales or melodies. Rhythm is the time element of music. It is related to the duration of sounds and to a given rhythmic pattern in time. Usually, we hear these in relation to a steady pulse and mentally organize this pulse or Tempo into m. Pitch and Rhythm are actually closely related either because of the words we use to make up the melodic line that depending
on the way. We sing it, have a rhythmic Cadence to it. Or if it's instrumental music. We use the Rhythm to give a sense of flow to the melodic lines and motives don't color or tomber refers to the quality of the sounds. We hear making it possible for us to distinguish between a trumpet and the clarinet. For instance, this property also helps.
To create Variety in our music and as said, we can use Tumblr as a way to evoke certain atmospheres or associate a specific instrument to a character or situation to give you an idea about how important Tony's. Let me show you the impact of the choices you make, regarding the instruments, you are going to use in your compositions as it can help. You achieve that dramatic effect you have in your mind. and now, See if you can identify all the instruments in this next example.
Dynamics refers to how loud or soft a sound can be. Form is also one of the elements of music and although it is not related to the production of sound /, say it is a very important aspect of the storytelling side of music. It is how we organize or arrange, our musical ideas into sections that may or may not be repeated throughout the music. And finally texture is how the melodic rhythmic and harmonic materials are combined in a musical piece.
Basically texture can be sparse. More advanced depending on how many voices or instruments are playing as a way of showing how influential and evocative the musical elements can be to one another. You will be hearing a first example with drums bass Rhythm and solo guitar. The following example is derivative, meaning that I took one of the elements of the First music piece and built the second piece of music around it. In this case.
It was the drums. I took the same basic Rhythm and just change the tempo, making it faster automatically. It suggested a completely different musical idea and around it. I compose the different bass and guitar Groove and at some point. I also started hearing a brass section that I also added. Okay, so far, everything sounds like cooking adding ingredients and whatnot, but it's not like,
we are so far from the truth. If you consider the ingredients, to be the musical elements, and the way you combine them triggers, different moods or responses to your music in the following video. I will be presenting ways of how the musical elements can be worked into your music by associating them to Extra. Musical, Concepts ideas, emotions and enabling you to better, express yourself through music. Talk to you there. In these couple of videos, I'll be presenting you with two case
studies one in each video. But first we must have a message to convey an idea or feeling. If you have a clear idea about what you want to say. It is already a way of eliminating, the blank page block and get you started. One thing is to know about the musical Theory and another is figuring out a way to use it without getting too Technical and allowing your instincts and knowledge to kick in when needed. Oddly enough.
The first thing you need to do in order to get your creativity going is to somehow impose some rules. This doesn't mean you will be restricted. In fact, you will be eliminating that feeling of I can do so much in anything. I want that I can't make up my mind. What to do. As soon as you have, imposed some limits, meaning you have chosen a topic to talk about it is time to unleash your creativity. As an example.
We will be considering apathy and almost leaving kind of state where you just perform your routine tasks day after day without much thought, while bearing the feeling of emptiness to Aid, our thought organization. We will be considering three variables that will help us build a possible story. We for our music composition, looking at the acronym psycho neb. These variables are psychologic context.
And ambient. Our goal will be to associate our ideas to these variables, which could turn out something like this, apathy, Conformity, sameness and emptiness. Go to the psychologic field. Getting up every day for work and happy with this way of living finding strength to carry on and change. All in ourselves tries to reach out because we don't want a bleak future for our character.
All these belong to the context. And finally working in the big city, a jungle of concrete, sounds of traffic horns. People talking go to the ambient section. I'm not going to get too much into it as we already have more than enough to illustrate what we want. And now this is where the music comes in. Everything that was written will be. Considered as a potential extra musical cue our job will be to associate them to musical elements and translate those
into music. And I will guide you through this process. Let's put our creative minds to work. This is how I chose to use music theory and Associate it to extra musical cues to depict the sense of emptiness. I used space chord voicings in fourths and fifths or a sense of coldness Detachment and vagueness played by the I know and also complemented by a drone
sound harmonically. All these are based in the root of C, since this example, tends to the representation of an inner struggle representing, the core of the individual, I chose to relate the harmonic changes as much as possible to The Chosen route Note opting by using it. As a pedal, note throughout the harmonic changes. This also helps to convey the monotony and dullness.
For sameness working in day's passing by, I use repetitive melodic and rhythmic patterns, or ostinatos chord changes with little voice movement. And also use the drums that despite its somewhat jagd Rhythm, it transmits a sense of continuity, mainly because of the symbols work. To depict confusion traffic, and people's voices. I used contrasting cords from different tonalities.
That swirl around our head, as if they were everywhere, these cords still maintain the same vagueness and for that, I used suspended chords. And finally, for the inner self, reaching out or forcing and suggesting changes. I used the diminished Scale based in C representing his condition as a passive person. In contrast with chrome. Static movement from inner voice, struggling to reach out
for this. I change the route or the center to F minor harmonic scale, the dissonance represents the struggle to be heard and meanwhile, it is also the reason why the bass and drums are at a lower volume in this section as if it was trying to overpower the apathy. Now that you listen to all the examples. Let me show you how this sounds when put together. Although this is what I came up with, depending on your personal style. You will get a different result.
It will all depend on the way you manipulate the musical elements. For instance. I use Timbre to choose the instruments that will help me to convey the message. I intended Associated them with ideas traits of our character or its inner self. In this case. The inner self was represented by strings as for the rhythmic approach played by the drums. It was chosen for its contemporary Urban feel only by changing these two elements. You would get significantly
different results. I will now show you a second example to illustrate. What I am suggesting, I purposefully chose other instruments to work with and had a different rhythmic approach, which led me to a different approach on the overall Arrangement and style. The main ideas regarding chord changes and Melodies were maintained so it can still Relate to the main message. Here are the main changes for the repetitiveness. The vagueness. Traffic and voices for contrast.
And the inner self voice. And now here's the overall result. Alaric could have been written and then sung in order to reinforce the message. You could even choose different ways of seeing the parts in a way that would best describe the situation. For instance, in the inner self voice part. You could try to sound as if he were begging to be heard, almost crying or even a cry or shout for attention. It will all depend on your personal style or the next
video. We will be looking at how you can work with images or graphics. Cues and still have the approach suggested using the psycho named variables and Associated them to extra musical cues using the musical elements. By now, you may already be familiar rised with apps icon am approach discussed in the last video. So we will just dive right into the second case study. However, this time we will be applying these variables based on an image.
The first case study was based on how to depict Concepts ideas, or emotions in a musical way. The second case study is more based on specific events and movement or action that is in tandem with the story. Development. And without further Ado, here is the image. We will be working with looking at the elements present in this image. I get this sense of adventure magic and fairy tales. The owl is a central figure and I consider it to be the hero that everyone is putting their.
Hope on, we have a dark Forest where our hero will find. All sorts of perils in ordeals. And after that, he would get to this clearing with the lake after escaping the woods and get some do rest from there on our hero resumes, his quest and flies. The Majestic mountains as he watches the sunrise leading the way to the next set of Adventures. And obviously this may suggest a different thing to you and that way you would end up doing different music based on your interpretations.
In the first case study, the music structure was more of how a song would work with an intro verse and a clearly defined Chorus for demonstration purposes. I chose not to develop the whole idea, but the parts are there. R, but this time, we will take a different approach closer to what would happen in a symphonic poem. Here. You won't have anything like a modern song structure as the music follows the stories events
as they unfold nevertheless. And as I will show you, you will find some elements or motives that are repeated throughout the music. And now all that said, let us begin. Here are the apps icon M variables. Or the psychologic filled. Our hero is Relentless heroic Brave and also tense because after all he is going to face many dangers for the context field. You have fight through obstacles in ordeals in the dark Forest escapes the woods and gets to a clearing with the lake after resting.
He watches the sunrise and resumes his quest in the ambient field. We have the Dark Forest itself with its Twisted paths and trees and darkness. We have the lake and the Majestic mountains. Here's how I use the elements in music theory, to give voice to the message. I want to convey. As I generally approached. I used Woodwinds to represent our hero, although sometimes it is supported by strings gestures and Brass will be in charge of representing enemies in danger.
I also use the Celesta to imbue a certain sense of magic and mystery due to its dreamy quality of the Tambour. Also, in a general way, I made use of diminished scales material and the sonority of the lydian mode because of the implied augmented fourth interval, its dissonant quality, and big witty. And as a way to represent, two distinct and opposing characters. In this first example, in order to symbolize the tension while walking about in the woods, you will hear the strings executing,
a tremolo Harmony wise. It is all based on minor chords. The Bases and Celli. Begin with the melody and major third apart, and then proceed throughout with a perfect fifth interval, which is a strong interval on its own and hints to the brave quality of our hero. The fact that these intervals are used in such a low register, it is because it helps to provide that sense of dense environment filled with tension.
Now, you will hear our Heroes theme executed in English horn and then supported by the first violins. The said, the melody is built over a Harmony based on monetary course due to this dark and Grim situation. You will also hear some muted brass because it stands for the danger or enemies lurking. And still hidden from sight. I use contrasting dissonant chords and cluster brass effects to enhance the disparity between the heroes goals and There's,
which are total opposites. Alongside with the Heroes theme, I use the woodwinds violence. Celeste in a complimentary way to symbolize our hero flying around in the woods while providing that sense of mystery and magic. And right before the end, the ascending melodic gesture. From the violence, represents the flight towards the imminent battle. The tribal, like percussion sets the tone for The Battle Before Our Hero, dives into it.
Woodwinds and Brass are respectively, representing the antagonists and their distance related scales and tonalities. While interacting, the meter is also changing quite frequently and the offbeat accents, made by the strings represent. The erratic flying and unpredictability of the fighting in the dense Woods. In the end of this example, you will finally notice the strings playing a run and then the melodic gesture that represents our hero flying away and Escape.
That dangerous situation. The melodic gesture from the violins that you heard on the previous example is now fading. As our heroes is a clearing and the lake where he will rest in this section. You will only hear Woodwinds and Hurting strings in the high register. If you look at the image, you can see that there are reflections in the lake surface. That is represented by the Chimes tree for its sparkling sound.
And by the harp with its arpeggios in an attempt to illustrate the watery environment slowly, the harmony becomes less tense as the hero rests and recovers. This example and the next, Mark the reappearance of the main theme and it's variations harmonically. The chords used are more stable or consonant representing Our Heroes recovery, and thus the slower Kestrel build up. Here is the main theme again in the final section of our musical story. And finally, the strings are
playing two complementary roles. The low strings are setting the pace with accents that give a sense of promptness to the next Adventures while the high strings. Are also adding momentum. Phantom by executing arpeggios throughout and that's it. The music ends in a high note, suggesting other Great Adventures for our hero. And now, here's the overall result. At some point, you may want to focus on a specific area or aspect of the image and develop on that. For instance.
You could make a whole song about the perils encountered in the dark forest, or if it happens to be of great relevance. You may want to make a song just about the sunrise. This is a way of showing you how you could probably make a music album solely based on the elements found in the given image. What it evokes and then build on that to make your story line. Next, I will be doing a recap of all that was discussed
throughout these videos. Also, you will find guidelines for a project assignment so you can put into practice your skills. Based on what you have learned by watching. This course. I will see you there.