JINGLE HELL: LESSON 3

CREATING EMOTION IN MUSIC

There are lots of elements that make a particular piece of music sound the way it does, and each of these elements can be manipulated to have a particular emotional impact on the listener. The instruments used (instrumentation), the speed of the music, how long each verse or chorus is, and how they're organised (form), the types of chords used (harmony), the speed (tempo) of the music, the beat or pulse of the music (time signature), the rhythms or groove used in the music (feel), whether the tune (melody) of the music is singable or weird and angular, and how full, complicated or busy the music is (texture) all have an impact on how the music sounds, and how the audience responds to it. Composers make decisions about all these things to create a particular impact on the listener. Today we will look at one of the most powerful of these elements: HARMONY. 

TRIAD CHORDS

This video looks at two of the most common types of chords (major and minor triads), and looks at how simple combinations (of just two chords!) can be used to create effective and emotional "Hollywood style" music.

A summary of the important point in this video is included below. Watch the video, then take the time to memorise the steps to create these chord progressions.

Summary:

TRIADS are chords made up of three notes. The most commonly used chords (in almost any style of music) are major and minor triads. 

To make a major chord (M), pick a note (any note). This is the root of the chord. Put the thumb of your right hand on that note. Then, count up four notes (remembering to count both black and white notes) and then place your middle finger on the note you arrive at. From there count up another three notes (again remembering to count both black and white keys) and put your little finger on that note. Play all three notes at once, and you have made a Major Triad. (In this video these are labelled with a capital 'M'

The 'rule' to make a Major triad (M) is 4-3

Minor triads can be made in a very similar way, but this time pick a note, count up three notes, and then from that note, count up four notes). Minor triads are identified with a lower-case 'm'

The 'rule' to make a minor triad (m) is 3-4

A lot of great Hollywood soundtracks are made by moving back and fourth between two triads.

EXERCISE 1: Practice all twelve Major triads, and all twelve minor triads, until you can move from one to the other without thinking about it too much. 

It's a really good idea to have all the triads 'under your fingers'. This will really take your music to a new level. The triads on the keyboard are listed below.

Start by learning all the major triads, and try moving between them in various ways (going up in semitones, going down in semitones, going up 5 notes each time etc.)

Once you've got these down, move on to the minor triads!

MAJOR TRIADS

Practice these a million times...

MINOR TRIADS

Then practice these a million more times....

SOME COMMONLY USED CHORD PROGRESSIONS

M is used to indicate a MAJOR CHORD

m is used to indicate a minor chord

and the number between the two letters tells you how many notes you count up the keyboard between the roots of the two chords. Try playing each example from a few different starting points, and really listen to the sound of each change.

EXERCISE: WRITING A HORROR MOVIE SOUNDTRACK, PART ONE

Find two chords that you think would sound good as the basis of a horror movie sound track. Write them down using the code used in the examples above. (You could use one of the chord progressions from the video, or make up your own).

Set a metronome to a slow-ish speed (80 BPM is probably a good place to start) and practice changing between the chords (with your left hand) holding each one for four beats.

Next, find the names for your two chords (using the major and minor triad sheets at the top of this page), and write them above stave of the worksheet below four times (as shown in the example)

COMPOSITION WORKSHEET

Download and print this out, then write your chords, your name and the title of your composition...

EXAMPLE: writing CHORDS ON THE STAFF

...like this

The next step is to make an outline of your melody (the tune). This is really easy, for each chord, pick one note from the chord and play it in your right hand (while you play the whole chord in your left hand).

This is the framework of your composition. Next we're going to look at how to write your composition on the staff, using music notation software. For this project, we're going to use a free piece of software called muse-score, which you can download here:  

We'll also need to learn how to write music on the stave. If you know how to do this already, and/ or you know how to use muse score, you can move on to lesson 5, where we will look at how to make your melody more interesting. Otherwise, click on the links below to learn how to use the software, and how to read and write musical notation.