One Approach to Composing Neoclassical and/or Jazz Pieces
Key insight: As the scaffolding for their compositions, classical composers often relied on very basic chord progressions, played out within just a handful of related keys
My approach is to emulate this, with a few tweaks of my own!
-Very loosely analogous to a recipe, but also requires a good, experienced ear and an understanding of music theory at an intermediate level.
Tools + Ingredients + Method of Combining Them
Tools:
Circle of Fifths
Chain of Thirds
Notation software for composing the score
A random line of notes, generated either from a script or an app
Ingredients:
1. A few (three) related keys (as confirmed using the Circle of Fifths)
e.g. You could select the key of C on the outer circle, its relative minor (Am) on the inner circle, and an adjacent key on the outer circle (say F).
2. A chord progression, written as scale degrees using Roman numerals. In my case, I prefer writing short (around 30- to 40-measure) pieces, with about two measures per chord. So I’ll need about 16 chords. In creating a chord progression, I tend to use the Chain of Thirds as a reference. In other words, I prefer jumping to every other scale degree because it ensures smooth transitions. But there is no reason to be slavish about it — you can shake it up with a few large leaps or some 6th or 7th chords.
E.g., a string of 16 chords, written as scale degrees: I IV V I I vi IV ii vii(dim) V, iii, I6 IV vi vii(dim) I
(Note: I have written this string using the notation for a major key: I ii iii IV V vi vii(dim). The notation will change (in part) if you selected a minor key as one of your related keys. See the table below. Ask your friendly neighborhood AI to explain!)
3. About 35 measures of random notes
Method:
1. Map your chord progression across your three chosen keys.
For the keys in this example:
C
Am
F
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and then back to C,
You would break the 16-chord progression into 4 subsections:
Note: In the key of Am, the notation should be changed to that for minor keys (i ii(dim) III iv v VI VII)
2. Using the Circle of Fifths, convert the scale degrees into the actual chords in each key. Time Saving Tip: If you search online, you will find that there is an elegantly simple spatial pattern embedded in the layout of the Circle of Fifths that immediately tells you which scale degree corresponds to which chord in a given key. And there is another, similar spatial pattern that you can use to do this within minor keys.
3. Place these chords into a music score, with two measures per chord. Using a piano score is a good idea because you can focus on the staff for the right hand, leaving the staff for the left hand blank. (It will be filled in later with an accompanying line.)
4. Paste the 35 measures of random notes into the staff for the right hand (the one annotated with the chord progressions).
5. Save your work!
6. In each measure, listen to the chord, and then adjust the notes to match the chord. This requires a good ear, and is also good ear practice! Note that you don’t need to be slavish about this, as some dissonance is a fact of life in modern jazz or classical music.
The process is illustrated in the following video:
7. Did I mention you should save your work??
8. Delete the chords and save your work.
9. Make a copy of the now modified line of notes, and paste it into the empty staff for the left hand.
10. Modify this line using standard techniques, such as by changing its placement (canon) or by increasing or decreasing the duration of the notes (attenuation/diminution) or by changing its shape (inversion or retrograde motion).
11. I’m not kidding. Save your work.
12. Starting from measure 1 again, go through the entire piece, measure by measure, and make adjustments to the notes in one or both staves as you wish, based on your intuition and ear, to make the two lines fit together harmoniously.
13. Finally, tidy up — add repeats if appropriate, decide on a title, delete trailing measures, etc.
I’ve included a couple of pieces that I composed using an approximation of this technique. ‘Summer, Seaside’ is the closest to the recipe above. ‘Mackerel Sky’ extends the recipe by adding two accompanying lines instead of one, and setting all three lines for strings rather than on a piano.
Part of the takeaway here is that the notion of a creative product springing fully made from the composer’s imagination is just silly. A far more constructive metaphor is that of a potter throwing a wheel. They shape the clay, they mold the clay, they imprint the clay with their own agenda. But without the clay, without something to mold, they are just spinning their (potter’s) wheels as it were…
