May 2016 - Composer's Toolbox

Tool #50: Writing for Voice – Step 1

DanLisMusic Posted on May 29, 2016

Instrumental composition is hard. It is rewarding, but challenging nonetheless. Even harder (in my opinion) than instrumental composition is vocal composition. Here I would like to start talking about writing for the voice, and focus on working with text first. Step 1: selecting the text to work with There are a few questions you will […]

Melody Rhythm Theory Tools for Composers

Tool #49: Retrograde

DanLisMusic Posted on May 13, 2016

To continue my discussion on motivic development, I would like to explore a technique that is simple at first glance, but can be developed into a very complex process. Retrograding a motive is, at its simplest, reversing it. So, a simple melody played backwards is the melody in retrograde. This is a very effective tool […]