Hi Repluggios,
For those who aren’t familiar with my Godliness, do not hesitate in approaching the seniors. I have little doubt that they’ll have much to say about my brilliant sense of humour, boyish handsomeness but most importantly, my ability to understand most things ABRSM. Now that this paragraph of grammatical masturbation has earned your trust in my worthiness as a mentor, let’s begin.
Melody
Approximately 93.6% of the time, this is the reason songs get stuck in our heads. This is the key ingredient that makes the chant at the end of “Hey Jude” what it is. A melody is a sentence or phrase that is made up of notes.
Useful Analogy: A good melody is like a quote from Shakespeare. A bad one is like a line from the Twilight saga.
Harmony
There’s nothing wrong with a black and white work of art, but sometimes we need colour to bring said work of art to life. Your melody acts as an outline, while the harmonies fill the spaces. Sometimes, breaking the laws of the colour wheel, or even colouring outside of the lines are acceptable, even necessary for achieving a desired effect. Similarly, you should experiment with all types of harmonies to understand what they add to your music.
By the way: Intervals are your colour wheel. You have to know the rules before you break them.
Useful Analogy: Hell, the entire thing was an analogy.
Rhythm
Note values, rests, these make all the difference. Sure, you can write a perfectly functional bass line with only semiquavers. Avenged Sevenfold did.
Useful Analogy: Imagine watching the Lord of the Rings with the entire casts reading their scripts at 200bpm with no pauses. Protest the Tolkien.
Tone
The sound of your instrument can make or break the overall musical experience. Though the musically literate can appreciate scores without having them performed, actual listening is often preferred. Therefore, the instrument producing the sounds has to deliver the experience the way it was intended.
Useful Analogy: Imagine listening to your favourite song on a pair of fake Beats. Actually, the fake ones aren’t that bad. Seriously, why are you guys spending so much on the real thing?
Directions
As stage performers, we tend to mistake “emotion” for “weird orgasm face while soloing”. As a result, we often put on a visual spectacle with a monotonous soundtrack. Feel free to Google the term “performance directions” for more details.
With that, I end this caffeine-fueled rant. Keep in mind that the advice I give is based on concepts which I personally find useful. Do not feel obliged to take any of it. I hope that all of you grow as musicians and as decent human beings unlike me, whether or not this article helps.
