"... so the moral was, if u need instruction to create, u maybe should't be doing it in the first place."
Heh, he obviously didnt like sharing his secrets. The reason I think a bit of theory wont go amiss is that if we want 2 share our views on dance music compostiton, the musical side, that is, we all need at least some basic knouledge of how music works. True, u can only
realy get in2 it with a lot of background knowledge but if we all put our heads together I'm sure we could come up with some valid arguments.
"i hope i wasn't talking too much bollocks, because these things i've had pretty much figure out on my own, because curiously, there seem to be no musicological resources illuminating things that have boggled me..."
The study of music in a contemporary framework is very new concept and is only touched on by certain establishments. Have u read Nicholas Cook's veiws? Very, very interestin (comin from me, & u all know what I can b like bout doin my work ;)... ) Well, 4 £5 u can get:
"Music, a Very Short Introduction" Oxford Univercity Press. It's "short" and covers the main issue of what music is, what it has inevitably become....
Now, take the books on the rave culture, dance music in general....historical chronologies.... "Thatcherism...." yes,
all of'em mention flippin' Thatcherism....interesting from a sociological perspective but absolutely no use 2 our followers, people
making music. The exception being the "Rough Guide to....(cant remember if it was Drumm&Base or summink)" had a look at it-naf as fuck! I looked up Omni Trio as an example and the fella was descrivin the piano part "like some blissfull mouthfull of notes being struck in the style of a funeral march" or somesuch toss-when I read the words "Vagnerian like Leit Motifs" I put the book back on the shelf....So what I mean 2 say is there isnt a corossover between the sociological/MIDI/classical perspectives. Each approach on it's oun cant fully explain what's goin on in the dance genre-that's why I think there's so much confution goin round.
(by the way, it's raining so I'm afraid everythng's gona get the long winded explanation 2day...coz I'm not leavin the house)
As 4 the leading note bizznizz, I think u're definitely right 2 experiment with the modal system aswell. We're told in composion lecture 2 "take a field day from tonality", as in the lecturer is trying 2 emphasise 2 the "noteheads" that u dont have 2 use a standard Western harmonic system...on the other hand, they dont take 2 wormly 2 my happy hardcore..."save that sort of work 4 your studio modules".....tut tut...
Looking more closely at the 2 basslines u can c that they r both simple, catchy and extreemly cliche'd. In context, they r both
sequences, as in the same pattern is then repeated at at different pitch. Take the baseball 1, if I remember correctly it raises by a semitone each time, this creates tention 4 it's never resolivng anywhere. U must remember that music written specificaly 4 pirposes such as the media (TV/sports jingles....) has a whole new dimention and purpose so u wouldnt tend 2 opt 4 preffering such music (I know what u mean though...). The second bassline is funckyer, fair enuf, but wouldnt u then play:
F3 F3 C3 Eb....?
Blues scales...12 bar blues....cliche/formula?
When I'm writing choons I try all sorts of different modes, not only the major/minor scales. It goes 4 a lot though, not just harmony...think of rythm and form-that's why lost of pop/rock music boares me, it;s because people simply arent experimenting with all the resources we have.
(Pedal note: bass note that is held below changing harmonies)