In language learning, there is a well known hack or trick to pushing through early stages much quicker than the 'average' learner and it’s to find the top 300 most used words or patterns in the language and to learn those first.
THIS is what we’re doing in this course.
The aim of this course is to help composers arrange more fluently at the piano by focusing on practicing the fundamental patterns of arrangement.
When you have this skill & knowledge of arranging patterns under your belt you can:
- Start combining and manipulating them in many different ways.
- You start hearing these patterns everywhere! Which shows you music isn’t as hard as you thought!
- You can deconstruct your favorite music and emulate it with ease
- You can develop musical ideas with ease and finally start finishing that pile of sketches that you have been building up! : )
Performing musicians practice - all the time. That’s how they get better. But how do you practice if you’re a composer? Usually the advice is:
"write lots of music on the job and listen to new music all the time"
Both of these are absolutely true and probably the best bits of advice you can get. If you’re not already doing them, stop reading this and do that solidly for a week and see what happens!
However, my guess is that you’re already doing this, and it’s not answering all your questions. The thing is, most early stage composers get stuck when writing - quite a lot. And it’s really an issue of vocabulary.
How can we write without a basic vocabulary of patterns and how can we emulate what we’re listening to if we can’t understand it?
My hope is that at the end of this course you’ll have built up and continue to be building a powerful skillset at the piano and have a wealth of arranging principles on which to draw from. And my hope is that these two pillars will allow you to express your compositional ideas more fluently and more reliably.
I hope to see you on the inside!
- Introduction - https://youtu.be/qIEVrrOzCNw
- Outline & Goals - https://youtu.be/QQ7rH43R_xU
- Resources - https://youtu.be/woDyfi6QGMY
- Introduction to Harmony - https://youtu.be/zIqtlOSVDfo
- How to Use This Section - https://youtu.be/97y-5vQ6hPk
- Keystones - https://youtu.be/7seKBDy40QI
- 1565 Progression - https://youtu.be/DQLi9NG0N6U
- Einaudi Progression - https://youtu.be/9W360QvDk5U
- 12 Bar Blues Progression - https://youtu.be/JjY0BYa1gHA
- Time Progression - https://youtu.be/wiV1io9jygs
- Step Down Progression
- The Sequence Progression
- Lord Chords Progression
- Minor 4 Soul Progression
- Secondary Dominants
- Jazz Blues Progression
- Chord Relationships + Bitonality
- Outlines
- Jamming
- Transcription
- Pattern Library
- Example Outlines
- Introduction
- Inversions
- Closed & Open Position
- Doubling, Dropping & Adding
- 3rds, 6ths & 10ths
- Grace Notes
- Harmonizing Melody
- Rootless
- Voice Leading
- Introduction
- Block
- Broken Chords & Arpeggiation | Part 1
- Broken Chords & Arpeggiation | Part 2
- Alternating Chords
- Comping
- Stride
- Bass Line
- Groove & Loops
- Introduction to Groove
- Tempo & Time
- Strong & Weak Beats
- Subdivision
- Swing
- Imperfection
- Grace Notes & Ghost Notes
- Cross Rhythms
- One Chord Genre Practice
- Flowing Hands
- Sequences
- Pentatonics
- Paired Pentatonics
- Multi Scales
- Putting it all together
- Practice & Composing Tips | Pt 1
- Practice & Composing Tips | Pt 2
- Practice & Composing Tips | Pt 3
- Conclusion