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"Create Your Own"

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Step 1 - Select a Key

Choose a Lydian mode for your composition. (Remember, the Lydian mode is simply a major scale with a raised 4th note.) If you pick C Lydian, the notes you will use for your melody will be C, D, E, F#, G, A and B:  

Use these notes in any order or octave.

Step 2 - Create the Theme

Using the above-mentioned notes, start to compose your melody. Don't be afraid to use broad gestures in the rhythm of the melody. In other words, give the melody notes some breathing room. Remember that only half of the music's energy comes from the melody. The other half comes from the supporting action vamp and additional accompaniment.

Do not get frustrated if the perfect melody doesn't come to you quickly. Even the best composers have to struggle sometimes to get the melody just the way they want it. View your first few attempts at writing Adventure music as an exercise. Try a few different themes. One of them will feel stronger than the others. Limit the theme to no more than sixteen bars.

Step 3 - Choose Instrumentation for the Theme

Once you have composed a theme to your satisfaction, start to think about which instrument or instruments will perform it most effectively. After you have been composing and orchestrating for awhile, you will already have an instrument in mind while you compose the theme. If you own a synthesizer or a sampler, it is very helpful to compose the theme while playing the sound of the instrument you will be using.  In the beginning attempts, it is probably wisest to give the melody to the French Horns, the violins or both.

Step 4 - Write the Vamp

Now that you have composed a theme and decided on who will play it, it's time to support the theme with an action vamp. You can limit the action vamp to just one note. This note is usually the root note. Since you are composing this first example in C Lydian, the action vamp note will be C.

Now find an interesting rhythmic pattern for this note. The pattern can be as short as one bar. Remember that repeated notes on the off beats create a more interesting forward momentum. So, use the downbeat of beat 1 and then use several of the off beats in that bar. You can repeat this pattern continually underneath the entire melody.

Step 5 - Choose Instrumentation for the Vamp

Choose which instruments would most successfully execute this vamp. Start with the basses. They always provide the best foundation to build upon. You can then double them with the cellos, the bass trombone, the tuba, the timpani, the snare drum and the piano. Use any combination of these instruments – or all of them - with the basses. It all depends on how much weight you want to give to this vamp.

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Step 6 - Create an Additional Accompaniment

If you feel that still sections in the theme can use more energy, create a fast accompaniment to play over the theme and vamp. This can be a fast violin run, staccato violin notes or bright, staccato, brassy notes from the trumpets or French horns. Use this accompaniment figure sparingly. Too much of this additional activity can overwhelm the theme and make the music too cluttered. Even though we want to build as much excitement as possible into our Adventure music, it still needs some breathing room.

Step 7 - Add a Secondary Theme or a Key Change

After you have created your first sixteen bars of music, you can introduce a short secondary theme or you can modulate to a new key and repeat the original theme in this new key. Familiarize yourself with key changes. Each type of modulation has a unique feel to it. Modulating up a major 3rd feels quite different from modulating up a minor 3rd.

Step 8 - Vary the Orchestration

After reviewing your composition, you could find that, although it has energy, it may be lacking some color. You might want to try splitting up the theme and passing sections of it around to other instruments. Make sure you  use plenty of colorful sounds such as the piccolo, the glockenspiel, the chimes, the triangle, cymbals and of course the harp. Adding these extra colors at the end of your compositional process is like adding a little extra spice to your recipe.

Step 9 - Finish with a Bang

Don't forget to conclude the piece with a grand gesture that inserts a musical exclamation point at the end!