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"Create Your Own"

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Step 1 - Choose a specific aspect of nature

Before you start to compose any music, it is important to think about what aspect of nature you are trying express. This way, you won't run into trouble later by trying to orchestrate a moment of grandeur that has too many melody notes. These bigger moments have fewer notes with more of a sweeping motion to them. Delicate depictions of nature can withstand a few faster notes. This brings out the lightness and constantly changing quality of nature.

Step 2 - Set the mood with a lush chord

To create your music, first concentrate on the harmony. Choose a lush chord structure to establish the mood. For this first example, use the Major 6/9 chord with a major 7th. Any key will work well for this chord, but for this example let's choose the key of F. Our opening chord will be an F Major 6/9 with a Major 7th. The notes to this chord are: F (an octave and a half below Middle C), C (one octave below Middle C), A (a minor 3rd below Middle C), D (a whole step above Middle C), G (a perfect 5th above Middle C), C (one octave above Middle C) and E (one octave and a 3rd above Middle C).

Step 3 - Develop the harmony

Play around with this chord to see how long you want it to last. You might want to hold this chord for four bars, or as little as one bar. After you decide the duration of this chord, it's time to move to another harmony. You will not have to find another chord. All you need to do is modulate this chord up or down. A very effective move is to modulate this chord down one whole step. This will make our new chord an Eb major 6/9 chord with a major 7th.

Step 4 - Repeat the chord structure with modulations

This progression of the first chord moving to the second chord can be repeated as many times as you like. However, keep in mind that this chord structure has such an interesting sound that you can keep modulating this chord to many keys without fear of the harmony sounding repetitive. Fill the duration of your entire composition with this one chord structure. Too many modulations of this chord can be confusing, and too few can feel stagnant. Find the right balance for these harmonic changes.

Step 5 - Compose the melody

Now that you have your harmony in place, you can start to compose your melody. To find your melody notes, just use the notes that are found in the current harmony. Use them in any order. While you are holding your first chord, your choice of melody notes are F, G, A, C, D and E. These are the same notes as your first harmony - they are just in a different order. You will also notice that these notes are same notes as an F major scale, minus the 4th note (Bb). If you need to use the 4th note of this scale, you can use it as is, or raise the 4th to a B natural. It all depends on what atmosphere you are trying to evoke.

Step 6 - Establish the rhythm

Place these notes in a rhythm that uses a combination of slow and fast moving notes. This mirrors the duality of nature – it is both restful and active. But as we discussed in step #1, keep in mind what aspect of nature you are trying to depict. Construct your theme using 2 or 4 bar phrases. Place a pause in the melody after each phrase. (A pause can simply be holding the last note of a phrase for a few beats). While your melody briefly pauses, fill in that space with a counter melody. You will still have continuous harmony supporting these melodies and counter melodies, so there will never be holes (silence) in the music.

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Step 7 - Commence orchestration

Start to orchestrate all these elements. Give all the harmony to the strings. The basses or cellos play the lowest notes, the violas the middle notes and the violins the top notes. Try to evenly balance the weight of each chord note. For example, the bass only needs to play the lowest note, and the violin section (1st and 2nd violins) can evenly divide the top 4 notes of the chord among themselves.

Step 8 - Orchestrate the melody

Think about the proper instrumental weight for your melody line. To express the beauty of delicate wildlife, you would want to match that emotion with a clarinet, oboe or flute. If you are trying to depict the grandeur of the Rocky Mountains, vast plains or canyons, you might want to use the French horns. Use a different instrumentation for your counter melodies. If you decide to use a bowed tremolo effect in the violins to support a counter line, you can adjust the orchestration of your harmony so that the first violins are free to perform this. Just re-balance your harmony chord without the first violins.

Step 9 - Keep the parts simple

Don't worry about trying to write too many different parts. All you need for this example are the harmony, melody and counter melody. You can add a little sparkle and variation to the sound by the light addition of celesta, glockenspiel, harp, triangle, bell tree and wind chimes. You can also add an additional element of variation to the harmony part simply by having the strings crescendo and decrescendo as they hold a chord.