# How Do You Write This Sort of Music?



## kamalayka (Sep 8, 2012)

Is it approached with a "pop" mentality, or is more of a traditional orchestral approach taken?


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

I think it's more pop; the result of having computer programs for composing, like Pro Tools or Logic. It's a typical homophonic melody with accompaniment.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

kamalayka said:


> Is it approached with a "pop" mentality, or is more of a traditional orchestral approach taken?


Millionrainbows is right. A classical piece would have modulation (that little "bridge" doesn't really count) and counterpoint. The polyphony here is more "call-and response" (which is characteristic of popular music) than contrapuntal. Also, the harmony is loaded with gratuitous dissonances, "extra notes" from a classical perspective that serve no functional purpose, which either points to popular music, impressionism, or modernism. Obviously, this is not either of the latter two. The final thing is that there's only really a single rhythm throughout, never changing tempo or even accent despite some syncopations in the bass line.


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## kamalayka (Sep 8, 2012)

millionrainbows said:


> I think it's more pop; the result of having computer programs for composing, like Pro Tools or Logic. It's a typical homophonic melody with accompaniment.


The original music was composed for a video game from around 1995 and performed by real musicians. Was there composing software back then?


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## LordBlackudder (Nov 13, 2010)




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## hreichgott (Dec 31, 2012)

kamalayka said:


> The original music was composed for a video game from around 1995 and performed by real musicians. Was there composing software back then?


You bet there was. Home computers could run Cakewalk by the early 90s. Finale came out around the same time I think. MIDI was standardized in 1982 or 1983 or something, and software to operate MIDI must have arrived shortly thereafter or even before. People working on video games probably had access to more advanced technology at any given time than the average home user.


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

millionrainbows said:


> I think it's more pop; the result of having computer programs for composing, like Pro Tools or Logic. It's a typical homophonic melody with accompaniment.


Such things have been common in "classical" and orchestral music since the late 1600s. (the homophonic melody accompaniment thing)


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

I don't think its a pop or traditional orchestral mentality. Its the mentality of I'm going to write some good music, and the person writing it is influenced by a variety of things. Does Beethoven have the same mentality in writing as Bach did or that Schoenberg did? Does Prince have the same mentality in composing as John Lennon did or Bjork does?


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Mahlerian said:


> Also, the harmony is loaded with gratuitous dissonances, "extra notes" from a classical perspective that serve no functional purpose


If i remember well Schoenberg said a similar thing about the music of Stravinsky.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Have:

midi module with virtual instruments, score software

some feeling for commercial 1970's American Network Television action series soundtracks, or 'the genre.'





a strong hope of getting a healthy amount of money as the paycheck

no shame


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

norman bates said:


> If i remember well Schoenberg said a similar thing about the music of Stravinsky.


Well, it's true there too. Neoclassicism (which was a Modernist movement) is known for so-called non-functional tonality.


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## Mesa (Mar 2, 2012)

PetrB said:


> Have:
> 
> midi module with virtual instruments, score software
> 
> ...


Ahahaha.

Also have 6 espressos (it's the 70s, perhaps coke) and 10 minutes to spare.

Got to love the kind of theme tune where you hear the first bar, then could pause it and think of a better tune in place of it with no challenge whatsoever.


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## trajcep (Apr 25, 2013)

Western Classical Remix  if that exists. haha, just kidding, I really don't know what kind of music this should be.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Mesa said:


> Ahahaha.
> 
> Also have 6 espressos (it's the 70s, perhaps coke) and 10 minutes to spare.
> 
> Got to love the kind of theme tune where you hear the first bar, then could pause it and think of a better tune in place of it with no challenge whatsoever.


For me, a quad espresso is a single beverage, I was alive, conscious and well in the 70's, in my early twenties; then or now, I had / have ten minutes to spare, but for the life of me, all my musical reflexes, training and what not leave me unable to come up with anything like, at all.

You either have to be a very capable journeyman composer with an ability to write whatever is ordered, and not care what sort that is, or a composer who is utterly sincere about writing this genre of music.

From time to time, I've fantasized about being to write in 'anyway' and quickly, because then I could take on of those jobs, put in a rather brief amount of time, walk away with a big fat check. If the thought / fantasy became a bit extended, it always resulted in the thought, "No, I'll keep my little gifts, my slow speed, and mentality, thank you very much."

No question of who has more in the bank though, popular paying more, always.


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