Welcome to this first video on recording in MuseScore. These
early videos are created for you for two reasons. One is to help you understand
how to analyze compositions that are presented to you. Second, how to compose
the compositions.
So, the first thing we are going to do is to go to file,
save as, and we are going to want to save this in a proper manner. I have my
last name, first name, underscore, Comp1. For each draft I do of this I am
going to have a different number. Let’s call this draft 2. I will keep updating
this, let’s get started with that. When you turn in the final project, just get
rid of the draft and the number.
OK, let’s have a listen. I have to go back to the beginning
here. Page up and click on this and then start.
<music>
OK, so what you will notice is that for the first four
measures (page up, get back to the beginning) …the first four measures of your
composition there will be a trumpet part with the melody. The top part,
saxophone, has no melody at all. Then you have some accompanying instruments
below. For your compositions in this course only enter notes in the upper part.
However, since this is a composition called “Call and Response,” you first want
the trumpet to do the call, to play, and then you give the response when the
trumpet is done. So, your first notes would be written in this measure.
Good, let’s go back to this and listen again paying close
attention to what this melody is doing in terms of notes, the contour, and the
types of notes going on here.
<music>
Very good, very good. Did you notice that there is a
repetition in this melody? Good melodies almost always have some repetition in
them. We have this line coming up here. Notice how it repeats here. We have
note values here, shorter note values equivalent to this note here. You will
learn later in the course that these are eighth notes, and these are quarter
notes. But you can see that the line here is the same. Let me play that for
your one more time.
<music>
Yeah, and then the ending of each one features a quarter
note and a half note. Here the rhythm is a little bit “jazzed” up. A little bit
of a variation on this. So, we really have two elements: one with the eighth
notes here and the other element with the quarter notes.
Now, for my response, I don’t want to respond with anything
that comes to mind, I want to reflect the conversation that has already
started. So, the trumpet has give me some materials that I need to respond to
with some of the same types of materials. I like this idea here with the four
eighth notes. So, I want to start out with something like the four eighth
notes. Oh, I notice that it starts with this thing here, which is a rest. I
want to start with that same rest value. That happens to be a quarter rest. You
will learn that a little bit later. I want to start with that same value here.
So, I am going to click on the rest here, and if I touch the number 5 that
should divide this rest up. There you go. OK, it divides up the rest. So, I
could actually start on this beat here.
Now, when I am making my melody, when I am imitating the
trumpet in the saxophone part, I also need to pay attention to the harmony—very
important. I have for you in this course a “cheat sheet.” Later on in the
course you will be learning about harmonies, but the cheat sheet helps you out.
So, I have D, lower case m, 7. The lower-case m means minor.
Here is the sheet. We are looking for Dm7. I know that I need a D, F, A, and C. Now, with
our melodies it is usually a good idea to start in the melody with harmony
note, D-F-A-C. Any of those notes would be OK to start on.
I think that I will go ahead and start on the D. OK, let me
press on the note input tool. I am going to use this value note. Oops.
Control-z gets rid of that. I really wanted it to begin on D, E, F, G. Again, I
am looking for the same sort of line. I may vary that later in the piece, but
for now let’s do that. That last note is going to be a full quarter note here.
Let me do the same sort of thing for the next one too. So, I
need to have a rest here, OK. Now I want a note again. I am going to start on
the C. Oh, I forgot, let’s look up the C minor 7. I need a C, Eb, G, Bb. So, I
have C here. D, we will learn about key signatures later—that gives us an Eb.
Look at the contour. I have an F7, don’t? F7 in the chord chart is: F, A, C,
Eb. Why don’t I end on the Eb there, like that? Page up, get back to the frame.
Although D minor 7 only has D, F natural, A natural, and C
in it, I have other notes that are stepwise in it. Eb and G are not chord
members. That is OK. Good melodies are a mix of chord members and non-chord
members. But the important notes—the D starting the melody and particularly
long note values—need to be chord members. The F is a long note value. It is
longer than the other notes.
Here is our C, D is not a chord member—that is alright. F7
has an Eb and F in it so these are chord members. OK, what do you say we listen
to what I have done so far?
<music>
Yeah, can you hear how this answers very nicely this line in
here? It makes sense. I am responding to the call with material from the call.
It is call and response. So that worked out really quite nicely. It fits the
chords. The saxophone notes are in the right range. If you keep within the staff
you are fine. You can go a little bit above the staff, a little bit below the
staff, but keep it pretty much in this range. That would be very appropriate
for the saxophone.
Good, now I want to finish this up. Why don’t I use this
figure here with a couple of quarter notes and a half note. This is a quarter
note and this is a half note. You will learn about these in the next lessons,
so don’t worry about knowing all of this material just yet. But understand how
contours work in call and responses.
I ended on an E flat. Fm7, let’s take a look at F minor 7:
F, Ab, C, Eb. I ended on an E flat and I can have an E flat there as well. Use
the note entry tool or I could just simply press “n.”
<music adding notes>
Let’s just keep within F minor. Why don’t we do some of the
same things for this one too? B flat 7, let me look up Bb7: Bb, D, F , Ab.
<music adding notes>
Why don’t I add a D here? That is all within the chord, that
should be fine. If I wanted to, I could even bring this up to the E flat here
although it is not necessary. Then the trumpet starts. Then I should not have
any more notes there.
The issue is, am I imitating the original call here? Let’s
look. Page up again, page up again. We have this “leapy” thing going on here.
It leaps and steps here. I have that rhythm and step and leaping, step and
leaping. OK, let’s see if it works here. Go back to the beginning. Turn off the
note, click on here, and play.
<music>
Hey, I think that worked pretty well. What do you think? So,
I managed to respond well to the melody by quoting some of the note values,
some of the contours of that melody, stepwise in places, “leapy things”—leaps
in others. I included chord members, but also I included some non-chord tones
as well. The longest notes in these were all chord members. Particularly that
is important when you leap a long way—do a chord member. I did that in these
and it worked out well.
So, these are some guidelines for what you need to look at
when you are analyzing the melodies. I also kept the saxophone part in an
appropriate range. I don’t go way under the staff or way above the staff. It is
all in a pretty good range so this all came together.
Now, I have put a lot of work in this, so I better be sure
to save this as another draft here. Let’s call this draft 3. I should have
saved it even earlier. The more you save the better in case there is some
computer problem. So, I have saved it. Now I am ready to continue on.
I have hope this has been helpful for you. We will be
looking at the last part of the composition in the next video.