How to compose a musical phrase from scratch

Writing a musical phrase from the ground up can seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. With a little bit of creativity and structure, anyone can compose a unique, powerful musical phrase. Here are some tips to get you started.

1. Start with a Concept: Before you dive into writing a musical phrase, spend some time brainstorming and coming up with a concept. You should write out a few words that describe the idea behind the phrase. Is it tangy, bright, smooth, or serpentine? What does it convey? A feeling of sadness, joy, anger, or relaxation?

2. Choose the Instrumentation: Once you have a concept in mind, you can start to think about the instrumentation you’ll use. Do you want to use a single instrument, or a combination? Different instruments will help bring different characteristics to your phrase – for example, an acoustic guitar gives a warm, earthy sound, while a saxophone can be much brighter and more vibrant.

3. Start with the Harmony: The harmony is an essential part of any musical phrase. Take a look at what chords sound good together and experiment with different chord progressions. Do some of the chords suggest a certain mood or emotion?

4. Focus on the Melody: Now that you’ve set the foundation with the harmony, you can focus on the melody. Think about which notes you’d like to use and how they’ll fit into the chord progression. Experiment with different rhythms and see how they interact with the harmony.

5. Consider Dynamics: The dynamics of a musical phrase can be just as important as the notes and chords. Think about how you want the dynamics to change throughout the phrase – does it start softly and then build to a climax? Or does it stay in one place throughout?

6. Final Touches: Finally, take the time to double check your musical phrase. Is it the length and structure you want? Does it still have the concept you had in mind when you started? Once you’re happy with the finished phrase, you’re ready to go!

Composing a musical phrase from scratch can turn out to be a truly rewarding experience. With a concept in mind and careful consideration of the harmony, melody, and dynamics, you can create a powerful phrase that expresses the emotion and idea behind it. Give these tips a try and see what unique.

In this video we’re going to learn how to write a melody that fits a certain (functional) Chord Progression.

To do this we use a variety of techniques, such as Chord Tones, Passing Tones and Fragmentation.

Learning about these techniques and concepts can help you in building complete musical phrases that make sense and that give your music a sense of forward momentum. It’s also great for those moments where you feel uninspired and you just need some method for creating interesting melodic ideas.

If you want to understand more about the progression that is being used in this video it might help to check our video on Functional Harmony as well:

https://www.adsrsounds.com/music-theory-tutorials/a-brief-introduction-to-functional-harmony/

Overview

00:05 Introduction
00:56 Musical Example
02:13 The Chord Progression
03:41 Creating the First Motif
05:06 Creating the Second Motif
05:43 Adding Passing Tones
06:26 Repetition of the Basic Idea (The 2 Motives)
09:00 Fragmentation
11:24 The Result
12:47 Recap

► Learn more music theory : https://www.adsrsounds.com/csoftware/music-theory/