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Before You Start | |
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So You Want to Write Your Own Music... | |
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What Is Composition? | |
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Different Approaches to Composition | |
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Harmonic Composition | |
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Melodic Composition | |
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Holistic Composition | |
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Layering | |
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Learning How to Write Your Own Music | |
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Imitation Is More Than Flattery-It's a Learning Tool! | |
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Learning in the Real World | |
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Further Reading | |
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Careers in Music Composition | |
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The Composer's Toolkit | |
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Essential Music Theory | |
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A Trained Ear | |
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Performance Skills | |
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Conducting Skills | |
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Penmanship | |
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Blank Staff Paper | |
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Transposition Skills | |
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Orchestration Skills | |
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Computers and Other Hardware | |
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Music-Notation Software | |
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Other Music Software | |
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Harmonic Composition | |
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Composing with Chords | |
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Which Chords Can You Work With? | |
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Using Chord Leading to Create Chord Progressions | |
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Which Chords Lead to Which | |
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Creating Chord Progressions with Chord Leading | |
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Working Backward from the Final Chord | |
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Common Chord Progressions | |
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Ending a Phrase | |
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Perfect Cadence | |
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Plagal Cadence | |
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Imperfect Cadence | |
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Interrupted Cadence | |
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The Key Matters | |
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Chord Progressions in a Minor Key | |
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Establishing a Harmonic Rhythm | |
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Applying Chord Progressions to Musical Structure | |
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Putting Melody to Your Chords | |
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Exercises | |
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Creating More Sophisticated Chord Progressions | |
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Breaking the Rules | |
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Extending the Chords | |
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Inverting the Chords | |
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Using Altered Bass Chords | |
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Using Compound Chords | |
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Working with a Pedal Point | |
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Employing Chord Substitutions | |
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Diatonic Substitutions | |
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Major Chord Substitutions | |
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Minor Chord Substitutions | |
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Dominant Seventh Substitutions | |
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Functional Substitutions | |
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Using Nonscale Chords | |
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Using Chords as Tonal Centers | |
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Trust Your Ears! | |
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Exercises | |
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Melodic Composition | |
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Understanding Melody | |
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Melody-The Most Important Part of a Composition | |
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Defining Melody | |
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What Makes a Melody Melodic? | |
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A Good Melody Has Movement | |
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A Good Melody Is Familiar-Yet Unexpected | |
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A Good Melody Sets Up-and Resolves-Tension | |
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A Good Melody Has a Center | |
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A Good Melody Repeats Itself | |
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A Good Melody Has Form | |
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A Good Melody Stays in Range | |
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A Good Melody Is Unique | |
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The Building Blocks of Melodic Form | |
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The Motif | |
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The Short Melodic Phrase | |
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The Long Melodic Phrase | |
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Longer Forms | |
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Creating a Shape | |
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Exercises | |
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Using Scales and Modes | |
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Basing a Melody on the Notes of the Scale | |
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Major Scale | |
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Minor Scales | |
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Pentatonic Scale | |
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Whole Tone Scale | |
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Diminished Scale | |
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Blues Scale | |
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Bebop Scale | |
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Modes | |
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Choosing the Right Scale or Mode | |
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Picking the Right Notes to Use | |
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Stable and Unstable Tones | |
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Emphasizing Key Scale Tones | |
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Implying Harmonies | |
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Using Step-Wise and Sip-Wise Motion | |
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Remember the Structure | |
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Exercises | |
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Working With a Melodic Outline | |
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Deconstructing a Melody | |
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Composing a Melody-Structural Tones First | |
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Chord Tones | |
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Key Scale Tones | |
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Stable and Unstable Scale Tones | |
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Working Toward-and Connecting-the Structural Tones | |
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Approach Notes | |
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Passing Tones | |
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Non-Neighboring Connecting Notes | |
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Embellishing Structural Tones | |
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Repeated Notes | |
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Neighboring Tones | |
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Changing Tones | |
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Working Outside the Major Scale | |
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Chromatic Neighbors | |
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Neighbors from Different Scales | |
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Exercises | |
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Using Rhythm and Syncopation | |
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Changing the Rhythmic Pace | |
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Smooth or Choppy? | |
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Embellishing the Rhythm | |
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Adding Repeated Notes | |
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Adding Embellishing Notes | |
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Employing Syncopation | |
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Moving the Melody Forward and Backward in Time | |
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Back Phrasing | |
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Front Phrasing | |
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Developing Rhythmic Themes and Variations | |
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Exercises | |
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Shaping a Melody | |
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Examining Melodic Shape | |
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Choosing a Melodic Contour | |
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Arch | |
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Inverted Arch | |
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Ascending | |
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Descending | |
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Stationary | |
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Combining Contours to Shape a Longer Melody | |
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Building Toward a Climax | |
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Establishing Melodic Movement | |
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Smooth Movement | |
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Disjunct Movement | |
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Mixed Movement | |
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Exercises | |
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Building Tension and Release | |
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Why Tension Is Important | |
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Introducing Tension via Unstable Tones | |
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Introducing Tension in a Chord Progression | |
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Introducing Tension via Dominant Seventh and Diminished Chords | |
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Introducing Tension via Suspended Notes and Chords | |
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Other Ways to Introduce Tension into a Melody | |
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Larger Intervals | |
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Higher Pitches | |
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Faster Rhythms | |
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Increased Syncopation | |
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Increased Volume | |
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Reduced Repetition | |
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Exercises | |
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Harmonizing (and Reharmonizing) a Melody | |
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Fitting Chords to a Melody | |
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Try the Obvious | |
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Use the Melodic Outline | |
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Look for Chord Tones in the Melody | |
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Work Backward | |
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Start Simple | |
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Determine the Harmonic Rhythm | |
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Don't Assume the Obvious | |
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Reharmonizing a Melodic Line | |
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Make Different Choices | |
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Use Chord Substitutions | |
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Add Extensions | |
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Beyond Harmonization | |
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Exercises | |
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Developing the Composition | |
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Creating Longer Compositions | |
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The Importance of Structure in Composition | |
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Working With Motifs and Themes | |
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Building Melodies with Motifs | |
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Establishing a Musical Theme | |
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Writing in Phrases | |
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Symmetry and Asymmetry | |
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Matched and Unmatched Phrases | |
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Creating Multiple-Section Compositions | |
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The Introduction | |
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The Main Sections | |
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The Interlude | |
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The Final Section | |
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The Coda | |
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The Importance of Contrast | |
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Don't Forget the Climax | |
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Creating Even Longer Compositions | |
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Exercises | |
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Employing Repetition and Variation | |
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Creating Longer Compositions with Theme and Variation | |
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Repeating the Theme | |
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Varying the Theme | |
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Sequence | |
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Side Slip | |
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Rhythmic Displacement | |
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Inversions | |
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Retrograde Inversion | |
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Permutation | |
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Same Rhythm, Different Pitches | |
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Same Pitches, Different Rhythm | |
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Augmentation | |
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Diminution | |
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Truncation | |
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Expansion | |
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Modulation | |
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Modal Mixture | |
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Reharmonization | |
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Thinning | |
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Ornamentation | |
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Varying the Variations | |
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Using Repetition and Variation in Your Compositions | |
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Exercises | |
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Creating Multiple-Voice Compositions | |
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Accompanying a Solo Line | |
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Creating a Lead Sheet | |
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Composing an Accompaniment | |
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Employing Two-Part Counterpoint | |
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Types of Contrapuntal Movement | |
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General Rules for Good Counterpoint | |
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Writing for Two Voices-Without Counterpoint | |
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Countersubject | |
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Call and Response | |
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Variations | |
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Contrasting Lines | |
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Parallel Lines (Melodic Coupling) | |
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Similar Lines | |
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Contrary Lines | |
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Oblique Lines | |
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Doubling | |
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Harmonization | |
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Writing Multiple-Part Harmony | |
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Choosing the Notes | |
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Varying the Voicings | |
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Creating Melodic Harmony with Strong Voice Leading | |
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Adding Even More Parts | |
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Exercises | |
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Advanced Techniques | |
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Orchestration and Arranging | |
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Transposing from Concert Key | |
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Learning Ranges and Tonal Characteristics | |
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Strings (Bowed) | |
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Strings (Nonbowed) | |
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Woodwinds | |
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Brass | |
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Keyboards | |
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Percussion | |
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Voices | |
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Choosing Instruments for a Composition | |
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Common Ensembles | |
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Symphonic Orchestra | |
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Chamber Orchestra | |
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String Orchestra | |
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String Quartet | |
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Concert Band | |
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Jazz Band (Big Band) | |
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Choir | |
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Guidelines for Music Scoring | |
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Learning More About Orchestration | |
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Exercises | |
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Working Outside the Basic Key | |
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Changing Keys | |
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Modulating Up a Half-Step | |
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Modulating Up a Whole Step | |
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Modulating Down a Fifth (Up a Fourth) | |
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Modulating via Shared Chords | |
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Modulating Abruptly | |
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Creating Melodies from Outside the Scale | |
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Chromatic Notes as Neighboring Tones | |
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Chromatic Substitution Tones | |
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Chromatic Motifs and Variations | |
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Melodies Based on Nontraditional Scales | |
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Creating Nondiatonic Harmony | |
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Nondiatonic Chord Substitutions | |
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Nondiatonic Chord Leading (Circle of Fifths) | |
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Chords Based on Nontraditional Scales | |
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Fitting Melodies to Nondiatonic Chords | |
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Chord-Tone Melodies | |
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Scale-Based Melodies | |
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Moving Toward Atonalism | |
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Exercises | |
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Beyond Traditional Composition | |
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Atonality | |
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Twelve-Tone and Serial Music | |
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Indeterminacy | |
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Polytonality | |
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Microtonality | |
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Minimalism | |
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Musique Concrete and Electronic Music | |
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Other Experimental Forms | |
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Exercises | |
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Songwriting | |
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Putting Words to Music-or Vice Versa | |
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Words and Music-Equally Important | |
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Make the Rhythm Fit the Words | |
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Edit Accordingly | |
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Create a Sympathetic Contour | |
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Match the Feel | |
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Writing in the Proper Song Form | |
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Introduction | |
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Verse | |
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Chorus | |
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Bridge | |
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Keep It Simple | |
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A Final Word | |
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Exercises | |
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Appendixes | |
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Glossary | |
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Answers to Exercises | |
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Index | |