Composing music (2) |
Using the accompaniment styles [Professional] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] We will first learn how to use an
accompaniment style. We will then study how a style is
structured and how you can modify it or create a new style.
Pizzicato contains 20 documents with musical libraries
oriented towards styles of light music: They are available in the File menu , Open
template
item in the Accompaniments
sub-category. As an example for this lesson, we will work with
the Rumba style. Open this document. Its main view
appears as follows: This structure is the same for all styles. Only the
instruments and the library contents are different. The basic
idea of an accompaniment style is as follows: each instrument of
the group plays the rhythmic and melodic structures repeated in a
regular way (on 1 or 2 measures or more). At every instant, the
notes played by all instruments are coordinated by a chord
progression which is the same for each instrument. This common
chord progression leads all instruments in an harmonious way. Let us take the simplest case to start. A chord progression is
provided as an example for each style. By holding the Control key
, double-click on the Example score. The sequencer view opens: This view displays the libraries contained in the measures.
You will notice that the chords progression is present in the
first measure of staff 1. For all styles, the selected option is
that the chords progression is valid for all staves (see the Libraries...
item in the Options menu). In the Edit menu,
select the Generate score item. Pizzicato calculates the
score by combining the musical libraries contained in the
measures. Once the operation is finished, press the space bar to
hear the sound result. Also open the score view of the Example
score to view the generated notes. It is the easiest manner
to use a style. Let us see now how to create a chord progression and use it
with a style. Close the score example views and open the Chords
library - 1.piz document located in the Music folder.
We will create the following progression: C Maj 7 - F Maj 7 - C min 7 - F min 7 -
C Maj 7 In the document Chords library - 1.piz, select in the
Edit menu the New element
then New
chord
item. In the dialog box that appears, select the
Chords progression option. Call it Test and
check the Duration associated in multiples of Whole note box.
Click OK. Open the Test folder and to make the next handling
easier, drag this Test window to the bottom right corner
of the screen. Double-click on the Maj 7 icon. Its contents
displays all seventh major chords: Drag the CMaj 7 chord into the window of our Test
folder. Do the same for the FMaj 7 chord. Close the
Maj 7 folder. The first two chords are placed. Open the Min
7 folder now and drag the Cmin 7 chord and then F
min 7. Close this folder and copy again the CMaj 7
chord from the Maj 7 folder. Your Test folder
becomes: Close this folder and drag the main window to the bottom of
the screen, so that the main Rumba window is still
visible. Now drag the Test icon into the Rumba document
main view. Close the Chords library - 1.piz document
without saving the changes. This way of proceeding is recommended to create a new chord
progression. Here is a step by step description: You can also use the 20 progressions which are in the Chords
library - 3.piz document. Open this document to drag the
chords progression in the working document and close Chords
library - 3.piz. Let us continue our example. By holding down the SHIFT key,
double-click the Test folder of the Rumba window.
The following dialog box appears: As we have seen in the lessons about libraries, the text boxes
labeled Duration allows to specify how much time the
chord will be used. As we have chosen the whole note as the basic
duration (during the creation of the chord folder), the duration
associated with a chord specifies how long this chord will be
heard. For the first, fill in "4" in the duration box.
Click then on the second chord and fill in "2". For the
others, fill each one of them with "2". Our progression
will contain 4+2+2+2+2 whole notes, i.e. 12 "4/4"
measures. Click OK. The basic duration of a chord folder must be the shortest that
will be used in the score. The longer chords are adjusted with
the above dialog box, by specifying for each one of them how long
it must be held. Open the sequencer view of the Example score. Drag
the Test folder into the first measure of track 1. Then
generate the score. Listen to the sound result. You will note
that after measure 12, the same chord is kept up to the end. As
our progression contained only 12 measures, Pizzicato continues
with the last chord. The Example score contains 20
measures and its structure is fixed. Let us see how to build a
new score and how to structure it. Close the sequencer view of the Example score and
open the Template score. This score contains only one
measure. Our chord sequence has a total duration of 12 measures. Double-click on the first measure of track 1 and add 11
measures with the measures dialog box. The instruments are prepared for the style, but the measures
are empty. We will complete this score by dragging the rumba
musical libraries in it. The main view contains 4 musical score :
Intro, Rhythm, Break and End
(blue icons, not to confuse with the yellow folders to the right,
bearing the same names). Intro contains library elements which form an
introduction of the instruments. It is used at the beginning of a
piece to form a transition to the main rhythm. Rhythm contains the main repetitive rhythmic. It is
this element which constitutes most of the score. Break forms a break in the main rhythm. It is used
for example between the verses or the chorus. It can also be used
to break the monotony of a long passage with the same rhythm. End is formed with one or two measures of conclusion
for a score. It is a transition between the main rhythmic and the
complete stop of the music. It is commonly used in the last
measure. By combining these 4 elements in the score, you can structure
the accompaniment so that it is well adapted to a melody and a
chord progression. The main structure of a score could break up
as follows: or We will structure our 12 measures in the following way: When you add an element in a measure, it remains valid until
you add another one. In other words, if you add a rhythm in
measure 1 only, this rhythm will be heard from there up to the
end. To add one of these 4 elements in the score, you need to drag
the score (Intro, Rhythm, Break or End) on the
first track (staff) of the sequencer view measure. Drag Intro
into track 1 measure 1. The sequencer view becomes: Do the same with the other elements and successively drag (in
track 1): Drag the Test chords folder into track 1 measure 1.
Generate the score and listen to the result. Open the score and
observe the notes. The first staff is ready for a melody. You can
record it with the sequencer or fill it directly on the score.
You can also use the rhythms and melodies libraries to help you
find a melody which sounds well on the chords. You can modify the
distribution of the instruments, the bass, guitar or piano type. Once the score is generated by Pizzicato, you can of course
modify what you want in the score to personalize the percussion
effects or the bass line, or to modify the position of a chord.
You can thus use the accompaniments system to structure your
score and then to personalize it with all the other tools of
Pizzicato. At this time, you can erase the musical libraries:
your score becomes independent and you can also print it. When you compose in this manner starting from an accompaniment
model, save your document under a new name (Save as...
item in the File menu). In this manner, you will not
lose the original accompaniments. Structure of a style [Professional] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] To use a style does not require a complete
understanding of the musical libraries principles. On the
other hand, if you wish to modify or create a style, you need
to carefully read the lessons concerning the Pizzicato
composition libraries. Let us see now what is the link
between what we have just done and the musical libraries
explained in the course. Just beside the 4 basic scores (blue), you
can observe 4 theme folders (yellow, with a capital letter T)
bearing the same names. It is in these folders that the
construction blocks of each instrument of the score are
prepared. Double-click on the folder named Rhythm.
Its contents appear: Each instrument is inside a sub-folder.
Double-click on the Guitar folder and its contents
appear: Double-click the Guitar 1 element
and the contents of the measure appear: It is here that you can modify the contents
of what the guitar will play during the main rhythmic. The
notes must be introduced as if it was a C major chord. When
Pizzicato finds other chords, it will adapt the notes but
will respect the rhythmic structure and the number of notes.
Close the score. In this case, there are two elements. Open
Guitar 2 to see what it contains then close it. Open the options dialog box of Guitar 1
(double-click with the Control key). Notice that the total
duration of the theme is limited to 4 quarter notes. Close
this dialog box. Close the Guitar window. Open the Guitar
folder options now: It is an ordered combination which is
repeated ad infinitum (repeat "0" times). The Guitar
1 and Guitar 2 elements in this folder will
thus be alternated during the rhythm. It will not be
transposed. Pizzicato will thus simply adapt the contents to
the closest notes of the current chord. Close this window. Consult several other elements now in order
to find what they contain. Close all windows other than the main view.
We will see now how the Rhythm score is built.
Double-click on this score (blue). The score view appears and
shows you the libraries contained in the measures. The score
(just like the 3 others) contains 1 measure and the same
number of instruments as the template. The themes folders are
placed by instrument in the measures. When you drag this
score in the sequencer as we did, the contents of each
instrument is copied in the destination measure. It is a very
easy way to structure an accompaniment. Without that, it
would be necessary to separately drag each folder into the
correct measures of the score, for each instrument and each
type (intro, rhythm, break and end). To build a new type, you need to create a
score of only one measure and that contains the same number
of staves as the template. Then create and place library
elements (themes, rhythms, melodies) in the measure of each
instrument. The new elements created can remain in the main
view or be grouped in a new folder. To modify a style, here are the points on
which you can act: Close the document without saving the
changes. To create a style, you can either start from an
existing style and modify its elements, or use the New
style template located File menu, Open
template, Accompaniments item. The structure is similar
to the 20 accompaniment styles but the library elements are
empty. We advise you the following steps to create a new
style starting from this document: