How To Find Your Musical Goals

There was a comment recently about tips for trying to figure out your goals. This seems to be a tough thing for most people, especially musicians. There are tons of articles out there about how to get things done and succeed. They start off with you making a list of your goals and then move on from there. Unfortunately, figuring out your goals is usually difficult and timing consuming. Some people go through their entire life not knowing what they're goals are. Yet you're supposed to figure this out in a short time and then move on from there. Figuring out what your goals are like asking you what your favorite color is. It's all personal and one person's answers are going to be different than another. The key to figuring out what your goals are is all about asking questions; tons of them. Once you start asking yourself the right questions it will become easier figuring out what direction you should take.


Where Am I?

This should be your first question because all of the others stem from this. If you're just starting out, in the middle of your career, changing directions or trying to look for something new., this will impact all of your other decisions. For example if you're just starting out, you will have tons of options as far as where to start but be limited by your experience whereas if you're in the middle or your career, you will have different priorities. Part of this question relates to other things going on in your life. If you're in your 20's, you'll have different responsibilities than if you were in your 40's. You will have different resources available and different opportunities. For example; you might be in your early 20's, just out of school, not much money but no responsibilities. You are willing to travel and don't need much to get by. Your goals would be different than somebody who was in their 30's who may have experience touring and teaching, newly married and thinking about staring a family. You can see that their goals would be different just based on these few factors. It's important to start here is because any decisions you make are going to affect the rest of your life in some way. Looking at all of the variables allows you to make better informed decisions.

The first step in figuring out your goals is to brainstorm. It's important that for this first session you just let it all go and not think too much about details or even if the goal is realistic or not. It's all about just seeing what moves you and what you want out of life.

The Big List

We're going to start with the big list. We're just going to let it all out here. One exercise that I did when I was going to college was a 'where do you see yourself in 5 years' paper. I still remember what I wrote and to this day most of what was on that paper applies. I was thinking in general terms of all of the things that I wanted to do with music and wasn't worried about being realistic or even succinct. I put down everything that I wanted to do. I'm amazed at to this day how accurate this list was. The only thing that was off was my timing...I was only off about a decade.

Just start writing. Don't worry about how or even why, just write. You may find yourself not believing what you're writing but do it anyway. There are no limits here. Start with your biggest dreams and aspirations and go from there. Don't leave anything out.

You may find that when reviewing this list that it's all over the place. Some of the goals seem to go in a completely different direction than others. While others seem very doable and achievable others seem impossible. Let it go, don't dismiss anything yet.

Long Term Vs. Short Term

There are two sets of goals that you have to create and they all depend on the size and importance of the goal. Generally, the bigger the goal, the longer it will take to accomplish that goal. Also, once you have decided on a big, long term goal, you will have to break it down into smaller, more manageable goals.  One important note, think big. Decide what you really want. These will usually be big dreams and that's perfect for our initial session. We do this because we want to make sure we're aiming for something that we really want and not something that we're willing to settle for. All too often we base our goals on smaller things that we assume will be easier and much more realistic. There are two problems with this; first of all things are rarely as simple as they seem and two, we may end up spending a lot of time and reaching a goal that we weren't all that crazy about in the first place. If you're worried about being realistic and creating manageable goals, wait until the next part of this process.

Keep Em Separated

There's a famous story about Walt Disney who used to keep all of the 'creative' people (artists, writers etc) separate from the 'realistic' (managers, accountants, lawyers etc) people. He would let the creative people roam freely with their ideas and creative output. He would later put the ideas through the administrative people to see what was possible. You want to do the same with your goals. When deciding what you want to do, wait until later before you work out the details. After all you're a musician, it's all about possibilities. Once you've got a good idea of the direction you want to head, then you can sit down and see what's realistically possible in the next year or so.

Direction

You may notice that throughout this post I've used the word direction when describing your goals and career. That's because being a musician is about trying different things, taking different routes and figuring out what to do next. A musician's career is rarely straightforward and simple. You should get used to this process because you're going to have to do it on a regular basis. There are going to be wrong turns, great runs and a lot of not knowing what to do next. Get used to it.

Reality Check

Ok, it's about that time. Time to go over your list and make some decisions. These are usually tough because we're bent on making the right ones first. Let me tell you straight off...you won't make all the right decisions. In fact some of your decisions are going to be completely wrong. But of course, you won't know that until you've actually done them, so don't worry about it.

Keeping Track

It's a good idea to just get started. It's a bad idea to keep doing something just because you started and made some personal investment. It's important that you step back periodically and see if you're happy with the way things are going. Are you getting any results from your actions? Is this something that you feel that you should keep on pursuing? People are really reluctant to give something up once they're put enough time and energy into it...no matter how fruitless the endeavour seems to be. Once again I'm speaking from experience here. I don't know how many times I've stuck with a band simply because I've made such a huge investment in time and effort. It's really important that you step back on a regular basis and take stock at where you are.

There's A Fork In The Road

We do all of this is to give our career some sort of direction. You will want to stick with your decisions and see if they're working. If you've made an effort and see that there's another direction you want to take, then do it. Remember to go through the same process so you don't end up waving all over the place, doing a million things without really getting anything done. Some musicians are guilty of trying to keep all of their options open thinking that this will increase their opportunity for success. In fact, your chances are much better when you have focus and specific direction. Mostly because you're not being pulled in a million directions and not really accomplishing anything. There will come a time however when something unexpected springs up. This happens more when you're doing things right than wrong. For example you may be doing really well with your band when you get approached by another band to do a major tour. This is when your lists really come in handy. What do you do; stick with your band or take the risk and join the other? Of course this a completely personal decision but if you've been regularly checking your goals and making conscious decisions about your career, the decision may be easier to make. If touring is really high on your list your decision would be different if you were bent on getting a new CD released with your current band.

Not A Clue

At this point if you're sitting there and still don't have a clue what you're going to do don't worry, you're not alone. Even with all of this information it still may not be clear to us what direction to take. Either you have too many things you want to do (typical) or no idea whatsoever. The long and short of it is; you're going to have to do something. It's better to do something and get started than to do nothing. Sometimes you may want to put it off and try and figure it out later. There's nothing wrong with wanting to figure out what exactly it is you want to do but you don't want to wait too long. If it's been a couple of months and you're still trying to make out your lists and figuring out the perfect thing to do next is...then stop. Pick something and do it. If you're worried about wasting time heading in the wrong direction don't, remember you just wasted a couple of months not coming up with any ideas of what to do next.

On Your Mark...


This is just the beginning. It's also one step in many. It's important to get into the mindset of figuring out what it is you want to do and how to get there. This list will change. That's typical, especially for musicians. Don't worry about making the perfect moves and decisions. It won't happen. Pick something that you believe in a get going. Stick with it and see if you're getting the results you want. If you aren't, re-examine and start again. Repeat until you get there.

Music Theory For Rock Musicians

During the times that I played in various rock bands one thing that always amazed me was how proud rock musicians were about the fact that they 'knew nothing' about music. It was like knowing something about the theory of music was a bad thing. There was the feeling that real rock musicians didn't know anything about music theory and that was good. There are many reasons why some musicians feel that learning theory is a bad thing that I talked about in a past post. One of the reasons why rock musicians feel that theory isn't useful to them is because they think that it just doesn't apply to what they're playing. There is in fact lots to learn about rock music that is easily explained and easy to learn.


Rock Theory

Whenever I teach, I always ask the student what kind of music they listen to. If they're into rock I will take a different approach than if they were into jazz. The problem with music theory is that it's a huge subject. It's too big to tackle for most people. There are so many facets to theory that it's hard to even apply it to your music. That's why I find out what style of music they're into and apply the theory to that. There are things that are done over and over in rock music that can easiily be taught and explained. There are other things in music theory that happen in other genres that are interesting but don't apply to rock music.

Scales

Most of us start off with learning some scales. Usually you'll try to learn a couple, see how fast you can play them, and it'll end at that. Learning scales is just the first step. You must learn how they apply. You must learn how they apply to rock. Although it doesn't sound like it, rock uses the same basic scales that all other popular music does.  First of all, the melody that the singer is singing is a scale. Rock doesn't go too far with this. It's either major, minor or pentatonic. It doesn't sound like a scale to us because we're used to hearing scales played up and down literally. Most (not all) rock melodies are quite simple and don't jump aroung much. Most of the time a single note is repeated before going on to another. There is also tons of inflections, slides and bends that we naturally do when we sing. Scales really come into play when we study guitar solos. Most of the time the guitar player will use one scale to solo over the entire song.

Chords

Chords follow the same general direction as scales. Rock music usually try to keep things simple. They will change chords on a regular basis throughout the song. Once they establish a rhythm pattern, they will usually stick quite close to it. Most rock music will rarely go beyond the major and minor chords. Rock likes to use added 2nds, 4ths and 6ths along with a few dominant 7th chords. Most of the time they love to use power chords (which is just a 5th i.e. no third). You'll also find that different styles will use the same chord progressions over and over. Rock loves using blues progressions and progressions based on the minor scale. Some metal goes into modes and other territory but rock and pop will usually stick to diatonic chord progressions. The ubiquitous IV-V-I is still as popular as ever.

So What

At this point you may be asking yourself so what? Well getting to know some of these tools will help in the creative process and make learning songs a lot easier. The fact is that most rock musicians know theory. They just don't have the technical terms for what they're doing. They learn things by trail and error (not always a bad thing) and then go about applying to their music. All of their theory comes in slowly from learning songs, solos, and some basic theory (usually passed on from another musician or band member).

The List

Here is a starter list of things your should be practicing and going over on a regular basis along with new tunes and songs from your band.

1. Major, minor and pentatonic scales in all keys. Rock musicians will use the pentatonic to improvise and create solos and licks. The same goes from the major and minor scales. You must learn which scale to use and when. Classic rock uses pentatonics, punk will usually stick to the major. Most of the time it's a matter of figuring out which one applies to the song you're working on and using that.
2. All major and minor chords in various positions and inversions. Just knowing one or two may be enough for rock but learning these will take your playing to a whole new level. If there are more than one guitar players or a guitar and keyboard in your band you will end using these trying to make your parts work together better. If one guitar player is playing the chords in one position, the other should be playing them somewhere else on the neck.
3. Chord extensions and substitutions. This is an extension of the previous but takes it one step further. Sometimes just playing a C chord is perfect for the song. Sometimes adding an extension (a 2nd, 4th, 6th or 7th) may make it infinitely more interesting. There are also chord substitutions to consider; is a C the right chord here or is a Am or Em better? Substitutions come in handy when developing ideas within a song.
4. The scales harmonized in 6ths and 3rds. Rock uses 6ths and 3rds to embellish a melody and create an interesting background for songs. All scales can be harmonized this way; including the pentatonic. These are also used in creating background harmonies for the lead vocal. There are other intervals but these are the first you should learn.
5. Chord progressions in various keys. Often rock and pop will stick to chord progressions within a certain key. It's important to learn all of the chords within each key. You'll notice that once you've done this, you've covered thousands of progessions and songs. These are used over and over. The key of C is given as an example:

   C:    I     ii    iii    IV   V    vi   (bVII)

         C   Dm  Em   F   G    Am    (Bb)

Counterpoint, Voice Leading etc.

Most rock musicians will attest not knowing what counterpoint and voice leading is let alone the fact that they may be incorporating it into their songs. Voice leading is simply moving the different voices in a chord in the smoothest manner possible. Most of the time rock music flies right in the face of this and will move all over the place. Counterpoint is just having two separate lines moving independent from one another. Rock music uses these in various ways. Voice leading is used a lot in playing arpeggios and creating interesting progressions under the lead vocal. It's also used a lot in leads were the guitarists will play ascending and descending lines and arpeggios connecting them seamlessly together (the solo to 'Hotel California is a great example of this). Other times rock musicians will play a melody or line with the vocal instead of strumming chords. Other techniques rock uses are: modulation, pedal tones, vamps, polyrhythms, polychords and modal harmony (to name a few).

It's All There

If you're reading this and wondering what half of this stuff is, if you're wondering if you actually do any of this, then you know you have some homework to do. Without getting a degree in music theory it's a good idea to knnow what some of these tools are how and you can use them in your music. You may be using most of them already and not know it. Giving a name and explaination of these techniques allow you to isolate the various tools and use them in new and interesting ways. Most of all, your other band mates may be wondering where you've come up with all of these great new ideas. Don't tell them you learned some theory though, you may end up being 'the theory guy' in the band.

Harmonic Elaboration

So you've written a memorable hook, or a nice little melody. You put together some chords to go with your creation and that's it. What a lot of musicians don't seem to realize is that with any given set of notes, there are a ton of different ways to harmonize it. If you've ever heard some of the mash-ups of well known songs put on top of other tracks, you can see how there are many things you can do with the background.

The Basics

Whenever you've written a melody, there are a set of chords or harmonies that we may 'automatically' hear. For example if it's a simple melody that doesn't move around much or have any weird leaps and accidentals, we will probably hear a basic I IV V I. Since we hear these progressions so often, we may automatically hear them in our head. That doesn't mean that we have to use them, or even that they're 'right'. For example if you have a simple melody you may want to use other chords because you want a different 'feel' for the song. Or, you want to invoke some surprise, or you want to change it into a different genre, or you just may want to make the song 'more interesting'.


Substitutes

I had an interesting thing happen when teaching recently. A student came in with a well known song and a sheet of the chord changes. The chord changes in fact turned out to be wrong but they also fit. When correcting the changes, the song was infinitely better but both sets of chords could have been used. The 'wrong' chords were your basic I IV V whereas the correct ones used substitutes instead. Substitutes are chords that are familiar to the chord they're replacing but not exactly the same. These chords function in the same way as the original chord. A substitution that is used a lot is the vi chord replacing the I. For example an Am would go where you would expect a C chord to go. If you want to hear how this sounds, write a simple melody over a F G C progression. Play the progression a couple of times but the last time, put the Am in place of the C. Make sure you don't change the melody, See how this chord fits but 'changes' the melody even though we're using the same notes. The iii chord is also another substitution for a I chord.

The Wrong Right Chord

One thing substitutions do is create an element of surprise because you're expecting one thing but get another. The way to do this is to replace the expected chord with non-diatonic chord. If you were writing the song in the example given above, and were looking for a substitute for a C chord, you could replace the chord with another that has the melody note in it. For example if the melody note was an E, you could replace the C chord with an A, E, or C#m. You could even go up to the 7th and try an FMaj7 or F#7. All of these chords have an E in them.  If the note was a G, you would have different options. You could replace the C major with a Cm because that critical 3rd, isn't in the melody. But, you could also use Eb, Gm, A7, or AbMaj7. Remember these are ideas just using the melody note as an anchor. The possibilities and endless...

Simplfy

Since we're talking about substitutions, we have to talk about changing the harmonic background completely. Moby did well with his Play album by taking old blues songs and placing them on electronic beats and different chord progressions. Just becuase the original had a chord change every bar, doesn't mean you need to. Dance music does this all the time. Instead of having the regular changes, remixers will simply place the melody over their 'static' harmony*. Jazz and blues musicians also do this regularly. They will take the basic form of a blues and embellish the chords and changes. Sometimes this is done to extremes as in the case of John Coltrane who created his own version of 'blues changes'. Their are many more artists that have done this. Sometimes, in the case of many pop songs, entire changes can be replaced with a single chord or vamp.

*I use the word static here because most dance music relies on a constant underlying groove and harmony. It doesn't have to be this way but remixers will usually replace any harmony with their own.

Elaborate

Of course if the harmony can be simplified, it can also be made much more elaborate. This is pretty much the standard for jazz standards. Jazz musicians will usually take the given chord changes and replace them with their own. The best musicians pride themselves on having the coolest changes. They often do this without changing the melody*. This isn't just a jazz thing though. Musicians love taking songs and changing the chords and voicings. A folk musician might add some 2nds and 4ths. A pop musician might add the same as well as some dominant and minor 7th chords. Instrumentalists might go even further to add some interest to their instrumental versions.

*Jazz musicians will often change the rhythm and paraphrase the melody but will usually try to keep it close to the original. Of course a Dixieland band will play the melody completely different than a Bebop combo.

 Written In Stone

As you can see, the chords you choose for your compositions is a personal one. There is never just one solution to which changes will go to any given melody. It really is up to the writer. Once you get to know this, you will spend more time thinking about this different changes that you have in your composition toolbox and hopefully make your music infinitely more exciting.

Cadences for the Rest Of Us

While studying theory and composition at university, one of the first things they talked to us about was voice leading. Voice leading is simply trying to find the best way of connecting the different voices in your harmony. You would start with a Cantus Firmus (fixed song) and work at writing counterpoint to that melody.

A big part of voice leading and counterpoint are cadences. Cadences are simply a way of ending musical phrases and ideas. There are a number of different cadences that happen in music. These are still just as relevant today although not used in exactly the same way. Today we're going to look at the different 'classical' cadences and see how they are used in today's music.


Following the Rules

When classical (i.e. classical, romantic, baroque etc.) musicians sat down to compose, there was a huge emphasis placed on voice leading and counterpoint. Classical musicians were preoccupied with the importance of the various independent lines, maintaining the voices and making sure there were no holes in their part writing (e.g. parallel 5ths and octaves). There were (still are) a whole set of rules that musicians would follow to make sure all of these things were taken care of. There were also other rules, like certain intervals (e.g. dim. 5th) and leaps that were to be avoided. Since the 20th century counterpoint has fallen out in place for more block and parallel lines. Most of the rules that were made for writing for band in the classical tradition were thrown out in the jazz era. Jazz musicians focused more on parallel lines, 'dissonant'* harmonies and swing. Voice leading though, is still an important part of writing and arranging in various styles.

*What at one time was considered dissonant (unpleasant, tense) may later be considered consonant (pleasing, no tension). It often happens that once people hear a dissonant interval or harmony often enough, it no longer is considered dissonant. Other general practices, (like always having to resolve suspended sonorities or ending on the I chord) no longer become particularly necessary. One of the trademarks of a innovator is someone who takes well known conventions and throws them out the window. Of course it helps if they do it in a musical and interesting way, instead of going against the grain just to be different.

The Perfect Cadence

With voice leading, it's important that the individual voices move in the proper way. There are predetermined ways to end phrases and pieces. For example classical musicians would always end a piece with a perfect cadence (i.e. a V-I progression in root position). This had an element of finality to it that was the norm and part of the style. When writing out a V-I, there are a number of ways to arrange the four voices*. If it was in the middle of a piece, the cadence had to be voiced a certain way, if it was the end of the piece, it had to be voiced another way. If you're wondering why most of the symphonies you hear end in the same way (the big repeating V to I), this is why. Beyond the theory with the individual voices, to most of us a perfect cadence is simply a V-I chord progression. This is considered the strongest progression in music simply because as soon as we hear that V chord, we immediately want to go back to the I.

*Classical musicians would often write out their voice leading in four voices (separate lines). This was a convention that started early in Western Music and is still done today, even though we often hear sonorities made up of more than 4 voices.

The Plagal Cadence

Beyond the V-I cadence, the other most used progression is the IV-I. This is referred to as the plagal cadence. Of course the voice leading rules that applied to the perfect cadence also applied to these. Whereas the perfect cadence had a finality to it, the IV-I progression isn't quite as strong. Where the perfect cadence felt more like a period, the plagal cadence was more like a comma. The IV almost feels like it could go anywhere; it doesn't have the strong desire to go back to the I. In this way the IV-I would often be used in the first part of a phrase letting the listener know that you weren't quite completely done.

The Imperfect Cadence


Whereas the perfect and plagal cadences both returned to the I, this cadence ends on the V. This cadence has much more of 'suspended' feeling. You are literally left hanging and seem to be waiting to hear the rest of the musical idea. It mostly stems from the strong urge of the V to return to the I. But in this case, it doesn't resolve.

Beyond the Basics

If you've studied music theory, you'll notice that these cadences are still the backbone of most of our music. There are books filled with 3 chord songs that use these progressions only. Don't be fooled by their simplicity, they're still very effective. If you're just beginning on your writing journey, don't be afraid to fully explore these basic progressions. They're effective because they work. Once you've gotten used to using these, you'll be able to use them in your own creations at will. Also, after using these for an extended period of time, you should be able to pick them out immediately in a song. Try listening to a song that has one of these basic progressions and see if you can tell what the chords are without your instrument.

So What??

So how can we use this in our writing? By knowing some of these conventions, we can use them (and go against them) at will. For example, try writing a short 4 bar phrase and end it with either a plagal or imperfect cadence. Notice how the music seems to begging for another phrase. Now write another phrase and this time end with a perfect cadence. See how the whole 8 bar phrase now seems like a logical sentence. Now that you know this, you can use this or go against convention on purpose. Try writing the piece but don't use any perfect cadences until your chorus. In fact try not to use the V chord at all. You'll notice that the cadence may have a different effect if it's only used once at a pivotal point (like at the end of the chorus) in the song.

How To Learn Music

As we went through school, we realized that there were good ways to learn and bad ways to learn. We discovered some shortcuts and methods that helped us through the rough spots. As we get older and leave school we forget some of these and the effectiveness in learning. We're going to look at the different ways we learn and how we use certain techniques to improve our progress.


Beginner's Mind

When growing up and learning new skills, most children just usually dive right in. They don't think too much about the whys or what-fors, and just get into absorbing the new skill. (They're also usually excited which is another great advantage). As adults we learn that not everything that is placed in front of us is great, so we question a lot. We have a lot more internal dialogue going on. And, most of all, we have more bad habits and well defined patterns of thinking. These are useful in most situations but when learning something completely new, it's better to have what's called a 'beginner's mind'. A beginner's mind is to start with a completely open and empty mind; which is a lot harder than it seems. First of all, you have to be willing to make mistakes. You have to have the mindset that you know nothing. Even though you may want to build on your current knowledge, it's better to come into each learning session with an open, empty mind. It also means to be relaxed and pliable. For example when you learn a new music style, just try to absorb as much as you can without making too many judgements or evaluations. Just try to listen and absorb. There many be part of the style that doesn't make sense to you and having an open mind will help alleviate that.

There's a story about 2 martial artists that we taking part in learning a completely new form of martial art. They both we champions in their own style but this was something completely new. One of the martial artists was quite proud of his accomplishments and made no secret of his skill. The other martial artist was the opposite; in fact most of the other students didn't know that he was a champion at all. The first martial artist had a hard time learning the new style and eventually dropped out. The other martial artist became quite skilled at the new art. It wasn't until graduation that the martial artist let the others know about his other skills by going through an impressive set. The first martial artist relied on his previous training and when it became obvious that it was getting in the way, he couldn't 'drop it' to learn the new skill.

Patience

When you first started learning, you had an incredible amount of patience with yourself. When I teach children I'm always amazed at how much they'll work at it and not get discouraged. As adults we learn that if we don't get something within a reasonable amount of time, we probably won't get it at all. When students come in to me and want to learn certain skills, I already know how much time that will take. I know that if a student wants to learn skill 'x' it may take a year or so. Most things in music take longer to master than we usually think. I also know that it will take that amount of time if the student practices and sticks to the program. You're going to have to have patience when learning. It's not only good to have patience in the long run but in the short too. When I teach a new strumming pattern or a new finger exercise, I tell the student to have patience and practice slowly. I know that this rarely happens but I can't stress enough how important this is. If you learn a new exercise and practice it slowly until you can do it without mistakes, your progress will be much, much quicker.

Be Engaging

One of the things that you will notice when learning, that small details usually make a huge difference. This is just as true in music. When learning new skills you will find that there are always small details that come up. It can get to the point where you may feel that you're getting nit-picky. It's not really being picky as it is being thoughtful and concise. That means that whenever you learn something new, try and engage the mind as much as possible. You will find that when you really get into the process, all other thoughts will drift away. You'll absorb much more than usual and the new ideas will be assimilated much easier. It's the same thing when practicing, really think about what you're doing.

Mimicking

This is the primary way we pretty much learned to do everything for the first part of our lives. It's effectiveness can not be understated. Yet as we age, we feel that we must do things our own way. We feel that mimicking or emulating somebody else is cheating or just wrong. This in fact, is a great way to learn any skill, not just music. If you want to learn a new style, a new move, or get a new sound, one of the best ways to start is by mimicking somebody else who already does what you want to do. There are many advantages to this. First of all, they've probably done most of the homework for you. They've found what works for that particular situation. Second, by emulating them, you will automatically pick up subtle information and nuances that can't be gleaned from normal techniques. Most of all, your getting straight into what you want to learn and how you want to sound. If you want to get that blues sound, go right to the source. Then, once you have it, take it to the next level...


Taking It Too Far

For a lot of musicians, the last paragraph may be a big no-no because so often in music, musicians get so enamored with certain artists and styles that they become carbon copies. They exhibit no originality or creative thought. This is a familiar pattern to fall into but easy to avoid. The best way to avoid it is to do what I tell all of my students to do; I tell them; learn this stuff cold, then rip it apart. If you learn new techniques and go one step further and try to incorporate some creativity you end up with a musician who sort of sounds like this but still has something all their own. That way you impart the style and sound that you were looking for, but still have your own individual sound and voice. Not only do you develop you own sound, you may take the style to a whole new level. This is a long used tradition in blues and jazz, not to mention whole schools of music. The other way to avoid becoming a carbon copy is to learn the style of many different artists. Learn the styles of many artists in your genre but also include other related genres. Try to apply all of the different things you learned and develop them into your own style. Of course if you're a composer, an improviser and a gigging musician, you're going to have to be able to do both. You'll have to be able to fit into a certain category, make it sound authentic without straying too far, and still have your own voice.

One Day At A Time

Music is a huge and wonderful world. It takes a while to grasp all of it's subtleties but can be enjoyed the second you pick up the instrument. It takes constant and concentrated effort. It's not hard, it just doesn't happen overnight. Take your music lessons and practice sessions like a daily meditation. Forget the world and focus on what's in front of you. Use all of the tricks and things you learned when you were young and trying to get through school. Music is a life long learning experience, sit back and enjoy the ride.

How To Sing Harmonies

Harmonies. They almost seem to be invisible on some tracks, yet on others, they seem to make the whole song. Most music you hear on the radio (pop/rock/MOR) is filled with harmonies. Sometimes it's obvious, usually it isn't. A great harmony can take a track to the next level. Yet, there seems to be lots of confusion about how to do these or where to put them.


They're Out There

If you listen closely to the vocal tracks on most pop songs, you'll find tons of harmonies. You'll not only hear them on the chorus but peppered throughout the rest of the track too. Most vocalists like to stick a harmony on a couple of lines throughout the song, not just the chorus. A lot of the time, it's layered in the background, just lifting the line without making it too obvious. Sometimes the vocal will be doubled, sometimes it's the lead an octave above or below, and of course the traditional 3rd above is always popular. Doubling and singing the same line an octave above or below is also vary effective in bringing something extra to the line without having a full blown harmony there. Some artists will almost always double their vocal line.

Different Strokes

What people don't realize is that each style of music has it's own way of dealing with harmonies and vocals. Some styles (like metal) generally don't like 3 part harmonies unless it's for a special effect. Other genres (like country) use harmonies so much, that it's pretty much part of the style. Jazz of course has it's more complicated harmonies, but usually used more in vocal groups (versus the intimate trio setting). Certain types of rock and indie rock also use different harmonies to create different moods (Alice In Chains is a great example of unique harmonies being part of their style). RnB harmonies also can go beyond the typical intervals to great effect.

Some Of The Rules

Straight ahead harmonies follow simple rules that can be used as a starting point (as well as ending point) for some of your songs. Most harmonies will follow the chord or 'harmony' behind the vocal line. Depending on your melody, your harmony will usually be a third (or fourth) above (or below) that. For example if your chord is a C major and your vocal melody starts of an E note, goes up to an F, and returns to and E, your harmony line will be a third above that (i.e. G, to A, back to G). However, if your vocal melody line starts on a G, goes up to an A and back to a G, your harmony line will be a fourth above that (i.e a C, to a D, back to a C). It doesn't always work exactly this way because your melody doesn't always start on a convenient note, but it's a good starting point. Also, depending on the genre, different harmonies will apply. If you're singing harmony on a blues song, or a reggae song, different harmonies will apply. Still, a third is a great way to start.

Get It Going

The best way to get started in using harmonies is to just get started. Don't worry about too much of the technical stuff to begin with. Just try singing along with songs and try doing the harmonies. We'll go into some exercises that will help you along the way but it's best to just get going. A lot of vocalists I've worked with didn't work on harmonies as much because they were a mystery and had trouble at the beginning. Try working on these and see how far you get. The best harmony singers I've ever used had a great ear and would come up with the best harmonies. There are two ways to go about figuring out and working on harmonies; a) strictly technical (following the line exactly) and b) experimentation (not following the line). These both occur in music for different reasons. Most of the time when signers are in 3 (or more) part harmony, you have to be a bit more strict about the lines because you don't want the different harmony lines tripping over each other. The second happens a lot with just one line of harmony where the harmony line won't follow the melody line exactly. Examples of this is where the melody will move but the harmony will stay on one note (or move around very little).

Strictly Technical

Start by playing a chord on the piano. Keep it simple to start. With your right hand play a simple melody. Start with using chord tones only. The example listed above is a great example to start with. Play a C chord. Play the melody above that: C to D back to C. Now you're going to sing the harmony. Play the E to F just above the C to D you just played. Hear those notes in your head. Sing them and try to remember them. Now play the chord with your left hand, the melody notes C and D with your right hand and sing the harmony notes E and F all at the same time. It's important when you work on this that you get your pitch right. Once you get your notes right, try and hear the notes you're singing with the original notes of the melody. This is the most important part; you need to hear both parts at once. This is where most vocalists fall behind. The reason for this is because whenever you sing harmonies, you're always singing with another person. That other person is usually the lead. Your line must meld with theirs seamlessly. That can't happen if you aren't listening carefully to what they're doing. This listening has to be done as soon as you start practicing harmonies. The best harmony singers I've ever heard didn't just have great pitch, they had great timing, and most of all they had great ears.

A Little Experimentation

The other way to get some harmonies  going is to simply start singing and see if you can 'hear' another line, it doesn't matter if the line is 'technically' correct i.e. a correct harmony line moving in perfect parallel with the lead vocal. It just matters that you try and start to 'hear' these things. Again start with a simple line and then start singing lines above (or below) that line. Try to stay above or below the melody; harmony lines as a general rule don't cross the melody. Try as many variations as you can. Remember to try lines below as well as above your original. The value in this is that after you become used to singing harmonies, this is the best way to come up with interesting lines. Line made up are almost always better than lines carefully constructed (this may not be the case in strict harmonies or really involved arrangements) . If used in conjunction with the technical method, you'll find you're on your way to becoming a great harmony singer.

One Liners

Because some melodies just around a lot, or don't stick to chord tones, a 3rd or fourth line won't work. Sometimes, because the chords are moving and your line doesn't or vice-versa a moving line won't work. Sometimes when nothing else fails, singing a single note over the entire phrase is best. Not only is it a good idea in some cases, in some genres (like indie rock) a single note above or below the melody will actually sound better (or cooler to your ears). Other styles of rock also like to use one liners like an octave below to a line to thicken it and make it sound darker.

In The Mix

Most of the time a harmony line will play second role to the melody. This usually works the best and like mentioned, it's a great way to bring out that melody. When it comes to having more than one harmony part, you're going to have to go in and do some tweaking to make it sound right. Depending on your harmonies and how many people you have singing any one part, the harmonies are going to have to be mixed right. It's not always all completely even. We tend to like the higher harmony parts better, so they're usually mixed a little higher, or at least heard better. If it's a three (or more) part harmony, be careful with the inner voices. If one of these sticks out too much, it'll sound weird to our ears. Our ear naturally pick up three things. First, we hear the lead and for a lot of people, that's all they really notice. Second, we'll hear the highest harmony, third we'll hear the lowest note and finally we're able to discern the inner voices. To most people those inner voices are almost invisible. A lot of musicians try and pull those inner voices out to make their music more interesting. The point is that unless it's something you want to do on purpose, it'll sound strange to our ears if those middle lines are the most prominent.


The Double

Once a special effect, it's now standard for artists to double their vocal line. This is used in every genre of music from pop to rap. There's something special that happens when a vocal line is doubled. Keep in mind that the line has to be sung twice and not just copied and pasted. The latter results in a chorus/phase type effect (or even make the line completely disappear) whereas doubling the vocal will thicken it. Some artists do this numerous times. While effective to bring out a vocal line, it also takes away from the intimacy of a single vocal; the idiosyncrasies and special inflections of the original vocal may get lost. One effect that a lot rock artists like to use is to keep the verse a single vocal line and then double it at the chorus. This really makes the chorus stand out and keeps the intimacy of the verse intact. Remember too that often the harmonies are doubled just as much as the lead. This has the same effect making the harmonies sound bigger (and somewhat smoother) than just the one line. Remember to make the double as close to the original line as possible or you'll end up with a useless mess.

Start Your Harmony Engines

There are so many ways to treat a vocal line. Harmonies are one of the best ways to really pull out a line. Plus, people just love the sound of multiple voices. It's a powerful tool. Try some of the other things mentioned in this article: doubling, octave doubling, alternate lines etc. Even if your genre doesn't generally use a lot of harmonies, you may start something that changes everything. At the very least, you'll create your own unique voice.

The Cirlce Of Fifths: Other Applications

We've talked about the circle of fifths and the different ways that songwriters you can use it. Today we're going to talk about a couple more ways that the circle applies to different aspects of music theory. Other uses include chord progressions, key modulation, improvisation and composition.

Modulate What?

When it comes to modulating to different keys within the same song, there are ones that are more fluid than others. For example a modulation from the major to it's relative minor is a very fluid modulation whereas the modulation from C major to F# major is more abrupt. The further away the modulating key from the original in the circle, the more obvious and abrupt* the change will be. In most forms of classical music, there is a modulation as part of the form. For example the second movement is usually in a different key. You'll find that the composer would often follow the circle when choosing a key to modulate to. If they chose a key further away, if was often on purpose and for a good reason. So in effect, the simplest modulation would be from a major key to it's relative minor. One movement to the left or right would be the next easiest movement. The only exception to this would be the modulation to the major's parallel minor. For example going from C major to minor. Even though their key signatures are different, we hear this modulation so much, that it doesn't seem intrusive to us at all.

*Of course 'abrupt' here is subjective since accomplished composers can make the most unusual key changes seamless...or the most obvious change seem intrusive.

This not only applies to composition but to improvisation as well. If' you're DJing you'll find the same thing happens when you mix songs. The further away the keys, the more obvious the transition will be.

Improvisation

The use of the circle is also a great vehicle for improvisation. Go through some theory books or jazz courses (the Aebersold series is a great example here), and you'll find that they'll often suggest going through the circle of fifths as an exercise. There are two reasons for this. First it's a great way to get the circle second nature in your mind. After going through the circle a million times with your scales, it becomes like your second name. Second, like mentioned above, a lot of modulations follow the circle so you're in effect practicing something that's going to come up in real world situations.

Try this: When practicing your scales, go through the circle. Play the C major scale up and down and then move to the right (or left) of the circle and keep going. You'll end up going through all keys in a very musical way. Try playing a pattern and doing the same thing. Next, try doing the same thing with chord progressions (e.g. a ii V I ). Since keys often modulate a fifth away, you're practicing things that will definitely come up. You'll find that the entire progression (a ii V I progression is all fifths) is just one movement of fifths after another.

Chord Progressions

We covered the circle and how it applies to chord progression before. Chords will often move in fifths. For example the famous 'Rhythm Changes' is just a chord progression going through the circle of fifths. Just like modulations, the movement of a fifth in chord progressions is a very pleasing sound to us. You'll find that the most well known ( and used) chord progressions (e.g. ii V I, IV I, V I, vi ii V I, etc.) are all just movements of fifths. At the same time, if you want to make things difficult, modulate across the circle. Start at C, then go to Gb, then to G, then to B, etc. If you look at notoriously difficult songs, (e.g. Coltrane's 'Giant Steps') you'll find that it follows these guidelines. Also, when improvising on changes in jazz or blues, it's common to add a V or ii V in the middle of the progression (again, just more fifths). These need to be on your fingertips.

Composition

Of course, all of this leads us to composition. Key modulation and effective chord movement and progressions are part of the craft. Knowing where to go, (or at least knowing where you want to go) is a huge part of effective writing. If you start off in the key of F and want to make a couple of modulations, what are your choices? Or, you're right in the middle of writing a beautiful melody and are trying to find a great way to harmonize that line, what are your chord choices? One of the things that you should be looking at in both examples is the circle of fifths. The 'smoothest' modulations are the ones that are closest to your home key on the circle. If you're right in the middle of writing a song and can't figure out the next chord, if it's not the root chord, try one a fifth away, you'll be surprised at how effective this is. This can also work in reverse. If you want to jump all over the place, if you want more angular changes or intrusive modulations, use the circle to pick the oddest modulation.

It's There, Use It

As you can see, there are tons of uses for the circle of fifths. It's best to have the circle on the edge of your fingertips. You'll be amazed how often you'll use it.