Bardic Inspiration

Bardic Inspiration

The folowing guide work as a supplement for the online youtube course on fantasy music composing for tabletop rpg and videogame. The lesson videos are released weekly and cover a wide range of material suitable for beginners and intermediate bards.

The style of music explored in this journey is inspired by medieval, renascence and barroque styles of composition as well as modern film music. Examples of melody and harmony will be presented both in music notation and midi piano format. The intention is to provide all the tools for you to be able to write music both traditionally and digitally. The software of choice is the free music notation program Musescore and the digital audio workstation FL Studios but concepts and techniques can be easilly applicable to other DAW's.

Music, just like worldbuilding, map making and lore, can make a big impact on your activities be it DMing an rpg campaign, ambienting a film, videogame or breathing life into characters and scenarios. Composing is a rewarding experience by itself, it connects us to our emotions and acts as a way of expressing oneself. My intentions with this content and material are various. On one side is to promote the wonderful world of music and composing to new beginners and affitionates, to offer all the tools required to better the artform and grow as humans. Next, it's to take the reader on a ride from a point of little to no prior knowledge of composing towards scoring and writing their very own first musical work.

This project summerizes twelve years of study, work and condenced knowledge delivered in the context of RPG, fantasy themed and videogame content. It reunites all of my hobbies and passions into one single entity. It's a continous growing work and effort, as an educator, to share and teach new abilities to the communities of tabletop roleplaying and videogame development.

I hope you stick around for the ride and hopefully learn a thing or two. There is a lot to unpack, i will do my best effort to explain each concept thouroughfully. I thank the reader for viewing or reading my content, for your interest on music composition and for daring to try new things. Best of luck on this journey and ALWAYS stay creative.

-Kevin Montes

Into the World of Music

To beging we must learn several key concepts that will facilitate the skills needed to understand composition. Most of these concepts are explained on Lesson 2 of the video series but we will take a closer look at them here.

Basic Terminology

Music

Music is the art form of combining sound, rhythm and silence in time, often to produce a unity, composition or aesthetically pleasing entity.

Pitch

A particular or specific sound with a determined wave frequency determined or measured in Hertz.

Interval

The specific distance between any two given notes.

Half step or Semitone

The shortest distance possible between two notes in the western music system. Visually represented as the distance between a white key and a black key on the piano.

Whole step or whole tone

A distance of two semitones.

Musical Note

One of the distinct twelve musical sounds or pitches available in the western system.

Rhythm

A mixture or combination of sound and silence that makes up a specific pattern.

Musical Figures

Symbols that determine how long a note sounds or is played.

Harmony

The relationship between two or more notes that sound at the same time.

Chord

A combination of three or more individual notes analyzed as a whole.

Triad

A chord of three notes stacked in thirds.

Pulse

Series of regularly recurring beats. Some examples are the ticking of a clock or metronome.

Meter

Specific grouping of pulses often with patterns of accentuation.

Accidentals

Musical symbols that alter a note by a halfstep. Sharps raise a note by a halfstep and flats lower a note by a halfstep.

Scale

A sequence of consecutive notes with a determined intervalic pattern.

Basic Music Theory

The name of the notes

Musical notes take their name after the first 7 letters of the alphabet, A through G but often are organized starting on C, relocating A and B after G.

C D E F G A B

This particular notes compromise the C major scale, all the white keys on the piano. But are not exclusively all the notes available to us. We also have 5 additional notes that make the full scope of pitches available in the western music system. This additional 5 notes are called flats or sharps depending on the direction we reach them. A black key is named as the white key above or below it plus its corresponding accidental. The black key above C and below D is named C sharp or D flat and its nomenclature is C# or Db. A general rule is to use sharps when ascending and flats when decending.

The Chromatic Scale

We can illustrate all the pitches available with the chromatic scale, a scale which intervalic pattern is by half steps.

Ascending

C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B

Descending

C B Bb A Ab G Gb F E Eb D Db

Taking a Closer Look at the Major Scale

The major scale is one of the basis for most of our modern musical system, its harmony and functionality. It follows a specific pattern of intervals made up of half steps and whole steps. The distance between notes is as follows:

(1 being a whole step and 1/2 being a half step)

1-1-1/2-1-1-1-1/2

If we take a look at the midi keyboard, we can clearly illustrate the distance between each note corresponding to the pattern above. From C to D one whole step, from D to E another wholestep. From E to F one halfstep.

From C to F we form the first half of the scale, also known as a tetrachord which is a sequence of notes that span the interval of a perfect 4th. A perfect 4th is an interval of 5 halfsteps. We will be naming this particular tetrachord, with the interval pattern of 1-1-1/2, a major tetrachord. It forms the major or happy sound. Following the first tetrachord we have a bridging note that divides the second tetrachord. This bridge is the whole step interval between F and G.

From G to C we have another major tetrachord built from the same 1-1-1/2 pattern. Just have in mind the bridging interval, an additional whole step between F and G.

Triads

Triads are a rudimental form of harmony and basic chords. They are built from 3 notes, stacked in intervals of thirds. An easy way to visualize triads is: one note, skip a note, one note, skip a note and the last note. Each of this note has a name that corresond to its interval position. The first note or root determines which triad it is. The second note is the third of the triad, which determines the quality of the triad. The fundamental qualities based on the third are: Major or minor. A major third is an interval of 4 half steps, a minor third is an interval of 3 half steps. The last note of the triad is the fifth, in some cases it also determines the quality of the chord in cases such as the augmented and diminished triad.

Scale Degrees

Each note of the major scale holds a position that determines the harmonic function of said note. This harmonic function/position is known as degree. The nomenclature for degrees are upper and lower cased roman numerals. The harmonic function of degrees comes in to play when we build the chords or triads of each individual degree.

1st degree

The first degree is known as Tonic, it gives us our tonal center. It determines the root note of the scale and it can be considered the least level of tension. It is symbolized with the roman numeral I. A triad built over the 1st degree is a major triad.

2nd Degree

The second degree is known as the Supertonic. Its harmonic function is predominant, meaning it wants to resolve its tension towards the 5th degree. A triad built over the second degree is a minor triad. It is symbolized with the roman numeral ii.

3rd Degree

The third degree is the Mediant. It has a similar weight as a tonic function because it shares two notes with the 1st degree's triad. It is symbolized with the roman numeral iii. A triad built over the the third degree is a minor triad.

4th Degree

The fourth degree is named after its Subdominant function. Its harmonic tension wants to resolve either to the 1st degree or 5th degree. It is symbolized with the roman numeral IV. A triad built over the 4th degree is a major triad.

5th Degree

The fifth degree serves the Dominant function. Its tension leads and resolves to the Tonic and is often used to establish the tonality of the piece. It is symbolized with the roman numeral V and its triad is a major one.

6th Degree

The sixth degree is called the Submediant, serving a tonic function as it also shares two notes of the Tonic's triad. Upon this degree we can determine the relative minor scale. It is symbolized by the roman numeral vii and its triad is minor.

7th degree

The last degree is the leading tone and it serves a role similar to a dominant function, its tension also wants to resolve towards the tonic. Its triad are two stacks of minor thirds making it a diminished triad. The tension between the root and 5th is resolved by half steps towards the first degree. It is symbolized by the roman numeral vii°

Musical Figures

Musical figures are a series of symbols that determine the length or duration of a note. They take up a specific amount of time inside a measure or bar. A measure last for the whole duration of the meter determined by the time signature of the piece established by a fraction such as 4/4, 2/4 or 6/8. Common time is the time signature of 4/4 which lasts for four pulses or beats.

whole note

Lasts for four beats or a whole measure in 4/4 time.

Half Note

Lasts for two beats or half a measure in 4/4 time.

Quarter Note

Lasts for one beat or a quarter of a measure in 4/4 time.

Eighth Note

Sixteenth note

Rests

A rest indicates to not play for the duration of the figure's value.

Illustrated above are the corresponding rests for each of the basic note figures.

Example of a notated Melody

Notice the resemblance between the notated sheet music and the midi piano roll. With time and practice, it will become easier to write both traditionally and digitally. Both methods have their benefits, for example midi data is sometimes easier to visualize and edit with tools such as copy/paste and cutting tools. Most music notation and audio software come with a midi export feature you can use to import your written melodies into DAW's such as FL or Pro Tools. You can easily convert one format to the other with little editing or touching up of the score. One of the benefits of music sheet is perhaps the ability for other musicians to read and play your parts for live recording or performance.

Lets Write a Melody!

To begin writing a melody, choose a format you are comfortable with such as pencil and music sheet paper, a digital notation software such as musescoe or a midi based workstation such as LMMS or FL.

Simple melodies can be constructed from steps, meaning adjacent notes and leaps, meaning intervals wider than a whole step. In my experience, runs of adjacent notes make for a lyrical or vocal sound while intervals of 4ths and 5ths sound flambouyant or royal, intervals of thirds establish triads, chords or tonality and intervals of sixths tend to sound emotional. The color and interpretation of sound is subjective, find particular colors you enjoy listening to and experiment with intervals, especially their direction: Upwards or Downwards. For the following examples i will be using traditional music notation.

Take a listen!

The first measure can be analyzed as two groups of downward steps each a third apart. The strong beats in measure one, the first and third beat, and the first beat of measure two is outlining the F major triad, the IV degree on C major. The third beat of measure two is doing what is known as neighboring tone, a movement that rises or lowers by a step and returns to the original note.

Analyzing your Melody

This sort of analysis helps build more precise and vivid melodies. Try distinguishing which interval movements; such as thirds, seconds, triads,etc, are present within your melody. With time, the complexity of your work will increase as you learn more melodic and harmonic devices. Having a clear analysis of your melody will help when writing countermelodies and harmony such as chords.

Basic Counterpoint

Counterpoint is the use of two or more independent melodic lines at the same time. They provide a more complex sound and create a rudimental form of harmony. The interplay of the combinations of two or more notes and the sonority of two independent lines offer more oportunity to create rich textures.

A general guideline to create counterpoint is to use either shorter or longer melodic lines compared to your original melody. If your first melody is composed of long notes, your countermelody can be composed of shorter notes and viseversa. Another guideline is to choose consonant intervals such as thirds, fourths and fifths.

In the following example i have chosen primarly intervals of 4ths, 5ths and 3rds as part of my countermelody. I have also decided to use longer figures on my countermelody every time my main melody has short figures and shorter figures on my countermelody when my main melody has longer figures.

Take a listen!

I will continue to write two additional melodies, one will be an independent line and the other will be idendtical to the original melody but one octave above.

Take a Listen!

In this example i have color coded all the triads used and labeled them by their root note. Red for the F triad, blue for E, purple for G, green for A, yellow for C, pink for B, and brown for D. You will notice almost all my instruments are playing one note from the underlaying triad at one given time. There are a few non color coded notes that act as passing notes between one triad note and the next. I have also added one last measure to act as our resolution point, introducing a new element: a chord.

Polyphony

The use of two or more independent melodic lines at the same time.

Chord Construction

If you have a grasp on triads, we are more than half way ready to understand chord construction. Chords are groups of 3 or more different notes analized as a whole so triads are rudimental forms of chords. If we build triads over each scale degree we get three fundamental chord shapes: Major, minor and diminished.

Major chords are a result of two stacks of thirds, the first interval would be a major third (4 half steps apart) and the second interval is a minor third (3 halfsteps apart).

Major chords are naturally built over the 1st, 4th and 5th degree of a major scale. You can harmonize each note with its corresponding chord degree.

Minor chords have the same intervals as a major chord but their order is inverted, first a minor third (3 halfsteps) and then a major third (4 halfsteps). They are naturally built from the 2nd, 3rd and 6th degree of a major scale. You can harmonize each of this notes with its corresponding degree.

Diminished chords are built as two stacks of minor thirds (3 halfsteps), they are the 7th degree of a major scale. They have a rather peculiar a dissonant sound, acting as a tension point that wants to resolve to the Tonic.

7th chords and extensions

If we keep stacking thirds over our triads we build wider chords that provide a much more rich and lush sound. An additional third beyond the fifth provide use with 7th chords. We call the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th of a chord "Chord Tones". Any stack of thirds beyond that is known as an extension.

There are four types of 7th chords naturally on the major scale. Major 7th, minor 7th, Dominant 7th and Half Diminished.

Major 7th Chords

Major 7th chords are built over the 1st and 4th degree of a major scale. We call the interval between the Root and the 7th a Major Seventh (11 halfsteps apart). The intervalic construction of a Major 7th chord is: Major third (4 halfsteps), minor third (3 halfsteps), and Major third (4 halfsteps).

minor 7th Chords

Minor 7th chords are built over the 2nd, 3rd, and 6th degree of a major scale. We call the interval between the Root and the 7th a minor seventh (10 halfsteps apart). The intervalic construction of a minor 7th chord is: minor third (3 halfsteps), Major third (4 halfsteps), and minor third (3 half steps).

Dominant 7th Chords

A seventh chord built over the Fifth degree is called as the degree's name. The dominant 7th chord is built almost identical to the Major 7th chord, the only difference is that it has a minor 7th. The intervalic construction of a dominant 7th chord is: Major third (4 half steps apart), minor third (3 half steps apart), minor third (3 half steps apart). This particular chord and degree has a special function within the scale. It acts as a tension point that resolves to the tonic. the third and 7th of a dominant chord always resolve by halfsteps to the root and third of the Tonic.

Half-Diminished Chord

A seventh chord built over the 7th degree of a major scale is called a half diminished chord. Its structure is similar to a diminished chord but with an additional major third stacked over the 5th. Its intervalic construction is: minor third (3 halfsteps apart), minor third (3 halfsteps apart, Major third (4 halfsteps apart). Its harmonic function is closely similar to the dominant chord as it shares 3 notes with the fifth degree. You can substitute dominant chords with the scale's half diminished chord.

If we keep stacking thirds beyond the 7th we begin to utilize what is known as chord extensions, these provide more complex chord shapes. The extensions beyond the 7th are: the 9th, 11th, and 13th. These extensions can be altered with accidentals to create a wide range of sounds and chord shapes.

Harmonizing with Chords!

Let's add a layer of harmony to our last composition. We can build chords to each degree we labeled in the last counterpoint example. In the following example, i will add two new layers: a piano that will play the fundamental shapes of the triads of each scale degree and a harpsichord that will double the exact same part as the piano but one octave above it. I have provided the harmonic analysis with the roman numerals to establish which chords are being played. I have chosen to do 4 note voicing by doubling the root of each chord in an octave and play the chords in what is known as blocks.

Lets take a listen!

This is the most rudimental way to score music with chord voicings, its a good and quick way to layer an idea and get a picture of what sort of sound we are after. We can start to notice how our counterpoint and composition begins to sound more like proper fantasy music.

Inversions

You can choose to redistribute notes on a chord differently, this is known as voicing. Perhaps you want the 3rd or 5th to be the bottom note, this is known as inversions.

First Inversion

A chord which uses its third as the bottom note.

Second Inversion

A chord which uses its fifth as the bottom note.

Third Inversion

A chord which uses its seventh as the bottom note.

You can distribute the notes freely, as long as the bottom note is one of the previous three it still remains as that particular inversion. This gives places to an interesting phenomenom where you can omit or reduce the number of voices in a chord and it still remains fully functional. Perhaps you wish to score a voicing as 1st, 3rd and 7th omiting the fifth. A general rule on omiting voices is to understand that the 3rd and 7th of the chord determine the quality so removing any of this might make the chord more ambiguous. Often the fifth is omited as it affects very little the quality of the chord, the root can be omited if other instruments are playing it. We will take a closer look at voicings and inversions on further composition examples and analysis.

Composing!

In the following chapter we will take a look at harmonic and melodic devices to further improve our compositions and workflow. We will take a look at ways of structuring our compositions, orchestrating voices throughout different instrument groups, embellishing and ornamenting melodies.

Continous Bass

The first technique we will be discussing is a practice established in the barroque period during the 17th century. The Basso Continuo or continous bass is a method in which a single instrument plays a line that establishes some sort of base for the harmony. We can use figures such as half notes, quarter notes and eighth notes to create the backbone of our piece, choosing as option the root of the chord we want to establish. In the following example i will be using the following progression in the scale of F major:

iii vi I V ii vii vi ii I

A D F C G E D G F

The second step would be to write a melody that outlines the contour of my bass line. We can use steps, leaps, and chord tones. We could also use a mixture of shorter figures such as quarter and eighth notes.

Lets Take a Listen

In the next step, i have decided to add the chord shapes from each of the root notes on the bass. I have written the chords for the choir instrument and have made use of 7th chords. I also duplicated the 7th interval of the chords on a glockenspiel to bring out the color of the 7th chords, almost like a second continous bass on the 7th intervals.

Lets Take a Listen

We can start to hear how the different elements, techniques and devices we have learned so far begin to combine into proper composition. Imagine what a countermelody would do for this exercise. Try it out!

Nonharmonic tones

Nonharmonic tones are notes that are not part of a particular chord or triad. They are used as passing notes between strong chord tones such as the 1st, 3rd 5th or 7th. Nonharmonic tones are perfect ways of embellishing and ornamenting melodies. We can analyse nonharmonic tones as being approached by the previous note and resolving to the next note.

Passing Tone

This nonharmonic tone is approached by step from the previous note and moves a step in the same direction towards the next chord tone. In this example, the note C is a passing tone between the E minor triad and the D minor triad. Passing notes occur on weak beats.

Neighbor Tone

The neighbor tone is a nonharmonic tone that moves away by a single step either up or down and returns to the previous note.

In this example, the note D steps away and returns to the fifth of the F major chord. Neighboring tones occur on weak beats.

Anticipation

This nonharmonic tone anticipates a chord tone by a step on weak beats. The chord tone E is being anticipated between the G major chord and the E minor chord.

Cambiata

This nonharmonic tone, also known in the world of jazz as enclosure, approaches the chord tone by one step above and below or viseversa on a weak beat. The notes G and E enclose F#, the fifth of the B minor chord.

Appoggiatura

Appogiatura utilizes a leap as its approach and then a step in the opposite direction of the leap towards the next chord tone. This nonharmonic tone occurs on weak beats.

Escape Tone

An escape tone approaches the nonharmonic note by a step and resolves to the chord tone in an opposite leap.