For my 4 chord composition, I wanted to keep the chords simple so I could focus more on the melody and loops, so I thought that putting it in the key of C major would be perfect. I used first and second inversions to create a smooth chord progression, and used passing and neighboring tones in the melody. I also knew that I wanted my song to be cheerful and lighthearted, but also to have a minor section in the B section, so I achieved that by playing chords such as Dm, Gm, and Am in the B section.
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For my 4 chord song, I decided to use the I-V-vi-IV chord progression sequence in C Major. I used drum loops throughout my composition to emphasize specific beats and add to the mood of the piece. I titled my song: "Winter" as I felt that the song's melody was sad and quiet. I had an A and B section in my composition. The A section was present at both the starting and ending of the song. This section emphasized a hopeful mood, whereas the B section accomplished the opposite. Overall, I used different loops and beats to create my song.
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My chord song was in the form I - V - ii - IV. I chose this because I wanted to make it sound more unique than a usual four chord song. I used a few patterns to keep it repetitious and to make it sound like an actual produced song as much as possible.
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When writing my four chord composition I began by writing out the I, V, vi, and IV chords in different keys and chose my key based on the chords I was best at playing on guitar. I went home and played the chord progressions enough times that I figured out a decent melody. I then writes some, admittedly wacky lyrics. At school I made a recording on piano of the chords and the melody so that I could make sure that I played and sang on the counts. I went home and recorded my parts and added a loop and sound effect.
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I wrote it with the piano on Garageband on my Mac. I brainstormed for this piece by playing out my ideas on an acoustic piano and then finalizing them with an electric keyboard connected to Garageband. My song, called “Remembering,” was written with mostly a I-V-vi-IV progression played in either blocked or broken chords. The song has form introduction-verse-prechorus-chorus-chorus-verse-prechorus-chorus-ending, and I recorded my singing the lyrics using a Sony voice recorder. At first, it was quite hard to get the right distance from and right sensitivity settings for the voice recorder. The song is about a person meeting someone whom he/she had known and now remembers and evokes a nostalgic feeling.
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I used the I V vi IV chord progression in the key of C major. Initially, I was having some trouble trying to make the chord sound smooth; however, using inversions and with the help of Ms. Linza, I was able to pick and play the I V vi IV chord progression. Since I wrote the lyrics first, I transferred the melody to garageband using the keyboard and my ears. I wanted to add a rock band feel to it and change the tone of the song in the chorus, so I added the Classic Rock guitar, changing from the acoustic sounding melody. The chords didn't really fit the rock part of my song, but I made sure to end with the chords to make the song sound like it has a nice ending.
Also, there were some parts where I made a mistake like accidentally pressing two keys or playing a note flat, but the dissonance was something I found myself really liking, so I decided to keep them in my song rather than rerecord the parts. I have the lyrics if you'd like them! |