Baby Steps Assignment

Baby Steps For Composition

Welcome!

On this page you'll find all the steps you need to create a composition based on "Casualty" by Lawrence.

First of all, have a listen to the original song:

Lawrence are a soul/funk pop band from the US, founded by siblings Gracie and Clyde Lawrence.

Have a look at these videos about how they wrote/produced the song:

On this page, we're going to walk through some steps to start composing for a song that is based on the compositional ideas in Casualty. Let's get started!

Writing a riff

First of all, we're going to write a riff that will be the main melodic idea of your song.

The main riff of Casualty looks like this:

Notice that "swung" is written above the melody. This means that the first quaver in each pair is longer than the second. If we were to write that out, it might look something like this:

Have a listen to the riff and identify the swung rhythm. The riff that you write will also be swung.

Baby steps Part 1:

Step 1: Play around with the notes C, D, E and F on the piano. Make sure that you are using a swung rhythm.

Step 2: Find a short melody that you like that goes for 4 bars (16 beats). Play it over and over. We'll call this your "riff".

Step 3: Record your riff in some way such as writing it down on manuscript paper, into notation software such as Sibelius or recording it with a device like a phone.

Now that we've written a riff, we're going to add harmony to it. This is what the main riff of Casualty looks like with harmony:

Notice that the harmony is "tradic" - this means that two other notes have been added to each melody note so they create three note chords, or triads. We're going to harmonise your riff using the same technique.

Each note of your melody will fit with one of FOUR chords: C major, A minor, F major and D minor. Here are what they look like on the piano and which ones will sound good with which melody note:

C major

F major

A minor

D minor

If the note of your melody is:

It can be harmonised with:

C major, A minor or F major

D minor

C major or A minor

F major or D minor

Step 4: Play each note of your riff slowly, one by one. Pick a chord option from the above triads and try playing one at the same time as the note of your riff.

Step 5: Continue to play your riff slowly with the chords until you find a series of chords that you like the sound of.

Step 6: Now make sure that you are playing the notes of the chords BELOW your riff, but as close to the melody as possible. Look at the piano diagrams for help.

-> If you're getting stuck on these steps, watch this video for some more guidance:

Step 7: Play your new harmonised riff over and over to make sure you’re happy with it.

Step 8: Record your new, harmonised riff in some way such as writing it down on manuscript paper, into a notation program such as Sibelius or recording it with a device like a phone.

Extension: feel free to choose your own chords that aren't on the chart to harmonise your riff - as long as the melody note is still a note of the chord! This can be done with extended harmony, e.g. harmonising a C with a D7 chord or harmonising a D with a C9 chord. Make sure the melody is always the highest voice in the chord.

Congratulations! You've completed the first part of your composition, writing a riff. Now we're going to use this riff to write a whole section of your composition.

Using your riff to write a section

Now we're going to take the riff you've written and create a section of your composition.

Lawrence use their riff as the basis of the intro and verse to Casualty. Another musical feature that they use in the intro and verse is a syncopated bassline. Syncopated means to play notes off the beat. In this case, the bass notes/notes in the left hand of the piano are played just before the beat, or anticipating the beat.

Have a listen to the intro and the verse of Casualty and follow along with the music:

Baby steps Part 2:

Now we're going to take the riff that you've written and add a bassline to turn it into a section of your composition.

Step 1: In your right hand, play your riff on the piano over and over. At the same time in your left hand, choose from the notes C, D, F and A and play one at the beginning of every two bars. This will mean you play two bass notes for one repeat of your riff.

-> if you find it hard to play both at the same time, play a recording of your riff and play along with your left hand.

Step 2: Play around with the notes in your left hand until you find a sequence of notes that you like. Make sure that the sequence goes for 16 bars (this will be FOUR repeats of the right hand riff).

Step 3: Now instead of playing the notes in the left hand exactly on the first beat of the bar, instead play them just before the beat. Practise this a few times.

Step 4: Record your riff with your left hand bassline in some way such as writing it down on manuscript, into a notation program such as Sibelius or recording it with a device like a phone.

You should now have 16 bars which can form one (or more) sections of your composition.

Writing a second section

Now we're going to write a second section for your composition. This will be based off the chorus from Casualty.

The chorus of Casualty is made up of an 8 bar chord sequence. Have a listen to the chorus and follow along with the piano chords:

You'll notice the chords have a lot of numbers and letters next to them. This is because they use extended harmony.

Extended harmony is where we add extra notes to triadic chords, which we learnt about in the previous activity. Extended harmony is useful for making the chords sound more interesting or more colourful.

Baby steps Part 3:

In this activity we're going to write a chord progression which uses extended harmony.

Step 1: Play around with the notes D, E, F, G and A on the piano. Find an order of 8 notes that you like (you will have to repeat some notes).

Step 2: Play the sequence of notes over and over in your left hand.

Step 3: Record this sequence of notes in some way such as writing it down on manuscript, putting into Sibelius or recording it with a device like a phone.

Now we’re going to harmonise each note of the left hand by adding chords in the right hand. Here are your options for chords:

If you're playing:

You can use the chord/s:

D minor

E minor or C major

F major or D minor

G major or E minor

A minor or F major

C major

F major

G major

A minor

D minor

E minor

Step 4: Play each left hand note one by one and for each one choose a chord for the right hand that you like.

Step 5: Play your new sequence of chords on the piano, holding them for 1 bar each.

REMINDER: at any point if you don't like the sound of your chord progression, feel free to change some of the chords until it sounds better!

Step 6: Record your chord sequence in some way such as writing it down on manuscript or in Sibelius or recording it with a device like a phone.

If you're finding these steps difficult, have a look at this tutorial video:

Now we’re going to add more notes to the chords you’ve chosen – remember that this was called extended harmony. The options of notes you have to add to the chords are major/minor 7th and/or 9ths. This sounds complicated but don't worry, here are the options you have to use:

Chord:

Major 7:

Minor 7:

D minor

E minor

C major

F major

G major

A minor

F sharp

B flat

E flat

F sharp

Step 7: Pick a few of the chords in your sequence and try adding major/minor 7th and/or 9ths to the chord in the right hand. You may find that the chord after your extended harmony chord may not sound as good anymore. Feel free to change any of the chords from your original sequence if this is the case in order to find a sequence of chords you think sounds good.

Step 8: Play your new sequence of 8 chords, holding them for 1 bar each.

Step 9: Record your chord sequence in some way such as writing it down on manuscript, in Sibelius or recording it with a device like a phone.

If you're confused about adding extended harmony, have a look at this tutorial video:

Extension: Try changing the rhythm of the chords - for example, some could go for 2 or 1 beats instead of four (keep in mind this may mean you will need more chords to make an 8 bar sequence). Try using chromatic notes in the left hand and harmonising them.

Writing a Hook

The last thing we're going to write for your composition is a hook.

Lawrence use a hook in Casualty during the bridge, which comes after the second chorus. This is the notation of the hook - have a listen to the bridge and see if you can hear when the hook is played:

You'll notice that the hook uses two techniques we've already talked about; syncopation and extended harmony.

Baby steps for composition:

Step 1: Play the note C 3-5 times on your piano.

Step 2: Experiment with the rhythm of the notes, focusing on “syncopating” the rhythm.

Step 3: Find a short syncopated rhythm on the note C that you like. Play it over and over.

Step 4: Experiment with changing the notes of the rhythm to either C, D, E or F.

Step 5: Find an arrangement of the notes using the syncopated rhythm that you like. Play it over and over.

Step 6: Record your hook in some way such as writing it down on manuscript, in Sibelius or recording it with a device like a phone.

Adding extended harmony:

Step 7: Play your hook in your left hand.

Step 8: Play each note of the hook one by one. Look back at the steps from the "writing a riff" section above and use the table to choose a chord for each of the notes of your hook that you like the sound of. Play the chords in your right hand and the hook in your left.

Step 9: Now try adding some extra notes to the chords you’ve chosen. Using the table from the "writing a second section" information above, try adding major/minor 7th and/or 9ths to the chords you’ve chosen and add the notes in that you like the sound of.

Step 10: Play your new harmonised hook over and over. Record it in some way such as writing it down on manuscript, in Sibelius or recording it with a device like a phone.

If you need more help, watch this quick tutorial video on how to write the hook:

Bringing it

all together

Congratulations!! You should have now written 3 pieces of material that you can use in your piece. You should have:

1) A 16 bar section based on your piano riff

2) An 8 bar extended harmony chord sequence

3) A short syncopated hook

Now the rest is up to you - you have to figure out how you want to use these ideas in your composition.

You could use each idea as the basis for individual sections, like how Lawrence used their ideas to create a verse, chorus and bridge. Or you could combine them all into one section, or play them at the same time - up to you!

Also keep in mind that you don't need to necessarily write a piece with a pop structure. You could write an instrumental piece and use each piece of material to create A, B and C sections.

Happy composing!

Reflection

My model piece was Casualty by Lawrence. I found it easy to pick out the main compositional techniques of the song as the band have made videos talking about how they wrote/produced Casualty, and they also provide lyrics and chords online for their songs. Casualty has a pop structure and each section is based on a different compositional technique. This made it easy to structure my baby steps as I just took the idea of the riff from the verse, the extended chord sequence from the chorus and the hook from the bridge and wrote three separate activities based on these for students to follow.

I expect that the activities I’ve written will be quite easy for students to follow. I’ve provided context before each activity so students can refer to how the compositional technique appears in the model. I’ve then written out clear and sequential baby steps for them to follow. I tried to scaffold the activities that are based around harmony very carefully as I feel it’s a difficult concept. I tried to make this easier for students by giving them limited chord options and spelling out which notes to use for which types of extended harmony chords. I didn’t want to write a lot of rules for students to follow when it comes to harmony, so I tried to make the steps as foolproof as possible and then students can use their ear to get more creative. I’ve provided videos for most activities to make it clearer how to play the notes/chords on the piano for students with limited experience. I also recognise that some students will be further ahead and will find the activities too easy, so I’ve included ideas for extensions on the activities where appropriate.

Finally, the baby steps activities are not designed for students to write an entire finished composition. Like I explained in the previous post, the baby steps are meant to help students compose and plan a start to a piece of music. The material they will have after completing the baby steps will be enough for them to write three sections of music, or however else they wish to use it.