I've been a violinist for over fifty years, never been a composer. With just the two videos of yours that I've heard, things make so much sense, and I realize that music doesn't have to be the mystery that it always has been for me. Even if I don't compose anything, your explanations are amazing, clear and satisfying.
I'm a three chord country/garage rock songwriter who doesn't know what on earth a fermata is. But you explain this in a way that illuminates the possibilities of even very basic song formats. Thanks so much. Great lesson!
TH-cam kept pushing this vid at me until I watched it, and I'm so glad it did. I had composition classes in college and studied privately later. No one ever taught me the period-sentence distinction. It's more a design principle than a formula. Formulas are like cheat codes. This is more of a strategy. Super helpful.
Two thoughts about periods and sentences when you generalize. These forms can be nested in two ways, and if you want to look in a more general way, perhaps many already are nested. 1. Make a period out of two sentences. Your sentence does its thing and ends with half cadence, now repeat it and end with full cadence. Presto, it's a large period made out of two small sentences. There was a video a long while back by a different composer youtuber suggesting more to this relationship, suggesting something like all periods can be thought of as two sentences. Question and answer. 2. Make a sentence that starts with a period. You have your question, then your answer, but then it continue it with fragmentation. The initial question and answer are treated as the two statements of your basic idea and you move into a continuation, and round it off with a larger cadence. Now what was a period on initial hearing has turned into a sentence when looked at from a higher altitude. This may seem a stretch, but look at the Spirited away example. Just take the melody of the two basic idea statements. If you think in C major, the first one ending on D, the 2, can be thought of as a half cadence. The second one ending on C, the 1, can be thought of as an answer with a full cadence. This is not the long version I'm talking about, but already the first two statements can be thought of in this way as a "little period" nested into the beginning of the sentence.
I find that stuff happens to me too. I think it’s because our ears are so cultured to these patterns that we subconsciously follow them ourselves when writing.
I had stumbled upon your old tutorials a while ago. Nice to see you on TH-cam too. :) As for future topics, it’d be nice to see your take on how to communicate various moods in music and the harmonic choices behind them. I remember reading your tutorial on movement by thirds; it’d be nice to learn about other techniques too.
This type of content is some of the best (if not the best) I've seen in the past years, hands down. Really useful material for a self-taught "composer"! Extremely useful approach! I'll definitely be looking more into harmony stuff like more on cadences and sequences mentioned at 12:20 or stuff like that to add color to works! Really really like this content and definitely I'll be sticking around for a while!
Blinding lights by The Weeknd is the first example that comes to mind with this format of melody, crazy when music theory clicks in that way. Makes you feel empowered.
This was very helpful to me as a composer. I feel like I’ve had the lack of forward motion in my music. I always get stuck on how to properly reach the climax of my idea. This gave me more tools!
I watched both videos on period form and sentence form. For me, these are really very interesting approaches that no one has ever conveyed to me in this form in such an understandable way. Now it's up to me to try out these different approaches in practice in my compositional attempts. So it only remains for me to thank you for your effort, also in the other contributions on TH-cam. It's really nice to meet people like you who get it really teach you something. So thanks again!!!
I always appreciate when content creators give references of where they've researched, so that one can also do ones own research. You can do any videos on Form and I'll be interested.
instant subscribe. my music theory understanding is enough to get what you're doing but would never be able to think of on my own. can't wait to watch more and get to the next level!
These videos are killer, Ryan. You manage to put a lot in here without over-explaining, so it really feels as though you're fostering creativity for those watching, as opposed to telling us "how to do it properly." Thanks, and please keep it up.
I just stumbled across your channel, and you are an incredibly gifted teacher. My sister has this same skill set (though applied in conjunction with sports and coaching) where you really understand fundamentals of a certain subject and are really good in explaining those fundamentals in a way that a wide range of people, from beginners to professional musicians, can grasp what you are describing that makes it almost seem so silly that we didn't quite understand it so simply before. Thank you so much for this! This topic specifically is something I have really been struggling with in terms of melody and sound phrasing. There is a reason that popular music is popular, and as melody really refers to the vocals in pop music, this is the piece that I really have trouble with - kind of "bringing things home", or applying a pattern especially in a chorus that makes a song "easy" to listen to, but not necessarily boring or overly repetitive. Thanks again. Subbed.
This really simplifies things. Arrangement of notes is just as important as the notes themselves (or perhaps more important?). Thanks for this explanation.
As someone who has taken music theory 1 and 2 (and no further, because the program was removed the university I was supposed to transfer to), this was a good reminder of the cadences. I already knew what they were and how to do them, but it's a still a good reminder. However, I've always felt that deceptive cadences are not only much more tonally interesting than authentic cadences, perfect or imperfect, but they feel more resolved as well. But I guess that's just me. Edit: That is, the most common deceptive cadence, by using a first inversion vi chord, I find more resolved than authentic cadences.
Excellent. I'm a jazz guitar player exploring solo and the form is an important part of this for me for improv. I'd like to hear more about styles and which forms they gravitate toward (especially jazz). This makes so much sense now - thanks.
Mr. Leach, it gave me a very inspiring impulse for my stuck composition. Trying to work on it by benefitting from both period and sentence forms. Thank you for your efforts! Greetings from Turkey!
Hi, I'm a new subscriber and I am so glad I found you. You lay out your topics in a way that even a novice (like myself) at classical composition can understand. You are an excellent teacher. Very rare. Thanks for tutorials!
Thank you for this video on sentence form composing. I like this form, because it does help to move the music forward and gives you ability to write a new phrase. I also like the cadence at the end. Sometimes I let the music linger (in the mixing session) at the end or let come to a soft stop. Awesome! 🎶🎵🎶💕
I just took this video and the one on period form, and wrote an 8 bar section of each starting with the same first two bars. Interesting to compare and contrast the forms. Thank you. I think this will help me understand what I'm doing better.
This youtube channel is a real gem for composers. Thank you very much for your videos. I have learn a lot with period and sentence form, I still wonder how you deal with this melody structure in regard of the main structure of a track. Is there any relationship between these structures or the track structure depends of the musical piece you want to write ?
Your explanation is so much clearer than those I've found thus far in theory textbooks. I'm feeling that excitement you mentioned of understanding and new possibilities. Thanks for sharing
Ryan, I just found your channel. Y O U are an E X C E L L E N T teacher and composer. Top notch !! Thanks for all of the useable composition tips. You are appreciated! doug gemmell in LV
Hey, Ryan! I just recently found your channel and I'm finding it a godsend of easily digestible, concise lessons and presentations on compositional ideas. Thank you! I've particularly enjoyed your videos regarding period and sentence forms for creating melodies. I was wondering if you'd consider making a video about how to think when creating melodies where the basic motives are longer than 2 bars, and also when the structure doesn't conform to the standard 8-bar structure, like 6, 7, 9 or 12 bars, for example.
Dear Ryan, I love the video! Do you have another videos where you go note for note analysis? -for example the note choice in the left hand in the second bar of G7, why the third is out etc. Also the voice leading, and how it connects to the other chords. Thank you very much, I am learning so much from your videos!
Hey Darko, interesting question. You might like some of the stuff on my second channel where I go into much longer analysis and discussion, especially going through thought process as I'm writing. th-cam.com/channels/xOWcx_NSZ4Hd6KaDmzphSA.html
I even heard a quote from WC Handy, a very early blues musician, that said the same thing, and they intentionally played blues in 12 bars instead of 16 so they wouldn't have to repeat themselves so much.
This and your period video are extremely insightful and for me clarify much. Thank you. You asked for feedback on other topics to cover... what comes to mind is more about how one may use harmony and modes as key reference points to use in creating melodies using these 2 forms. Also now that the basics are provided.. can you show how you can do some of the things you mention.. expanding, shortening..how can you perhaps make something just as functional using a different number of Bars 10.12 or maybe even an odd number?.. (just for starters :-)) Thanks again.
Hey great video! Could you please let me know what software do you use to paly the piano and insert the information and work with the digital music sheet? Thanks!
This was extremely useful, and very well presented - thank you! I came across this concept a few months ago in another video, but it was so badly explained that it turned me off. I'm very pleased I'd seen some of your other videos and was confident that you'd explain it clearly, or I might have missed it all together!
Cool cool! I was taught Sentence form like this, Idea A, Idea A variation, Fragment, Fragment, Cadence Thinking of the "continuation" as a two fragments, can be helpful. That section often has a truncated version of the main idea. Imperial March is a good example. But obviously this is not always the cause.
No doubt.. Very valuable material. Thanks a lot! At present, I am trying to learn Chopin's Op 69 no 2 waltz. It would be great if you could throw some light on this piece.
How many general rules did Fux provide? About 5-6 of them? Stepwise is better than leaps? Never leap more than a 3rd out of an arpeggio? Always reverse direction after large leaps?
Great info. I guess that if you make the piece longer you can for example start bar 9 with the continuation of bars 6 and 7? Or repeat the start of course.
I really enjoyed this video and will be trying some of it right away. I too can come up with 8 bars that I like but sometimes get stuck with it getting boring and as you said "not going anywhere". Your explanation on these two forms was really enlightening.
That's what I was looking for to make music with 8 bars, including motivs, a certain form (period or sentence) to generate together a musical ''phrase''. In all this, where do you localise the ''musical theme''?... Or is the theme 16 bars long? Can you make a video about all this musicle ''particles''? And where they fits in all of this? With ''they'' I think about sequences, riffs, ostinato etc.... And can you compare this ''musical particles'' (or little musical units) with ''verbal vocabulary'', ''idioms'', ''grammar'' etc? Just a couple of questions.🤔😓😃🙏..
I've been a violinist for over fifty years, never been a composer. With just the two videos of yours that I've heard, things make so much sense, and I realize that music doesn't have to be the mystery that it always has been for me. Even if I don't compose anything, your explanations are amazing, clear and satisfying.
204 1
I'm so glad!
Congratulations on cracking into the mystery
@@paperdenise5268right!
I've watched many TH-camrs teaching about music stuff and you are the one who fail to make things easy to understand the most... mehhh
I'm a three chord country/garage rock songwriter who doesn't know what on earth a fermata is. But you explain this in a way that illuminates the possibilities of even very basic song formats. Thanks so much. Great lesson!
TH-cam kept pushing this vid at me until I watched it, and I'm so glad it did. I had composition classes in college and studied privately later. No one ever taught me the period-sentence distinction. It's more a design principle than a formula. Formulas are like cheat codes. This is more of a strategy. Super helpful.
Two thoughts about periods and sentences when you generalize. These forms can be nested in two ways, and if you want to look in a more general way, perhaps many already are nested. 1. Make a period out of two sentences. Your sentence does its thing and ends with half cadence, now repeat it and end with full cadence. Presto, it's a large period made out of two small sentences. There was a video a long while back by a different composer youtuber suggesting more to this relationship, suggesting something like all periods can be thought of as two sentences. Question and answer. 2. Make a sentence that starts with a period. You have your question, then your answer, but then it continue it with fragmentation. The initial question and answer are treated as the two statements of your basic idea and you move into a continuation, and round it off with a larger cadence. Now what was a period on initial hearing has turned into a sentence when looked at from a higher altitude. This may seem a stretch, but look at the Spirited away example. Just take the melody of the two basic idea statements. If you think in C major, the first one ending on D, the 2, can be thought of as a half cadence. The second one ending on C, the 1, can be thought of as an answer with a full cadence. This is not the long version I'm talking about, but already the first two statements can be thought of in this way as a "little period" nested into the beginning of the sentence.
I cannot believe I wrote a melody without knowing this, and yet adhering perfectly to this form you exposed in the video!
I find that stuff happens to me too. I think it’s because our ears are so cultured to these patterns that we subconsciously follow them ourselves when writing.
I'll say this only once. You can repeat it 100 times. Your videos are the best, concise and most informative. Thank you!!!!
I had stumbled upon your old tutorials a while ago. Nice to see you on TH-cam too. :) As for future topics, it’d be nice to see your take on how to communicate various moods in music and the harmonic choices behind them. I remember reading your tutorial on movement by thirds; it’d be nice to learn about other techniques too.
Thanks Taylan, glad you liked the old tutorials and I appreciate the suggestions!
@@RyanLeachHiii what app did you use to write music at 10:55 ? My guess would be muse score but heheh I just wanna know.
@@shanalcordo7174 at the time I made this I think I was still using Sibelius, but I use Dorico now
This type of content is some of the best (if not the best) I've seen in the past years, hands down. Really useful material for a self-taught "composer"!
Extremely useful approach! I'll definitely be looking more into harmony stuff like more on cadences and sequences mentioned at 12:20 or stuff like that to add color to works! Really really like this content and definitely I'll be sticking around for a while!
My dumb ass listening to the form being explained with Beethoven and going "oh, it's Bob-Omb Battlefield"
Blinding lights by The Weeknd is the first example that comes to mind with this format of melody, crazy when music theory clicks in that way. Makes you feel empowered.
This was very helpful to me as a composer. I feel like I’ve had the lack of forward motion in my music. I always get stuck on how to properly reach the climax of my idea. This gave me more tools!
I watched both videos on period form and sentence form.
For me, these are really very interesting approaches that no one has ever conveyed to me in this form in such an understandable way.
Now it's up to me to try out these different approaches in practice in my compositional attempts.
So it only remains for me to thank you for your effort, also in the other contributions on TH-cam.
It's really nice to meet people like you who get it
really teach you something.
So thanks again!!!
I love that I've been instinctively making sentence form music. Period form kinda took me by surprise. The more you learn!
bruh I just realised all my best and most catchy songs follow either the sentence form or period form. yeah Im subscribing
I always appreciate when content creators give references of where they've researched, so that one can also do ones own research.
You can do any videos on Form and I'll be interested.
instant subscribe. my music theory understanding is enough to get what you're doing but would never be able to think of on my own. can't wait to watch more and get to the next level!
Awesome description and analysis!
These videos are killer, Ryan. You manage to put a lot in here without over-explaining, so it really feels as though you're fostering creativity for those watching, as opposed to telling us "how to do it properly."
Thanks, and please keep it up.
What is "over-explaining"? Shortcuts in the knowledge universe do not always effectively work for clarity's sake.
I had no idea writing a melody was that easy.
Thanks
Thank you!
I just stumbled across your channel, and you are an incredibly gifted teacher. My sister has this same skill set (though applied in conjunction with sports and coaching) where you really understand fundamentals of a certain subject and are really good in explaining those fundamentals in a way that a wide range of people, from beginners to professional musicians, can grasp what you are describing that makes it almost seem so silly that we didn't quite understand it so simply before. Thank you so much for this! This topic specifically is something I have really been struggling with in terms of melody and sound phrasing. There is a reason that popular music is popular, and as melody really refers to the vocals in pop music, this is the piece that I really have trouble with - kind of "bringing things home", or applying a pattern especially in a chorus that makes a song "easy" to listen to, but not necessarily boring or overly repetitive. Thanks again. Subbed.
Great presentation, no waffle, thanks
6:36 Is a great visual to help one understand the difference between the two.
thank you so much for this lesson
This really simplifies things. Arrangement of notes is just as important as the notes themselves (or perhaps more important?). Thanks for this explanation.
This is an extra super fantastic lesson , to help every musition to become a powerful composer, for seens in movies , TV and computer games.
Fantastic video. I would love to see more videos on expanding the sentence form and going ape in the continuation sections. Thanks!
I'm too much of a Newbie to compose, but this is great for understanding what's going on. Merci beaucoup.
You’re a great teacher & your music is on point
As someone who has taken music theory 1 and 2 (and no further, because the program was removed the university I was supposed to transfer to), this was a good reminder of the cadences. I already knew what they were and how to do them, but it's a still a good reminder.
However, I've always felt that deceptive cadences are not only much more tonally interesting than authentic cadences, perfect or imperfect, but they feel more resolved as well. But I guess that's just me.
Edit: That is, the most common deceptive cadence, by using a first inversion vi chord, I find more resolved than authentic cadences.
Ryan, you are awesome. Thank you!!
I understood the basic idea for periods, but like you said i was feeling stuck. Thanks for breaking down the sentence form.
Excellent. I'm a jazz guitar player exploring solo and the form is an important part of this for me for improv. I'd like to hear more about styles and which forms they gravitate toward (especially jazz). This makes so much sense now - thanks.
Such a wonderful simple explanation, I'd heard of both of these forms but never quite understood till now. Thanks!
Great to hear! Next in this series will be some more detail on how they compare.
Mr. Leach, it gave me a very inspiring impulse for my stuck composition. Trying to work on it by benefitting from both period and sentence forms. Thank you for your efforts! Greetings from Turkey!
Thank you so much for this video, Ryan Leach.
This is so powerful!
I’ve learned so much about music theory from just this one video. Definitely subscribing. I wanna see more
Absolutely love this topic and would love more videos on this! So interesting to me.
Hi, I'm a new subscriber and I am so glad I found you. You lay out your topics in a way that even a novice (like myself) at classical composition can understand. You are an excellent teacher. Very rare. Thanks for tutorials!
Thank you for this video on sentence form composing. I like this form, because it does help to move the music forward and gives you ability to write a new phrase. I also like the cadence at the end. Sometimes I let the music linger (in the mixing session) at the end or let come to a soft stop. Awesome! 🎶🎵🎶💕
First time to this channel. Love it. Subbed!
This is great, I do all this subconsciously already!!
I just took this video and the one on period form, and wrote an 8 bar section of each starting with the same first two bars. Interesting to compare and contrast the forms. Thank you. I think this will help me understand what I'm doing better.
This is the video that finally filled the last bit of knowledge I needed to understand this. Thank you for the tutorial
This youtube channel is a real gem for composers. Thank you very much for your videos. I have learn a lot with period and sentence form, I still wonder how you deal with this melody structure in regard of the main structure of a track. Is there any relationship between these structures or the track structure depends of the musical piece you want to write ?
Thanks for this one, Ryan!
Absolutely fascinating. Checking out Caplin's book, too. Thank you, Ryan!
Excellent content. Subscribed.
Amazing work. Thank your for this!
Your explanation is so much clearer than those I've found thus far in theory textbooks. I'm feeling that excitement you mentioned of understanding and new possibilities. Thanks for sharing
That's awesome, thanks
Really-excellent illustrations! Thanks, Ryan.
Ryan, I just found your channel. Y O U are an E X C E L L E N T teacher and composer. Top notch !!
Thanks for all of the useable composition tips. You are appreciated!
doug gemmell in LV
Awesome, thank you!
Wow. I learned a ton in just 15 minutes...thank you.
you are a great teacher
super cool video, you are really helping me out thank you so much
Hey, Ryan! I just recently found your channel and I'm finding it a godsend of easily digestible, concise lessons and presentations on compositional ideas. Thank you!
I've particularly enjoyed your videos regarding period and sentence forms for creating melodies. I was wondering if you'd consider making a video about how to think when creating melodies where the basic motives are longer than 2 bars, and also when the structure doesn't conform to the standard 8-bar structure, like 6, 7, 9 or 12 bars, for example.
Cool stuff, very good job explaining things! Thanks for the vid
Very very very very good!
Thank you very much!
Wonderfully presented material. Thank you!
Thank you thank you thank you! I was stuck for a long time and this video was exactly what I needed
Dear Ryan, I love the video! Do you have another videos where you go note for note analysis? -for example the note choice in the left hand in the second bar of G7, why the third is out etc. Also the voice leading, and how it connects to the other chords. Thank you very much, I am learning so much from your videos!
Hey Darko, interesting question. You might like some of the stuff on my second channel where I go into much longer analysis and discussion, especially going through thought process as I'm writing. th-cam.com/channels/xOWcx_NSZ4Hd6KaDmzphSA.html
Excellent tutorial. Thank you~!
thank you so much for all the information you are putting up. Changed my life for ever. Thank you. Grateful.
The sentence form reminds me of the 12-bar blues progression, where the last eight bars (5-12) have been compressed into four bars.
That's a great observation, I really like that!
I even heard a quote from WC Handy, a very early blues musician, that said the same thing, and they intentionally played blues in 12 bars instead of 16 so they wouldn't have to repeat themselves so much.
Staying within the literary references to sentences and periods, are there other forms such as questions or paragraphs?
This was super helpful! Please make more videos on melody!
One coming on Wednesday this week!
i also get excited over musical forms! 😊
This and your period video are extremely insightful and for me clarify much. Thank you. You asked for feedback on other topics to cover... what comes to mind is more about how one may use harmony and modes as key reference points to use in creating melodies using these 2 forms. Also now that the basics are provided.. can you show how you can do some of the things you mention.. expanding, shortening..how can you perhaps make something just as functional using a different number of Bars 10.12 or maybe even an odd number?.. (just for starters :-)) Thanks again.
i think i tend to do this when casually improvising
Very well done, super helpful
Mendelssohn Octet starts like this... exactly fitting your description.
Hey great video! Could you please let me know what software do you use to paly the piano and insert the information and work with the digital music sheet? Thanks!
I got a lot from this. Thank you.
This was extremely useful, and very well presented - thank you! I came across this concept a few months ago in another video, but it was so badly explained that it turned me off. I'm very pleased I'd seen some of your other videos and was confident that you'd explain it clearly, or I might have missed it all together!
Are you available for individual lessons over zoom?
Cool cool!
I was taught Sentence form like this,
Idea A, Idea A variation,
Fragment, Fragment,
Cadence
Thinking of the "continuation" as a two fragments, can be helpful. That section often has a truncated version of the main idea. Imperial March is a good example. But obviously this is not always the cause.
A very basic form that explains both the limerick at one extreme and the opening of Beethoven's Fifth at the other.
Very interesting and informative. Thanks again!🎉
Yessss!!!!! I Also love musical forms i think your vídeo is súper clear and interesting, i loved it
Great video, thank you.
No doubt.. Very valuable material. Thanks a lot!
At present, I am trying to learn Chopin's Op 69 no 2 waltz. It would be great if you could throw some light on this piece.
Yes continue the form.
How many general rules did Fux provide? About 5-6 of them? Stepwise is better than leaps? Never leap more than a 3rd out of an arpeggio? Always reverse direction after large leaps?
I know it's not really the same, but this kinda feels good in the way that AABA stuff feels good
Exactly my problem right now! I'm stuck, but this gave me a some ideas! Definitely will watch more of your videos and you got a new subscriber!
Super, thank you
This is such an excellent video! Now I have another approach I can try to write better melodies and solos. Thank you so much, you are great Ryan!
Corso Vittorio in Rome at 14:15 🥰. Thanks for the great video lesson btw
Excellent thanks
Do you have more videos that expand on the topic of sentence form? Thank you!
try these:
th-cam.com/video/kC8035kFbiE/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/users/liveTuUb2WqdQoA
Как хорошо ютуб мне выдал ваш канал, сразу подписался)
Очень интересно рассказываете и показываете
Great info. I guess that if you make the piece longer you can for example start bar 9 with the continuation of bars 6 and 7? Or repeat the start of course.
More videos on the sentence form please.
Well this was helpful.
I really enjoyed this video and will be trying some of it right away. I too can come up with 8 bars that I like but sometimes get stuck with it getting boring and as you said "not going anywhere". Your explanation on these two forms was really enlightening.
Ryan, I really enjoy your videos. May I ask what software you’re using for writing the music in your videos? Thanks!
Back when I made this it was Sibelius but now I use Dorico
That's the BLUES mannn!
Great stuff
That's what I was looking for to make music with 8 bars, including motivs, a certain form (period or sentence) to generate together a musical ''phrase''. In all this, where do you localise the ''musical theme''?... Or is the theme 16 bars long?
Can you make a video about all this musicle ''particles''?
And where they fits in all of this? With ''they'' I think about sequences, riffs, ostinato etc....
And can you compare this ''musical particles'' (or little musical units) with ''verbal vocabulary'', ''idioms'', ''grammar'' etc? Just a couple of questions.🤔😓😃🙏..
Great knowledge in a well done video- thanks for sharing