Basic Elements of Artistic Beauty in Music

[Captain Ironhelm]

I went through the latest 2 pages in the music section, and honestly most of the critique I could offer would be almost be pasting the same thing in the different threads. Overall, we all have to remember some basic elements that contribute to interesting art of any form (painting, drama, music, writing, etc.)

1. Unity - quality of wholeness that is achieved through the effective use of the elements; tied together

2. Variety - quality or state of having different forms or types.

3. Balance - arranging the elements so that no one part of the work overpowers. (Symmetry, asymmetry)

4. Emphasis - Artist draws eyes or ears to one element.

For example I'll use Themiscyra by the PhonyBrony:
http://soundcloud.com/the-phony-brony/some-song-that-i-shall-name-in
Unity can be heard in elements. The theme playing through the song keeps bringing us back to the same idea. Also through the blipping synth that starts at 54 seconds helps tie sections together. The rythm is kept through the piece. Sweeps help keep the song flowing.
You can hear variety through the whole piece. He switches out the drum patterns, adds in sweeps, the blipping synth that floats over sections, at 2 minutes the whole piece almost takes a different feel, he adds and removes different elements and switches up synths. Variety is what I tend to stress most. It's annoying to go through the whole song and it's just the same thing copied and pasted 6 times over again. Looking at your favorite big time artists will probably show a good bit of variety. Variety keeps the listener interested in the music. A boring song might be structured very nicely, but if it's boring it'll go right on the top shelf.

Balance - he keeps sounds where they're supposed to be in the mix. Nothing is downright overpowering another element. One might have some prominence over another, but that's to keep the focus on the important idea of the piece. This ties into

Emphasis. Perhaps your emphasis is in the emotion of the melody, which may be more specifically an emotion you are trying to bring out of the listener. All the other elements support the main element. It shouldn't be hard to figure out what the main focus is, nor should it be a confusing wall of sound. Everything should be pointing toward and complementing the melody and making it as awesome as it can be.

Hope this might be able to help someone out!

[PhonyBrony]

I went through the latest 2 pages in the music section, and honestly most of the critique I could offer would be almost be pasting the same thing in the different threads. Overall, we all have to remember some basic elements that contribute to interesting art of any form (painting, drama, music, writing, etc.)

1. Unity - quality of wholeness that is achieved through the effective use of the elements; tied together

2. Variety - quality or state of having different forms or types.

3. Balance - arranging the elements so that no one part of the work overpowers. (Symmetry, asymmetry)

4. Emphasis - Artist draws eyes or ears to one element.

For example I'll use Themiscyra by the PhonyBrony:
http://soundcloud.com/the-phony-brony/some-song-that-i-shall-name-in
Unity can be heard in elements. The theme playing through the song keeps bringing us back to the same idea. Also through the blipping synth that starts at 54 seconds helps tie sections together. The rythm is kept through the piece. Sweeps help keep the song flowing.
You can hear variety through the whole piece. He switches out the drum patterns, adds in sweeps, the blipping synth that floats over sections, at 2 minutes the whole piece almost takes a different feel, he adds and removes different elements and switches up synths. Variety is what I tend to stress most. It's annoying to go through the whole song and it's just the same thing copied and pasted 6 times over again. Looking at your favorite big time artists will probably show a good bit of variety. Variety keeps the listener interested in the music. A boring song might be structured very nicely, but if it's boring it'll go right on the top shelf.

Balance - he keeps sounds where they're supposed to be in the mix. Nothing is downright overpowering another element. One might have some prominence over another, but that's to keep the focus on the important idea of the piece. This ties into

Emphasis. Perhaps your emphasis is in the emotion of the melody, which may be more specifically an emotion you are trying to bring out of the listener. All the other elements support the main element. It shouldn't be hard to figure out what the main focus is, nor should it be a confusing wall of sound. Everything should be pointing toward and complementing the melody and making it as awesome as it can be.

Hope this might be able to help someone out!

Wow, I'm surprised that you used my song as an example! Thank you!

I really like your analysis of music structure as a whole. Some of the problems you mentioned, such as lack of variety, are very legitimate. I'm sure your post will help a lot of people out

Thanks!
the Phony Brony

btw, glad you liked the song

[prettiestPony]

I think this is a really good post!

To these concepts, I would further suggest a few more: tension, relief, and development (or "progression").

Tension is that feeling in music which is created when something is unstable in such a way that it feels like it should resolve to something stable. Relief is the sensation the listener experiences after tension has been resolved or eliminated. The quickest, most obvious way to build tension is with dissonance: the "clashing" of dissonant intervals is somewhat "unsettling", by which I don't really mean "unpleasant" (because that depends largely on context), but rather that they feel less stable than consonant harmonies. But it's not limited to dissonance and consonance; other ways to build tension include increasing tempo, increasing volume, raising melodies upward, using sharper/harsher timbres, and overall increasing the "business" of a piece of music (though more instruments playing at once, more individual melodic lines, denser rhythms, etc.). Releasing tension often involves the opposite--slower tempo, lower volume, etc.

Development, loosely stated, is the way that the aforementioned elements are combined and changed throughout a piece of music. Thematically speaking, it is very much about the interplay between "unity" and "variety"--a piece with no variety has no development (imagine one bar literally repeated for four minutes); yet a piece with no unity has no real development either, because then it feels random, chaotic, incomprehensible, and consequently boring. Thus you need a balance between them (bringing us back to Captain Ironhelm's third element).

But, development is furthermore about building or modifying; some aspect of your music will serve as a foundation for the rest of it to build upon and grow from. Most importantly, a well-developed piece should feel like it has a goal--usually the goal will be one of the climactic moments in the piece (i.e. a moment of high tension, high intensity), or it may be the subsequent resolution/relief after a climax. This is where the tension/relief duality comes back into play: generally, tension should build over a period of time until it reaches a climax, then be relieved somehow. This can (and probably should) happen many different times throughout a piece, and at varying levels of intensity.

Basically, it's like ascending a mountain. (Not climbing up a cliff wall, more like the kind you can hike up.) There are steep areas, there are less steep areas, there are plateaus, and sometimes you even start going downward again for a little while. But ultimately, even if you're experiencing little rises and dips as you go, you're still getting higher and higher till you reach the top of the mountain (the tension climax)--at which point you slide back down on a sled, wheee! (The big relief or resolution.)

Most pieces have more than one intensity "mountain" in them, but often there is one mountain that is bigger than all the rest--the most intense part of the track. Often, this biggest mountain will be near the end, or a little bit earlier. (2/3rds the way through is about where many simple melodies reach their highest peaks, for example).

... Annnnnnnnnndd there's some more I could/should say, but I need to finish studying. This post went on longer than I expected. o.O

[Kopachris]

So, are we discussing music philosophy, then? Because I've got some things to say on that subject.

[MRPPony]

Well I must say I'm glad you posted this thread. I've been wondering what my songs were lacking but the only thing I could get from friends and family is, "Yeah, its good." Seems like what I'm lacking is variety, balance...well everything. Time to put what you've all taught me into play and redo something.

I should study up more on music but man I always found studying boring, even if its something I absolutely love doing. -_-

[prettiestPony]

Kopachris, well, if it doesn't seem like it fits in this thread, you could make a new thread about music philosophy / philosophy of music.

Or if Captain Ironhelm doesn't like us hijacking his thread.

[Sai]

Tension is that feeling in music which is created when something is unstable in such a way that it feels like it should resolve to something stable. Relief is the sensation the listener experiences after tension has been resolved or eliminated. The quickest, most obvious way to build tension is with dissonance: the "clashing" of dissonant intervals is somewhat "unsettling", by which I don't really mean "unpleasant" (because that depends largely on context), but rather that they feel less stable than consonant harmonies.

Could you possibly expand on this a bit? Let's see what I understand >.>
I get the concept of using dissonant elements to create the tension, but when it comes to me actually trying to make something like that, I quickly realise I have no idea what I'm doing.

[Captain Ironhelm]

Or if Captain Ironhelm doesn't like us hijacking his thread.

If it's related and adds to the discussion, I have no problem!

[Ed Viper]

A couple things that I believe should be present in music, but this is based heavily in my own tastes and opinions.

Tonality. I had a big problem with this when I first started, but it's an easy thing to get a hang of. Just learn scale structure - all I know is the structure for major and minor scales and that gets me along just fine. This will allow you to build a scale from a single note, and as long as you keep within that scale, you will have no problems with tonality (or at least, very few problems).

Theme. Similar to the emphasis noted by Captain Ironhelm. Basically, an individual song should have a message, even if there is no lyrics. There should probably be an underlying story or ideal that is depicted by the song. This isn't necessary for a song to be good, but beautiful songs tend to have an overarching theme.

As I said, this is thoroughly rooted in my own musical tastes.

[Kopachris]

Eh, on second thought, I'll leave my philosophical ramblings out of it. I understand that this guide is meant more for practical purposes.

As I said, this is thoroughly rooted in my own musical tastes.

Indeed. Then again, I have yet to hear any atonal/pantonal/post-tonal/whatever-you-want-to-call-it brony music, so I'm sure you're not alone.

[prettiestPony]

Eh, on second thought, I'll leave my philosophical ramblings out of it. I understand that this guide is meant more for practical purposes.

I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts and/or a more philosophical discussion. Care to start a new thread, then?

I get the concept of using dissonant elements to create the tension, but when it comes to me actually trying to make something like that, I quickly realise I have no idea what I'm doing.

Well, I'm sure you do at least some of it intuitively/unconsciously. But yeah, I'll add another reply expanding on that when I can.