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Re: Is lilypond really suitable for composing?
From: |
Peter Engelbert |
Subject: |
Re: Is lilypond really suitable for composing? |
Date: |
Fri, 23 Mar 2018 22:31:55 +0000 |
I developed my inner ear almost entirely as an adult, so I learned it consciously.
It came first from solfeging everything I came into contact with. That helped me understand the diatonic tendencies of notes.
Then I studied counterpoint. In doing my exercises, i would do it on paper first. When I was finished, I always played one voice while singing the other. Then I would switch the voices and do it again. I started to build up a sense for how lines work together, and for what different vertical intervals sound like in different contexts.
When I found a teacher, he taught me harmony using the Boulanger method. Long harmony exercises in four voices that were meant to be played at the piano. You are given a baseline only and are forbidden to write the other voices in. Play three voices and sing one. Repeat for all the voices. Transpose through all possible keys and do the same. When you could do that with one exercise (which would usually take 2 weeks of steady practice) then you moved on to the next.
Then the same thing but with modulations.
Doing this provides you with aural standards against which exceptions are measured. It becomes clear that the tenor line, for one, follows specific motions from each chord to the next, and practicing it ad nauseum meant that I had experiential knowledge of what that voice “meant” in that context. I could look at a bass line in any key and sing the standard tenor line that would go with the “standard” 4-voice realization.
The logical follow up to this is to play the Bach fugues while singing one of the voices. Or the chorales. At every step, you are connecting music to the VOICE first, the BODY second, and the MIND dead last.
At least, that’s how I developed my inner ear. I guarantee that anyone following a similar method will have similar results.
And I wouldn’t dream of composing anything “into the computer”. It’s there to check your work if you need it (if you don’t rely on it, it can actually HELP you develop as you compare the midi to your own internal representation). You just have to be sure to develop your internal representation as fully as possible before checking your work.
Hope this provides some useful information,
Peter
- Re: Is lilypond really suitable for composing?, (continued)
Re: Is lilypond really suitable for composing?, Nathan Sprangers, 2018/03/24
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Re: Is lilypond really suitable for composing?, Flaming Hakama by Elaine, 2018/03/23
Re: Is lilypond really suitable for composing?, Flaming Hakama by Elaine, 2018/03/23
- Re: Is lilypond really suitable for composing?, Vaughan McAlley, 2018/03/24
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- Re: Is lilypond really suitable for composing?, Kieren MacMillan, 2018/03/24
- Re: Is lilypond really suitable for composing?, David Kastrup, 2018/03/25
- Re: Is lilypond really suitable for composing?, Kieren MacMillan, 2018/03/25
- Re: Is lilypond really suitable for composing?, Werner LEMBERG, 2018/03/25
- Re: Is lilypond really suitable for composing?, David Kastrup, 2018/03/26