Document and categorize your work
Your work must be documented. This step is necessary so that you can remember it over time, and others can learn it and share it with more listeners. Document motives, phrases and completed melodies.
It is very helpful to maintain a library of motives and phrases. You can tap this library of “spare parts” to get inspiration for a new work or to break through writer’s block.
Categorize your work in ways that support your writing style: Song, tune, ballad, reel, jig, slip jig, hornpipe, parody, satire, humor, political commentary, social broadside. Decide what headings best describes your compositions and assign each melody to the proper category. This step is all about recall. You may end up with hundreds of original melodies and even more motives and phrases. A proper inventory system is essential in order to recall your work.
Four techniques are available for documenting music.
1. Audio recording
Audio recording of motives, phrases and complete melodies need not be complex. At this point in the creative process the goal is not to make a commercial grade recording. This is simply about storing ideas. The most readilly availbe device for this is probably a smart phone. Most come with recording software. The iTunes store has many apps that will do this job. Get whatever works best for you.
A step up is to buy a hand-held digital recording device. Zoom, Tascam, Roland, Sony, Maranz and other makes these devices. Prices generally start at about $100 and go up.... WAY up. A reliable source for purchasing digital audio gear is Sweetwater Sound:
2. Standard Notation
The old fashion, time-tested way is to buy blank music paper, get out a pencil and go to work. But, software is available to make the effort of documenting music a lot easier. Here are several optioins.
Noteworthy Composer is a very good software product that has been around for a long time. I used it for many years. Many church music directors rely on Noteworthy. The product is $49. Noteworthy is great software. Overtime I found it failed to meet all of my needs. I upgraded to Sibelius First.
Take careful note of the name of this software. FIRST is important. Sibelius First is a slimmed down version of AVID's full scale music notation software. Sibelius First is very capable and all that a singer-songwriter or traditional music needs. Retail price is about $120 as a download. Available through Sweetwater and other retailers
Again, PRINT is the key word. Finale Print is the slimmed down version of Finale. This smaller version will fully support singer-songwriters and traditional musicians. Cost for downloading is $99. Available through Sweetwater and other retailers. I used Finale for a number of years. But I find that Sibelius First is a better product for my needs.
3. ABC Notation
I have become a great fan of ABC notation. It is easy to write. Easy to read. Doesn't require a lot of study. ABC notation allows lyrics and chords to be placed into the display. ABC notation can do it all for singer-songwriters who want to document their work but don't want to deal with standard notation. In large part I like ABC notation because of the free Easy ABC software. This is a Sony product from their SoundForge division. It's free. It's tops. As you write in ABC format the software writes out the music in standard notation on the screen. It has a playback system that allows you to hear what you have written. That's very helpful in correcting errors. It also supports exporting files as PDF, MIDI and HTML files. EASY ABC could be all the software you need. And it's free.
To learn more about ABC visit the ABC Notation home page. An excellent tutorial on using ABC notation is available at this website: ABC Tutorial.
4. MIDI
Musical Istrument Digital Interface has been around for decades. You need not be an expert to use the system. Under the hood it's pretty complex. MIDI is the interface that will tie an electronic keyboard to a computer. With a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) on the computer, MIDI is that communications tool that will allow music played on the keyboard to be stored in the DAW. From there individual notes can be changed an added. The combination of a digital keyboard that is only two octaves and a DAW allows your to compose on the fly and edit at your own pace. You don't have to know much about MIDI. You do have to understand how to work with a DAW. More about that in the section of Recording.
It is very helpful to maintain a library of motives and phrases. You can tap this library of “spare parts” to get inspiration for a new work or to break through writer’s block.
Categorize your work in ways that support your writing style: Song, tune, ballad, reel, jig, slip jig, hornpipe, parody, satire, humor, political commentary, social broadside. Decide what headings best describes your compositions and assign each melody to the proper category. This step is all about recall. You may end up with hundreds of original melodies and even more motives and phrases. A proper inventory system is essential in order to recall your work.
Four techniques are available for documenting music.
1. Audio recording
Audio recording of motives, phrases and complete melodies need not be complex. At this point in the creative process the goal is not to make a commercial grade recording. This is simply about storing ideas. The most readilly availbe device for this is probably a smart phone. Most come with recording software. The iTunes store has many apps that will do this job. Get whatever works best for you.
A step up is to buy a hand-held digital recording device. Zoom, Tascam, Roland, Sony, Maranz and other makes these devices. Prices generally start at about $100 and go up.... WAY up. A reliable source for purchasing digital audio gear is Sweetwater Sound:
2. Standard Notation
The old fashion, time-tested way is to buy blank music paper, get out a pencil and go to work. But, software is available to make the effort of documenting music a lot easier. Here are several optioins.
Noteworthy Composer is a very good software product that has been around for a long time. I used it for many years. Many church music directors rely on Noteworthy. The product is $49. Noteworthy is great software. Overtime I found it failed to meet all of my needs. I upgraded to Sibelius First.
Take careful note of the name of this software. FIRST is important. Sibelius First is a slimmed down version of AVID's full scale music notation software. Sibelius First is very capable and all that a singer-songwriter or traditional music needs. Retail price is about $120 as a download. Available through Sweetwater and other retailers
Again, PRINT is the key word. Finale Print is the slimmed down version of Finale. This smaller version will fully support singer-songwriters and traditional musicians. Cost for downloading is $99. Available through Sweetwater and other retailers. I used Finale for a number of years. But I find that Sibelius First is a better product for my needs.
3. ABC Notation
I have become a great fan of ABC notation. It is easy to write. Easy to read. Doesn't require a lot of study. ABC notation allows lyrics and chords to be placed into the display. ABC notation can do it all for singer-songwriters who want to document their work but don't want to deal with standard notation. In large part I like ABC notation because of the free Easy ABC software. This is a Sony product from their SoundForge division. It's free. It's tops. As you write in ABC format the software writes out the music in standard notation on the screen. It has a playback system that allows you to hear what you have written. That's very helpful in correcting errors. It also supports exporting files as PDF, MIDI and HTML files. EASY ABC could be all the software you need. And it's free.
To learn more about ABC visit the ABC Notation home page. An excellent tutorial on using ABC notation is available at this website: ABC Tutorial.
4. MIDI
Musical Istrument Digital Interface has been around for decades. You need not be an expert to use the system. Under the hood it's pretty complex. MIDI is the interface that will tie an electronic keyboard to a computer. With a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) on the computer, MIDI is that communications tool that will allow music played on the keyboard to be stored in the DAW. From there individual notes can be changed an added. The combination of a digital keyboard that is only two octaves and a DAW allows your to compose on the fly and edit at your own pace. You don't have to know much about MIDI. You do have to understand how to work with a DAW. More about that in the section of Recording.