There is research out there that tells us that people like listening to sad music. It doesn’t necessarily bring them down, and in fact can have an opposite, buoyant effect. That’s because as listeners, we want to feel something, and as long as whatever the sad song is about isn’t describing our own state of affairs […]
Though everyone has a favourite way of starting songs, I think it’s fair to say that most people will use many different processes, depending on what musical idea pops into their head at the start of a session. Some typical ways of starting: Setting up a percussion loop and improvise over it, using the mood […]
We all get something different out of music. For some, music is beautiful sound that gets played quietly on the home stereo, never turned up: musical wallpaper. For others, music defines who they are and takes a central role. It gets turned up loud and listened to. And more than just listening to music because […]
The melody-chord relationship is one we talk about all the time. You can enhance a melody, and in particular its sense of direction and energy, by ensuring that you’re using chords that are functionally clear. The relationship we don’t talk about so much is the connection between lyrics and chords. How listeners react to chords […]
