How to create an accompaniment A step – by – step guide

What is an accompaniment? Once you have composed a melody you need to create an accompaniment An accompaniment is the equivalent of a backing track- ask yourself ‘What is yourself ‘What is happening in the background of your melody?’ Bass Line Chords The easiest way to start creating an accompaniment is by adding some chords to your melody Countermelody Melody Descant A simple, high pitch melody. Often long sustained notes. Decorates the main melody. The main tune. Catchy and memorable. A second melody which sits underneath the main melody. It decorates and thickens the texture. Provides the harmony. Can be arranged in a variety of ways e.g. arpeggios, broken chords, block chords. The lowest part, supports the harmony in the chords and can provide interest e.g. a riff, ostinato or pedal note

Here is an original four-bar melody Try playing your melody experimenting with different chords In the key of C major these are the basic chords available The most popular chords are chord I, IV and V Almost every melody will fit these chords- but to get higher marks for your coursework you will need to use more unusual chords than just I, IV and V. However, using these three chords are a good starting point for composing

Here is an original four-bar melody Try playing your melody experimenting with different chords In the key of C major these are the basic chords available The most popular chords are chord I, IV and V Almost every melody will fit these chords- but to get higher marks for your coursework you will need to use more unusual chords than just I, IV and V. However, using these three chords are a good starting point for composing

Here is an original four-bar melody Try playing your melody experimenting with different chords In the key of C major these are the basic chords available The most popular chords are chord I, IV and V Almost every melody will fit these chords- but to get higher marks for your coursework you will need to use more unusual chords than just I, IV and V. However, using these three chords are a good starting point for composing

Adding chords Now that the basic chords are labelled it will be very simple to add the chords and vary them to make them more interesting Chord C (chord I in C major) Chord G (chord V in C major) Chord F (chord IV in C major) Chord G7 (G with an added F)

Basic Chords Here are the chords added to the melody C chord = C E G G chord = G B D F chord = F A C F chord = F A C C chord = C E G G chord = G B D C chord = C E G G7 chord = G B D F

1.Copy your original four bar melody into a new file. Keep the instrument the same as it was before. 2.Add an instrument that can play chords (piano, keyboard, guitar, organ, harp) 3.Label all the notes in your melody (click on the note and press Ctrl+L then type the letters in) 4.Work out which of the primary and secondary chords will fit and add them underneath the melody (one chord per bar)

Developing the basic chords Once you have worked out the basic chords there are many ways of changing them to make them more interesting

Broken Chords Break up the chords so that the notes are played one at a time instead of all at once Try breaking them up in different directions- ascending and descending AscendingDescending

1.Add four new bars at the end of your music and copy your original four bar melody and basic chords them. 2.Change the way the chords are played by using broken chords instead of block chords 3.Listen to your music to check it fits 4.Save your work

Chord Inversions If you like the sound of block chords try varying the order of the notes to make them more interesting GECGEC ECGECG CGECGE ECGCECGC GECGEC ECGCECGC ECGECG DBGDBG GDBGDB CAFCAF FCAFCA DBGDBG GDBGDB CAFCAF FDBGFDBG

1.Add four new bars at the end of your music and copy your original four bar melody and basic chords them. 2.Change the way the chords are played by using chord inversions 3.Listen to your music to check it fits 4.Save your work

Varying the Rhythm Dotted rhythms make the accompaniment more interesting Because the rhythm of the melody is different to the rhythm of the accompaniment we call this a cross-rhythm

Mixing rhythms Try mixing long sustained notes with a shorter rhythm

Pedal Note A long, low, sustained note is called a pedal note Try adding a pedal note underneath the chords

Arranging chords and a pedal note on one stave Condensing the pedal note onto the same stave as the chords look like this

Altering the rhythm Try changing the rhythm of the accompaniment to triplets This creates more cross-rhythms

Changing the broken chords If you change the broken chords to semiquaver (quarter) notes the accompaniment sounds much busier and more detail can be added to them Try varying the direction of the notes (ascending, descending, mixed) Ascending Descending Mixed

Semiquaver Accompaniment Here is an example of a semiquaver accompaniment using ascending, descending and mixed patterns

Putting it all together All these ideas, and more, can be used, altered and mixed together to make a piece of music that is of a good standard Here is a summary of the ideas that have been used. They have been put into one final piece of music Can you spot all the different ideas and techniques?