Music Composition Techniques 2: Tension & Release

Welcome to the course!

Before we go to deep into the weeds here, let me tell you a little bit about my background.

Why is this such a major topic? You will find that it informs nearly every compositional decision you make.

The tools of the trade – I’ll walk you through them in this lesson.

Here is some staff paper for you to use. Print out a few copies and keep it handy.

A quick review from the first class in this series on methods.

We’ve looked at a few different formal constructs in my other classes. These are the ones we know so far.

You wouldn’t think it, but you can actually create tension just by using form. Some forms work better than others.

One of the most common forms to use for tension and release is the Sonata Form.

Sonata Form can be broken down into 4 elements. Learning them will have you using it in no time.

Let’s look at some examples of Sonata Form.

Now let’s look at how we can use this in any style of music.

Here are the files for the piece we were using in the last example if you want to play with them.

Let’s look at some more modern examples next.

This song is a great example of form for tension.

Using odd meters doesn’t work in all styles, but there are some ways around that.

Let’s look at how compound meters work.

This can be a tricky topic to explain (and understand), so let’s just put a definition on the table first.

Let’s look at meter signatures now.

Let’s take a look at all of this again, from a different angle.

Next, let’s see how using both compound and duple meters can create tension.

This is a little trick I like to do to create tension with rhythm.

This is a great example of pattern obfuscation.

Here are the files for that song, if you want to play around with it.

Here is another example, this time in a track of mine.

Usually, when we think of tension in harmony we think of dissonance.

Using a prolonged dominant is a great form of tension in a track.

Another trick to create a sense of tension and release.

Pedal Tones can make anything dark and full of tension. Resolving them can make it feel like the sky just opened up.

The longer the better!

The pedal tone doesn’t always need to be in the bass.

This is one of my all-time favorite examples of a prolonged pedal.

If you really want some tension, use multiple techniques.

Here is the example from the previous lesson.

Another example, this time one of my own.

The world of film scoring has all kinds of special techniques for this same purpose.

Let’s look at some film scoring techniques.

Stay Tuned!

That’s it for now!