How to Compose by Schenkerian Synthesis
Take any melody you like, or two part composition you like., Eliminate every repetition., Reduce every harpeggio (obvious such) to a chord., Eliminate every note in top voice which only serves to lead between two notes., Eliminate every note in top...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Take any melody you like
Write it down on music sheets and start analysing. , Whether four bars are repeated or one note is repeated once or twice in a bar, reduce to one example., So, if you see a sequence of C E G, this is reduced to simultaneous chord, with G as top note., One exception: at the end of the analysis, you should have a falling sequence which starts a fifth or a third, possibly an octave, above the ending tonic note.
This sequence will have 1 or 3 notes leading on down (if starting third or fifth above tonic), or two parts, octave, dominant, tonic, with first part 8 to 5 having leading notes 7, 6, and second part 5 to 1 having leading notes 4, 3,
2.
But as long as you are not ready to reduce to this, any note coming between a lower and a higher note or between a higher or a lower one is eliminated.
Sometimes this will give you an harpeggio, which can then be further reduced, according to step
3. , C D C > C.
And C B C > C.
Even C B D C and C D B C are reduced to C.
This is done even if the note involves chords of its own.
See the parts on chords and bass., This is not per se a step, but a description of how next step should look when finished.
Bass should end on a note an octave lower than tonic of end note in top voice.
Before that it should make a bass progression, parts of which may obviously be repeated in the full version of whatever you are analysing.
The basic bass progression should go from tonic over another chord to dominant (C D G, C E G, C F G) and then not over another chord back from dominant to tonic (G C).
Steps can be inverted so that dominant is lower than tonic.
Transition can then be directly down only (C B A G), or down to D or F before going back up to a lower G (C A F G, C A F D G)., Basic bass progression should on tonic and dominant not include inversions of chords, but an inverted chord is usually one that can be eliminated in this step.
The basic bass progression can be identified not just by how it looks, but also by how it fits with basic descent in top voice.
If top voice descends E, D, C, the bass C that starts will fit with E, the dominant G will fit with D, the ending C will fit with the ending C.
The note in bass leading up to G (D, E or F) will fit with one of E or D.
The top E can even be prolonged (!) so that it corresponds to start of bass G.
If top voice descends an octave, there are two bass progressions.
If top voice descends a fifth, there is a choice with either one or two.
The above also applies if the melody is in minor. , When you feel confident about how it is done, then only go on to part two.,,, -
Step 2: or two part composition you like.
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Step 3: Eliminate every repetition.
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Step 4: Reduce every harpeggio (obvious such) to a chord.
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Step 5: Eliminate every note in top voice which only serves to lead between two notes.
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Step 6: Eliminate every note in top voice which juts out below or above a note and then gets back to it.
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Step 7: Understand how the bass progression should work.
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Step 8: Reduce to its parts any chord not accounted for by bass progression as described above if: a) it is a dominant to it (D G reducing to G
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Step 9: Dm G reducing to G
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Step 10: Am Dm reducing to Dm ...)
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Step 11: b) it is a sequence of subdominant or double dominant and dominant to it (C D G reducing to G
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Step 12: A Dm G reducing to G)
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Step 13: c) either bass or top voice includes a note according to 4 or 5 (between two different notes if leading between them
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Step 14: between two repeats of same note if a neighbour to them) which is integral to the chord which can otherwise not be explained.
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Step 15: Apply above to many different melodies and pieces (some may involve also repeating parts over other octave registers or extending voices theoretically between top voice and bass to above theoretical top voice
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Step 16: but those are more complicated pieces of Classical Music
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Step 17: generally).
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Step 18: Start out with a top voice descent as described above
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Step 19: and fit it with a bass progression
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Step 20: also covered above.
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Step 21: Add repetitions
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Step 22: filling out of voices between bass and top voice
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Step 23: notes that lead between notes
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Step 24: notes that lead from and back to a note
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Step 25: chords that depend on such notes
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Step 26: after taste.
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Step 27: Add more
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Step 28: until you have what you consider a sound melody.
Detailed Guide
Write it down on music sheets and start analysing. , Whether four bars are repeated or one note is repeated once or twice in a bar, reduce to one example., So, if you see a sequence of C E G, this is reduced to simultaneous chord, with G as top note., One exception: at the end of the analysis, you should have a falling sequence which starts a fifth or a third, possibly an octave, above the ending tonic note.
This sequence will have 1 or 3 notes leading on down (if starting third or fifth above tonic), or two parts, octave, dominant, tonic, with first part 8 to 5 having leading notes 7, 6, and second part 5 to 1 having leading notes 4, 3,
2.
But as long as you are not ready to reduce to this, any note coming between a lower and a higher note or between a higher or a lower one is eliminated.
Sometimes this will give you an harpeggio, which can then be further reduced, according to step
3. , C D C > C.
And C B C > C.
Even C B D C and C D B C are reduced to C.
This is done even if the note involves chords of its own.
See the parts on chords and bass., This is not per se a step, but a description of how next step should look when finished.
Bass should end on a note an octave lower than tonic of end note in top voice.
Before that it should make a bass progression, parts of which may obviously be repeated in the full version of whatever you are analysing.
The basic bass progression should go from tonic over another chord to dominant (C D G, C E G, C F G) and then not over another chord back from dominant to tonic (G C).
Steps can be inverted so that dominant is lower than tonic.
Transition can then be directly down only (C B A G), or down to D or F before going back up to a lower G (C A F G, C A F D G)., Basic bass progression should on tonic and dominant not include inversions of chords, but an inverted chord is usually one that can be eliminated in this step.
The basic bass progression can be identified not just by how it looks, but also by how it fits with basic descent in top voice.
If top voice descends E, D, C, the bass C that starts will fit with E, the dominant G will fit with D, the ending C will fit with the ending C.
The note in bass leading up to G (D, E or F) will fit with one of E or D.
The top E can even be prolonged (!) so that it corresponds to start of bass G.
If top voice descends an octave, there are two bass progressions.
If top voice descends a fifth, there is a choice with either one or two.
The above also applies if the melody is in minor. , When you feel confident about how it is done, then only go on to part two.,,,
About the Author
Samantha Ford
Experienced content creator specializing in practical skills guides and tutorials.
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