Composing in 7/8

I'm composing a song in 7/8 time for a contest over at VGMusic, and the rule is that the song must be in any 7/X time. I'm choosing to do 7/8 time, but I'm not having the best luck, or even getting any inspiration. Can anyone give me some tips on composing in weird time signatures, or some links to songs in them? Have any of you tried composing like that?

An easy way to write for 7/8 time is to do something rhythmic and rather fast. Mostly rhythmic.

Choose how you want to break up the seven beats: 4-3, 3-4, 2-2-3, 3-2-3, 3-3-2, etc. Then use that rhythm to make some sort of figure in the bass. Start with that bass alone for maybe two bars, then let a melody come in. Then work from there. Thats how I would do it.

Or you could do something completely different.

An easy way to write for 7/8 time is to do something rhythmic and rather fast. Mostly rhythmic.

Choose how you want to break up the seven beats: 4-3, 3-4, 2-2-3, 3-2-3, 3-3-2, etc. Then use that rhythm to make some sort of figure in the bass. Start with that bass alone for maybe two bars, then let a melody come in. Then work from there. Thats how I would do it.

Or you could do something completely different.

Actually, 3-2-3 and 3-3-2 are each 8 beats long, but I'm sure that was just a mistake.

I discovered something valuable that makes it a lot easier to compose in this time. Look at

Ok, well, obviously it's in 7/4, but that's not much different. What I noticed was that, in the beginning especially, the first six beats are a little tune, while the last beat is sort of just a filler note. If you take the seventh beat out in your mind altogether and just leave what's in the 1-6th ones, it still works. It's kind of like he had an extra space there, which he does, so he filled it up with a bit of a decoration. I found that this works very good on my song I'm making, to just treat the 7th beat like an extra space in which I can put inconsequential notes. My song is coming along great, I'm gonna post it up here when I'm done.

In my experience, tunes that utilize signatures like "2+2+2+1" are really poor-sounding asymmetric ideas and a pain in the neck to perform musically. It really ends up being 2+2+3 because that last macrobeat is musically easier to work with than tacking a "1" on the end of three twos. As you are discovering, the "1" beat ends up sounding like it has 'inconsequencial notes' rather than integral notes.

The recording you posted is basically in 2+2+3. But he's sometimes avoiding macrobeats by placing the bass on counts that don't really emphasize the last 3, which aides in his ethereal groove. You notice in the recording that his bassline is very, very inconsistent, creating a lot of confusion as to what beat you're on. That's a very limiting type of asymmetric meter.

None of this matters for his melody, though, because it's all heavily syncopated anyway. Doesn't matter how many beats there are if you're syncopating the whole time.

Usually what you want to do in just about any asymmetric meter is divide it up solely by 2s and 3s (and the occasional 4 which usually ends up being 2+2) and have one of the voices or a melodic idea holding the time and location of the pulse down. It sounds most natural that way. First pound out the macrobeat that you've decided to use and then write your melody over it. If you want to be confusing a la Don Ellis, start on the upbeats only with no downbeats. :P - + - + - + +, - + - + _ + +, (1)+(2)+(3)++...

Actually, 3-2-3 and 3-3-2 are each 8 beats long, but I'm sure that was just a mistake.

Wow I'm retarded. Thanks for correcting me.

You know what? Somebody should totally make a competition here for composing in odd time.

Wow I'm retarded. Thanks for correcting me.

You know what? Somebody should totally make a competition here for composing in odd time.

Just join the one at VGMusic, I posted a link in my first post. They're really fun!

@Peter: 2+2+2+1 or 2+2+3, oh well, they're pretty much the same anyways.