May 26, 20214 yr So the RNG that I have been using to decide on which prelude to work on which day gave me the number 18 today, which corresponds to Ab major on my key assignment list for my Preludes. And I thought: Quote Since I have the strong association of Ab major with the start of a dream, why not compose a lullaby and have that as my Ab major Prelude? But I've never went about composing a lullaby before and everything I find is hyperfocused on the lyrics of the lullaby(which obviously wouldn't apply to my 25 Preludes for Solo Piano) with only a passing mention of time signature and other musical things like the melody, and no mention of harmony really at all. And most of those say 6/8 with arpeggios is best, but how many times have you seen a 6/8 piece written with arpeggios in the bass? Not very often, huh? I more often see a march or waltz like accompaniment in 6/8 than arpeggios. Even when I specify "for Piano" in the search, it doesn't change one bit as to how focused it is on lyrics. They all say to minimize the number and size of leaps, but I can think of several, including Brahms' Lullaby that have a lot of leaps in them, so I'm not sure how true that is, minimizing the number of leaps. However, most of those leaps I find are of a third, and much less often a fourth or fifth and even less often, an octave, so minimizing the size of leaps I think is true. Am I just going to have to analyze the melodies and harmonies of many lullabies to get an idea of what to do for mine?
May 26, 20214 yr "Am I just going to have to analyze the melodies and harmonies of many lullabies to get an idea of what to do for mine?" No. Join your audience, and be prepared that the lullaby is much more calming than the intensity of the composer. Trust your instincts in calm words as, "andante," "adagio," and "6/8." The performer can take care of the rest.
May 27, 20214 yr 6 hours ago, caters said: but how many times have you seen a 6/8 piece written with arpeggios in the bass? I can remember plenty of piano pieces in 6/8 that use arpeggios in the left hand. Not sure how many of them are lullaby's though. Nearly all the lullaby's I know are from video game music. Ex's: https://youtu.be/UW0-4Whc4Q0 https://youtu.be/ffRWvZIOtEY
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