wack new 'jazzy' thing

I've been taking something of a hiatus from classical music recently. I haven't had any big ideas to go off of when it comes to big orchestral works or even smaller chamber ensemble pieces; I've also wanted to compose small songs/do piano covers/write jazz pieces for quite some time now, and I figured it's about as good a time as any to just get on with it while I rest the classical side of my composing output for now. Don't worry (in case you are 😉), I'm sure I'll come back to it eventually.

The piece below is one of my first attempts at writing in a distinctly alternative, non-classical musical language since I first started writing music two and a half years ago. I've been asked by a friend to write some pieces for his student film, and he asked specifically for an 'upbeat jazz'... thing to accompany a scene he plans on filming a couple of months from now. I decided to work with a jazz trio that consists of a drumset, piano, and acoustic guitar (since he planned on having the school band play the piece).

I've made an effort to focus more on rhythmic drive and the 'groove' of the piece instead of melody or harmony, and I'm curious if anything here could be considered 'jazzy' at all, or if it's just a jumble of discordant sounds that merely assume the semblance of jazz improvisation. I'm quite unsure of this new writing style, so any constructive criticism is welcome. Hoping to hear from everybody! 😁

Note: the .mp3 only goes up to 1:42, since I haven't finished the piece. There should be a couple more minutes of music after that.

Addendum: I've finished the piece! It's gone all the way up to nearly 6 minutes, but I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out. I've attached the files here as 'funkalicious' (aptly titled) for easier viewing.

Special thanks to @Thatguy v2.0 for sticking along for the journey! I'm very grateful you were there to give me advice on maxing out the funk here 🙌

Hey this is cool, kind of like Brubeck type of stuff. There's a lot of fun rhythmic stuff happening, and I love all the crunchy chords. That's awesome your friend is having you do the music! Will we get to see the final project?? 😄 

I think this definitely fits thematically for what you're going for. The static harmonies work well with the intense rhythmic drive. 

You don't have chord symbols for the music yet, I would definitely do that. You unfortunately have some things that are impossible to play on guitar, and an experienced guitarist might have a work around if you explain the harmonic intent (if you don't know what the chord is called). For instance:

Is the guitar standard tuning? There's no way to play that Bb7 shape. You could lose the top voice, but then you would lose the crunch I feel like you're going for. Just be careful with intervals of a second, as sometimes that's hard to achieve. Guitarists can take advantage of open strings, but these shapes don't line up well. The first chord (maybe just write E nat for the top voice?) is comfortable in open position, but awkward up the neck. I dunno, just my take. 

You seem much more comfortable with piano writing, so just another reason to make sure to add the chords to the score. That way, if the guitarist knows a quick fix and achieves what you're going for, lots of time gets saved 🙂

Great start, keep us updated!

Hey, @Thatguy v2.0, thanks for replying! It means a lot to me.

9 hours ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

Hey this is cool, kind of like Brubeck type of stuff. There's a lot of fun rhythmic stuff happening, and I love all the crunchy chords. That's awesome your friend is having you do the music! Will we get to see the final project?? 😄 

I think this definitely fits thematically for what you're going for. The static harmonies work well with the intense rhythmic drive. 

I'm flattered, frankly 😊: I've experimented with writing rhythmic, harmonically non-reliant pieces only once before, so your approval is a good sign I'm (probably) going in the right direction. Rest assured, I'll definitely post more of this piece once I've gotten enough done with it. 

9 hours ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

You unfortunately have some things that are impossible to play on guitar, and an experienced guitarist might have a work around if you explain the harmonic intent (if you don't know what the chord is called). For instance:

Is the guitar standard tuning? There's no way to play that Bb7 shape. You could lose the top voice, but then you would lose the crunch I feel like you're going for. Just be careful with intervals of a second, as sometimes that's hard to achieve. Guitarists can take advantage of open strings, but these shapes don't line up well. The first chord (maybe just write E nat for the top voice?) is comfortable in open position, but awkward up the neck. I dunno, just my take. 

I had a feeling my guitar writing would be the rank outlier here: I've only ever written for classically-rooted instruments (if barely), and I've never written for guitar instruments before. I'll also consider adding the chord symbols, although I don't reckon it'll be of much use on this particular sheet music: I'll create a fake sheet once I study up on how to make one of those.

On a side note, do you think the guitar was an alright addition? I thought the timbres of the guitar didn't really 'mix' with the rest of the ensemble, so I got rid of it in the end. I've attached the reworked version below: I fixed some things up, and I added a (totally obligatory) bass solo at the beginning for good measure. 

Would love to hear back from you! 😄

Holy night-and-day-difference! Wise decision to cut the guitar for bass, it SLAPS

I'd edit your original post to have it be the most current version. It'd be really annoying for someone to take the time and give feedback for you if they don't notice the update 😄 

On 4/18/2024 at 8:35 AM, Thatguy v2.0 said:

I'd edit your original post to have it be the most current version. It'd be really annoying for someone to take the time and give feedback for you if they don't notice the update 😄 

I'll get that done once I'm satisfied with it; wouldn't want them thinking I was happy with an incomplete work 😉

Also, comments on this new edit, @Thatguy v2.0? I added the saxophone solo, but I feel like I'm adding a little too much mustard on this one. It'd be great to hear from you.

Honestly, I love that you wrote all of the solo stuff out. How did you write it? The bass sounds real, is that you? Or is it digital? Idk anymore haha. I'm a guitarist, and I love making my tone sound as much as a GUITAR as possible. I've gone back to single coil pickups because of that. Also, I'm not sure why I'm saying any of this...

Yeah dude, this rocks. I'm interested in how this is going to work out though. Are you having people record your composed music, then you're piecing it together with editing once you see the video footage? Or are you just responsible for getting the music side of it down with the instrumentalists, and you have no say so post production?

All in all, you give everyone tons of space to solo. I'm curious though... I mentioned the solo writing because a lot of times the players themselves play their own take for a solo, especially with jazz. It's part of their culture. Are your composed notes gospel for the players to play, or is your audio an idea of what you want them to play?

It was fun to hear the evolution of this. I don't think you overdid any of the soloing, since this isn't a stand-alone piece, it's for film (right?). Otherwise, a change in key or a varied chord progression would be a cool thought too. 😄 

Nice job my guy

10 hours ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

Honestly, I love that you wrote all of the solo stuff out. How did you write it? The bass sounds real, is that you? Or is it digital? Idk anymore haha

Oh, how you flatter me so! 😆

On a side note, I'm definitely not much else other than a subpar pianist outside of composition. I listen to a lot of music from a bunch of different genres and put them together based on what I've heard and feel sounds 'right-ish' to my (relatively inexperienced) ears. I will say that it's a lot easier to do that with a more amorphous genre like funk or jazz, though, than with a more rigidly structured genre like classical music. I guess that's probably how I managed to put together these 'alright' sounding solos despite having no experience with said instruments.

10 hours ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

I'm interested in how this is going to work out though. Are you having people record your composed music, then you're piecing it together with editing once you see the video footage? Or are you just responsible for getting the music side of it down with the instrumentalists, and you have no say so post production?

All in all, you give everyone tons of space to solo. I'm curious though... I mentioned the solo writing because a lot of times the players themselves play their own take for a solo, especially with jazz. It's part of their culture. Are your composed notes gospel for the players to play, or is your audio an idea of what you want them to play?

I don't really know about my friend's plans for the piece, honestly: he says he's happy enough with just using the MIDI for now (again, it's only a modestly budgeted student film), though I know Musescore's playback on the saxophone is less than competent for high-speed jazz pieces like this (the 'growl' effect, for example, sounds awfully mechanical, and I myself am not a fan). I intend on lowering the fidelity of the sound to give it a 'grainier' auditory aesthetic: that should make it fit with the 'vibe' of improvisational jazz, if you catch my drift. If my friend does plan on getting this performed by his school band, then I'll write him a fake sheet to help his performers out. It'd be pretty hard to pull off these polyrhythms in-performance, I'd say (lol). I'll post the final edited version later at the top once I'm done with it.

10 hours ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

It was fun to hear the evolution of this. I don't think you overdid any of the soloing, since this isn't a stand-alone piece, it's for film (right?). Otherwise, a change in key or a varied chord progression would be a cool thought too. 😄 

Nice job my guy

Thanks for your kind words, they mean a lot to me 😊

My my, how time flies. It's been a while.

Anyway, I've finished the piece, @Thatguy v2.0. Felt like you might be interested 😉

As a refresher, I listened to the original midi before the final. 😛 

Congrats on the finished product, I'm sure you're excited to complete or work on other music now that this is under your belt. It sounds great btw. As a final piece of advice, don't shy away from your guitar writing because of me pointing out the flaws. That's the only way to learn, and the more you dig into instrument possibilities, the better your music will undeniably be. Well done, you give honor to the guy surname

P.S. Does it have a title? Or should we just call it Wack Attack 😄 

It's always great to hear from you, @Thatguy v2.0 😄

I've decided to call it 'Subway Funk', as the piano-led ostinatos sounded like a moving train to me. Probably just being pretentious with the naming tho 😛

I really am excited to write more: there's a string quartet, a cello song cycle, and a nocturne on the way, but I've been practically swamped with all of this schoolwork (being a senior in IBDP sucks 🙃) so I haven't been able to compose at all these past few weeks. I've been required to pen a piano transcription of 'See You Again' for school, though; I'll post that here once I'm done, and then I'll work on the other stuff I mentioned earlier. At least, that's what my plan's like.

Hope to talk to you soon! 👋