Composing Using Intervals

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Composing using specific intervals can be a great way to help portray various emotions in your music. In this video I explain what an interval actually is and go through each of the 12 intervals present in an Octave, detailing their emotional characteristics. You can then use these to help when composing your own music.
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Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
00:15 - What is an Interval?
01:12 - Minor 2nd
02:17 - Major 2nd
02:51 - Minor 3rd
03:33 - Major 3rd
04:18 - Perfect 4th
05:00 - Tritone/Augmented 4th
05:52 - Perfect 5th
06:50 - Minor 6th
07:25 - Major 6th
07:56 - Minor 7th
08:40 - Major 7th
09:23 - Perfect Octave
09:58 - Outro
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Composing Academy is the place to learn how to begin composing your own music. Here you will find easy to follow videos explaining core Music Theory concepts along with various tips and tricks to help you craft that perfect song of cinematic piece of music.

[@rickhood]

I watch a LOT of music KZbin channels and this is by far the best one on composing. Very practical -- pretty much all you need to know do to a lot.

[@composingacademy8270]

Thank you so much for your kind words. I'm glad you're finding the content useful!

[@alandoyle6313]

Amazing Simon... you're such a great teacher, and your delivery style is perfectly paced and calm. A joy to watch ! 🙂

[@composingacademy8270]

Hi Alan, Thanks for much for your kind words! I've been focusing on the pace over the last few videos, so great to know!

[@PapierschnitzelPapercraft]

It's like your explaining the grammar of the music language. Love how you find all these patterns, formulas and strategies to break making music into small digestible components.

[@composingacademy8270]

Thank you - yes hopefully its helping to break down the various techniques which composers use. Thanks for watching!

[@detlefkrystofiak3838]

Hallo Simon, wieder mal ein super Beitrag für mich, der mir sicher helfen wird. Darüber habe ich ehrlich gesagt, gar nicht so drüber nachgedacht. Sehr hilfreich ist auch, dass Du immer gleich Beispiele dazu gebracht hast. Dies hilft enorm, die Sache zu verstehen. Also vielen Dank !! DK

[@richardhardiman3896]

Had Insomnia today and was up at 4.00am - ended up watching the entire 'Music Theory' playlist back to back. Already most of the way through your other videos. They are brilliant and such a good way to learn how to compose music. Thanks for these - you do a great job. Look forward to 'completing' all the videos and seeing more when you relase them :)

[@es__music]

I am so glad I found your channel. You are a great teacher!

[@jeanpierrecarpentier]

So interesting and remarkable how using minor seventh interval fills out this basic track with rich harmonics right there :) Again great video

[@joseferro1432]

Thank you! Very simple, but informative. Your examples are great!

[@chj.schwarz]

very helpful and to the point! great work with all the animations and visuals, everything's nice and readable. will definitely check our other videos

[@stephenbingham9625]

Love how you are so intuitive!

[@composingacademy8270]

Appreciate the comment, thank you!

[@BinhNguyen074]

Wow, this is really mind-blowing!

[@composingacademy8270]

I am so pleased you have found it useful!

[@andrewrobson7212]

Fantastic vid. Thanks so much.

[@composingacademy8270]

My pleasure!

[@BrettILevine]

So glad I stumbled onto your channel

[@composingacademy8270]

Welcome! Thanks for watching!

[@PatooOfficial]

I really really appreciate this channel, such a legendary channel

[@composingacademy8270]

Thank you so much for your kind words!

[@muddycube-theboringytchann9036]

Great one!

[@marvinodhiambo8362]

I just love this. All I've been looking for ❤❤❤

[@composingacademy8270]

Hi, I am so pleased you have found it useful! Thank you for watching!

[@SoraiaLMotta]

Thank you for the lesson

[@composingacademy8270]

You're welcome, thank you for watching!

[@ProfileP246]

Brilliant!

[@composingacademy8270]

Thank you so much!

[@eiredes666]

I just love your vids, Man!

[@composingacademy8270]

Appreciate it, thank you for watching!

[@user-kd1kz1ri3i]

Thank you!!!

[@composingacademy8270]

My pleasure!

[@yvanroustan4426]

Very well explained ! thank you !

[@composingacademy8270]

Thank you for watching!

[@bobogus7559]

I always find it amazing that the minor sixth and major third have such a different sound despite consisting of the same notes (likewise with the major sixth and minor third).

[@composingacademy8270]

Yes that's very true!

[@diegonascente9289]

Very informative! Many thanks!

[@composingacademy8270]

Thanks for watching - I'm glad it was useful!

[@bassbuzzmusic6681]

Best teacher ever

[@raulbondarev1160]

Thank you Simon. This one has always been topical. I currently explore intervals am chords progressions that Two Steps From Hell used to create some compositions I love

[@composingacademy8270]

Yes, I love Two Steps from Hell and always find it useful experience to transcribe and analyse their chord progressions. Thank you for watching!

[@tedklampett1737]

totally enjoyed this - thank you so much ! :)

[@composingacademy8270]

My pleasure!

[@desoconnor7445]

Very useful knowledge 🙏🙏🏿👍🎩✨

[@composingacademy8270]

Glad it was helpful!

[@narresnair1154]

Pure Gold

[@jayantjrathod]

Thank You So Much Sirjee

[@composingacademy8270]

Most welcome, thank you for watching!

[@sunderdasika]

Outstanding video

[@composingacademy8270]

Thank you!

[@bogotta]

Thank you

[@composingacademy8270]

My pleasure!

[@tahasepehri9049]

thanks for this helpful video🙏

[@composingacademy8270]

Thanks for watching!

[@ricardohernandez2771]

Gracias!

[@composingacademy8270]

Thank you!

[@sudhanva-bhat]

Your channel is one of the best ones to teach in simple steps. I wish I could learn more from you by some course :)

[@composingacademy8270]

I have a course, 'Cinematic Music Made Easy' re-launching in September, if you are signed up to my newsletter more details will follow soon. Watch this space!

[@JamesNoteology]

very informative, how do you decide if a melody is going to be ascending or descending?

[@EternalF4ll]

Explained the concepts so well! Thank you!

[@composingacademy8270]

You are welcome, thank you.

[@LightWingStudios]

Wonderful, clear and concise explanations with great examples that are easy to follow. I might suggest channel visitors listen to Hans Zimmer' "Man Of Steel" and you'll get the idea of how powerful and breathtaking Intervals can become. Well done Simon!

[@composingacademy8270]

Thank you for your feedback! Oh yes I should have mentioned Man of Steel as its a great, relatively simple example of intervals, especially the major 7th I find!

[@juanrojas7505]

Thanks for the content. Great channel. Subscribing. Shout out from chile🇨🇱🍷

[@composingacademy8270]

Thank you, really appreciate the comment!

[@victornoagbodji]

Thank you so much for putting this together! Hopefully you will cover descending intervals too 🙏 😊

[@christopherheckman7957]

As well as 9ths, 10ths, ...

[@composingacademy8270]

Yes I'm definitely planning on revisiting, to look more at descending and intervals over an octave as well. Thanks for watching!

[@victornoagbodji]

@@composingacademy8270 🙏 👍

[@user-oc8jp2bk2y]

@@composingacademy8270 yep waiting for that too. I didn't find any source stating that ascending and descending ones have different "moods" attached to them.

[@camelCased]

This is exactly what I needed, thank you so much. I often come up with melodies sounding in my mind for months but I'm afraid to create music out of them because when I try, I struggle to achieve the same mood that I imagined in my mind, or the mood gets cheesy and does not progress at all. One thing that's still a mystery for me is how a single note added to a major triad can suddenly make it sound sad and not major at all. I keep scratching my head and thinking - hm, is there any rule of thumb to know when adding a note will completely transform a triad to the opposite mood, and when the initial triad will still win and won't let the additional note have such a serious transformative effect? Not even sure how to express this transformation in correct musical terms. Maybe it's worth a separate video.

[@AngryPeopleStudios]

I'm trying to learn starting from scratch, and this is so incredibly helpful! Sub'd!

[@composingacademy8270]

Thanks for reaching out - I'm glad it was helpful. Thanks for the Sub!

[@michellamontagne]

Thank you Simon I’m new to your channel I just subscribed. I enjoyed this video although I just play by ear I can learn something for sure.

[@composingacademy8270]

Hi Michel, many thanks for the sub. I'm glad you enjoyed the video - thanks for watching!

[@anupsunar4693]

Thankyou sir love from Nepal 🇳🇵❤️

[@micwarren21]

Holding a pedal note really adds to the interesting sounds of the intervals. Wonder if the melody would lose its effect if harmonized.

[@composingacademy8270]

Quite possibly yes as harmony of course can change the feel of a melody completely. It all helps add to the limitless possibilities available when composing music!

[@mortengu1385]

this is really useful :-)

[@composingacademy8270]

Thank you!

[@StefanoCasavecchia]

Awesome!

[@composingacademy8270]

Thanks!

[@vspatmx7458]

this was priceless. if it's Convenient for you then we would like the interval distance for bout 10 to 20 notes ( 1st 3 bars) of every popular riff. after I heard the likes of Schindlers list Mia Sebastian Lala land forest Gump Amelie Married life - Up I realised that it's just not the 1st interval.. but the successive ones collectively which truly create the impact and mood needed to touch the hearts and minds and seduce the day lights out of ppl ( like me) I am 45 and just started teaching myself the piano during the last lockdown in my country. But for the last 100 years or so I have always wondered bout the secret sauce that goes into playing these initial notes which make the most jaw dropping theme riffs

[@dpsoulofmusic]

I hope you make more quality videos, have fun.

[@composingacademy8270]

Yes, lots more planned! Thanks for watching!

[@yudipitre5720]

Subscribed

[@composingacademy8270]

Thank you!

[@digikaininja5]

Thank you for this wonderful insight how the notes relate to one another. I am trying to come up with Meshuggah type riffs using the 1/2 whole diminished scale but i am getting stuck at the morse code/binary/rhythms they use...can u help me in coming up with something simple that sounds like basic meshuggah with all the elements.

[@composingacademy8270]

Hi, thanks for reaching out. I'm afraid I've never come across Meshuggah before (I've just googled them after your suggestion) so I'm not sure if I'm the best person to go through their harmonic traits :-)

[@pauloluisdemoraespereirape9484]

Sensacional!!!

[@composingacademy8270]

Thank you!

[@benmontey3438]

Just for that, I'm going create a piece full of unresolved Major 7ths. They don't always have to resolve. And if anything, sometimes you end up birthing an even better song by allowing the Major 7 to just be.

[@22singhisking]

If you don't mind me asking, what is voice you have used for background.... Pad... BTW this tutorial was very informative.. Thank you.

[@darlenemiley]

Can you make a video on Intervals and the emotion, but descending intervals Please!

[@composingacademy8270]

Hi, thank you for the suggestion, I will add this to my ideas for future videos!

[@cesar_m.p.]

Please do this with modal scales/intervals!

[@composingacademy8270]

Great idea!

[@andrewgreat6789]

Very helpful sir Sir please I'll be glad if you can make a video on how to choose a perfect time signature when trying to compose a piece or if you already have a video like that you can refer me to it,thank you 🙏🙏. Love from Nigeria🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬

[@composingacademy8270]

I'm glad it was useful! Thank you for the video suggestion - I will make a note now to include a video on time signatures in the future!

[@thierryschuepbach5849]

how you do the baclground sound ? behind the piano sound i search this so long cant find it

[@paulsochinfan]

Hi Simon, very good video. May I ask what is the music composing software that you are using on this video? it seems to have all the things I want (both Paino Roll and Notation Editor together)

[@mortengu1385]

the black GUI looks like Cubase...

[@composingacademy8270]

Hi Paul, Apologies for the delayed reply. It is indeed Cubase, but I then recreate the notation separately in another program called Finale. I then combine the two together in my video editing software. I hope that helps

[@saefeldein3402]

We play note inside intervals only or we play intervals after that we can play notes high or any note interval Please reply

[@JosiahFickinger]

The minor 6th reminds me of the altered version of the main Star Wars theme, but minor.

[@alexiacerwinskipierce8114]

I have a question, or two, not related to inervals... what program are you using? Many of the DAW programs look so intimidating to a beginner like myself, but the program you are using looks fairly straightforward... also, and this is probably a dumb question. But the sound playing in the background of each example. What was that?

[@twoscoops2]

Intervals are like my favorite thing in a melody, but you're often told not to use "leaps" in a melody. Maybe that's more for singing and not for instrumentals?

[@composingacademy8270]

Yes make sure that you don't have lots of big leaps. Moving by step (minor or most likely a major 2nd) will help to give you the most cohesive melody (throw in a few jumps for good measure). Try to avoid lots of leaps by anything over a 5th though

[@janicewinston8696]

What program (DAW) are you using to input keyboard notes?

[@composingacademy8270]

Hi, apologies for delay. I use Cubase Pro 11. Hope that helps!

[@nchangcute2539]

7:42 it reminds me to Man of steel theme

[@kevinbillington9773]

👍🏻

[@composingacademy8270]

Thanks!