Variation: 14 Ways to Compose with One Idea

One of the most common things I hear from composers is "well I've found this nice idea, I really like it, but I just don't know what to do next, I don't know how should I carry it on". Sometimes rather than continuing to hunt in the dark you should just work with what you already have. In this video I look at the musical technique of Variation as a way of turning your initial idea into a larger piece.
00:51 Simple Melodic Variation
01:47 Simple Rhythmic Variation
02:26 Simple Harmonic Variation
02:53 Modal Variation
04:14 Variation as a Form
05:30 Variations over a harmony
07:45. Note Speed Variation
08:53 Bach & Beethoven Variations
10:30 Advanced melodic variations
12:47 Timbre Variations
14:07 Indian Raga Variations
14:52 Heterophony
15:32 Ben Johnston Variations
16:57 YOUR Variation
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Examples featured in this video:
Pachelbel's Canon
• Pachelbel Canon in D M...
La Bergamasca, Marco Uccellini
• La Bergamasca, Marco U...
Jascha Heifetz plays Paganini Caprice No. 24
• Jascha Heifetz plays P...
The Harmonius Blacksmith
• Handel Suite No 5 in E...
Yuja Wang Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini Rachmaninoff
• Yuja Wang Rhapsody on ...
Beethoven Diabelli Variations
• Beethoven: Diabelli Va...
Cory Henry playing Amazing Grace
• Cory Henry - "Amazing ...
Ben Johnston String Quartet No.4
• Ben Johnston: Quartet ...
Bach Goldberg Variations
• Goldberg Variations Co...

[@IsaacMyers1]

Don’t forget the “Nintendo variation”. This is a note for note replay of the melody but the last note is shifted by an octave, usually up.

[@FernieCanto]

I thought the Nintendo variation was to just plagiarise songs from Japanese jazz fusion bands and pretend they created it. OOOHHHHHH, SNAP!!!

[@IsaacMyers1]

Fernie Canto actually they are inspired by them not plagiarized. The closest to plagiarizing is the underground theme in super Mario bros. There’s always been a trend in music for there to be unintentional influence, to even use of a musical motif directly for new works. Besides, there is even the reverse that happened. That one guy who accidentally made a section like zelda’s lullaby after links awakening. Nothing exists in a vacuum.

[@Skitdora2010]

@@IsaacMyers1 Even classical composers were inspired by folk song tunes. www.wqxr.org/story/what-kind-folk-music-pops-classical-music/

[@aghostina7111]

Dua Lipa has entered the chat

[@jacobbau8328]

examples? I'm genuinely wondering here cause I can't think of any off the top of my head.

[@SLDDPiano]

The hardest thing about composition at least for me is actually building a piece around the idea. 90% of work is figuring out the form, arrangement, and orchestrating and I think a lot of people have the wrong idea about composition. I've heard people talk about "inspiration" but I think it's pretty much impossible to write an entire piece with just inspiration (unless it's something really small, or unless you're Mozart).

[@tomvaras5475]

I think the inspiration are just good ideas u think may be original, but in effect you re doing a more logical process than a abstract work

[@fredericotacio3473]

it seems that inspiration is for the theme

[@tahutoa]

I feel that, but I disagree that writing an entire piece with just inspiration is as impossible as that. Just like how inspiration can provide you with a motif, or a phrase, or even an entire section, it _can_ give you a full piece. I've had _a few times_ in my life where an entire piece came to me smoothly. My proudest moment on that front was a 3/4 piece that you might hear on a music box. No idea where it came from, but that among other times is how I relate to the ancient Greeks' idea of the Muses. Artful beings striking artists and imbuing them with the schematics for an entire work sounds exactly like what happened to me those times. In my experience, it's often a good idea to start a piece by finagling with everything _besides_ your "main" idea. Drum loops, a repeating 2-chord pattern or rhythm that you can improvise something over, those can be good ways of getting ideas flowing.

[@goodlookingcorpse]

That seems to be a general idea in our culture: the genius artist paces in his garret, muttering "Damn it, I need an idea!". Then, "of course!"--inspiration strikes. And making the artwork is just a brief montage.

[@N.I.R.A.T.I.A.S.]

"Variation form is predictable and boring." *Rachmaninoff has entered the chat*

[@brent3522]

@@o.s.h.4613 Beethoven says hi :)

[@bobjob7924]

Godowsky's Passacaglia, the highest achievement of variation form.

[@willstatmen9591]

Check out marc-Andre hamelin’s variations of the Paganini theme, it’s also one of the best variation works in my opinion! It has elements ranging from classical era to jazz and then some, oh, and prokofiev’s epic variation work, the 2nd movement of his 3rd piano concerto, pure brilliance in my opinion!

[@itsmeashbeel9175]

not when it comes to the goldburg variations by Bach

[@abraxasstone]

rzewski smiles in an american fashion :)

[@fikradas]

I'm under the slight impression that David might be a tad self conscious of his piano playing hahaha

[@mavmav0YT]

fikradas I think you might be on to something here...

[@thijmenkrijgsman2417]

I am under the slight impression that at 10:12 David borrowed the first variaton of Bach‘s goldberg variations and just used the chords of amazing grace......😂

[@snowleopard9749]

Definitely not!

[@maxwellli7057]

Well, you dont have infinite time to practice pieces for a youtube video... Then again, alot of these were pretty easy 😂

[@MrStrangeSensation]

@@thijmenkrijgsman2417 dude yes 🤣

[@LaPingvino]

Tip: if you add 0:00 Intro to your list of moments in the video, they will show as chapters at the bottom of the video

[@seleniticdawn]

This video came at exactly the right time for me. I'm quite good at coming up with initial ideas but god awful at expanding upon them, it's really frustrating when I have pages of little melodic fragments and chord ideas without a good sense of what to do with them. Suggestion for a future video along the same lines as this. Strategies to compose convincing and satisfying transitions from one section to another.

[@davidemura4444]

same buddeh

[@diogosaraiva9547]

I definitely second this! Would love to hear david's transition ideas

[@hansmemling7605]

If you buy classical form by William E Caplin you might learn a lot (get the classroom edition )

[@hansmemling7605]

Another book that you could get together with the boom from E caplin is the book by Schoenberg called the art of composition. I advice against his book on harmony and structural harmony as I personally belive there is a much better book out there and they are hard to decipher sometimes. But to learn to expand an idea I definitely recommend the art of composing by Schoenberg for some basics and classical form by William E caplin( the classroom edition ) for a more advanced understanding

[@christopher19894]

This happens to me all the time. I just catalogue all the fragments that come quickly, and then slowly work on it like a puzzle, trying to see what ideas can be combined. Instead of having just a starting point idea with no destination, I line up my favorite ideas as pit stops and then figure out how to make the smaller steps between them. I do this mainly so I have a clear direction of expansion. If the ideas don't connect well, I've at least tricked myself into developing a transition that I wouldn't have thought of otherwise, and that transition could be the spark that gives me the vision of the final product.

[@musomaster9027]

I don’t skip through your videos. This is the greatest compliment I can give.

[@michaelpaulsmith4619]

Another excellent video, David. I think the 'prize' for Most Complicated String Quartet must go to Brian Ferneyhough - whose name we do not speak in my house. Any viewers who don't know the Theme and Variations from Tchaikovsky's 3rd Suite should really take the time to listen... they are such a joyful and immaculately drawn set that it's impossible not to be captivated by them. Again, another informative and user-friendly video, David. You are one of the names which we do speak in our house!

[@meruscales]

Michael Paul Smith the reasoning behind Johnston 7 being so hard is the third movement (variations) has more than 1200 notes per octave and took 10 years for the quarter to learn. Each measure is a comma pump that modulates by less than 10 cents

[@michaelpaulsmith4619]

@@meruscales Thank you for that information, Paul. I don't know the work so what you said was very helpful.

[@steveeliscu1254]

I second your recommendation of the Tchaikovsky 3rd Suite. And, like Rachmaninoff and Liszt and Berlioz, includes a short reference to the "Dies Irae" chant!

[@LukeFaulkner]

8:42 40% piano skills 60% editing skills 👌

[@na-kun2136]

1% piano skills 99% editing skills.

[@pedromax113]

@@na-kun2136 That's a little bit extreme, don't you think?

[@MrDOOlevrai]

@@pedromax113 It's just a reference to a TwoSet Violin video, he doesn't actually try to roast him don't worry

[@willstatmen9591]

Mr.DOO twister violins sped up their performances? I thought they were real virtuosos lol

[@jacksbee8809]

Will Statmen kzbin.info/www/bejne/laOZm2yoecSda6s that’s what they’re talking about

[@deanc9195]

Mood of 2020: Goofy smoking the BIGGEST roach and listening to amazing grace done in a really bluesy way

[@rossbulcock552]

9:18 Wonderful description, made me choke on my coffee. How to "subject a theme to all kinds of abuse" , That should have been the title of this video.

[@yuvalne]

The first "serious" piece I wrote was variations on a theme. The variations started with taking the harmony, then taking the melodic shape, but by the end of the 9th variation, the only thing that was left was "the spirit" of the theme.

[@Nouxatar]

"You can form a new song from even the smallest bits of music just by variation." Me, looking at the first four notes of Megalovania: :)

[@JaySuryavanshiMusic]

What a detailed lesson! Such a small idea can be played/arranged in so many ways. Really loved this video. Variation is not only a compositional tool but also a way to make people aware of the endless possibilities of developing variations on a small idea. As I am a piano student, I have really learnt something today! Thank you for this video! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@jorgemoran89]

That's why they're called masterpieces... every time you revisit them you learn something new. It's a truly spiritually rewarding feeling to know that you can always seek for comfort and knowledge in some works of art. Thank you for reminding us of that and for all your work and music.

[@greguz]

I love that you left the book on the piano that says "BACH" in capital white letters. I'm giggling by myself at the idea that it's Bach himself that is looking at you sternly from the music stand and saying "Is this the best you can do, David?" Seriously, thanks for a non-technical and useful smorgasbord of ideas. I remember taking a few lessons of jazz guitar instruction once, and one of the simplest and most useful ideas was the teacher's challenge to have me play a solo just on a set of two strings. That simple technique actually gave enough ideas for a lifetime of work.

[@caterscarrots3407]

I have tried to write a theme and variations on a theme by Mozart, partly because Mozart tends to prefer rote melodic repetition over developing from melodic motives(melodic motives being a prevalent form of development in Beethoven is what makes taking a Beethoven theme and turning it into a Theme and Variations so hard), but after 1 or 2 variations I've been like "How do I go further while still maintaining the Mozart identity of the original theme? I don't feel like doing a major to minor move yet." You have given me more confidence in writing variations. Now to find a Mozart theme I want to vary.

[@PaulDeCamp]

I like Mozart as well for adaptation. Here's an example kzbin.info/www/bejne/raiopYCYis2cmcU

[@Mukundanghri]

Thank you. This is perfect timing for me and your suggestions are valuable.

[@ladyarlyss2932]

Lovely Video! I've heard many of these lessons said in different ways, but I feel like I understand much better now after watching this.

[@eburone]

Wow thanks a lot for putting in the time for this video! Very helpful!

[@TinyMaths]

This is fascinating from the perspective of someone who hasn't had formal musical training. I never imagined things like the 'Mordent' and the 'turn' existed, I mean, I have played them for years, but didn't realize there was actually a name for them, it really makes me want to look further into music structure. I think you're doing such a service to music lovers and student musicians especially those of us who come from a self-teaching route. I always get excited about music when watching your videos and never come away without learning something new. Thank you for making the theory so accessible.

[@curtpiazza1688]

Great ideas! Love the word "twiddles"! Love the background illustrations! Very well done!

[@khewittmusic2561]

Thank you, your wisdom appears to have eased me out of a rather stressful writer's block. I salute you sir!

[@MiloPaulus]

This is so useful for me! Thank you so much David. Your channel is a treasure trove of information.

[@rossanopinelli5150]

Bravo David, you're not only a superb composer, you're a great teacher too!

[@alexjevincent]

Wonderful tips! Thank you so much for covering this subject at a more macro view than the usual "just invert, retrograde or both". The compositions you created along the way were great too; the heterophony example was particularly lovely. Now I just need to practice doing all this!

[@thinkaboutit7664]

Thanks for your videos, David. I'm not a composer or musician, but as a listener to all types of music, I find your insights into composition fascinating!

[@thomasmichaels1671]

Amazing video, I think this tackles one of the most difficult challenges of composing.

[@RoshenCarman]

Than you so much for this. Classical music can feel so inaccessible sometimes so I really appreciate your friendly style of education

[@meruscales]

Johnston is my favorite composer! Thanks for giving his music attention

[@rareangel643]

I did really enjoyed your video! You are a real teacher, and quite a good one. I wish in my conservatory teachers could have your enthusiasm and creativity.

[@machinate]

I went from Neely's analysis of Star Spangled Banner to this Amazing Grace dissection. Now KZbin is going to feed me 100% 'murican content...

[@willstatmen9591]

machinate murican? Or did you meant musician?

[@sneddypie]

@@willstatmen9591 american

[@KristinaRjazz]

hehe I totaly get you :)

[@yousafe007]

A great educator and musician. How lovely it is to see the Bach at your work desk; goes on to show where he got his inspiration and genius from :)

[@subjectline]

I love this, I really want to just go and spend all day trying all these things right now and seeing what happens.

[@bobbyjcfhvlichtenstein8253]

I literally JUST experienced a writers block

[@ksi8276]

Such an incredible video. It helped me more than a whole course of composition

[@TheBonerBoyzGotWood]

Might be my favorite vid of yours. Really useful, practical stuff. BTW, the Goldberg Variations are absolutely mind blowing. Still trying to wrap my head around them.

[@franzlisztish]

EXCELLENT VIDEO! Thanks VERY much. Love YOUR compositions by the way.

[@christianek.963]

Hahaha the Oooh🥺 at the end was the perfect sfx for my facial reaction to your nice words🌸 Thank you! This is the video that I needed to watch

[@elle3076]

The quality of your lessons is unbeatable and stunning in its own way. You have found the fine line between well-expressed explanations and modesty. This channel is great for my composing process, thank you!

[@carlstenger5893]

Great video! Thanks so much, David. You reminded me of much that I'd forgotten.

[@wingflanagan]

I so appreciate this video! You are covering a topic that, I think for many of us, falls into the category of "everything you wanted to know about but were afraid to ask." I would humbly ask that you make more of these. I appreciate your work and wish I could be among those who support it financially. Your eclecticism, too! You cover so many genres. Sometimes I feel like an oddity, 'cause I listen to and enjoy just about everything. Well done, sir.

[@danwaldis4553]

Wonderful presentation! I'm glad you studied some of Beethoven's compositions, and mentioned him here. He was a profound thinker.

[@DavidA-ps1qr]

Fascinating & inspiring all in one hit!

[@Mazurking]

I looked up 'how to compose music' and was wise enough not to click on videos with over 500k vieuws but on a video with some lesser known guy that actually knows what he's talking about. What a video, there are no better tips.

[@lazypanda3224]

I'm new to the world of composing and was already losing some drive because music just wasn't coming together the way I wanted it to and this video really just gave me so many more ways to think about my melodies and what I've written so far.. was just really a nice little push on the back for me so thank you for your help!

[@GregEleftheriou]

That felt quite nice as I'm studying Schoenberg's "Fundamentals of Musical Composition"! Thank you David!

[@keyshialee1585]

I liked this video before I even finished it, this is the exact thing I struggle with! Thank you so much.

[@hunt3r36]

Amazing video. I've been "struggling" with a theme (from a larger piece I've been writing, which I think pretty good) lately. The theme could be turned into it's own complete composition. You have given me some good ideas to work on. Many, many thanks. Keep up the good work.

[@goldbond1034]

This is just what I needed! Merci beaucoup!

[@Alchemetica]

Thanks for such a clear and easily understood video on variations.

[@addyd.3140]

You're the man! Thank you again, Bruce.

[@Nooticus]

Really great video as always! I'm actually attempting to write some variations at the moment so this should really help me! Thanks!

[@JasonLeonPike]

Great channel! I really appreciate the effort. I learned something here. Thanks.

[@victor29rc]

Great content as always, mate!

[@danielbrown3771]

Just the lesson I needed as I sift through a pile of sketches. Thank you!

[@Tylervrooman]

Great content!! Thanks for the great videos 🙏❤

[@jloren4647]

Wonderful vid, David. I will reference this with my students as i get this question a lot.

[@sammy3212321]

I'd say this video, as well as being wonderfully in depth and researched, featured some of your funniest moments. You make me wish I had four hands

[@musicalintentions]

Hearing the tune played simultaneously at different speeds was really cool!

[@Amzegal]

Thank you so much Bruce. So well explained and illustrated it brought me confidence. Love from France ps : don't you dare stop making videos ! ;)

[@samsongwriter3437]

Hi David, very useful content, as usual in your channel. Thanks! Cheers from Brazil! Sam

[@srothbardt]

This is great. Thanks for your easy teaching

[@HaydenofEverything]

"Amazing Grace" as a funeral march is something I never knew I needed.

[@throughawindow321]

Thanks, once again, for your videos. Very educational.

[@Sannahmusic]

Very inspiring, thank you very much!

[@ViolinLeungSir]

Thanks for your informative illustration.

[@frankmoore3026]

Love the tablas in the background!

[@shiyu415]

Thank you so much for the video!

[@paolomotta900]

Real instructional video. Thanks for sharing

[@triggeredxd3814]

Thanks for saving my music GCSE

[@nathanpoovey6211]

One thing I found quite helpful is not to just take a theme and shift everything up/down keeping the same intervals, but looking at the scale degrees the theme is on, and shifting all of THOSE up. It's very close to modal changes, but maybe for tiny moments, and it's important to keep the same bass/pedal tones or else you'll seem like you've shifted into this new mode instead of having a spicy moment

[@constracted7331]

Informative and thoughtful video!

[@MonchingCarpio]

Very informative. Thank you!

[@tomaszmazurek64]

Very useful video for aspiring composers, thank you!

[@muhammadusama3651]

exactly the type of video i needed today!

[@Rayji10]

This game video gave me some good ideas for my next compositions. Really thank you.

[@rudigerk]

Such a helpful Video! Thank you very much

[@epiczeven6378]

Fantastic video! Very helpful, loved it. An example of variation I really like is the overlapping melody of "March of the Three Kings" by Georges Bizet

[@luciwaves]

This was incredibly useful to me, thank you thank you thank you!

[@joaosantos9896]

I'm glad I started following you channel long ago

[@Bigandrewm]

I've been diving into a different Bach piece which is another stupendous example of variations: his Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor. Inspiring and humbling. That dude was pretty good at writing variations.

[@Nooticus]

An absolutely incredible piece!

[@OrchestralMusicMidJourneyArt]

Wow----I loved this!!

[@markkozlowski9019]

I remember going to a caroling party once, and as I recall we sang "Amazing Grace".....but nobody actually sang the melody line! It was all a bunch of harmony around a melody that everyone understood was there. That's something I remember very fondly, but I don't think we could ever repeat it.

[@kalilavalezina]

Very helpful, thank you!!

[@doctorpillowcase]

I currently writing my GCSE composition for a brief, 1700s banquet music. This has helped out a bunch, cheers!

[@ItsMeBenson]

Another great vid. I'd love to see a video from you about gymnopédies

[@Michi33]

Great video David! One piece that I would personally include are Lutosławski's Variatons on Paganini, originally for 2 pianos, later also orchestrated. Both versions are amazing, as Lutosławski was one of the greatest symphonists of XX century, but recently I kind of rediscovered the original. What an incredible piece of writing!

[@BeatsChill]

This is amazing thank you ❤️

[@ejsafara456]

very nice, good homour, thank you for displaying notes :D

[@ErinWi]

I drove my mom to my sister's for Christmas and we listened to the Ben Johnston String Quartet. It's beautiful (in my opinion) and I was happy that she felt it was at least listenable even though she doesn't much enjoy contemporary classical music.

[@thomaswenas-bobbiefet5805]

Really find this video helpful thanks!

[@selftaughtmusicguide]

Very inspiring, awesome!

[@IceCreamIslander]

some other incredible theme and variation pieces David didn't mention that are also worth a listen: ~Elgar's Enigma Variations (probably one of the strongest orchestral variation sets out there) ~the 2nd movement of Prokofiev's 2nd symphony (vastly underrated) ~Rzewski's The People United Will Never Be Defeated! (an absolutely titanic piece of music, and a master class in modern virtuosic piano writing) ~the 2nd movement of Schubert's Death and the Maiden Quartet, No. 14 (perhaps the best part of definitely the best string quartet ever written, meet me in the yard if you want to fight about it)

[@SamothIorio]

Great list! Let me add a few of my favourites: -Rameau's "Gavotte and variations" and "La Forqueray" (the second one is all about playing with a very simple motif) -Godowsky's arrangements of Rameau's pieces in "Rennaisance". -Borodin's 2nd String Quartet, 3rd Movement (Notturno) -Buxtehude's Ciaconna's, in particular BuxWV161 (in particular the passage from minor to the relative major and then back, so simple yet so strong). Hint: Ton Koopman is one of the best organists for this author. -Bach's Prelude and Fuge in C minor (which is based on Buxtehude's piece) -Bach's Sleepers Wake (Cantata BWV140 "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme", 2nd chorale) and Sheep May Safely Grace (Cantata BWV208 "Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd!", 2nd soprano aria), specially for the major to minor variation. -Bach's Chorale BWV 368 "In Dulci Jubilo" -Ravel's Menuet sur le nom d'Haydn (for harmonic variation) -Ravel's Pavanne pour une infante difunte, in particular the piano and viola arrangement, in which one of the main motif is played with harmonics. -Frank's Prélude, Fugue et Variation for organ, or Bauer's piano transcription. -Mussorgky's Pictures at an Exhibition (listen to the five Promenades, The Old Castle and the last movement) -Schubert's 2nd Trio, 2nd movement (I guess it's pretty standard for trios and quartets to reuse material in different ways) -Domenico Scarlatti's sonatas, specially the first ones (more than variation, it's more about reusing a main melody in the dominant key, something very common in solo keyboard baroque music [and classical music in general], but more pronounced and easily noticed in this author's style) -Fugues. Any. A good one to start is Glenn Gould's "So you Want to Write a Fugue?" -Sonatas. Most. A nice one is Mendelssohn's 3rd Organ sonata. I'm aware that some of the variations in the above pieces are pretty standard for the styles they belong to, but I find their use of even the simpler kinds of variation to be moving.

[@monkeysock99]

In the Enigma Variations, it’s ridiculous how well hidden the theme is throughout the entire piece, we’re playing it now in my college orchestra, and my conductor just goes “wow do you recognize that? the theme again wow who knew” all sarcastic and I’m just in awe LOL

[@hb712]

Don’t forget about Arban’s Carnival of Venice! It might just be because I’m a trumpet player, but it’s an awesome virtuosic variations piece imo.

[@willstatmen9591]

Check out marc-Andre hamelin’s variations of the Paganini theme, it’s also one of the best variation works in my opinion! It has elements ranging from classical era to jazz and then some, oh, and prokofiev’s epic variation work, the 2nd movement of his 3rd piano concerto, pure brilliance in my opinion!

[@beastmodegwb2750]

One of my favorites is Maslanka’s “Morning Star”

[@michaellinnehan9589]

Love his face @ 11:45. The Musician's Frown: The highest of compliments.

[@adamsilber-gniady6326]

What a great channel this is

[@kungfuasgaeilge]

You used the best version of Pachelbel's Cannon in D! I recognised it instantly. Well done those performers.

[@DeGuerre]

As Alan Belkin is fond of saying, the composer's problem is mostly what to write NEXT. Excellent summary of some ways to get unstuck!

[@angelbernal6098]

Amazing! Thank you !!! :)

[@UDun8]

Excellent video ! Thanks !