Table Of ContentTHE TUNESMITH
HOW TO COMPOSE YOUR OWN SONG
A COURSE OP STUDY FOR ELEVENTH GRADE HARMONY
A P ro ject
Presented to
The Faculty of the School of Education
The U niversity of Southern C alifo rn ia
In P a rtia l F u lfillm ent
of the Requirements fo r the Degree
Master of Science in Education
by
Joseph Raymond Darr
January 1951
UMI Number: EP46264
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This project report, written under the direction
of the candidate's adviser and approved by him,
has been presented to and accepted by the Faculty
of the School of Education in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of Master of
Science in Education.
Date................Janmrj.,1951..............................
Adviser
Dean
ii
PREFACE
The p rin cip le purpose of a curriculum is to sa tis fy
the various m aterial and so cial needs of a ch ild . In th is
process the educator is lik e an o rie n ta l rug-weaver, manipu-'
la tin g the various d esires u n til he has s k illf u lly produced
•a balanced and useful in d iv id u a l. In the process each need :
:of the pupil is not to be developed in d iv id u ally , but a ll j
should be taken c o lle c tiv e ly and woven to g eth er, making i t 1
t i
'possible fo r the ch ild to be a useful member of so ciety.
I j
! B ird T. Baldwin sta te s th at j
! i
| "The basic aim of education should be to fu rn ish a
simple but enriched environment adapted to the c h ild 's
stage of physical and mental growth . . . an environment1
in which he can develop through daily p a rtic ip a tio n such,
im portant p erso n ality t r a i t s as independence and se lf
d ire c tio n , s e lf-c o n tro l, perseverance, constructive ;
im agination, creativ e self-ex p ressio n , courage and .
; s ta b ility , and d esirab le so cial a ttitu d e s ." 1 !
i Manys chools in try in g to educate ch ild ren so th at
•they w ill be able to cope w ith various situ a tio n s th ru st
‘upon them by society re so rt to a stereotyped curriculum .
1
,-The subject-m atter is predicated and presented by a lif e le s s
method. A method which t e l l s the teacher what m aterial he
i
I
should cover, how the inform ation is to be presented, when
to bring i t to lig h t, and how to evaluate the c h ild 's
1 Bird T. Baldwin, The Young Child (American Library
A ssociation, 1928), c ited by B eatrice Perham, Music in the
New School (Chicago: N eil A. Kjos Music Company, T9W) * p.
1 .
accomplishm ents.
This type of tra in in g re s u lts in the accumulation of 1
factu al knowledge by the student which is of no re a l personal
value to him in gaining his rig h tfu l place in so ciety .
What then should the schools s tre s s in educating i t s
pupils? B eatrice Perham says th a t the tra in in g should be j
dem ocratic w ith emphasis la id upon: j
1. The development of the whole ch ild , !
!
I 2. The development of p o sitiv e a ttitu d e s , ;
i
! 3. The importance of pupil p a rtic ip a tio n in the j
! planning of the work done, i
i
4. The establishm ent of a curriculum based on ch ild I
j needs ra th e r than on a lo g ical sequence of i
! problems, i
5. The importance of a fu n ctio nal program which willi
enrich the school experiences as well as the ’
liv e s of the children outside of school hours, j
: 6. The importance of creativ e learning ra th e r than !
ro te learning and learning through d r i l l ,
7. A conception of the use and place of s k ills quite,
I d iffe re n t from th at of the tra d itio n a l conception
! often p racticed in the public schools, and ;
I
8. The importance of freein g the c h ild 's i n t e l l i
gence in order to make him an independent, th in k
ing, resourceful and so c ially minded in d iv id u a l.2,
In keeping w ith the goals of B eatrice Perham, the
follow ing course of study has been designed. Every chapter
appears to the author as a lo g ical step in the a rt of
p
c Perham, op. c i t ., p. 2.
com position, from the strik in g of the G -clef sign upon the
s ta f f to re g iste rin g the stu d e n t's endeavors in the Library !
of Congress. The reader w ill note th a t Chapter J, although 1
unrelated to harmony, is a necessary phase of songw riting.
A ttention is also drawn to Chapter 9, which is employed as a'
means to teach tra n sp o sitio n .
; The teaching of harmony through composition w ill i
[elim inate many tir in g ex ercises and d r i ll s usually consider-J
!ed the orthodox method in developing the s k ills of ;
i ;
I
'harm onization. :
v
PREFACE TO STUDENTS
Have you ever wondered what i t takes to he a song
w riter? Irving Berlin* one of the g re a te st popular composers
liv in g today* is not a great m usician who knows a ll of the ’
ins and outs of com position. I t has been reported th a t he
plunks out his tunes with one fin g er on the piano. Yet* his:
m elodies liv e on and on* never losing th e ir p o p u larity . j
What can you do to pound out a tune which w ill appealj
ti
jto the lis te n e r? Remember* th a t composers of h it-tu n e s ju st I
'do not s i t down and w rite a t e r r i f ic melody. There are on :
the average of twenty to tw enty-five songs w ritte n before ,
,the w rite r comes across an idea which is worth anything. If,
you have a theme which you believe is worthy* d o n 't be in a
■hurry to fin is h i t . Put i t down on paper and then set i t
jaside fo r awhile* so i t can co o l-o ff. L ater on pick i t up
'and go to work on i t . You w ill find th a t you d o n 't care fo r 1
the tune in i t s o rig in a l form.
' Ju st one b it of advice before you turn to the follow
ing pages on songw riting. The royal road to songw riting is ;
paved w ith hard work* sweat and disappointm ents* esp ecially !
the la tte r* If you think th at you are b e tte r than Gershwin
ever was. Never, under no condition are you to pay a
publishing company to p rin t your song. I f your number has
merit* a leg itim ate company w ill not only p rin t your song
fo r nothing, but w ill give you ro y a ltie s in advance. They
w ill take the ris k of the song being a success, not you.
; TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
i
1. NOTATION: How to use the to o ls of the composer . . 1|
2. SIGNATURES: How to w rite the key and time signs . 13*
i
3. MUSICAL FORM: How to develop a m e l o d y ........................211
j 4. ARRANGING: How to harmonize your m e l o d y ..................30j
I
: 5. EMBELLISHMENT: How to add color to your melody . . 4lj
I
■ 6. MODULATION: How to move your melody from one key [
, to a n o t h e r .........................................................................................................47<
7. LYRICS: How to set words to m u s i c ..................................55-
8. ACCOMPANIMENT: How to w rite the background music
I
' fo r your m e lo d y ..............................................................................................63
I
; 9. INSTRUMENTATION: How to score your song fo r
!
; instrum ental groups ................................................................................. 71
:10. COPYRIGHTING: How to re g is te r your s o n g ..............................78
RESERVE SHELF L I S T ............................................................................................... 83
$
LIST OP FIGURES
FIGURE PAGE
A. Clef S i g n s ........................................................ 3
B. The Great S t a f f ....................................................................................... 4
i
C. P osition of R ests upon the S t a f f .............................................. 7'
i ‘
p . F irs t and Second E n d in g s .................................................................. 8j
; !
;E. Step and H alf-step C onstruction of Major and
! Minor S c a l e s ................................... 14
i
i
|F. P o sitio n of Sharps and F la ts fo r VariousK ey
i ;
| S ig n a tu r e s .............................................................................................................16
G. How to Make the M otif G ro w ...................................................................22
j
;H. How to Transpose a M o t i f ........................................................................24-
I . Changing the Order of the T o n e s ....................................................25'
!J. A Triad Changed in to a Four-tone Chord byD oubling
i the R o o t ..................................................................................................................33
t
jK. A Chord W ritten in the F ir s t Inversion byD oubling
' the Root and F i f t h ..................................................................................v 35.
L. A Chord in the Second Inversion Followedb y a
Dominant Chord ............................................................................................ 36'
M. R elated Keys Located through a Tetrachord ...................... 48'
N. Locating Beats and Measures in a P o e m ...................................58<
0. Chord Accompaniments in Q uarter Time ................................... 65
ip. Chord Accompaniments in S ix-eight Time .............................. 67'
1
'Q. Instrum ental R a n g e s ............................................................................74;
