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Every writer has their own style and approach to creating a piece of music and there is no one right way to do it. My approach is different from most and I strive to construct something new and original. The more you write the easier it becomes to write a song. More practice and experience so you develop a better understanding of who things fit together and combine to form music rather then just a collection of notes. As you write more it can get harder to write something different. Not least because you already have a body of work established and must be wary of repetition. Clichés are clichés because they work. Out of the enormous range of chord permutations, only a small proportion actually work. (Imagine you were inventing new words and blitzed some letter combinations. 99% would be "yhthdfgs djdjdyeprjhuvjh" which is effectively useless and needs much more coherence. So it is with notes). Lyrically it becomes more demanding and requires you to look further a field after you have used up the stash of 'beginner allowances'. Writing about a girlfriend or your car or going out drinking with the boys etc has been done a million times before and are you really going to do it differently armed only with C, G and E minor? If you are looking to create something of value treading these well worn paths, you will need to approach it differently, A different angle on the story or perhaps a greater degree of subtlety. Subtlety is often an excellent idea as it leaves more to be discovered with repeated listens, adds extra layers of meaning and rounds it off with a touch of class. Maybe you could overstate and understate something at the same time....? Many songs in the mainstream are just thrown together with little thought, craftsmanship so often replaced by complacency.

There is a certain level of basic knowledge required. This is the nuts and bolts of how to structure a basic song, making sure the lyrics flow properly and setting up the tension and release in the harmony. To go beyond this there are a lot of options. Studying the masters, analysing how they do it. Studying another style is essential for broadening your horizons and taking elements from there to incorporate into your existing palette. Jazz is excellent for really delving into each chord type, learning how to bring out the different parts of the sound and enabling a smoother harmonic transition. From classical music you could learn more about instrumentation and a less repetitive approach to structure than is found in a modern pop song. There are many tools available to a musician, and in the right hands can be skilfully applied to create something magical. But first, a quick explanation of harmony.

Music revolves around tension and release. It is the emotional 'payoff' delivered with the release that provides a listener with the satisfaction and enjoyment of connecting to the music. The verse will have some form of tension built in for two reasons - to keep the listener interested in the music, and to provide a contrast for the release to play on. The tension sounds like the chord is 'unsettled' or 'want to move'. This communicates a sense of urgency, and hence excitement. The chorus by comparison is like breathing out, it returns to a resting state and brings the relief from the tension. It also provides something familiar to return to and look forward to on the 'musical journey. It is important to note that the greater the tension the greater the sense of release afterwards, and therefore the greater the enjoyment. A skilled composer can twist up an exquisite tension that has the listener begging for the release Both are essential ingredients in the recipe. Too much tension without release can just feel awkward, and conversely too long in a resting state is static and boring.

So what are the musical devices available to the composer ? Apart from deftly weaving the harmonic tapestry there are other elements that can be altered. I have recently started thinking of this like t moving in a three dimensional space. This would be up/down, left/right and forward/back. Music gives the illusion of movement, although apart from the notes travelling through the air it isn't actually moving of course, but a fast song feels like it is 'going somewhere' faster than a slower song.

To start with the key of the music is chosen, for example A minor. Minor are the sadder sounds and major is the happier end of the spectrum, broadly speaking. Imagine the music is a car driving along a road. The bass and drums are the engine chugging away, giving momentum. The guitars and vocals are the bodywork and define the finer details and overall appearance. This song is a minor key so a more sombre vibe. We now have a sombre car driving through a sonic territory at a fixed speed. This can be used to create a picture/story and the process could finish there. But this is just the beginning, it can get much more interesting....

Driving along at the same speed could get boring so the first thing to change is the tempo of the song. We are now moving and altering the creation in one dimension. Again, this might get repetitive after a certain time so another parameter is added. The scenery seen is limited by the direction of the car as it is only travelling in a straight line. By steering left and right this opens up a two dimensional plane for exploration; forwards/backwards left/right. The car is now much more mobile and agile and has enormous possibilities to experiment with. We can consider a key change the second dimension.

A third dimension is the next logical extension, and this is where the car can fly! Time signatures are a very useful tool for changing the feel of the momentum, this can make the music feel like its gliding, marching or any other motion. A long lecture of polyrhythms and compound time would be unnecessary but a short explanation can help lift the veils of secrecy to what seems like an overly mathematical concept.

A march is written in 4/4. This means there are four beats in the bar and they are counted 1 2 3 4 with the stress on either 1, or 1 and 3. The thing to remember about time signatures is the motion they give to the rhythmic flow of the music. 4/4 is a march and has a very solid pulse running through it. A waltz is in 3/4 which has the rhythmic foundation based around groups of 3. This has a less rigid, more gliding feel to the music. The harmony might be the same as a song in 4/4 but the rhythmic pushes give it a much more flowing ******. Other numbers are used, and odd number give further differences. A piece written in 7 for example may be divided up 4 + 3, this would give a slightly unsettled feel adding tension to the overall effect. Because 7 is very close to 8, like the tension in a harmony 'wanting' to resolve, the rhythm feels like is needs just a small nudge to adjust back into a resting state. Imagine a soldier marching to a drum but not quite keeping time and losing 1 step in every 8. He's almost there, and will eventually realign occasionally but for the most part is lightly out. Interestingly, when the possibility of resolution is further away then the tension is less as it will take more work to get there, is it really worth doing so? But if the resolution is very closer the tension is magnified, a sense of urgency is injected. Emotionally, the listener feels, "Come on, you're almost there! Just a little bit and it's done! Come on! By writing music in 7, the piece can have a slightly unsettled feel or being 'almost right'. This also promises a release close by, something to look forward to and consequently the listener is engaged and excited.

Indighost Examples

'Never' is written in 5/4. This still feels stable (in this context) but has the effect of stretching the bars and phrases, adding tension. Also, because of the odd number of beats in the bar, notes cannot fall exactly in the middle of the bar, giving a slightly uneven feel. The song is based on 1984 by George Orwell and revolves round the two main characters. They have to hide a secret love affair from the prying eyes of Big Brother and I used the 5/4 time signature to help convey an uneasy feeling of being watched and having to look over your shoulder.

Shapeshifter has quite a lot of changes in. Going from the verse to the chorus it changes key, tempo and time signature! It is quite rare for a song to do this but sometimes I have two sections that I am trying to pair together and instead of altering one to align with the other, I sometimes just work around it and find a way to bridge them as they are. Throwing in a couple of changes pulls the music in a new direction, and with it the listener's interest.

Thrown To The Lions - the chorus is in a higher key than the verse which gives an energy lift. The bridge section has another key change which is the lowest point (in terms of pitch) in the song. The solo starts in a higher key and changes up into the verse riff. The chorus then changes up another key, raising the energy to even higher levels. This is boosted further with a increase in tempo leading to the climax of the song.

Camille is practically unique in that it doesn't have ANY changes in! Sometimes though, it's nice just to do something simple and it's immediate appeal is a good contrast to the more complex arrangements of some of the other songs.

Right, this is where it starts to get weird. Everyone writes in their own way, using all the knowledge, skill and senses available to them at that time. I have something called synaesthesia; this is not a life threatening disease or an intolerance of citrus fruit but a more unusual state of perception. Some scientists think this is due to 'cross wiring' in the brain but I feel there is more to it than that. Imagine being able to hear colour, or taste sound?

There was an excellent channel 4 documentary on it a few years ago and you might be able to find some clips of this or something similar on youtube. Perhaps the most bizarre case was a pub landlord who could taste certain words. When he heard someone's name he would taste earwax, and another word might taste of strawberry jam. Some tastes were more pleasant than others and he tried to avoid hearing certain words. Also, when eating his dinner he preferred to turn off the TV, not read anything and sit in a quiet room. Any input could put another taste into is mouth as well as the food. How crazy is that! A more common form is to be affected visually, one woman would see the names of stations floating in front of her when she heard platform announcements but the externalised forms of this are more rare. Some people associate lots of things with colour, days of the week, numbers, letters etc but it's consistent; Friday would always be red to you, for example. Each person was asked if they would go back to 'normal' given the chance and every single one said no. I think this is partly down to enjoying your own quirks but it also brings a sense of fun to even the most mundane things.

This has interesting parallels with hallucinogenic chemicals. A friend of mine recently told me he had taken something and at one point could taste sound! The lower notes had a certain taste and the higher ones were sweeter. A sceptic could say that some people are just mad and drug induced experiences are extremely subjective and unreliable, but its not just a random distribution, consistent patterns are being perceived. A woman on the program described something almost identical to how I hear music. When she listened to a piece of music her minds eye would throw up a collage of abstract shapes that related to the texture and tone at that time. She painted this and I could relate exactly. For example a flute line might be perceived as a fluttering strand whereas an explosive brass section would appear like a volcano. Consistency is key here, once you've seen/heard something for the first time, you will associate that image with it again. The sound also has a shape defined by its tone - a scratchy, fuzzy sound would have a rough edge to it and a smoother more polished sound would appear more rounded.

For me, listening to music can be like watching a film. In my mind's eye I might get images of scenes but usually is is abstract shapes darting across a black canvas. My minds eye is the stage and all the players appear, combine and transform. I can invert the process to write, I'll consider what image or sensation needs to be invoked, run through the list of visuals and the start picking out certain musical devices to use as a starting point. The skill of the performer is also a key thing. For example, lets say I have put together some riffs and chords to create the 'musical backdrop' and now a solo break is required. The melody lines are like characters on the scene and their actions and expression are directly proportional to the skill of the player. An amateur player will produce a movement of limited movement and agility, and a very poor performance could limp onstage like a wounded animal. By contrast, a highly accomplished player will create a form that can swoop and dive like a predatory bird. Precise execution of the notes, (and in the case of a guitar solo a well processed signal path) will produce notes of shimmering beauty.

Sharps are brighter than the parent notes and flats are duller. A key with flats in will have a warmer richer feel whereas one with sharps will sparkle a little more. This is not really a new concept. As far back as Mozart's time and maybe even further Eb (3 flats) was considered a 'noble' key and D (2 sharps) was a bright tonality. The motion of the arrangement also has a huge effect on the imagery, and sometimes I get impressions of things that are symbolic. As an example, 'Angry Again' by Megadeth is played extremely tightly and they all lock in to the groove with impressive cohesion. When I hear this it's like looking at a precisely engineered and well oiled machine, gears and pistons are moving in perfect unison. I would liken the combined effect of a much less accomplished band to a loosely assembled pantomime horse shuffling across the stage. A couple of examples from classical music are Prokofiev's 'Peter and The Wolf' and SaintSaens 'Carnival of the Animals'. Both composers used the sounds of the orchestra to best evoke the sounds and movements of the animals.

This might sound strange but think how a 'rough' sound can grate on the ear, and a 'smoother' one can sooth. A sound technician will tell you that the rougher ones have an increased amount of higher frequencies in their make up but why do people intuitively describe things this way? Sound can heal so in some way on some level, shapes and forms must be interacting with other shapes and forms for something to occur. I keep an open mind to this. I might be completely right on all of this, but if I am completely wrong and none of this exists, at least I have found a useful approach to writing music, one which definitely produces good results and also enhances my listening experience.