sorry about repeating this but i had to figure how to get my song on here

but yea check out my song and please feel free to lend advice and critic and im always looking for cool sounding chords

by the way this is for alto and bari sax

Ok, a lot of stuff to mention so I'll start with something and maybe someone else will add more.

Your melody is...lacking. There is no phrase that I can most definitely pick out as the melody.

What Make a Melody Melodic?

A Good Melody Has Movement - it goes some place, be it rhythmically, tonally or through the "motion" of the tones.
A Good Melody Is Familiar -Yet Unexpected - the type of movement you use determines the strength of your melody.
A Good Melody Sets Up -and Resolves -Tension - A melody without tension is not very exciting, but a melody with unresolved tension makes the listener uncomfortable.
A Good Melody Has a Center - Focus on this, you don't want your melody wandering around all over the place. Know where the "home" pitch is and revolve around it.
A Good Melody Repeats Itself - Simple. To make a melody memorable, it helps to know what is needed to be remembered. So repeating the melody is a good way of doing this, but don't over do it!
A Good Melody Has Form - Meaning they come in phrases like 2, 4, 8, or 16. Basically any number divisible by two. BUT you are not just limited to that, it can be as many bars as you please.
A Good Melody Stays in Range - meaning, the notes don't jump all over the place, they are constrained around the "home" pitch.
A Good Melody Is Unique - A melody doesn't have to be overly complex to be rememberable, but it must be distinctive. It may remind you over other melodies but it can't duplicate them. All melodies have something unique about them, something that makes them stand out. *


*Cited from "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Composition" by Michael Miller

Remember to use the "edit" button, as well instead of posting again :P

thank u but was that ur only problem

Uh, study Porsche's comment carefully-- That really sums it up.

Another good tip is to, until you get more experience, keep your melody in one piece; that is, don't break it up into fragments and split it between voices. While this is a common technique for experienced and professional composers, it's very difficult to do that, while keeping it from just sounding disjunct.

hey thanks for all the tips and stuff i changed it around a bit to (include) the melody i think its better than before but still looking for more tips and cool sounding chords

Still, not right.

You should try writing a "Melodic Outline" to help you build a good, strong melody. Just like an outline in writing, a melodic outline is the key points, or in this case pitch, that the melody will move around. These key pitches are called Structural Tones. If you use chord tones to make your structural tones, keep in mind that each tone of the chord implies a different "flavor" to the melody:

Root - It can be used anywhere in the melody but more often at the very begining or the very end. It is a great way to release tension in a melody.
Third - This tone defines the harmonic nature (major or minor). Using this will help emphasize the underlying harmony. It's also very good at moving from a major chord to a minor chord.
Fifth - Of all the tones, this one is the least harmonically important. A melody centered around the fifth will sound hollow. Avoid overusing the fifth especially at the end of melodic phrases.
Extensions - Like the seventh or ninth of a chord. Using these notes will give you a light and airy kind of feeling. This will give you a more contemporary sound.


These notes should also follow a form of a stable tone and unstable scale tone. The three most stable scale tones are (in order) tonic, fifth, and third of the scale. Using these notes will give you a strong tone to build a melody off of. But, it should not just consist of stable tones, unstable tones play an important part of creating tension, which is need for a great melody. When you construct these tones, make sure that they flow naturally to each other in a melodic fashion. You should be able to use these notes as a freestanding melody. When you your melody is hummable, you have just set up the basis for a truly memorable melody.

To make your melody more complex, read up on adding approach or "pickup" notes, passing tones, non-neighboring connecting tones. To embellish your melody read up on repeated notes, neighboring tones, changing tones chromatic neighbors, and neighbors from different scales. *

I hope this is helpful to you. There are still a lot more problems, but you have to take them one at a time.

* Cited from "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Composition" by Michael Miller.

what is that supposed to mean

i no chords and scales and stuff and i have chords in my song
so i guess u need to be more specific

Techical stuff aside, this composition lacks many artistic important factors. The biggest one of them; Its melody is poorly written, which in turn makes it sound almost random. To me it sounds as you put in random harmonies and let the chord progression create itself, which is a bad idea (I've noticed how this almost exclusively occurs to people who soley use notation programs as their composing method).

So, I'd suggest you to go listen to your favourite songs and think; What makes them so good? Maybe then you'll learn about interesting chord sequences, melodic progression or the things the other guys above rambled on about.

Can somebody be so friendly to convert this song into a midi?

(I've noticed how this almost exclusively occurs to people who soley use notation programs as their composing method).

I like that observation, becasue it is VERRY true. In my music theory and composition lessons, my mentor instructs me not to use Finale at all unless you know your original, handwritten score, is perfect and you just want a nice-looking copy of your score (saying, for publishing or distributing to people you know want to play/read it).

I would suggest that you sit at your keyboard/piano and get some manuscript paper and use the rules that Porsche has posted in making a nice prelude or something... Or if you're not a piano player, use whatever instrument ''suits'' you.

Good luck, and take these comments posted seriously; they're all correct.

I don't see much difference between using paper and using programs. With both methods, you are writing down your ideas in the form of musical notation. How is different to jot down music on paper, and to jot down music on a program?

I don't see much difference between using paper and using programs. With both methods, you are writing down your ideas in the form of musical notation. How is different to jot down music on paper, and to jot down music on a program?

To me, it is different. It's sort of hard to explain, but I also write things down on paper, if possible, since I have (almost) perfect pitch, and try to write something note to note. It's as if typing on your notation program is only for the purpose of just writing it down. Writing it down on paper is when I can actually make up my ideas, while doing it on the computer is just writing it down, which, again, is hard for me to explain. -_-

*Sorry for being off-topic...

EDIT: Comments:...

First of all, you're making the baritone hit one of its highest notes (Eb). It is (I'm about 85% sure on this) VERY bad to put baritone saxophone higher than the alto. It's sort of disorganized to me; sometimes, the 2nd intervals didn't work too well.

the bari highest note is f and my friend can play it well and since alto is a octave higher than the bari the alto can play e and the bari can play high e and it will be the same note

i cut out alot since i dont really no what yall r talking about but its a work in progress

A Melodic Outline works like this...

First you take tones from either:

The Chord You Are Currently On
The Current Scale of the Key You're In


And arrange them in a logical and pleasing order to the ear with the aforementioned Stable and Unstable Scale Tones. For example...

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h255/porschegtiii/example1.jpg

Can you guess what song this is? Now you can add more detail to these tones by adding Approach notes, passing notes, or the like. Now with a little more detail we get this...

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h255/porschegtiii/Example2.jpg

Still don't know what song this is? Add more approach notes, passing notes, embellishing notes, and the like to get the final melody...

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h255/porschegtiii/Example3.jpg

See, it's J. S. Bach's "Minuet in G." Let's look at another one...

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h255/porschegtiii/Example4.jpg

Add the aforementioned stuff and you get...

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h255/porschegtiii/Example5.jpg

...Richard Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries."*

That's basically all there is to it.


I don't see much difference between using paper and using programs. With both methods, you are writing down your ideas in the form of musical notation. How is different to jot down music on paper, and to jot down music on a program?

Because new composers tend to use a notation program as a crutch, saying "Oh that sounds good. I'll keep it" when it is actually not...that great. Writing on paper forces you to think of the song in your head, so you know exactly what you want everything to do and that each note of the chord is fully represented and placed in the exact part that makes the harmonic melody flow naturally like the main melody. Anyone can throw notes into a notation program but it takes skill to write things so they are musically right.

*Cited from "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Composition" by Michael Miller

Because new composers tend to use a notation program as a crutch, saying "Oh that sounds good. I'll keep it" when it is actually not...that great. Writing on paper forces you to think of the song in your head, so you know exactly what you want everything to do and that each note of the chord is fully represented and placed in the exact part that makes the harmonic melody flow naturally like the main melody. Anyone can throw notes into a notation program but it takes skill to write things so they are musically right.


Aye, I don't notate on Finale for just that reason. "Ah, that sounds good."

"Well, this sounds okay."

"This isn't too bad."

"Ah shit, my original melody is totally gone, and all I have left is a bunch of hollow sounding, totally random harmonies."

Heheh. Of course, I've only written one song, and I only tried two more after that, both of which I quit after about six measures because of my retardedness with Finale. X3

Next time I feel like writing a song, I'll be sure to use paper only. Thanks for reminding me, Ichigos!

Because new composers tend to use a notation program as a crutch, saying "Oh that sounds good. I'll keep it" when it is actually not...that great. Writing on paper forces you to think of the song in your head, so you know exactly what you want everything to do and that each note of the chord is fully represented and placed in the exact part that makes the harmonic melody flow naturally like the main melody. Anyone can throw notes into a notation program but it takes skill to write things so they are musically right.

This is totally right. When you write a song it's better to think about the song. But if you have a computer next to your instrument you can use a notation programme too. It's not important how you write the music down but it's important to know what you write:).

I really think the beginning looks like 3/4 more than 4/4 and there are many parts in it that could be better represented if it was 3/4. Maybe that's also another reason why it sounds abit out of rhythm.

And I find that when you play compose witth piano next to you, you can always piak up new melodic line, rhythm, and many other things which you might to realised if you just stare blankly at Finale. So I find being next to a piano while composing is very useful.

But the "oh, that sounds good" is also another source of inspiration. So at the end of the day, if you could organized them in a recognizable order, I would recomment that using both piano and finale (although I recomment sibelius at this point) is yield most effective composition.

Instead of simply paper or notation software, another great tool to use for composing is a piano or keyboard. 80% of what I write comes from just messing around at the piano. It's a good middle ground between notation software and paper, and I'd recommend it if you need a better way to compose.