How to create variety in Music?

Repetitiveness is Ruining Your Music!

How wonderful would it be to create music that isn't monotonous?

How brilliant would it be if you could create music that is always vibrant and engaging?

And how magical would it be if even in the repetitive passages, you could add that touch of variety that distinguishes the art of the greatest masters?

Great!

In this article, you will learn 3 powerful techniques that will elevate your composition skills and help you become a Master of Variety!

What is Variety?

This is a field of tulips.

Tulips (in case you didn't realize).

If you look at them from a distance, all these tulips might seem identical to you.

In fact, if you look at a field of tulips from a helicopter, you wouldn't even recognize it as a field of tulips. You would just see a large, probably orange, patch.

But if you get closer to each of these tulips, you would discover a fascinating world of differences, nuances, and variety, where even the two most similar tulips will appear almost completely different!

The concept of variety is very important in the art of musical composition because it is an intrinsically contained property in nature.

The musician, like Mother Nature with her wisdom, must be able to create varied compositions that, even in their repetitiveness, present something new, unique, and distinctive!

To explain 3 techniques that you can apply right away, let’s take this passage as an example.

Let’s Take a Bass Line

Descending scale with triplets diminutions

This image depicts a bass line descending stepwise through a scale.

This bass line is taken from a Partimentino, very effective exercises I designed to teach musicians how to compose their own music using the Partimenti method, in line with the Italian tradition of the 18th century!

In orange, you can see the structural notes, while the black notes represent simple figurations and diminutions that give the bass melody a sense of flow and fluidity.

Harmonizing the Bass

The first thing to do is certainly to harmonize the bass!

As you can learn in Stage 3.3 of The Partimento Method, a descending bass line like this can be harmonized using the 7-6 Fauxbourdon technique.

3-part harmonization of the 7-6 Fauxboourdon

The 7-6 Fauxbourdon applies to three voices and consists of:

A bass that descends stepwise.
A voice that creates a chain of 7-6 suspensions over the bass (covered in Stage 2.4 of The Partimento Method), the green voice in the picture.
A voice that follows the bass in parallel thirds (covered in Stage 2.1 of The Partimento Method), the blue voice in the picture.

Applying Inversion

Some ingredients of The Partimento Method can be inverted, flipped, and used in different combinations.

In fact, in The Partimento Method, the concept of Composition is closely linked to the concept of Combination, the Ars Combinatoria, the art of combining elements.

The ancient alchemists used to say "Solve et Coagula" (Divide and Combine).

The 7-6 Fauxbourdon ingredient is among these!

Therefore, it’s important to be able to play and realize each ingredient in all its forms and combinations, so you are always ready to apply it in the most effective version.

So, let's switch the positions of the two upper voices, and we get this:

7-6 Fauxbourdon with the 2 upper voices inverted

Creating Variety: Apply 3 Techniques!

Now it’s time to create variety by applying 3 powerful techniques that, once learned, you can use whenever you want!

You are about to learn something beautiful that will elevate you above most musicians today!

Are you excited?

Grouping
Figurations
Inversion

Let’s look at them one by one!

Grouping

As you can see, in our bass line, we have an element that repeats 7 times.

That’s really too much!

To create variety, you can imagine grouping these 7 repetitions in a very specific way:

Create two groups of 4 measures + 3 measures.
The first group of 4 measures will be composed of two subgroups of 2 measures + 2 measures.
The second group of 3 measures will be composed of three subgroups of 1 measure each.

Grouping of the bass line with different patterns

In this way, simply by grouping the 3 groups differently, you achieve a much more varied structure.

But now, there's a big problem!

How to make this variety effective?

With figurations!

Figurations and Diminutions

Let's apply a combination of figurations and diminutions to the first group of four measures so that:

The two voices interact with each other, creating a dialogue.
The result heard by the ear is a melody (in this case, a descending scale) that occupies 2 beats.
For the last 3 groups, let's use a contrasting figuration (leaps opposed to scales), with the last of the 3 being different (in this case, we'll use the melody La Sol Fa Mi, in Solmisation very idiomatic in the Eut hexachord cadences).

Application of Figurations and Diminutions over a 7-6 Fauxbourdon

By the way, did you notice that by grouping the bass in this way, the last group of 3 measures forms a Prinner?

The Prinner is one of the most important Galant Schemata.

If you're interested in delving into it, learning to recognize it, and using it in your compositions and improvisations, you can learn it in Stage 6.5 of The Partimento Method or by booking an Online Lesson with me!

Inversion

In Baroque music, it's quite common for a passage to repeat itself.

While from a rhetorical standpoint, it can be a good thing to repeat or emphasize a concept, at the same time, it's even better to introduce some element of novelty, just as nature does, never repeating itself exactly even within the same species.

A major descending scale with triplets Diminutions

Sometimes, it takes very little, like reversing the positions of the two upper voices.

Do you remember when we initially wrote the inverted prototype of the 7-6 Fauxbourdon?

Well, later in the same Partimentino, the same bass line reappears a fifth below, in A Major.

Why not present the same grouping of bass notes, the same diminutions and figurations, but by exchanging the positions of the two upper voices?

Application of Figurations and Diminutions over a 7-6 Fauxbourdon in A major with the 2 inverted upper voices

It's not all! There's more for you!

I've prepared a video for you where I show you step by step every process!

This way, all you need to do is grab a piece of paper and write down the steps in the order I show you, to learn and become excellent at writing sequences in the baroque style too!

In this Musicus' Guide, you have learned so many things!

Out there in the magical world of music, there are just as many other things waiting to be discovered!

Can you imagine what you will be capable of in a few months when you have learned more?

I firmly believe that while it's true that not everyone (in fact, no one) is born with a hand ready to write music, everyone still has a hand with which we can cultivate this passion and express ourselves!

That's why I've prepared three types of services for you!

Remember, you can always write to me for help choosing the best one for you because different backgrounds and musical skills may require different paths.

And if you tell me about yourself, besides the pleasure of getting to know you, I'll point you in the best direction for your specific case!