It’s not a simple, straightforward answer, but I’ll try to offer some insight into what the title is asking using some pieces that I’ve recently written as specific examples. I’m trying to make this accessible for those who have little to no musical background, so my apologies to those who want some more music theory and deep analysis.
Case Study: 'Petrichor' — BPM: 60, KEY: C Major
For this blog, I’ll use the piece titled Petrichor from my latest album Finding Stillness II. I hope most of what I describe becomes clear once you listen to the track.
While writing all of the music on this album, I had a few general ideas or overarching concepts running through my mind, which helped guide my decision-making. They included things like:
Create beautiful, calming ambient-cinematic music
Write music that can help the world slow down
Introspective, reflective, and meditative
Petrichor is a soft, ambient track with a relaxing, positive mood. It feels like a lazy day song. If you thought you might have heard water, you’d be correct! The gentle sounds of flowing water is heard in the background throughout the piece. These are nature sounds that I recorded while on a few hikes.
I kept the instrumentation for this track quite sparse, with a few layers of Rhodes electric piano and a few layers of electric guitar. As with some of the other tracks on this album, I used extended chords throughout the piece to create more interesting tonal colour. [A typical chord (triad) has 3 unique notes but in many of these chords I’m using 4 unique notes].
There are 3 main sections that make up the form of Petrichor. For the sake of explanation, we’ll call these sections “verse melody”, “chorus melody”, and “guitar lead.” The track begins with the electric piano playing a repeated pattern based around an F Major 7 chord. After several repetitions, the “verse melody” comes in on electric guitar and high electric piano.
Reverb pedal (black) and Volume pedal (grey)
Gibson Les Paul (red) and Schecter KM7 (blue)
This leads into the “chorus melody” section. The guitar and Rhodes play the melody together – a line that jumps down for 4 notes before climbing back up for the last 3 notes. During this part, an additional layer of guitar is playing background chords that repeat and fade, using a delay effect.
Next we jump back to a version of the “verse melody” that’s half as long as before, which then moves into the “guitar lead” section. In this part, a few of the chords beneath the guitar lead are new, not yet heard in the track, and so they add an element of “newness”. This part is met by the second half of the “verse melody” that was, in a sense, interrupted.
The track then returns to the “chorus melody” again exactly the same as the first time it was introduced. Finally, it concludes with a softer, slightly more sparse version of the “verse melody.”
For your interest, I’ve included below a version of the entire track with the melody parts muted. For me it’s a less interesting listen this way, but it could be helpful to hear.
So there you have it! A brief description of the piece with some of the parts isolated for clarity. Obviously I’ve only scratched the surface here, but hopefully it has opened your ears up a bit to what’s happening in Petrichor and opened your mind up a bit to some of the processes that I use when writing music.
Check out Petrichor and the full album Finding Stillness II. I’d love to hear your thoughts!
If you do enjoy the music, maybe you’d consider buying it - every little bit helps. Available for purchase on my Website or on Bandcamp. Following and streaming helps as well!
