Composing Asymmetrical And Extended Phrases?

I feel like I'm stuck in a rut of composing four and eight bar phrases. When I try to break the mold and try something different, the result sounds awkward, forced, and clunky.

What are some methods of composing smooth asymmetric and extended phrases?

I think part of my problem is that I come to cadences at predictable times. What can I do harmonically to postpone a cadence and keep the resulting phrase sounding organic?

I have a lot more questions, but I think that will do for now. Thanks guys!

Hmmm…  Maybe try writing out a longer melody all the way to the end (or at least longer than 4-8 bars) and then harmonizing it, as opposed to harmonizing as you go.  If you can see where you are going, and know that you're not to the end yet, maybe that will help you trick yourself out of the habit?

That's the hard part, really :P

You are not alone in this. I tend to get stuck like that too. I'm going to try pate's suggestion and see if that works, but nothing I have tried has gotten me out of that habit yet.

Asymmetric faces are perhaps less beautiful, but more interesting.
The same goes for my phrases. :P

Really?  That part's the one part that really comes easily to me.  I'd also suggest getting out your phone or turning on the mic on your computer and singing a melody while you record.  "Dee-dum-dee-doo, la-diddy-da…"  Whatever syllables seem to come naturally.  If you get away from looking at a piano, maybe that makes it easier to get out of looking for pattern, and to just flow.  You can repeat as much as you want, but you have to keep singing, if you need time to think of what comes next, that gives you a long rest, with a pick-up, or a long note, which may be a good place for a key change.  Some of it will stink.  Some of it, you'll think is exactly the same as what you just did, but when you go back and listen to it, you'll find that you shifted the rhythm around, or a pitch here or there, and suddenly you've got the start of a theme and variations.  

My other favorite inspiration trick is to listen to something and sing a harmony part to it that's not already there.  It can be awful close to something that's already there in the music, but maybe you start singing along with the bass line, and then move to singing along with one of the inner parts, or you sing the bass line, but you make it staccato instead of legato...  Again, record what you're doing, so you don't have to try and write it down while you're doing it.  And then take this harmony part to Beethoven's 5th and make it into a new oboe line for your new piece.  Turn off Beethoven, and write a bass line to go with your harmony, and then a melody…  You'll have something that sounds NOTHING like the piece you were listening to originally, but still has some climaxes, some key changes, some direction to it, to get you out of the 4 bar repeated groove.  (:

Listen to and study the works of Mozart, Chopin, Bellini, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and other notable melodists, and try to figure out some of the strategies they use to avoid a cadence every four or eight bars.

A few famous melodies you can start with (follow with the score, if possible)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45drOlTTTA8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ8RVjm49hE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFnbnJrpT6o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nhcTllJgIY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bheXaiDbr0I (both the main melody and the one starting at 1:37 repay study)

Composing without meters (for now) would help, I think. Writing around strong and weak beats kind of locks you in. Try to avoid ties and instead, use dotted values. Think of things durations as 'short' and 'long'. 

Use prime and fibonacci numbers instead.

I think fugues are a different world. It  is a form not built on phrases nor periods. The length of the melodic units in fugues comes  from the length of the subject and the answer...

Sequences are a good method to enlarge a phrase but it won't be purely asymmetrical, since they are a repetition.

For me Bellini rules in melodies.

1/ Listen to the Brandenburg Concertos. Hear the lines as they appear to come to an end, but then don't and go on again, and again. Unlike Mozart, who ties each cadence in a pretty little bow, Bach staggers the endings between instruments for just the purpose of adding asymmetry and disguising the endings. Lots of examples throughout.

2/ Write in 2/4 time as opposed to 4/4. 4/4 will force symmetry on you. It's hard to get away from it. 2/4 lets you slice and dice your lines with greater freedom. 2, 3 and 4 beat phrases are capable this way without changing meter.

3/ Listen to Stravinsky's l'Histoire du Soldat, the opening march. Strong and weak beats are cleverly disguised. Text book asymmetry.

I will be posting a Rondo soon which demonstrates this in my own style.

Edited May 20, 20169 yr by Ken320