Say It in Song: Writing Beats and Melodies

In this episode of his music production workshop series, musician and sound engineer Zsolt Török invites you to learn how to apply fundamental music theory concepts and compositional techniques in your own music.

Talking about music theory might conjure up the image of European classical composers wearing powdered wigs, which is understandable given the disproportionate focus they get in Western music education. At the same time, it’s important to acknowledge the wide range of non-Western musical traditions around the world, and the fact that most of the popular music we listen to today is drawing inspiration from African music.

In this workshop salon, we will learn just enough terms and concepts from Western music theory to understand the shared vocabulary used in popular music, and apply them to creating rhythms, melodies, and harmonies.

Each workshop in this series will include a presentation demonstrating concepts and techniques, while leaving ample time for hands-on experimentation, sharing, and discussion. The workshop will be recorded, and made available to series ticket holders in case they missed a session, or want to review some things later. 

What you will need to follow along

Participants should have Ableton Live 11 Standard or Suite already installed on their computer before joining the workshop. The free and fully functional 90-day trial includes the full feature set of the Suite edition, and even allows the software to be used beyond the trial period, although with saving and exporting disabled.

Attendees will receive a downloadable package (project files, audio samples, etc.) as a common starting point for the workshop.

Good to read or watch before the salon

• Building Blocks: short videos explaining a few fundamental music theory concepts.
• Song Exploder: podcast where musicians take apart their own songs, and tell the story of how they were made.
• Artist Series: video series with a more holistic analysis of how popular artists create and market their music..

Tickets

This workshop salon is part of the Unlock the Music in You — Music Production Workshop Series. Only the first 4 workshops will be sold individually; a series ticket is required to attend all 8 workshops.

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