Phil’s Style-A-Matic 2000!
There are a plurality of musical styles. Many of these styles are created by blending elements of different historical, foreign, and popular styles together. In analyzing all these properties of different styles, we see that we have unlimited resources for creating compositions.
Let’s take a look at a few Western historical styles and consider just four important stylistic elements: MELODY, HARMONY, FORM, and RHYTHM. (Of course there are many more elements to experiment with: orchestration, scales and tunings, improvisation, theatrical effects to name a few.)
Medieval, Renaissance, Classical, Romantic, Late Romantic, Atonal, Modern Tonal, Rock n’ Roll.
Let’s slice and dice:
Medieval Melody + Classical Harmony + Atonal Form + Rock n’ Roll Rhythm.
What would that sound like?
Rock n’ Roll Melody + Romantic Harmony + Medieval Form + Modern Tonal Rhythm.
What would that sound like?
OK! Let’s now add Eastern sounds into the mix (Asian systems’ sounds)
Classical melody + Chinese (opera) Harmony + Indian (subcontinent) Form + Atonal Rhythm.
What would this sound like??
Well there you are!!!!!
You can substitute any preferred popular or esoteric styles you wish for the ones above and you don’t have to use these 4 different elements either, just one or two, and on and on. The possibilities for exploration are endless. For those electronically inclined, gather or create the midi files you want and cut and paste as desired.
Try it out NOW! I only ask that you credit my method in your score/recording. Please feel free to send me your results!