Senior Project Research

1. Research on Yann Tiersen

Yann Tiersens biography: Born in Brittany, France, 1970. Tiersen studied violin and piano from

a young age, and later in his teenage years, joined a punk band as the guitarist.

Yann Tiersens style: It seems to spring from folk music and popular song, with a sprinkling of

French cafe or street music, and a touch of the avant-garde. His music sounds distinctly French

in character, the accordions in particular seem to emphasize the Gallic character. The pieces are

frequently constructed as simple folk tunes or dances (with waltzes being particularly common)

with simple melodies and accompaniment of broken chords. Descending figures and minor keys

give some of his music a melancholy character, while an upbeat tempo and busy rhythmic

figures make other tracks quite lively.

Similar artists: Chopin, Phillip Glass, Erik Satie

Popular songs: Comptine dun Autre t, La Valse dAmelie, J'y suis jamais all

2. Research on music composition

Lesson 1: How to Write a Melody

Notes:
Basic idea is short and easy to develop; is a building block to a central theme.
Establishes a tonic (home key).
Aim for two motives. A motive is the smallest structural unit possessing thematic
identity.
Chord tones + non-chord tones. Place chord tones on beats 1 & 3. Passing tones
connect two different chord tones. Neighbor tones connect two of the same chord tones.
Development techniques:
-Inversion - turning the melody upside down.
-Retrograde - flips melody from back to front.
-Retrograde Inversion - combo of the two.

Lesson 2: Harmony 101

Notes:
Diatonic Harmony - chords built off of each note in a scale using thirds without
accidentals.
Exception is when you are in minor key, you want to raise the seventh note (B) in a
scale, also called the leading tone.
Each triad has two different variations called inversions. When you invert a chord, you
take the lowest note and move it up an octave to the top of the next chord.
Classical music uses figured bass, and the notation rules vary with major, minor, and
diminished.
Major chords uses capitalized roman numerals. Minor chords use lowercase roman
numerals. Diminished chords use lowercase followed by an o.
To compose a different harmony, you can do:
Exact transposition - start on a new note, but same number of intervals. (ex: C Major
to G Major).
Advanced method - take chord tones and find the nearest chord tones in the new
harmony. If the melody shares a chord tone between the two harmonies, keep that chord tone.
Add in non-chord tones to keep general melodic shape.

Lesson 3: The Musical Period

Notes:
The period is an 8 bar theme consisting of two 4-bar phrases. First is antecedent,
second is consequent.
Cadence - a specific way of ending a phrase harmonically.
Antecedent ends in a half cadence (weak), and the consequent ends in an authentic
cadence (strong).
Antecedent phrase = basic idea + contrasting idea.
Consequent phrase = basic idea + another contrasting idea.
The last two notes in an authentic cadence will either be 2-1 or 7-8.
If your melody is very busy, end your period with liquidation to make it simpler.

Lesson 4: The Musical Sentence

Notes:
Presentation phrase = basic idea + repetition of the basic idea. Presents the basic idea
and establishes tonic harmony through tonic prolongation.
Exact repetition - exact copy, sometimes with very small changes.
Model sequence repetition
Statement response repetition - changes the underlying harmony but keeps the same
 melodic and motivic content.
Continuation phrase: acceleration of harmonic rhythm ; chords change more frequently.
Fragmentation - chopping out a single motive from the basic idea and repeating that
motive more frequently.
Process of composing a sentence:
1. Start with basic idea.
2. Repetition.
3. Fragmentation.
4. Liquidation leading into cadence.

Lesson 5: Functional Harmony

Notes:
Melodic minor has raised 6th and 7th scale. Used in ascending melody.
Natural minor has flat 6th and 7th scale. Used in descending melody.
Harmonic minor has lowered 6th and raised 7th.
Functions (certain chords tend to lead to certain other chords):
Tonic - home key, or the point in harmony where all the other harmonies want to go.
Dominant - V or V7 chord. Must resolve to tonic harmony.
Sub-dominant/pre-dominant - IV, ii, ii6 chord. Purpose is to lead to the dominant.
Tonic pre-dominant dominant tonic
Sentence: start with tonic chord repetition of basic idea (prolongation of tonic; moves back
to original harmony) cadential

Lesson 6: Harmonic Progressions and Chromaticism

Notes:
Progression - a way of organizing chords into something meaningful.
1. Prolongation - extending harmony. Keep main functioning harmony but put other
chords in middle to break up monotony.
2. Cadential: authentic (end in I) and half-cadence (end in V).
3. Sequential - based off of interval patterns and are categorized off of root movements.
Descending fifth/ascending fourth (I IV vii iii vi ii V I)
Ascending fifth (I V ii vi)
Descending third (I vi IV ii vii V iii I)
Ascending third (I iii V vii ii IV vi I)
Applied dominants
Modal mixture
Lesson 7: Putting it All Together

Notes:

3 Part Theme Type: A (exposition), B (contrasting middle), A (recapitulation).

A (exposition) a sentence or a period. Introduces the theme of the song and
confirms the home key.
B (contrasting middle) usually supports the dominant harmony of the home key, and
is of looser form.
A (recapitulation) uses stuff from the exposition but gets rid of redundant material.
Involves slight variations in harmony or melody.
Pay attention to details when transcribing music: articulations (e.g. staccato), tempo
markings (e.g. allegro, beats per minute), dynamics (variations in loudness of notes),
title, etc.
 Works Cited

"How to Compose Music." Review. Video blog post. Art of Composing. Ed. John Brantingham.

Jon Brantingham, n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2017.

Kostka, Stefan, and Dorothy Payne. Tonal Harmony: With an Introduction to Twentieth-Century

Music. Sixth ed. New York City: Mcgraw-Hill, 2008. Print.

Paterson, Jim. "Yann Tiersen - French Individualist." Yann Tiersen - an Overview of the

Composer, His Film Music and Albums. Music Files Ltd., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2017.

Phares, Heather. "Yann Tiersen." AllMusic. AllMusic, n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2017.

Wharram, Barbara. Elementary Rudiments of Music. Ed. Kathleen Wood. 2nd ed. Mississauga,

Ont.: Frederick Harris Music, 2010. Print.