How to create an accompaniment

A step – by – step guide

What is an accompaniment?

Once you have composed a melody you need to create an accompaniment

An accompaniment is the equivalent of a backing track- ask yourself ‘What ishappening in the

background of yourmelody?’

Bass Line

Chords

The easiest way to start creating an

accompaniment is by adding some

chords to your melody

Countermelody

Melody

Descant A simple, high pitch melody. Often long sustained notes. Decorates the main melody.

The main tune. Catchy and memorable.

A second melody which sits underneath the main melody. It decorates and thickens the texture.

Provides the harmony. Can be arranged in a variety of ways e.g. arpeggios, broken chords, block chords.

The lowest part, supports the harmony in the chords and can provide interest e.g. a riff, ostinato or pedal note

Here is an original four-bar melody

Try playing your melody experimenting with different chordsIn the key of C major these are the basic chords available

The most popular chords are chord I, IV and VAlmost every melody will fit these chords- but to get higher marks for

your coursework you will need to use more unusual chords than just I, IV and V. However, using these three chords are a good starting point for composing

C G A GF C C G A GF G F A G C DC BAB E C G AGF C

Here is an original four-bar melody

Try playing your melody experimenting with different chordsIn the key of C major these are the basic chords available

The most popular chords are chord I, IV and VAlmost every melody will fit these chords- but to get higher marks for

your coursework you will need to use more unusual chords than just I, IV and V. However, using these three chords are a good starting point for composing

C G A GF C C G A GF G F A G C DC BAB E C G AGF C

GEC

CAF

DBG

Here is an original four-bar melody

Try playing your melody experimenting with different chordsIn the key of C major these are the basic chords available

The most popular chords are chord I, IV and VAlmost every melody will fit these chords- but to get higher marks for

your coursework you will need to use more unusual chords than just I, IV and V. However, using these three chords are a good starting point for composing

C G A GF C C G A GF G F A G C DC BAB E C G AGF C

GEC

CAF

DBG

AFD

BGE

ECA

Adding chords

Now that the basic chords are labelled it will be very simple to add the chords and vary them to make them more interesting

Chord C (chord I in C major)

Chord G (chord V in

C major)

Chord F (chord IV in

C major)

Chord G7 (G with an added F)

C G A GF C C G A GF G F A G C DC BAB E C G AGF C

Basic Chords

Here are the chords added to the melody

C chord =C E G

G chord =G B D

F chord =F A C

F chord =F A C

C chord =C E G

G chord =G B D

C chord =C E G

C G A GF C C G A GF G F A G C DC BAB E C G AGF C

G7 chord =

G B D F

Your Task 11. Copy your original four bar melody into a new file. Keep the

instrument the same as it was before.

2. Add an instrument that can play chords (piano, keyboard, guitar, organ, harp)

3. Label all the notes in your melody (click on the note and press Ctrl+L then type the letters in)

4. Work out which of the primary and secondary chords will fit and add them underneath the melody (one chord per bar)

GEC

CAF

DBG

AFD

BGE

ECA

Developing the basic chords

Once you have worked out the basic chords there are many ways of changing them to make them more interesting

Broken ChordsBreak up the chords so that the notes are played

one at a time instead of all at once

Try breaking them up in different directions- ascending and descending

Ascending Descending

C E GC C E G C C G E C G B D G F C A F G B D G F AG D C

Your Task 21. Add four new bars at the end of your music and copy

your original four bar melody and basic chords them.

2. Change the way the chords are played by using broken chords instead of block chords

3. Listen to your music to check it fits

4. Save your work

like this!

Block chords Broken chords

Chord Inversions

If you like the sound of block chords try varying the order of the notes to make them more interesting

GEC

ECG

CGE

ECGC

GEC

ECGC

ECG

DBG

GDB

CAF

FCA

DBG

GDB

CAF

FDBG

Your Task 31. Add four new bars at the end of your music and copy

your original four bar melody and basic chords them.

2. Change the way the chords are played by using chord inversions

3. Listen to your music to check it fits

4. Save your work

like this!

Block chords Chord inversions

Varying the Rhythm

Dotted rhythms make the accompaniment more interesting

Because the rhythm of the melody is different to the rhythm of the accompaniment we call this a cross-rhythm

Mixing rhythms

Try mixing long sustained notes with a shorter rhythm

Pedal NoteA long, low, sustained note is called a

pedal note

Try adding a pedal note underneath the chords

Arranging chords and a pedal note on one stave

Condensing the pedal note onto the same stave as the chords look like this

Altering the rhythm

Try changing the rhythm of the accompaniment to triplets

This creates more cross-rhythms

Changing the broken chords

If you change the broken chords to semiquaver (quarter) notes the accompaniment sounds much busier and more detail can be added to them

Try varying the direction of the notes

(ascending, descending, mixed)

Ascending

Descending

Mixed

Semiquaver Accompaniment

Here is an example of a semiquaver accompaniment using ascending, descending and mixed patterns

Putting it all together

All these ideas, and more, can be used, altered and mixed together to make a piece of music that is of a good standard

Here is a summary of the ideas that have been used. They have been put into one final piece of music

Can you spot all the different ideas and techniques?