Yes! I've been playing piano for almost 10 years of my life! Participated in choir and church so I could play the uke and the guitar. Currently I'm thinking about writing a song for a ship I have! They're really special to me so I thought about it! It's a piano arranfment! I don't think I'm going to change a lot of thing except a liveliee tempo. I chose to work on classical instead of pop as a youngin and that was really a mistake. Currently studying pop songs like Charlie Puth etc! I think it's a great workout! It's a ton of playing as well! You have to own the song instead of just making a new song from an existing one!
Do you ever write music for your OC's?
7 Votes
Yes!
17 Votes
No, but that's a cool idea.
1 Votes
No.
6 Votes
I'd be interested in a commission!
Edit: I started taking commissions here! Thank you all so much for your feedback and interest.
I've recently taken up writing musical themes for each of my characters! Henriel's and Halotoa's themes are the one's I'm most proud of, but I also have Durny and Ghost.
Is there anyone who does this too? Would anyone be interested in having themes written for their characters? I'm considering taking musical commissions.
Thanks for your feedback!
My situation doesn't really count but I said yes anyways? I'm naturally a very musical and rhythmic person, and that channels into my characters and stories. I'm always writing themes, motifs, and full songs for them in my head, but the riffs and such are always so complex that I know I wouldn't be able to produce any of them myself. Besides, even though I have a music program purchased, it's pretty basic and I'm currently too busy and intimidated to learn to get the hang of it. ^^'
This is absolutely something i'd do, and its something ive wanted to do for a long time! unfortunately i'm not musically inclined so i can't make music for em. i learned guitar and piano in middle/high school and i own a guitar and have a piano at home...but i forgot how to play them for the most part o_o; and i would absolutely love to learn how to produce music but unfortunately i cant muster up enough motivation to learn. i could always commission someone for oc music but id prefer if i wrote it myself
Thank you all for your responses! I'll get to you each.
It's really interesting, the relationship between pop and classical music. Where I'm attending Uni, we study that relationship in Music Theory. Pop music usually has a formula of chord progressions that really creates a smooth, catchy tune that is super pleasing to the ear! One of the reasons people like Ed Sheeran (Not exactly pop but you get the idea) is because he takes that chord progression template and changes it a lot in most of his songs, just enough to still be catchy but also enough to still be noticeable. I'd love to discuss music and such with you via DMs if you're interested!
I understand. Sometimes getting it out on paper or program can be tedious. What I did to learn my music notation system was just take a look and explore, and if I was looking for anything specific and I couldn't find it I looked it up. With those kinds of things, you really just have to get your hands dirty and learn it. You don't even have to be writing a piece. What program do you have, out of curiosity?
I feel that, about writing it myself even if I don't have the motivation. I love supporting other musicians, and I would love to have them write a theme for me, but as someone who studies music as a career I feel obligated to write my themes, haha. Even still, I know people who write better than me, and I know they would be willing to collaborate with me. I'm sure if you picked those instruments up again you'd be solid in no time!
Arietta-Cantabile I guess that's true! I think sometimes I forget that I don't have to produce something great on the first try, which is hard when it comes to music because I have zero skills getting my ideas down in that sense, haha. The program is FL Studio 20, the cheapest edition more specifically. I'll have to make it a habit to play around with it more, because if I don't then I'll never get anywhere
I've always wanted to! But boy is it so intimidating for me. I saw you mention the basic chord progressions and music theory and I understand those having studied it myself but man, idk it still demotivates me when I think about pulling up MuseScore and inputting it all one by one KEKEKEK. I guess because there's thinking the music, but then you have to think of the key it's in and the time signature and I wouldn't even know where to start.
I wish I could do some music editing, or do some small pop band kinda styles, but I feel like with me I'd only input things one at a time and be very bad at it KEKEKEK Like I feel like knowing piano would make it a lot easier but boy howdy that instrument itself is an entire beast to learn!
How interesting! I've never heard of that program before. Personally I tend to use musescore to write, but sometimes I will borrow Finale off the school computers, as the sound samples sound a lot better from Finale. I feel that about wanting something beautiful on the first try. I have a lot of unfinished things just chilling in my save folder from me trying to get it right. Once you learn though, it will be a lot easier to conceptualize things!
Yeah, sometimes it can get tedious putting it all in one by one. However, it honestly is the same thing as writing it down on manuscript staff paper. You have to write it in one by one.
My writing process is usually this:
1. What mood am I looking for? I usually look up keys associated with the mood I want. There are other websites but this one is a good one. This also helps me determine the tempo. If I want sad, brooding or hopeful I'll go for something slow. If I want something happy, intense or angry, I'll go for a faster tempo.
2. What will the music be used for?
Will it be a battle theme? Just a regular old theme? Will it tell the story of the character? Battle themes are notoriously faster. Stories with a lot of bad things will usually be in minor or have a lot of tempo changes.
3. What is the personality of the character?
Mood is alright by itself, but to input the personality of the character I like to consider the instrumentation. What instruments sound like my character? For example, in Henriel's theme as noted above, I picked a weird instrumentation. I picked organ and bells because they're associated with death and he is an evil necromancer. I also picked string quartet because they're dark and brooding. Thinking of your character's personality when picking instruments is such a lifesaver!
I hope this helps! I'm sorry if its a lot.
Sorry for the late reply!
And ooh, that's a good idea for finding the key, I never thought about that! As for the speed of the rhythm, that's usually not the problem but it's more like the time signature. Like I'll think of the rhythm and I'll wonder, "Is this something that can fit 4/4? Or is this more of a 3/4?" Typically my first thought is to write it out and look and see what time signature is best, but if I want to write it out on my laptop I use MuseScore, and they want the time signature first.
Instrumentation-wise, I've always kinda leaned on full symphonic pieces. Hearing those in video games have always made deep impressions on me, and studying music like that gave me a bit of a bias KEKEKEK But after reading all of this I'm thinking it's best to write it on piano first then stretch out the voices into different instruments. Although then I run into that old problem of inputting it all one note at a time KEKEKEK
Either way, your information was really helpful and gave me a few ideas! Thank you!
I’ve been making tons of music for my ocs, almost all of them were made while I was listening to it in the first place so Im very well connected. I also took choir in middle/high school, as well as played piano for 10 years. i feel like it’s easier to make music for ocs than for myself HAHAHA
PicklePantry I'm happy my information was helpful! You can actually now manually change the time signature in musescore 3 by clicking and dragging, and it won't alter the rhythm you put in, save for the aesthetic of the notation! So you don't actually have to start over! Writing on piano first is good, but do note that it can be a bit tedious to isolate the parts. I wish you luck in your musical writing endeavors!
That's so wonderful! A lot of people drop music, and I'm really glad you still keep it going.
I also feel that... I always write music for someone/to tell a story because otherwise I can never get inspired, haha.