I was going to write a lengthy explanation with my question like I usually do , but what the hell - let's just get to the point with the tl;dr version:


How do you approach trying to write music for a genre you're not familiar with?

I do have a couple of ideas of my own that I've had moderate success with, but I'll let others reply before sharing them so I don't accidentally guide the conversation into a niche of stuff I'm already familiar with.


(Posted from mobile, please excuse the brevity and lack of formatting.)

Hi Jason!

While I don't know if mine is the best approach to learn a new genre or not, I'll say what I do.

First I think the most necessary is to listen to people who has been creating music on that genre for years, listening to experienced composers on that particular genre. So my first step is basically search for a bunch of music on the genre I want to learn and just listen to it for some time, let it play while I do other things, just to make my ear get used to something I don't usually listen to.

After I start to feel more familiarized with that kind of music, I then try and analyze it paying attention to the instrumentation, the chord progressions, the arrangement and even the mixing. At the point of analysis, I usually start reading a little about that genre too, searching over the internet for people who create that stuff and create it beautifully. I generally do this while trying to start playing something of the genre on some instrument I play. If you wish to go really deep on the style, you can even search for books about it, that might be a good help.

Then I start creating, trying first the basics and then going deeper.

That's basically all! Hopes it helps you a bit.

What are your approaches to learn a new genre? I would love to hear them!

Cheers

Gustavo

When you're writing music for a genre you're not familiar with I think the first step is to absorb as much of it as you can. You don't want to 'ape' or mimic the music but rather find those basic building blocks that define the genre. There is a big difference between 'in the style of' and a bad cover. If you do it right, you can bring your own flavor and personality to the music while still honoring the conventions of the genre . It also definitely helps a lot to have a good understanding of musical theory as you can reference your understanding of individual genres to more general concepts about how music works

For example, if you want to write a surf tune but you're not familiar with surf music, listen to Dick Dale and The Ventures, and you start to get an idea of just what that genre is. It's also fairly easy to find written material talking about those elements and building blocks of different genres of music. This makes it quite easy to cross-reference written material with representative recordings to get a solid idea of what the genre is.

When you're getting into genres that follow a less traditional musical structure like jazz or Eastern music you'll find there are still certain rules and techniques that have to be followed. So in addition to listening and feeling it out I would research the forms and try to learn as much as you can. You'll never master every genre, but you can do your approximation of them with your own musical flavor and personality. The Rolling Stones were trying to be a Chicago Blues band, and in the process ended up being their own unique blend, and I'd say it's worked out fairly well for them.

Finally to do it truly right I've heard you have to go down to the crossroads and sell your soul to the devil.

Listen, listen, listen. Then listen some more.

Identify one part of the track and listen all of the way through to see what it does. Then listen globally. Then again with another part. Listen actively and listen passively (like when you're jogging, driving or cooking, etc). If possible, get some sheet music in that style. Learn to play it. Study the chord changes and rhythms used.

Then do some more listening.

Then throw it all out and do what you think feels natural because you want to infuse you and this new genre together instead of being a carbon copy. After you've done your first draft, go back and see how close to that style/genre you were. You don't want to go way off the mark but having a cool twist on it could be the very thing that makes it your music. Makes it something that someone else would greatly appreciate instead of sounding generic. Make sense?

An interesting tool that I like to use is to pitch down a piece and listen to the part that I'm trying to transcribe. You can do this pitch shift with any editor such as Audacity, but there's a commercial program, Transcribe, that takes it to the next level.

In some cases down pitching the audio will reveal you some traits on conterpoint and general rhythm that are harder to notice when you're still practicing or when the parts are complex.

To illustrate it with an excerpt, listen to the normal version a few times, then listen to the down-pitched version (which is 38% slower):

[attachment=24660:musicSample_normal.mp3]
[attachment=24661:musicSample_low.mp3]

I usually try to start with the right sound.

If I can make the mix and instruments sound the right way, I find that the music becomes more fluid and easier to pick out that starting musical thread.

I do a lot of active listening by studying musical and mixing idiosyncracies that make up a particular style of the pieces I use as reference. I also play around a lot with different styles.

It's a time investment - the more you do this, the easier it becomes.

study, imitate, and practice; lots of practice.

Excellent feedback, thanks guys!

Looks like between you all you've covered everything from my own approach and given me a few additional ideas along the way!

When I'm trying to write in an unfamiliar genre I normally start out by trying to find some of the most popular examples of that genre along with "B side" tunes from the same artists so that I'm not missing out on nuances that might not be as clear in the most popular examples. I try to find around 10 songs to sit down and analyse, looking for any recurring patterns, noting the common instrumentation, etc. It hadn't occurred to me that also listening whilst busy with other tasks would also be valuable, so that's an excellent tip!

Sounds like you take "listen, listen, listen" to the extreme. That is the best way to learn. :).

That said, there will be some styles of music where just listening and analyzing probably isn't enough. Anyone would be hard pressed to write a "big band jazz" piece without having studied jazz harmony or write a fugue in the style of Bach (I did that for a game once) without having studied baroque counterpoint. And even in orchestral to a certain extent, formally studying the ranges of instruments, how the blend with each other, i.e. 'traditional orchestration' can go a long way towards getting a style 'right.'

At the very least, formal study can be a short-cut to really getting to know a style.

Brian makes a great point!