PLAY | FilmComp

Play; Loop; Record.

Fantastic! You have now completed Step 1. If you've had a close listen to TIME, you would have noticed the recurring ostinato played by the synth which sounded something like this:

SCORE AUDIO of Ostinato alone

AUDIO of Ostinato within context

Now, here is your next task.

TASK 3. The Ostinato

Choose a couple of notes from your scale (remember, sometimes the less is better!), play around with them and come up with a pattern (ostinato) that you like! Once you have locked in your awesome ostinato, record it! You can do this several ways:

Find an instrument in the classroom -> play around with those notes -> come up with your ostinato -> make an audio recording on a device/notate it in a way that you understand it -> input your ostinato into Sibelius (if you prefer traditional notation) or a DAW e.g. Soundtrap/Garageband (if you prefer midi notation - the looping tutorial below may be useful)

OR

Open up a DAW e.g. Soundtrap or Garageband -> Software instrument -> empty channel strip -> choose an instrument -> play around with those notes -> come up with your ostinato and just press the red button to record! You may loop your ostinato by doing this:

And... DON'T FORGET TO SAVE YOUR PROJECT!

Great job on that funky ostinato you have there! Now moving on to the next step. Did you figure out which chords Zimmer used in TIME? Let's see if you got them right!

A min - E min - G maj - D maj

TASK 4. The Chords

You are now going to choose up to 4 chords that will cycle through your composition. This will provide harmonic support for your ostinato. But firstly, how do we build chords?

Watch this tutorial on simple chord building:

The most common chords are I, IV, V and vi. These are frequently used in pop songs!

Go back to the worksheet where you wrote down your scale. Build a chord on I, IV, V and vi.

Play around with those chords on a real/midi keyboard, come up with a chord progression you like and record it with your ostinato!

Note: you are not limited to using chords I, IV, V and vi. You may use chords built on other scale degrees if you're up for a challenge!