Sharing suggestion for Music Arrangement

I receive a music mp3 from one of the Pianologist readers, Alvin Teh. He is a 21 years old musician whom I met at the Be An Idol website. Due to his enthusiasm in music, we would like to share with you about the music he created.

The file is name GuXiaNG.. I don’t know what it stands for. Play his 3.16 minutes music:

GuXiaNg

This piece is in C major. Below is the song structure:

0.00-0.30 – Part I – This is the introduction with full warm sustaining pad, some subtle bird chirps and string phrases. The slow melody line is played by single note piano. I suggest that the piano melody to be doubled with octave repetition or 3^rd apart with other lead instrument to project the melody.

0.30-1.22 – Part II – A drum loop leads the way in with cunning bass movement. I think this music is not bad at all. Pad layer is reduced. Still got some strings and some synth lead fill in at the background.

1.22-1.30 – a running C major pentatonic scale from high to low, pretty nice.

1.30-2.00 Part III – From C major to A minor modulation. This brings the atmosphere of the song to another level. There is a heavy synthesizer lead or maybe it is a distortion guitar playing through this section. Adequate reverb and synth pad strengthen the climax. The drum loop is process with some filters. I felt that the running kick drum is additional towards 2.00 minute. I would prefer that part to be silent, except the fade out pads.

2.00-2.51 – Part IV – This section is similar to Part II. But the drum kit or loops was changed. The new drum kit is processed with filters. I would prefer the main drum kit to be similar as Part II. The reason is that it is a norm for an arranger to keep the same drum kit throughout a song so that audience will get the significant sounds. However, music is subjective. You can do whatever you like for your own composition.

2.52-3.16 – Part V – This part is the ending of the song. The tempo is slowed down towards the end. But the pad is not faded out. Alvin should use a volume envelope to process the fade out.

Suggestions for improvement:

1.
Program the drum loop or play it with your keyboard instead of using excessive drum loop. Some drum loops are good, but using it extensively won’t get your skill improved.

2. You can play the melody part with different instruments. Some background patch can be moved to the front by playing the melody.

There is a strong Chinese flavor, due to the pentatonic major scale. Overall, I would say that this is a well done piece of music. Applause for Alvin.

Read my article on How to complete full pop song music arrangement in 60 minutes