Here's what I have in mind.
A. Write a song by arranging Plutchik's Emotional states to tell a story. See http://www.theemotionmachine.com/classi ... f-emotions. If the lyrics are written first, then match the emotional phrases to the flow of the lyrics.
B. From a database select a group of MIDI phrases that match the emotional states in your "story" above. Each data set would include entries like: genre, MIDI phrase ID, emotional state, leads to emotional state, phrase length, etc.
C. Searching the database and putting the song story together could be done in several ways. For example, one could just start with the first emotional phrase of the song story and find a MIDI phrase that you like.
That's it in a nutshell. Of course the major part of the work involved would be collecting the MIDI phrases and classifying each as one of the emotions from the wheel! If the current database could be referenced relationally by this emotions database with search-able fields, then this would offer the user a way to write music based on emotional states.
If a site were made available, then the classified MIDI phrase could be uploaded and made available to all users; i.e., a group effort!
What do to think?
How about composing music with Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions
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- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 7 posts since 8 Oct, 2008
Having had no replies after 60 views, let me ask a more basic question: how do you, who have used RC to write songs, go about the task? What is your starting point for inspiration? Do you have a basic idea what your song is going to be before you start? How much is from prior MIDI and how much is new?
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musicdevelopments musicdevelopments https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=223336 - KVRAF
- 6014 posts since 9 Jan, 2010
This is very interesting. It would be easy for us to allow adding custom tags (e.g. emotion) to phrases just like it works for instruments now. Or displaying phrases with a certain tag. Even chaining them - I suppose the Idea Tool would be a good place for this.
But can a musical phrase alone express an emotion? The emotion also depends on the harmonic content. The same phrase sounds "happy" when played with a major chord, or may sound "sad" with a minor chord. Emotions depend on the chord progression too. I am just asking these because I am not a composer and I do not want to pretend that I know what I am talking about...
We have always been open to suggestions, and will implement every sensible request (but only after V2 is released
)
Sharing your phrases on-line is a good idea too!
Thank you for your thoughts!
Attila
But can a musical phrase alone express an emotion? The emotion also depends on the harmonic content. The same phrase sounds "happy" when played with a major chord, or may sound "sad" with a minor chord. Emotions depend on the chord progression too. I am just asking these because I am not a composer and I do not want to pretend that I know what I am talking about...
We have always been open to suggestions, and will implement every sensible request (but only after V2 is released
)Sharing your phrases on-line is a good idea too!
Thank you for your thoughts!
Attila
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- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 7 posts since 8 Oct, 2008
I agree that the chords within the "emotional phrase" would have to be saved.
As far as evoking certain emotions using a "emotional phrase", it would depend upon the skillful classification according to Plutchik's Emotional States and on the composer's skill at applying the correct instrumentation, volume levels, etc.
Here's an example. When movies are scored, emotional content is very important to the impact of each scene upon the viewer. Also, the flow from one emotional state to the next is central to carrying the viewer along with the story. If we can identify one of these phrases as having the emotion of surprise, then the next phrase might be something like joy if it's about a developing love relationship.
You could also jerk the listener's emotions around if you like threw in any emotional state by chance.
A Test Case:
"Dire Straits & Eric Clapton - Sultans Of Swing"
Let's use this to see if we could make this work. The first thing I noticed is that the main phrases are re-worked throughout the song to add different emotional impact (like jazz).
So is it the melody or the chording or both that produces the "mood" in each phrase?
Perhaps we don't need to focus on the phrases but, instead, just re-work the harmonizer so that it could add any of the 24 emotionalisms to a phrase. But, first, we would have to know how to define each of them musically. For example, there may be a minimum number of notes/measures needed to establish a certain mood.
As far as evoking certain emotions using a "emotional phrase", it would depend upon the skillful classification according to Plutchik's Emotional States and on the composer's skill at applying the correct instrumentation, volume levels, etc.
Here's an example. When movies are scored, emotional content is very important to the impact of each scene upon the viewer. Also, the flow from one emotional state to the next is central to carrying the viewer along with the story. If we can identify one of these phrases as having the emotion of surprise, then the next phrase might be something like joy if it's about a developing love relationship.
You could also jerk the listener's emotions around if you like threw in any emotional state by chance.
A Test Case:
"Dire Straits & Eric Clapton - Sultans Of Swing"
Let's use this to see if we could make this work. The first thing I noticed is that the main phrases are re-worked throughout the song to add different emotional impact (like jazz).
So is it the melody or the chording or both that produces the "mood" in each phrase?
Perhaps we don't need to focus on the phrases but, instead, just re-work the harmonizer so that it could add any of the 24 emotionalisms to a phrase. But, first, we would have to know how to define each of them musically. For example, there may be a minimum number of notes/measures needed to establish a certain mood.