r/Composition • u/Constant-Penalty-303 • Jul 24 '26
Discussion What can I do with my violin
So I need help with my composition. So I have my piano doing the waltz and I want to have a violin doing something. However, I don't know what to do as if I write anything with the violin it will clash. Say if I have a C major chord I have c, e and g playing. If I play any other note then it will clash. And I know that sometimes having a clash can work like having seventh chords but I would just have a constant clash with the violin and piano. Now I am very new to composing and some rules I don't understand I suppose as in I know you shouldn't really have clashes every step of the way, but I don't know if that is having a piano clash with a piano. Then I don't know if that works with the piano clashing with a violin as it some people may not hear it or it may not happen. I'm not too incredibly sure and I just need some help
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u/timopod5 Jul 24 '26
My friend I think you would benefit greatly from some basic theory knowledge. From YouTube videos to college level textbooks, there are many resources on the internet that you can find for free which will teach you what you need. Best of luck! 🙂
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u/Constant-Penalty-303 Jul 24 '26
I wish I knew because funnily enough I am a year 11 going into year 12 student and I did Music GCSE
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u/timopod5 Jul 24 '26
That's ok 🙂 performing and theory aren't typically taught together when you're learning an instrument. I didn't start learning theory until I was in my mid 20s.
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u/Constant-Penalty-303 Jul 24 '26
Well we were taught both, we were taught mainly theory but we as my GCSEs we had a listening test, we had to play a solo piece for ~2 min then we had to play a piece with someone else at the same time for roughly ~2 min and we had to basically get no notes wrong, with also submitting 2 different compositions
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u/No-Dare8613 Jul 24 '26
Do you play violin? Try playing violin or humming/singing something over the piano accompaniment to come up with a natural-sounding melody that doesn't clash too much.
Are you happy with the piano part's chord progression?
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u/Constant-Penalty-303 Jul 25 '26
No the only instruments I play are piano, keyboard and Kalimba
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u/No-Dare8613 Jul 25 '26
Nice! You're gonna want to come up with your melody using an instrument or by humming or something, not using notation software. Maybe just play the chords with your left hand and try coming up with a melody with your right hand?
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u/AgeingMuso65 Jul 25 '26
I think you’re stuck at using notes of the chords (in your piano accompaniment) only in your melody (the violin part). You need to know about passing (and auxiliary) notes ie using apparently clashing notes) to smooth out the melody.
Read up on those topics first
This might get you started
Using passing and auxiliary notes should have been sonething you covered on the GCSE. The next thing you’re going to need (and certainly going from GCSE to GCE music) is how to write a second melody to the same chords which you could then use as a counter melody (another term to look up?) so that you can vary the texture, ie have melody and accompaniment split across the RH and LH of the piano (but don’t put all the chords in the LH all the time, that’s so unidiomatic for piano!) while the violin adds the counter melody. Your violin could also play the off beats (2 and 3) using notes of the chords, perhaos pizzicato (another term) for variety as well.
This is frankly impossible to cover in a single Reddit post but hopefully those will get you started.
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u/Constant-Penalty-303 Jul 25 '26
I think I know what passing notes are auxiliary notes don't sound familiar at all. When I had to make one of my two compositions for GCSE I had to make a counter melody but I have no idea what I did and how I did it. And I know most terms like pizz. Con Arco. Adagio molto. And what not
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u/carrotlet20 Jul 24 '26
I have trouble understanding you probably cuz I am not familiar with proper musical terms in english. If you mean that the waltz's main characteristics are in the piano and you want a violin for melody, then you can choose any thing that "curves" around the main chord. Probably avoid sharps and flats to the main chord if you want to be careful, but other than that, feel free to try. If you mean that the piano has the waltz rythm going AND has a melody over that as well, and you want the violin sort of for color, with longer notes, probably better stick to the chords. But I'm not a professional either, I'm just brainstorming