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Cassella’s Flower of Music Composing Handbook

Tom Cassella

TJC Global Solutions LLC. tomfom.com ©

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Cassella’s Flower of Music Composing Handbook by Tom Cassella

© 2014 by Tom Cassella. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any written, electronic, recording, or photocopying form without written permission of the author, Tom Cassella.

Books may be purchased in quantity and/or special sales by contacting the author Tom Cassella by email at tomcassella@gmail.com Published by: TJC Global Solutions LLC, Denville, New Jersey Digital Graphics by: Cheryl Greelee, Cthepower Graphics Editing by: Tom Cassella

TomFom.Com

First Edition Printed in USA

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Introduction

Cassella’s Flower of Music Composing Handbook concentrates on creating chords and chord progressions using the Flower of Music. It is designed for the novice musician who can navigate the keyboard, and wants to learn a simple way on how to create chords, harmonies, and how to compose their own chord progressions.

What is the Flower of Music?

The Flower of Music is a geometric design that illustrates how all notes in music are connected together harmonically.

It is called the Flower of Music because it uses the Flower of Life Pattern.

The Flower of Life is sacred geometry and is found all over the world engraved into ancient structures. When and where it originates is unknown.

The Flower of Life is known as the creation pattern, because in it lays all the geometric information to construct all known matter in the universe at the atomic level.

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The Flower of Music contains all the notes in the 15 natural key signatures and 21 modes of western classical music.

The notes in the Flower of Music are connected to each other via colored petals.

Each petal represents the harmonic relationship between the two notes.

The Root Flower Formula shows the connection from one note to the six connecting notes.

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The formulas you are going to use to extract harmonic information are color coded, in the colors: yellow, green, and purple.

Create Triads

The most basic form of a chord is called a triad. A triad is the harmony of the combination of three notes: Root, 3rd, and 5th.

There are only four types of triads; Major, Minor, Augmented and Diminished.

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Major Triad

Major Triad = Root, Major 3rd, Perfect 5th

e.g. C major triad

Find the note C in the Flower of Music. Apply this formula with C as the Root.

One yellow petal up is the note E. Then from that note, connect up one green petal, to the note G.

The notes for your C major triad are: C E G

This yellow up, green up, is the formula for the major triad in the Flower of Music.

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Minor Triad

Minor Triad = Root, Minor 3rd, Perfect 5th

e.g. C minor triad

Find the note C in the Flower of Music. Apply this formula with C as the Root.

One green petal up is the note E♭, and then from that note connect one yellow petal up, to the note G.

The notes for your C minor triad are: C E♭ G

This green up, yellow up, is the formula for the minor triad in the Flower of Music.

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Diminished Triad

Diminished Triad = Root, Minor 3rd, Diminished 5th

e.g. C diminished triad

Find the note C in the Flower of Music. Apply this formula with C as the Root.

One green petal up is the note E♭, and then from that note connect one more green petal up to the note G♭.

The notes for your C diminished triad are: C E♭ G♭

This green up, green up, is the formula for the diminished triad in the Flower of Music.

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Augmented Triad

Augmented Triad = Root, Major 3rd, Augmented 5th

e.g. C augmented triad

Find the note C in the Flower of Music. Apply this formula with C as the Root.

One yellow petal up is the note E, and then from that note another yellow petal up is the note G♯.

The notes for your C augmented triad are: C E G♯

This yellow up, yellow up, is the formula for the augmented triad in the Flower of Music.

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Composing Chord Progressions

Roman numerals represent the functionality of a triad with in a composition.

The Major & Minor Key Triad Formulas are used to find all of the triads that naturally exist in any major or minor key.

Roman Numeral Meaning

Chord Number Major Minor Diminished

1 I i iᵒ

2 II ii iiᵒ 3 III iii iiiᵒ

4 IV iv ivᵒ 5 V v vᵒ

6 VI vi viᵒ

7 VII vii viiᵒ

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The Major Key Triad Formula

Roman numeral I is called the “one chord” or the “Root chord”. The location of the Root chord on the Flower of Music determines the key in which you are composing. Since it is uppercase it, you will build a major triad.

Roman numeral ii is called the “two chord.” The starting note for the two chord is two purple petals up from the Root chord. Since the Roman numeral is lowercase, you will build a minor triad.

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Roman numeral iii is called the “three chord.” The starting note for the three chord is found one yellow petal up from the Root chord. Since it is lowercase, you will build a minor triad.

Roman numeral IV is called the “four chord.” The starting note for the four chord is found one purple petal down from the Root chord. Since it uppercase, you would build a major triad.

Roman numeral V is called the “five chord.” The starting note for the five chord is found one purple petal up from the Root chord. Since it is uppercase, you will build a major triad.

Roman numeral vi is called the “six chord.” The starting note for the six chord is one green petal down from the Root chord. Since it is lowercase, you will build a minor triad.

Roman numeral viiᵒ is called the “seven chord.” The starting note for the seven chord is found one purple up, and one yellow petal up, from the Root chord. Since it is lowercase, and has a degree sign next to it, you will build a diminished triad.

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The Minor Key Triad Formula

Roman numeral i is called the “one chord” or “Root chord.” The location of

the Root chord on the Flower of Music determines the key in which you will be. Since it is lowercase, you will build a minor triad.

Roman numeral iiᵒ is called the “two chord.” The starting note for the two

chord is two purple petals up from the Root chord. Since it is lowercase, and has a degree sign next to it, you will build a diminished triad.

Roman numeral III is called the “three chord.” The starting note for the

three chord is one green petal up from the Root chord. Since it is uppercase, you will build a major triad.

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Roman numeral iv is called the “four chord.” The starting note for the four chord is one purple petal down from the Root chord. Since it is lowercase, you will build a minor triad.

Roman numeral v is called the “five chord.” The starting note for the five chord is one purple petal up from the Root chord. Since it is lowercase, you will build a minor triad.

o This is the only chord that you can build as either a major or minor

triad and it would work. The minor triad is how it would exist naturally, but lots of composers build it as a major triad to make the movement from V to i more dramatic.

Roman numeral VI is called the “six chord.” The starting note for the six chord is found one yellow petal down from the Root chord. Since it is uppercase, you will build a major triad.

Roman numeral VII is called the “seven chord.” The starting note for the seven chord is found one purple petal up, and one green petal up from the Root chord. Since it is uppercase, you will build a major triad.

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Composition Worksheet

All writing should be done in pencil.

At the top, write the title of your composition.

Next, write down your name and the date.

Choose a major or minor key to compose in. Major has a happier feeling, while minor is more solemn.

Each key has its own set of accidentals, sharps ( ♯ ) and flats (♭)

In your first few compositions you might want to stick to keys with the least amount of accidentals such as:

C major A minor G major E minor F major D minor D major B minor

Next, you need to write in the Roman numerals of either the major or minor mode in the column, “RN.”

Then apply the formula to the Flower of Music. Roman numeral one represents the root note of your key. Now write down the root note of each triad.

Next you will spell the triad for each root note; the quality of the Roman numeral tells you which triad it is.

After that, write out the chord abbreviations.

o Major triad: the capital letter of the root note. e.g. C Major = C

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o Minor triad: the capital letter of the root note with a lower case “m.” e.g. C Minor = Cm

o Diminished triad: the capital letter of the root note with a degree

sign next to it. “ ᵒ ” e.g. C Diminished = Cᵒ

o Augmented triad: the capital letter of the root note with a plus sign next to it. “ + ” e.g. C Augmented = C+

Now to create the Verse; the main chord progression. Most songs start on the one chord, but you can choose to start with any chord you want.

You can choose a chord progression by random, or use this key below to help navigate with common movement. These are not rules, just guidelines.

Major

I can go anywhere ii I V viiᵒ iii I IV vi IV I ii V viiᵒ V I vi vi I ii iii IV V viiᵒ I

Minor

i can go anywhere iiᵒ i III

III can go anywhere iv i III VII iiᵒ

v i III VI

(V) i III VI

VI i III iv VII iiᵒ

VII i III

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Play through your progression, and feel out whether you want to make any changes. Use your inspiration to guide you.

Once you are happy with your verse, you can create another chord progression that can be part of your composition called a “Chorus.”

If you choose to you can create one more section of your composition called the “Bridge.” The bridge is usually significantly different from the rest of the composition, kind of like a breakaway.

The most common structure of this form is: Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus, end.

Common Chord Progressions

To get started, here are some common chord progressions that you can try out, change, combine, add to, or shorten.

Major

I IV ii V I

I vi IV V I

I IV ii V I

I vi IV V I

Minor

i VI iv V i

i III VI iv i

i VI iv V i

i III VI iv i

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Composition Worksheet

Title of Composition: ____________________________________

Composer and Date: _____________________________________

Key: Root Note: __________ Mode: ___________

The Natural Triads RN Root 3rd 5th Abbrev. 1 ____ _____ _____ _____ _________ 2 ____ _____ _____ _____ _________ 3 ____ _____ _____ _____ _________ 4 ____ _____ _____ _____ _________ 5 ____ _____ _____ _____ _________ 6 ____ _____ _____ _____ _________ 7 ____ _____ _____ _____ _________

Verse: RN _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____

Abbrev.

Chorus: RN _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____

Abbrev.

Bridge: RN _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____

Abbrev.

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Transposing Notes

To transpose means to change key, or change the root note.

To do this, simply find the original key or root note in the Flower of Music and then find the new desired key or root note.

What petals do you have to follow to connect these two notes?

The petals needed to connect the old key to the new key, is the formula that will connect all the notes of the old key to the new notes of the new key.

For example, if my notes or chords were C F and G and I wanted to transpose it to A, I would first find my path on the Flower of Music from C to A.

The path is one green petal down, and I will use that green down formula to transpose the rest of the notes. One green down from F, is D. One green down from G, is E.

So the same chord progression in the key of A would be: A, D, and E.

It is that easy.

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All Chord Harmonies

All harmonies are based on scales or modes.

You name the harmony by its scale degree from the root.

The numbers represent the scale degree of the harmony.

The Full Flower Formula shows all of the harmonies that exist within the 21 modes. You can find any harmony to any root note by applying this formula to the Flower of Music.

This is the Full Flower Formula:

To find your harmony, find which petals you need to use to get from the root, “R” to the degree in the Full Flower Formula.

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e.g. To find the #11 in the key of C, you would first see which petals you use to get from “R” to the #11.

The formula for the #11 is two purple petals up, and one yellow petal up.

Find C on the Flower of Music, then go up purple, purple, yellow, and you will land on F#, the #11.

The scale degrees 2, 4, and 6 are represented by 9, 11, and 13.

2 = 9 4 = 11 6 = 13

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Summary

There is no “right” way to compose, and there is so much more to composing than what is discussed here. The purpose of this book is to make it possible for you to create harmonies and chord progressions with simple formulas, without having to study traditional music theory to figure it out. Once you have your song structure, you will need to decide the rhythm and tempo of your music. Perhaps you will create some melody lines with your instrumentation, or singing voice. Then of course you can create words and lyrics to further express yourself. The way you do this is completely up to you! More information on how to figure out these next steps in composing will be in subsequent books to help aid you in your composing. You now are empowered with the ability to use advanced music theory with the help of the Flower of Music! Commence your musical creations!

Sincerely, Tom Cassella