Composition Strategies
The Composition Strategy Cards are a creative springboard for creating new pieces of music. They are interesting in that every aspect of the process is reduced to a random event, which eliminates the need to make conscious choices about what to compose. Very often the decision making process in songwriting can be paralyzing; compounded by the fact that creative decisions have to be made democratically in a group situation, and use of the cards is a way to break those types of creative blocks.
The cards are designed like traditional playing cards and have 12 suits: Rhythm,Tempo, Key, Mood, Abstractions, Arrangement, Melody, Style, Topic, Meter, Treatments and Harmony. In each suit are 6-12 Cards, including an Ace. When playing the game in a group situation, the cards are dealt to each band member, and each person rolls a pair of dice, one numbered 1-6 and the other 7-12, representing the 12 suits. For example, one might roll 4 and 9, which are, Topic, and Mood, and that person will play a card from those categories. The player that has the ace gets to play the card of his choice in that suit, even if a card from that category has already been played. For example, if someone has already played a topic card, the person that holds the ace of topic takes control of that category and can replace that card.
Sample game result:
Rhythm: Staccato 16th Notes
Tempo: Medium Fast 129-144 BPM
Key: F# Minor
Mood: Moody
Abstractions: Write music to existing lyrics, then sing over it with different lyrics
Arrangement: Work off of a riff
Melody: Use an Exotic Scale
Style: Experimental
Topic: The Future: Bleak/Hopeful
Meter: 8/8 (3+3+2)
Harmony: No sevenths
Treatment: Echo
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6/2025
As an experiment, I created a prompt to generate a track with AI:
"A driving staccato groove using primarily 16th notes with a tempo of 150, key of F sharp minor, with a moody feel, using an exotic scale. The vibe is a dystopian future. The harmony is spare with no seventh chords. The bass sound is the sound as it existed on records made in the 1960s."
It got some of this right, but in any event the result was kind of interesting on its own. Perhaps in the future I can convince them to use my Strategies.
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Composition Strategies by Lee Barry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at www.leebarry.net.
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With the advent of AI Music, the Strategies can be used to generate music based on options in each of the Suits. Another metaphor is a restaurant menu. You don't have to do any of the cooking.
