Compose two substantial pieces of music

AS91271 

6 CREDITS 

This assessment activity requires you to compose two substantial compositions. For each piece, you may work either as an individual or in a group of between two and three students.

Your final assessment grade will be based on the overall weight of evidence across the two compositions.

Your compositions should be long enough to show that you can develop and structure your musical ideas. 

Each composition must include both audio or audio-visual recording and visual (written) representation. You can visually represent your composition using standard music notation, lyrics and a chord chart, a lead sheet, tab, graphic notation, a narrative description, or a combination of these. You should use the notation most appropriate to the style/genre of your pieces. Include appropriate performance markings on your scores.

TO ACHIEVE YOU MUST HAVE:

A recording of each of your songs 

A chord chart and lyric sheet for each song

Filed in your group evaluation (per song written in a group)

Filled in your group logbook (per song written in a group)

SONG STRUCTURE

Intro:

The introduction is usually a unique part of the song that starts it off. Most of the time it only has music

and doesn’t have any words/singing. Sometimes it is the same chords as the chorus or verse. It could 

also just have drums and bass to introduce the ‘groove’ or ‘beat’ of the song.

Verse:

There are usually two or more verses in a song. They have a pretty much identical melody (tune) each 

time but the lyrics are different. Lyrically the verse has the details of the song, the story, events, images 

and emotions the you want the listener to know.

Chorus:

The chorus repeats at least once lyrically AND musically (same melody and words). It should have a 

thicker sound than the verses (maybe with more backing vocals, or extra instruments added) and should 

tell the listener the main theme or message for your song. It is usually the most memorable and catchy 

part of the song, you want listeners to be able to learn it easily and sing along (because that's what 

popular songs let you do! Usually has different chords than the verse. 

Bridge:

A bridge is usually like another verse but with a different melody and different chords. It is used as a 

break or a transition (it takes you from one part of a song to another). A lot of the time they just go back 

and forth on two chords. They give the song interest. By the time you have repeated your verse and 

chorus twice each the listener is ready for something new. You want the listener to become familiar with 

your song but not get bored. 

Outro:

This is how you end your song. IT could be a fade out, it could be the chords from your verse played 

through once, it could be the first line of your verse sung again or it could just be that you end after you 

have played the chorus twice.

RHYMEZOME

A Website for when you can't think of words to rhyme.....

WRITING LYRICS

There are some important tips to remember when you are writing lyrics. You could try listening to other 

songs to get ideas, could writing heaps of lyrics and picking the best from them. Also you don’t want to

tell people things you want to show them, explaining something without saying it really obviously. Have 

a look at this article for some great steps for writing your lyrics. 

Remember: your lyrics can’t have swearing.

ROCKQUEST 

There is a possibility of taking some of our groups as solo/duet OR as bands to RockQuest to compete and perform their original songs. If you think you could be interested in this checkout the website here:

http://smokefreerockquest.co.nz/