What Is the Hemiola Effect?
You might recognize hemiola as being a foundational polyrhythmic beat of African music, but did you know you can also compose hemiola melodically?
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Memorize Common Descending Intervals Easily with This Handy Guide
Here’s a super handy cheat sheet for remembering descending note intervals, using some of the most familiar melodies in music history!
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3 Atonal Techniques for Adventurous Songwriters
Inspired by Arnold Schoenberg and the Second Viennese School, here are three ways to use atonal composition techniques in your pop music-making!
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Fanny Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann: The Inspiring Composers Music History Missed
Editor’s Note: The conspicuous absence of women from the historical canon of great classical composers is worth noting. There are myriad reasons behind that lack — women have historically been denied the ability to hold a job, access higher education, receive professional mentorship… The list is endless. Women composers were not given the opportunities to even…
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Finish What You Started! Using Cadences in Composition (Video)
Though it may seem daunting from afar, venturing into the world of music theory doesn’t require an IQ of 160 or even a teacher in a classroom. In fact, just a little familiarity with some key harmonic concepts can provide any composer, producer, or songwriter with the tools to create more emotionally impactful music. And…
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Scarlatti and Rossini Prove That Cat-Inspired Composing Is Hundreds of Years Old
We’ve written on cats in classical music before, so this should come as no surprise to the casual Flypaper reader, but, yes, we are that excited. “Cat mania” has certainly reached new heights in the Internet Age, with “Grumpy Cat” earning over twenty million views on YouTube and searches for “cat merchandise” yielding over ten thousand results…
