Four Questions for Writing Emotion in Music

Music is often emotional, and music often tells stories.

A number of years ago, I noticed that when it came to crafting emotions, and structuring my story for my music - I was usually choosing defaults.

"I'll write a happy song, and it will have 2 verses, 2 choruses, and a bridge." Nothing wrong with that. But, I hadn't intentionally decided whether or not those were the best way to express what I wanted to say.

The first thing I realized was that a good story usually has more than one emotion.

"They were happy, they stayed happy, they lived happily ever after." It's monotonously static. You need more than that for a compelling story.

So, how do we structure our stories, and convey our emotions in a musical way? Here's what I came up with: I ask myself these four questions for every song or piece I write - often before I start writing.

1) Polarity. What is the primary emotion? What is its opposite?

A lot of my music is based not just on two different emotions, but on a contrast of emotions. Emotions don't exactly have concrete opposites (like, Up and Down). Sure, maybe the opposite of Happy is Sad. But what if it is Anger? What if it is Melancholy? It all depends on the story you want to tell. Love can be the opposite of Hate, but it can also be the opposite of Indifference. Asking this question helps me understand the big picture structure of the song.

2) Gravity. Where are we being pulled? What is the force creating the pull?

You could ask this in a musical sense (as in, the leading tone is pulling us to the tonic). But you can also ask this in an emotional sense to help you figure out where your piece wants to go.

3) Journey. What is the emotional journey from start to finish?

If polarity helped me understand the structure from 30,000 feet, Journey is the specific twists and turns the piece took to get there.

There may only be two emotions in the piece - in that case, this is a roadmap of how they interact. But, often there are a lot of emotions, and only two that are primary. Then I need to ask, how do these emotions weave their way into the narrative.

4) Arrival. Where did we end up?

Some composers (and listeners), strongly prefer that the piece end in a logical and expected place. Perhaps that is the most musical choice. "And they all lived happily ever after."

But one thing I like to try is to subvert expectations - try to end the piece with the listener in wonder. Either amazement because they didn't see the ending coming, or, in reflection because I left the ending ambiguous, and it is almost up to the listener to decide how exactly it ended.

Of course, all of this speaks very little to converting emotions into music. That tends to be a highly subjective topic anyway. But, what I'll do with this information after I've done this exercise is to write down every single technique that I can come up with that will convey those emotions using the instruments I have on hand for that piece.

The picture I've attached is from a piece where I wanted to create uncertainty - almost like a fog or a mist; and to the right you can hear how that translated to music.

How do you create emotion in your music? Is it a process like I have just spelled out? Or does yours flow a little more fluidly? Let me know in the comments below.

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