16065 / 18210 · Workshop 117 — Editing and Revising Your Own Music: How to Know What to Cut, Preserve, Simplify, Intensify, and Leave Alone← prev⊞ allnext →
117.272Apply to “Happy Birthday”
Use the public-domain tune as an editing laboratory.
Make an intentionally over-arranged version:
- passing chords
- fills
- octave melody
- chromatic bass
- counterline
- altered dominant
Then reduce.
Ask:
What does the melody actually need?
You will probably discover that:
far less harmony is required than possible.