0The expression process through music is already pretty complicated for most, and there's no need to throw extra dross on that. Depending on your ambitions for your piece, you may want to have multiple parts and polyrhythmic structure, or you may want to have a simple piano melody unaccompanied. Don't be afraid of starting small and refining your work, or leaving a melody undeveloped. Some of the most iconic and memorable lines are the most effective and the most elegant:
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If you want a reference point from the past century, Erik Satie's "Gymnopedies" provide a classic example of "less-is-more" music writing, and he was considered by many musicologists to be one of the first to write minimalist music. Minimalism in music is a relatively recent trend, as it wasn't popular till after Satie's death, though it has gained considerably popularity today, and is often characterized by techniques such as: Use of a single rhythm or tone structure throughout a piece, primitive melody structure, use of only one or two scales or modes in the context of an entire piece, and exploration of a single theme using a minimal frame: notable examples of minimalism in the last fifty years include works by George Crumb, Phillip Glass, Steve Reich, John Cage & Terry Riley, with an incredible volume of music including such works as minimalist opera and other vocal music (Einstein on the Beach, and Tehillim, for example) Satie's first Gymnopédia was used countless times in ads and film, but there remains something beautiful and moving in it's melancholy melody, though it only uses whole notes and a tonal note structure, not straying from diatonicism for most of the piece.
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Study Mozart's variations on "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" for an example of turning maybe the most universal of children's melodies into a complex exercise in variation and adornment.[5] It exemplifies the Theme & Variation form, which is one of the most popular and straightforward forms one can write in. Other accessible examples of this form include: Beethoven's "Diabelli Variations", which were a response to a composition his publisher submitted, Michel Rondeau's variations on "Pop Goes the Weasel" and the Enigma variations by Edward Elgar.
