Composing Worlds: Vikings and Dragons

Composing Worlds: Vikings and Dragons

Vikings and Dragons

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August 20th

Composing Worlds: Vikings and Dragons

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Composing Worlds: Vikings and Dragons
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Composing Worlds: Vikings And Dragons | Music Composition Course

The adventure continues with "Vikings and Dragons," the exciting second release in our acclaimed "Composing Worlds" series.

This time, professional composer Ryan Leach, takes you on an adventurous journey into the world of Vikings and Dragons. Throughout this music composition course students follow Ryan as he writes 3 different themes: A viking theme, a dragon theme and a flying theme. Each of them from blank page to full orchestra. Students will learn about all the necessary melodic, harmonic and rhythmical tools they need to craft there own adventurous music. From fitting instrumentation choices to mysterious and less traditional scales, everything will be covered. In a last step Ryan shows his process of combining all the written themes into a longer suite. Of course, we want our students to be as engaged as possible. That is why Ryan provides assignments throughout the course that students can post in the Master The Score Discord community for feedback and critique. Welcome to Vikings and Dragons!

Ryan Leach

As an 8 year old growing up in South Australia, Ryan started studying guitar so that he could play Beatles songs, which marked the beginning of a lifelong passion for music. Now an award winning composer for Film and TV, his music has been heard on every major network with clients including Disney, The California Lottery, MTV, Lowe’s, Rainn Wilson's SoulPancake, and the Netflix Original film Candy Jar. Before branching out as a freelance composer, Ryan earned a degree in Film Scoring from Berklee College of Music and worked as assistant to veteran composer Michael Levine at Hans Zimmer's Remote Control Productions.

Check out the Trailer



The course was everything I hoped for and more. I highly recommend Master the Score’s Vikings and Dragons course for anyone looking to get the Viking and Dragon’s sound.

Gergory M.

Gergory M.

The Adventure Begins

See what lies ahead:

This course is divided by the following steps:

1

Introduction

In the first section, Ryan welcomes you to the course and introduces the overall structure of the material. We begin the course not by focusing specifically on Vikings or Dragons, but on how to approach emulating ANY style of music. In this way, the concepts you learn and practice will be adaptable beyond this one particular sound. Style is not the use of a single element, but the consistent use of many different elements working together. It's also important to consider all the musical choices you won't be making, which are just as important in making music feel like it belongs to a certain style. After explaining these initial concepts, and how the course is structured, we are ready to dive into the music!Learn about: style, rhythm, melody, harmony, instrument choices, course goals

Ryan Leach gives an overview of his course "Composing Worlds: Vikings and Dragons"
You will learn to:
  • style
  • rhythm
  • melody
  • harmony
  • instrument choices
  • course goals
2

Vikings Theme

The first theme you will learn to write in this course is the Viking theme. You'll learn about modes and scales that lend themselves well to the masculine roughness of the Vikings, instrumental choices to represent cultural history, Scottish vs. Irish rhythms, and more. The section begins with theory about melody and harmony, and then we put those concepts into practice by composing a new theme. This theme will be adapted to a small ternary, or ABA, form before being orchestrated and fully fleshed out. By the end of this section, you'll have your very own tough and manly Viking theme!

Ryan Leach introduces the "Vikings Theme"
Learn about:
  • the Dorian mode
  • pentatonic scales
  • diatonic harmony
  • small ternary form
  • pipes and whistles
3

Dragons Theme

Just as dragons are in direct contrast to vikings, the musical elements that make up the Dragon Theme must be in stark contrast to the Viking Theme! Learn about less traditional scales such as the Double Harmonic Minor and Octatonic scales and how to use them to create ominous and evil sounding melodies. By experimenting with these dark and mysterious scales, we'll build a melody that is unpredictable, strong and powerful. Watch Ryan's creative process as he goes from a blank page to a fully fleshed out Dragons Theme, from the basic scales to a menacing and powerful orchestrated powerhouse.

Ryan Leach presents the "Dragon Theme"
Ryan covers topics like:
  • angular melodies
  • low brass
  • octatonic scales
  • double harmonic minor scales
  • dissonance
  • percussion

4

Flying Theme

Our third and final theme of the course is a Flying Theme. Unlike the hard and rough menace of the Vikings and Dragons, the Flying Theme is a chance for the music to soar! You'll learn about pedal tones, when to augment diatonic harmony with modal interchange, and a powerful technique for creating a sense of fast and slow rhythms at the same time. The Flying Theme is constructed from two distinct melodic sections and then given a third feature as we create a Flying Ostinato to add a whole new layer of energy and excitement to the music.

Ryan Leach goes through the "Flying Theme"
Learn about:
  • ostinati
  • modal interchange
  • slow versus fast rhythm
  • binary form
  • orchestration

5

Vikings & Dragons Medley

All of your hard work pays off in this section as we are able to combine all three different themes into a single track! Discovering an effective way to compose a longer piece of music by working in more manageable chunks, we are able to take all three themes and merge them together. Learn Ryan's techniques for transitioning between the different themes, adding auxiliary sections such as introductions and outros, and adding an extra layer of polish and refinement to each theme.

Ryan Leach explains how to combine all three themes
Ryan covers:
  • transitions
  • intros
  • outros
  • refinements
  • improvements
  • approaching a longer form

6

Production

The final section of the course focuses on production. For this section, Ryan moves away from the notation software and into the DAW to create a mock-up demo that is more powerful and impactful than is possible from the notation alone. Using primarily the Cinematic Studio series of sample libraries, Ryan chooses which audio tracks to keep from the NotePerformer playback and which to replace with new samples. He then uses modulation and expression to bring these virtual instruments to life, balances the demo mix with EQ, compression, and reverb, and adds new elements like choirs and guitars to get the most out of the track for a truly powerful presentation! By the end of this section, your Vikings & Dragons composition will be complete!

Ryan Leach presents the production of a composition
  • virtual instruments
  • audio tracks
  • EQ
  • mixing
  • applying basic mastering
  • MIDI controllers

Course Curriculum

Part I - Introduction
Part II - The Vikings Theme
Part III - The Dragons Theme
Part IV - The Flying Theme
Part V - Vikings & Dragons Suite Sketch
Part VI - Vikings & Dragons Suite Production

Walkthroughs

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What you will get

7+ hours of high quality content

6 main sections with over 60 lessons

Creation of 3 different themes

Access to the private facebook and discord groups

An instructor who shares all his knowledge

30-day satisfaction period

Lifetime access to the course

complete midi files for all covered tracks

What students have to say



I was looking for a shorter course to fit my available time and I am a big John Powell fan, so this offering fit the bill. Ryan’s teaching style makes learning each new topic easy. I found the modules to be just the right length, introducing each topic and then following Ryan in real-time as he composes and arranges each theme. By the end of this course, I was able to compose and produce a complete suite in the style of the “Vikings and Dragons” trailer, which was my goal and is something I would not have been able to do before taking this course.

Mark Fleming

Composer

Exclusive discounts for our students

All our students are eligible for discounts on libraries and plugins by renowned developers. This exclusive benefit alone can result in substantial savings, amounting to hundreds of dollars on composing software and libraries!

Liquid Sonics Logo
Heavyo City Logo
Fallout Logo
Sound Theory Logo
Musio Logo
Sound Iron Logo
babylonwaves logo
sonokinetic Logo
project sam logo
Cinematic Studio Series Logo
westwood logo
jd factory logo
Cinesamples Logo
excite audio logo
Black Salt Studio Logo
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impact soundworks logo
cinemagic scoring logo
audio modeling logo
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acoustic samples logo
Embertone
Strezon Sampling Logo
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Further information

Best suited for

This music composition course is best suited for intermediate as well as more advanced composers looking to improve their craft. Covering important aspects like melody, harmony, accompaniment, form and orchestration, this course provides all the necessary tools to create the wonderful sound of Vikings and Dragons.

Requirements

  • Basic understanding of music theory and diatonic harmony
  • Basic knowledge of orchestration
  • Basic notation reading can be helpful but is not required

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7+ hours of high quality content

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6 main sections with over 60 lessons

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Creation of 3 different themes

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Access to the private facebook and discord groups

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An instructor who shares all his knowledge

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"Orchestral Clarity" & "DNA of Music"

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Cover of "DNA of music"  by Ryan Leach and "Orchestral Clarity" by Mattia Chiappa and Joël Dollié

Frequently Asked Questions

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