For Composers Who Play It Safe: The "1+1" Interval Game

Maybe you don’t enjoy reading, so I turned this article into a video.

There's something a 4-year-old does at the piano that most trained composers have completely forgotten how to do. They sit down, hit whatever they feel like hitting, and if a sound catches their ear, they play it again. They don’t hesitate or judge the sound, but simply repeat it. They might land on a minor second, one of the spiciest intervals in Western music, and instead of pulling away from it, they lean in. They play it several times, and maybe even move it around in other registers. It feels like they make it into a game.

That's not a lack of formal training or any other skill. That's a kind of freedom most of us have spent years educating ourselves out of.

If we haven’t met before, my name is Frank, and I run the Music Interval Theory Academy. Over the past decade, I've worked with big studios, scored projects like the Barbie animated show and music for Chimelong Water Park in China, and I've been teaching interval-based composition to composers for over ten years. And in all that time, one pattern keeps showing up: the more theory someone has studied, the harder it gets for them to take a risk. 

The Voice in Your Head Isn't Yours

Before we get into the game itself, it's worth pausing on something.

When you hit a note that sounds "wrong," there's usually a voice that shows up immediately. It says something like that's not allowed or you can't use that here. Most composers assume that voice is their own judgment, but it usually isn't. It's a borrowed opinion from a teacher, a textbook, or a system that was trying to help you fit into a structure.

That voice is useful in some contexts, but it's also the thing that quietly kills many unique and original ideas before they have a chance to develop.

Here's the counterargument: John Williams built one of the most iconic film themes in history ("Jaws") on a minor second. Hans Zimmer, when developing the sound for Inception, walked into a recording studio with ten brass players standing around a piano with a brick on the sustain pedal. The musicians were told to violently blast into the piano so that all the strings were vibrating. That raw, chaotic sound became the basis of an entire era of trailer music, and you most likely know it as the “BRAAAM” sound. We can safely assume that nobody in that room was worried about whether it was "correct" to do that.

So the 4-year-old's advantage isn't ignorance, but the fact that the critical voice hasn't moved in yet. They are genuinely free to follow their curiosity wherever it leads.

The diatonic system is a powerful tool, and for many, it's also a comfort zone. If you stay there for too long, the music you write most likely starts to blend more with what everyone else does: technically fine, but also forgettable.

One of my mentors once said that original music doesn't come from avoiding wrong notes. It comes from staying curious and following what actually sounds interesting to you, even when, especially when, it's unconventional.

And that’s so true!

The "1+1" Game

Here's the exercise. It's simple, and it works fast.

Start with three notes that are each a half step apart. Something like B, C, and D♭. That stack of notes is what we call a "1+1" cluster, and it’s named after the chromatic distance between the pitches from the bottom up.

Play those three notes together in close position. It will probably sound uncomfortable. That's the point.
This cluster doesn't appear in any of our standard modes, and your ears aren't used to hearing that particular clash, so the dissonance feels unfamiliar rather than just "bad." But there's a difference: Unfamiliar sounds are raw material, and they haven't been worn smooth by repetition yet.

Pay attention to what kind of story the cluster seems to want to tell, and then tell it. The same cluster can sound completely different depending on these variables, and hearing those examples makes the whole idea click much faster than reading about it.

Musical Demonstration

In the video below, I’ll walk you through a few examples that Academy graduate Marc Bercovitz composed and orchestrated. He really enjoys playing these interval games, and he's one of the most experienced interval composers so far.

What you'll notice is that this stops being an exercise almost immediately. Instead, it becomes musical storytelling, and that's the point where something interesting is happening (to you and your audience alike).

What This Actually Teaches You

Although we started with an exercise, the 1+1 game is more than just playing around with one specific cluster; it's a way of practicing a different relationship with sound. And that can be the most powerful addition to your knowledge of Diatonic theory.

When you compose from inside a key or a familiar chord progression, you're navigating a map you already know. And while this is efficient, it’s also limiting and predictable. That's why you see many composers complaining on social media that they feel stuck, keep writing the same piece for years, and don't see a way out. 

When you start with a cluster like 1+1, there is no key or scale to hold on to. It might sound scary at first, but you just need to listen first and decide later whether you want to keep it or erase it. YOU are the one who creates the map instead of following the one that was given to you.

And the more you practice that, the more your ear starts to lead rather than follow. And that's where your actual voice as a composer lives. The potential benefits of this exercise are much greater than just writing a few ideas. In the best case, it will help you get closer to understanding who you are as a composer.

Now It's Your Turn

Now you know how to play this game, and today is a wonderful day to sit down with this information before you start writing. Find your cluster, play it, and change some of the variables until you see the plot unfold in front of you. Move the cluster around, let it breathe, and see what the sound wants to become.

And just in case the 1+1 genuinely isn't doing it for you, try a 2+2 instead (like the notes C, D, and E). It's much more consonant and still gives great interval opportunities, so it will take the story in a new direction. But that's a topic for another article.

The 4-year-old at the piano doesn't need permission to play, and neither do you.