Classical Principles
You are not going to write a symphony, and four of the devices classical composers refined are directly usable in a pop arrangement. Voice leading, suspension, bass motion and the cadential delay all work in any style, because they are about how notes move rather than about repertoire.
- 4 devices
- any style
- movement, not repertoire
In which styles
- Classical
- Film music
- Pop ballads
- Musical theatre
In short
The cadential six-four is the clearest example: putting the fifth of the tonic chord in the bass just before the dominant delays the arrival by a beat or a bar, and that delay is what makes the eventual landing land. It costs one chord and it works in a hymn, a ballad and a film cue alike.
Deliberate. These devices all buy the same thing, which is time before a resolution, and time before a resolution is what makes an arrival feel earned.
How the style works
Voice leading is the real secret behind chord changes that sound good. Move each voice the smallest distance available and a progression stops sounding like a list of chords and starts sounding like several lines that happen to agree.
Where you run into this
- A ballad that delays its final chord by one bar
- A chord change where nothing leaps and everything still moves
- A suspension held one beat too long on purpose
What you leave out
Wholesale borrowing. Taking the surface of classical music, the orchestration and the ornaments, without the voice leading underneath gives you pastiche. The mechanisms transfer; the costume does not.