Changing Moods
So, you want to add interest and depth to your performance of a piece of music by
changing the color, character, or mood of the sound at various points. A great way to do
this is to write, in the appropriate place in the music, a word that represents the change
that you would like to effect. Suppose that you want a change of mood. How many
different emotions can you think of? To toggle merely from ‘happy’ to ‘sad’ will still
leave your work rather two-dimensional. Below is a list of 59 feelings and emotions.
You may need to look some of them up in a dictionary to know what they mean.
Granted, you won't use them all to the same degree, but it is wonderful to have such a
large and varied palette of adjectives to choose from. You could also come up with a
similar list for colors and characters.
Alertness Gratitude
Acceptance Grief
Affection Guilt
Ambivalence Happiness
Anger Hate
Angst Homesickness
Anticipation Hope
Anxiety Horror
Apathy Humiliation
Bitterness Jealousy
Boredom Loneliness
Calmness Love
Contempt Lust
Confusion Melancholia
Depression Panic
Disappointment Pity
Disgust Pride
Doubt Rage
Ecstasy Regret
Embarrassment Rejection
Emptiness Remorse
Enmity Repentance
Ennui Righteous indignation
Enthusiasm Self-pity
Envy Serenity
Epiphany Shame
Fanaticism Shyness
Fear Suffering
Frustration Surprise
Gratification