Rhythm

Songwriting Infobox

Song Model
Songwriting
Lyrics - Melody - Harmony - Rhythm - Form
Song Form
Title - Chorus - Verse - Prechorus - Bridge
v • d • e

Modeling is the process of creating useful maps of human abilities
Ability:
"What is [Ability]?"
"What do I want to be able to do?"
I write hit rhythms.

Belief Template:
Criterion
"When you are writing hit rhythms, what is important to you?"
"When you are writing hit rhythms, what are you evaluating?"
Couplets are easy to construct, and they keep everything in a “bite size” format. You can feel each of the couplets balance and resolve. Be careful, though: use too many, and the song may get chopped up into too many pieces--too many stops and starts, and the song will start feeling “too long”--another way of saying “boring and lacking variation.” Couplets are very useful, indeed, essential in lyric structure. Like anything else, however, too much of a good thing is too much of a good thing.
Definition
"What is [Criterion]?"
"What do you mean by [Criterion]?"
Evidence
"What do you see, hear, or feel that lets you know there is* [Criterion]?"
*(or "you are" "it is" "you have" etc.)
Enabling Cause-Effect
"What enables someone to [Criterion]?"
"What is necessary for there to be [Criterion]?"
Motivating Cause-Effect
"Why is [Criterion] important?"
"What does [Criterion] lead to or make possible?"
Supporting Beliefs:
Note them if the arise

Primary Strategy:
"What are you usually doing—on the 'inside' and on the 'outside'—to write hit rhythms?"
"How do you normally go about writing hit rhythms?"
Rhythm is created by repetition of figures through time. Unlike a painting, which displays its symmetry immediately to the eye, music and language move through time, and symmetry is measured by the relationship between what has been and what is now. If you have already heard da DUM... And then you hear another da DUM... you will hear the symmetry the two together create as da DUM da DUM... And if we then hear two more da DUM da DUM... you see even more symmetry: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM You can start tapping your foot. You have established a regular rhythm. The rhythm raises the expectation that it will continue. The longer you continue the same pattern, the more surprised the listener will be when there is a variation in the basic rhythm. You can use the variation to create prosody, or just to keep things interesting: At last the stricken lovers left Galloping hearts on the road to harm Once you set a pattern, it becomes the basic “groove,” and anything outside the groove rubs against it. In this case, the change to triples accelerates the rhythm, perfectly matching the action. If we continue by matching the original rhythm, we can get some interesting results: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM DUM da da DUM da da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM At last the stricken lovers left
Galloping hearts on the road to harm
They longed to know what happens next What rhythm do you want to hear in the next line? What rhythm would make you feel balanced? Right. You want to match line two in the fourth line. It makes you feel the
most balanced: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM DUM da da DUM da da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM DUM da da DUM da da DUM da DUM

consecutive strong stresses--DUM DUM DUM DUM DUM da DUM. Either duples or triples will create a variation. DUM DUM DUM da DUM is a variation that slows the line down rather than speeding it up, because the stressed syllables are placed (or “set”) on the strong beats in the bar of music. DUM DUM, in a bar of 4/4 time, would typically be placed on the strong first and third beats, creating either space or longer notes in the bar. The stricken lovers left at last Loss, pain, grief began Useful when things get hard or slow or loud or powerful or foreboding. Variation in rhythm can be very useful for creating prosody and interest within a line or group of lines. It can also affect the way you bring the overall section into balance. Understand and control forward motion using line rhythms Create sections using the two fundamental rhythm paradigms, matched couplets and common meter Now that you can match the rhythms of lines, you will be able to do many things: • Gain more control in balancing and unbalancing sections • Create forward motion by matching and mismatching lines • Control your listener’s expectations about what will come next • Create resolution by meeting your listener’s expectations • Surprise your listener by veering away from expectations Rhythm organizes the syllables of lines. Once a line length rhythm is created, it becomes a way to predict or expect what should follow. In our quest for balance, we like things to match. Thus, one line of DUM da da DUM da DUM da da DUM Give her a chance to sing by herself implies another just like it, because that would create balance. If the next line obliges,

DUM da da DUM da DUM da da DUM DUM da da DUM da DUM da da DUM Give her a chance to sing by herself
Watch as she shines like nobody else we feel the balance--a place of rest or resolution. This structure is called a couplet: a set of two matched lines. It is the smallest balanced section you can write. The lines can be of any length or rhythm, just so they match.

The match needn't be perfect. DUM da da DUM da DUM da da DUM DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM Give her a chance to sing by herself
Watch her shine like no one else This still balances, because both lines have the same number of strong stresses and therefore will probably use the same number of musical beats and bars. Couplets How imperfect can the match be? The answer is pretty simple. The only requirement is that they have the same number of stressed syllables--a great comfort to those who aren’t comfy in a straight jacket. But the less perfect the match, the more unbalanced it feels. The perfect match makes a difference in HOW balanced the couplet feels, but does not change the balance: the lines will still match their strong stresses in the bars of music. They will take the same amount of space. This is just another indication of the intimate relationship between line rhythm and line length. You can stack a pair of couplets to create a section: Give her a chance to sing by herself Watch her shine like nobody else Pouring it out, pure and sweet A rising star for all to see This structure is a rhythm paradigm: a model for lyric writing called matched couplets (also “tetrameter couplets”). It fits perfectly into an 8-bar sequence (the favorite unit of popular music), which is why you see it so often.

Rhythm Ideas for Building Song Sections Introduction Objectives By the end of the lesson you’ll be able to: Develop your ideas into complete song sections and songs. Use the techniques of Exact Repetition, Varied Repetition, Internal Repetition, Contrasting Ideas, and Number of Phrases to build sections. Use both contrasting ideas and contrasting development techniques to create contrasting sections, which are needed in most song forms. Repetition Exact repetition is not only the simplest development device; it’s also the strongest. It is usually used in choruses. The purpose of the chorus is to get your listeners, who are not musicians, to sing along with you. The various types of repetition are the best ways I know to do this. Varied repetition is the easiest way to develop any idea into any song section: verse/ chorus/bridge or verse/refrain. Once you learn how to create little variations by ear, there’ll be no end to the different things you can do with an original idea. Internal repetition. Remember, the “song” is a very dramatic style of communication. Internal repetition will help to emphasize a lyric in a way that is only used in songs and other types of oral communication, such as plays and speeches. 1. Neil Young. "Rockin' in the Free World" from Freedom. Reprise/1989. 2. The Police. "Spirits in the Material World" from Every Breath You Take. A&M/1988. 3. The Police. "Don't Stand So Close To Me" from Every Breath You Take. A&M/1988. 4. The Police. "Kings of Pain" from Every Breath You Take. A&M/1988. Contrasting Ideas After you learn to develop individual ideas, work on creating pairs of two contrasting ideas. This technique can be used to set the Title line apart from the other lines in a chorus or verse/refrain, as well as to create verses that don’t get boring due to using the same idea too much. 1. Tina Turner . "What's Love Got To Do With It" from Simply The Best. Capitol/1991. 2. The Supremes. "Back in My Arms Again" from The Ultimate Collection. Motown/1994. 3. Cyndi Lauper. "Time After Time" from She's So Unusual. Epic/1983. 4. Barbara Mandrel . "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool" from Millenium Collection. MCA/2000. Number of Phrases Your audience expects an even number of phrases in your song section. Knowing that, you can either “give them what they want” or surprise them with an odd number of lines. Here, you’ll learn the effects created by using an odd number of lines in different places in a song. 1. The Jimmy Hendrix Experience. "The Wind Cries Mary" from Experience Hendrix. MCA/1998. 2. Bon Jovi. "You Give Love A Bad Name" from Cross Road. Polygram/1994. 3. Sade. "Smooth Operator" from Diamond Life. Epic/1984. Contrasting Sections: Verse/Prechorus/Chorus Most songs you’ll write have contrasting sections. There are basically two ways to contrast sections: • create contrasting ideas Notice how these ideas are different. They start in different places, use different length notes, and have different amounts of space. • develop them in contrasting ways 1. Huey Lewis and The News. "If This Is It" from Sports. Chrysalis/1983. 2. The Rolling Stones. "Ruby Tuesday" from 40 Licks. Virgin/2000. 3. Bruce Springsteen. "Because the Night" from Live 1975 - 1985. Colombia/1986. 4. Pat Benetar. "Heartbreaker" from Best Shots. Capitol/1989. 5. Alan Jackson. "Gone Country" from The Greatest Hits. Arista/1995. Wrap Up This week, you learned how to develop your ideas into complete song sections and the different effects produced by the different developmental tools. After creating one section, you learned how to use contrasting versions of the same tool to create contrasting song sections in the same song.

Secondary Strategy:
"What do you do when that is not working well enough?"
"What do you do when that is not working at all?"
"What do you do when it cannot work?"

Sustaining Emotions:
"What is the background feeling that keeps you engaged in writing hit rhythms?"
"When you are writing hit rhythms, what emotion is always operating in the background of your experience to help keep you writing hit rhythms?"
Signal Emotions:
"What is the background feeling that keeps you engaged in writing hit rhythms?"
External Behavior:
"What are you doing on the outside that is essential to manifesting writing hit rhythms?"
Contributing Factors:
Note them if the arise