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{{Songwriting_Infobox}} {{Lyric_Infobox}} 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 lyrics. '''Belief Template:''' '''Criterion''' ''"When you are writing hit lyrics, what is important to you?"'' ''"When you are writing hit lyrics, what are you evaluating?"'' interesting details engage your writer's vision in your daily life stimulate your listener's senses, involving his/her personal history in your song basic needs of a lyric: they rhyme recognize stressed and unstressed syllables The purpose of language is to communicate ideas, information, promises, requests, and much, much more, as efficiently as possible Listeners learn to hear the shape of the language--to pay attention to pitches as well as sounds. That way, when a word has several syllables, we can identify it as one word even though it is embedded in a steady stream of syllables All this attention to stressed syllables will have two payoffs: first, it will allow you, in next week's lesson, to deal efficiently with line lengths, opening a new area of creating prosody by balancing and unbalancing sections. Secondly, it will pay huge dividends in expressing meaning and emotion when we look at another area of prosody: setting lyric to music. Not much point in writing a wonderful line if it gets derailed by an unfortunate setting. The point is, after all, communication. Say what you mean as effectively as possible. That is the point of prosody. That is also one of the important reasons for expanding our rhyming possibilities beyond simple Perfect Rhyme. You are in touch with your senses and can use them to your lyric's advantage, finding specific, sense-bound language to anchor your ideas. You have learned the most important lesson in songwriting: prosody. How you put your lyric together should support what you have to say. line length controls the way a lyric section moves Lyrically, line length is one of the most effective tools for creating sectional contrast. You don’t feel the effects of the number of lines until you finish the section. getting down to the nuts and bolts of creating and organizing a line, and building it to work with other lines--a rather essential skill for a lyricist. Create lyric lines in rhythm One of your real challenges (and opportunities to have fun) as a lyricist is writing in rhythm If you are writing to a melody, your stressed and unstressed syllables must match the stressed and unstressed notes of the musical rhythm. If you are writing lyric first, you are not only responsible for the words, you are also responsible for creating a rhythm with them Matching the rhythms of lyric lines perfectly is an essential skill, especially when there is a great melody hanging around. You should be able to match the lyric rhythm of, say, line 1 of verse 1 with line 1 of verse 2, perfectly. That way, the same melody will work perfectly for both lines. rhythm patterns can be very regular, or they can be less or more irregular. Whatever the case, it is important to be able to match patterns perfectly when you need to preserve a wonderful melody. When preserving your melody is not a primary concern, it is possible to match imperfectly by simply preserving the number of stressed syllables. A caution: when you are writing lyrics first, you don’t yet know whether there will be a wonderful melody to preserve, so it is best to try to match the rhythms of the lines of the verses as perfectly as you can By creating rhythms, you craft lyrics that work well in the rhythmic context that music provides. You also create and control the movement of your sections: • creating balance and resolution with matching lines • creating imbalance and pushing forward with unmatched lines • speeding up and slowing down by mixing duple and triple figures. The more you practice writing in rhythm and matching rhythms, the better you get at it. The quest for balance: In every aspect of our lives we try to even things out--bring them into symmetry. It’s part of being human. That’s why being able to create a regular rhythm is so important. It gives you the ability to satisfy the listener’s need for symmetry. Of course, you don’t have to satisfy it. You can keep a rhythm regular for a while, then veer off a little or a lot and surprise your listeners, attract their attention, play with their emotions. But to use the “surprise” technique, first you have to know how to lead them down the garden path, making them think you’re headed in a certain direction. So first, we’ll talk about creating rhythmic expectations. Then we’ll talk about “surprise” techniques. The main point of balancing and unbalancing is, of course, prosody: supporting your meaning with your structures. As you move structures into one another, the way they move should reflect the ideas they contain: worrying, feeling off balance, and then finding out everything's fine, or feeling completely content waiting here, loving you. Balancing and Unbalancing with Number of Lines "prosody." It is a crucial concept for creating balanced and unbalanced song sections, and is a wonderful tool for making structural decisions When you write two sections of a song with different jobs to do (like a verse and a chorus, a verse and a bridge, or a chorus and a bridge), try to make them feel different. After all, they have different jobs to do (different functions). • Combine all four structural elements (number of lines, line length, line rhythm, and rhyme scheme) to balance and unbalance sections. • Incorporate rhyme types as a tool for balancing and unbalancing. • Create contrasting sections using one or more structural elements. • Create stronger contrasts by incorporating additional structural elements. • Use the structural elements to support your ideas. • What you have gained in this course is mastery over section writing. Since songs are made up of sections, this should be a great help.   • You have gained a major strategy to direct your choices: prosody--the mutual support of all elements to enhance the intent of the ideas. You know the four elements of structure and can manipulate them to your advantage.  • Because you have gained mastery over section writing, you have gained the ability to create contrasting sections, and you know how to manipulate the elements of structure to create contrast. This is certainly useful in creating effective contrasts between different kinds of song sections--verse, chorus, and bridge.   • You have also gained a writing technique that will keep you alert to the world, able to ferret out ideas and express them effectively by using specific, sense bound language.  • You have sharpened your ability to use metaphor--to see one thing as though it were something else. Not only a profound writing tool, but an invitation to seeing a richer, deeper world.  • Understanding and working with basic song functions: verse, refrain, chorus, transitional bridge, bridge.  • Organizing basic song functions into effective song forms, especially verse/chorus, AABA, and verse/transitional bridge/chorus. Creating prosody with form.  • Generating song ideas and developing them effectively from verse to verse, making sure that the refrain or chorus gains meaning and interest when it is repeated, because of the evolving perspective of each new verse.  • Choosing and controlling the point of view.  • Choosing and controlling tense.  • Setting lyric to music. Understanding the suggestions the music makes for the lyric. Finding the hook. Writing from the hook outward. Creating lyric rhythms that match the music's rhythms. Choosing rhyme schemes. Brainstorming ideas. Outlining sections. Writing the lines. '''Definition''' "What is [Criterion]?" "What do you mean by [Criterion]?" Line lengths are measured not by the number of syllables, but by the number of stressed syllables. This helps you figure out how to match the lyric line with music. We'll begin by discussing what a "stressed syllable" is. Every word with two or more syllables has a melodic shape: one or more syllables have higher pitches than the others. We call them stressed syllables. When there are two or more stressed syllables in a word, one is highest in pitch. It is called the primary stress. The stressed syllables in any multi-syllable word are pretty easy to find because we agree on them. At least the primary stress is listed in our book of agreements--the dictionary. Line lengths are measured not by the number of syllables, but by the number of stressed syllables. • Understanding language rhythms • Understanding musical rhythms • Matching language and musical rhythm • Matching grammatical and melodic phrases • Identifying melodic sections • Identifying rhyme positions • Identifying song forms • Locating title placement All the attention this week to stressed and unstressed syllables will have big payoffs. First, it will allow you to control the rhythms of your lyric, whether or not you're writing to melody. Secondly, it will pay dividends in expressing the meaning and emotion of the lyric more effectively when you write lyric to music. There’s not much point in writing a wonderful line if it gets derailed by an unfortunate setting. The point is, after all, communication--saying what you mean as effectively as possible. We are looking for prosody: the appropriate matching of stressed syllables and stressed notes. • identify stressed and unstressed syllables in a lyric line • notate the rhythms of stress patterns • write your own patterns to match existing patterns • identify secondary stresses • identify stressed and unstressed positions in a musical bar • notate the rhythms of the musical stress patterns • write your own lyric patterns to match musical patterns Musical Stress: Position in the Bar A musical note is either stressed or unstressed depending on two factors: 1. Its position in the bar. 2. Its relation to surrounding notes. Position in the Bar This relative pattern of strong and weak beats, listed in order of strength, is Beat 1 Beat 3 Beat 4 Beat 2 Beat 4& Beat 2& Beat 3& Beat 1& This strength relationship is maintained at all levels of 4/4 time: The upbeats introduce a lesser level of strength, making beats 1, 2, 3, 4, by contrast to the upbeats, pretty strong. Think for a minute of the eighth notes as though they were quarter notes extending over two bars of 4/4 time: beats 1, 3, 1, 3 are strong, and beats 2, 4, 2, 4 are weak. As for the upbeats, the ones that PRECEDE strong beats are stronger, the ones that follow strong beats are weaker. But none of them are very strong, and we can, for most purposes, regard them as equal. Secondary stresses work fine for the second and fourth beats. Use unstressed syllables on the weak beats 3/4 Time The only strong beat in a bar of 3/4 is the downbeat. The second and third beats are weak. In order of strength, the beats line up like this: Bar 1, Bar 3, Bar 2; Beat 1, Beat 2, Beat 3, Beat 2&, Beat 3&, Beat 1& 6/8 Time Think of it as two quicker bars of 3/4: the two downbeats are strong, and the other beats are weaker. In order of strength, the beats of 6/8 line up like this: Beat 1 Beat 4 Beat 6 Beat 3 Beat 2 Beat 5 identify stressed positions caused by isolating a note identify stressed positions caused by a rest before a note identify stressed positions caused by lesser note values preceding a note identify stressed positions caused by anticipating a note Isolated Notes When a note is isolated from other notes, it tends to feel strong, regardless of its position in the bar. Of course, this principle works in any time signature. Here’s 3/4 time: Following a Rest A note falling on a weak beat, but following a rest, receives more stress, even when it begins a melodic phrase, as long as the next note value is the same or shorter. Pick-Ups If the note following the weak positioned note is longer, the first note acts as a pickup. The first note falls on the second beat of the 4/4 bar with an empty downbeat, but since the next note is longer, the first note acts as a pickup and remains weak. Shorter Notes When the notes leading to a note in weak position are of lesser note value, the weak position is strengthened. Anticipations A note beginning on a weak beat but carried over the next strong beat (called an "anticipation") is stronger than that strong beat. The result is a strengthening of the downbeat. Something important should go here. Wrap-Up There are a few other considerations that enhance stress in a note: pitch, length, accent and volume. We'll look at these as we work through the projects, but for now, it's enough to say that they typically don't CREATE stress in weak positions. If a note is in a weak position in the bar, it'll pretty much stay weak regardless of how high, long, or loud it is. Now that you understand stress in both language and music, you're in a position to join them together effectively. Your job is to PRESERVE THE NATURAL SHAPE OF THE LANGUAGE when you join lyrics to melodies. In that way, your listener will focus on WHAT you say, not HOW you say it. The result will be more powerful expression of emotions and more effective communication. identify stressed and unstressed syllables in our first song section identify matched and unmatched phrases in the song section identify rhyme positions in the song section identify the hook position in the song section The melody is set in 3/4 time, pretty familiar by now. Listen to the first phrase. The melody falls on these beats: 1 2 3 1 1 Let's use "DUM" to stand for strong (1) positions, and "da" to stand for weak (2, 3) positions. We can notate it as: DUM da da DUM DUM Now let's find some words. Use stressed syllables to replace "DUM," and unstressed syllables to replace "da." Here are some words that seem to work: Come to my bedside Sing it. You always need to listen to hear what works. Trying to write something wonderful before you know what shape it has usually isn't the best idea. You often fall in love with it and end up cramming it in even if it doesn't fit. There's something interesting about the two strong stresses in a row (DUM DUM). The first one seems stronger than the second. A word like "bedside" feels just right: both syllables feel stressed, but the first syllable seems more stressed than the second. Try this to the melody: Love is the last word It does work okay, though it feels slightly clunky. "Word" seems a little too hot for the last position. Now try Come in the morning This works okay too, though the "ing" of "morning" seems to stand out a little too much. When two downbeats are consecutive, without any intervening notes, the first one is always stronger than the second. That doesn't make the second DUM weak, it makes it weaker. Call it a secondary stress. Use "dum" as a notation. Thus, the first line becomes DUM da da DUM dum It's useful to have some words ready that have the shape DUM dum for these occasions. "Bedside" is a good one. So is "sunrise." My personal fav is "hotdogs." Just plug one of them in when you're creating a dummy to a melody and you think you might be dealing with two DUMs in a row. • brainstorm a title, using a rhyming dictionary • develop ideas that move the song forward • identify special positions in the melody • create contrasting ideas • finish the song Writing Lyrics To Music Answer these questions as you listen 1. How many sections are there? 2. What is their relationship? 3. Which ones are the same and which ones are different? Ask questions in two directions: Where do I go from here? Where did I just COME FROM? (A question too seldom asked in the writing process…) The rule of thumb for a bridge is this: whatever your verses are doing, the bridge shouldn't do. For example: • If the verses are telling a story, the bridge shouldn't continue the story line, but rather, comment on it, or take a new angle on it. • The bridge can be general if the verses are specific, and conversely. • The bridge can be the character's internal reaction to events described by  the verses. • If the verses are about the character's internal life, the bridge could  show an objective view. It's all pretty open territory as to what a bridge can be. It's also pretty clear what it can't be: anything that the verses already are. Use these two helpful and focusing questions: 1. What have I got? 2. What's different than that? • create a straightforward setting in 4/4 time • work with multiple note values • identify cases of stressed notes on weak beats • identify anticipations • work in a verse/chorus format Because we're dealing with eighth notes, we have three levels of strength: 1. Beats 1 and 3 of each bar are strong. 2. Beats 2 and 4 of each bar are secondary stresses. 3. The upbeats (&'s) are weak. • gain speed and experience brainstorming from a title • work with longer and shorter phrases • work more easily with contrasting sections • construct effective bridges Answer these questions as you listen: 1. How many sections are there? 2. What is their relationship? 3. Which ones are the same and which ones are different? Try putting the title in the first bar of the chorus, where it'll get the most attention. Experiment with a few different rhyme schemes in the first four bars, with the goal of repeating the title in the last bar or perhaps the last two bars. This isn't the time quite yet to concentrate on writing great lines. Just say something in the various rhyme patterns and see what you like best. While you're grabbing, you might find something worth keeping, but always try to look just a little harder. It will serve you well. Mostly the lyric comes from the interplay of looking for rhymes and finding good stuff along the way. Sometimes good lines will force a change in the rhyme strategy, and that's fine too. Better to have great lines than an effective rhyme scheme. But if you could have both... "Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." —Scott Adams Okay, it's time to write the verses. Where did this first chorus come from? What situations, people, actions, perspectives or attitudes preceded it? You're looking for ideas that lead naturally into the chorus's statement of the title. The first verse's idea should be able to be developed from a slightly different angle in the second verse, which leads to the second statement of the chorus. The second chorus should be even more interesting than the first chorus, as a result of that brilliant second verse idea you had. The rhyming dictionary once again becomes valuable in finding furniture (or, Gary Burr's term "props"—nice theater reference) for the song. Check out your work sheet, but even better, jump back in using the vowel sounds of some of your most important words so far. You'll get lots of suggestions, leading to possibilities for internal rhymes or vowel links from line to line. "The rule of thumb for a bridge is this: whatever your other sections are doing, the bridge shouldn't do. If the verses are telling a story and the chorus is commenting on it, the bridge shouldn't continue the story line or comment on it; it should take a new angle. The bridge can be general if the other sections are specific, and conversely.... It's pretty open territory as to what a bridge can be. It's also pretty clear what it can't be: anything that the other sections already are." • work with a more complex setting in 4/4 time • work with multiple note values • work with sections whose note values are different • identify anticipations more quickly • work in a simple verse/chorus format Writing Lyric to Music Checklist We can lay out the steps we've taken over the last several weeks in a rough checklist. Here it is: Identify the musical form. How many sections are there? What is their relationship? Which sections repeat and which ones change? Locate the musical hook. If there is a chorus, where does the musical hook appear? How many times? If it is a verse/refrain, is the musical hook at the beginning or the end of the verses? Find dummy words that fit the musical hook perfectly. See what shape it has--where the stressed and unstressed syllables go. Make sure the "mood" of your dummy hook (title) fits the mood of the music. DO NOT MISTAKE YOUR DUMMY HOOK FOR THE REAL TITLE. Find a great title that matches the shape of the dummy title perfectly. The title should be: interesting and engaging repeatable. That is, able to lend itself to continuing development as the lyric's sections progress. Locate the stressed syllables in the title. Using their vowel sounds, go to the rhyming dictionary and brainstorm for ideas. Figure out what the song will be about, and maybe some of the images, characters, settings, etc., that might be useful. In other words, do a WORKSHEET (WBL chapter 3). Make a rough sketch of how the ideas will develop from section to section to set up the title. If there is a chorus, scan the melody for stressed and unstressed positions. Write a draft of the chorus. After you finish your draft chorus, or if there is no chorus, scan a verse for its stressed and unstressed positions, and write a dummy verse, making sure that the syllables match the notes exactly. Since you have some idea what you're writing about, some of the phrases you come up with may actually stick, but don't count on it. This is just to make sure the syllables fit the melody. Don't fall in love with any of your lines yet. Identify matched and unmatched phrases to determine where rhymes might work best. Be sure to plan rhymes for the ends of each section. Experiment with a few different rhyme schemes to see how flexible the music is. Pay no attention to WHAT you're saying, yet. You're simply looking for rhyme placement here. You'll need all the flexibility you can get, when you actually have to say what you mean--and rhyme, to boot. Write the first verse. If you're moving into a chorus, be sure the last verse line sets up the chorus and the title clearly. You might even try writing the setup line (last verse line) first, and working backwards. Continue to check for prosody: does the shape of the words match the shape of the melody perfectly? If not, go back and rewrite. NEVER MIS-SET A WORD just because it says what you mean. It won't communicate that meaning effectively anyway, if it's mis-set. Find a way to say exactly what you mean, and set it perfectly. Sing through the verse and the chorus. Does the verse set up the chorus effectively? Are there any lines in your chorus draft that need tweaking? Write the remaining verses. Make sure they match the melody perfectly too. Do they move the lyric idea forward? Is the setup line effective at moving into the second chorus? Sing it through. Tweak some more. Scan the bridge (if there is one), and write dummy lines that fit perfectly. Then find a wonderful contrasting idea, and write the bridge. Again, make sure the setup line enters the final section with the meaning you want. Sing it through. Any winces? Fix 'em. Sing it again. Wrestle it to the ground until it stops moving. I hope this is useful. Don't be a slave to anything. Find the most important musical spot in the chorus. It is the musical hook, and that's where your title should go. '''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 lyrics?"'' ''"How do you normally go about writing hit lyrics?"'' That little word 'or' is the signal to the listener that you're introducing a new idea. It's always a good idea to go back through your work and question your prepositions, what they are and whether they're necessary at all. pay special attention to your pronouns determine line length by counting the stressed syllables Languages all have strategies to allow speakers to be efficient (speak legato) and yet know which syllables stand-alone and which ones clump together to form a single word. In English, we use pitches to create melodic shapes. Pitches give English speakers a second way (besides sound) to identify multi-syllable words. One-syllable words are stressed when they have an important job to do, like delivering a message. Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs all get sweaty because they work hard, Because their function is to carry meaning (a cognitive function), they will always be stressed. We learn as a child to raise the pitch of our voice on these words to show that they are important. Other one-syllable words have a different function--a grammatical function. Think of them as sign carriers. Their job is to show how the important words relate to each other. Here is a list of some of these workers. In most cases, they will be unstressed. • prepositions (e.g., of, to, after, over) • articles (e.g., a, the) • conjunctions (e.g., and, or, but) • auxiliary verbs indicating tense (e.g., have run, had run) • auxiliary verbs indicating mood (e.g., might run, may run) • personal pronouns (e.g., I, him, their) • relative pronouns (e.g., which, who, when) Of course, any of these can be stressed when a contrast is involved. I asked you to throw the ball tó me, not át me. Take a second, however, to notice "into," another two-syllable preposition. It is stressed ínto, not intó. It is the most badly handled word in songwriting, perhaps since it usually follows a stressed syllable: She walked into the room The proper handling is She walked (pause) ínto the room not She walked intó the room. match line lengths to balance and close lyric sections unmatch line lengths to unbalance lyric sections and keep them moving lengthen or shorten lines to spotlight important ideas lengthen or shorten lines to unbalance sections and reinforce meaning The length of a lyric line is measured by the number of stressed syllables. In general, when lines have the same number of stressed syllables, they are effectively the same length. When they have different numbers of stressed syllables, they are different lengths. Because this section feels balanced before we get all the way through it, we call it a fragmented system. The matched lines create a balancing point inside the section. This is called a through-written section, because we can't stop until we get all the way to the end. The unmatched lines are responsible for this effect. Balancing and Unbalancing with Line Length couplets--pairs of rhymed equal length lines. Each couplet forms its own mini-section by balancing and stopping motion. Eeenie meenie miney moe Catch a tiger by the toe If he hollers let him go Eeenie meenie miney moe The other model is Mary Had a Little Lamb. It is the paradigm for common meter. It is through-written because you can't stop before you get to the end: Mary had a little lamb Its fleece was white as snow And everywhere that Mary went The lamb was sure to go They both fit perfectly into the standard 8-bar sequences of western popular music. They move differently and form a nice contrast with each other, so they are useful in constructing contrasting sections. Of course, you don't need to apply them strictly. Variation is the real spice. Shortening and lengthening the lines are both useful techniques for unbalancing sections. Both are useful for turning on spotlights to point out important ideas. When you have something important to say, these techniques can help emphasize the point. You have two powerful strategies for creating prosody: the number of lines and the lengths of lines in a section. you have learned how to find multiple rhyme types and use them to brainstorm your lyric ideas "we will again look at line lengths, but this time as a way to contrast one section with another." Create contrast between lyric sections using line lengths and number of lines Contrasting Sections Different sections of a lyric have different jobs to do line length’s ability to create prosody by balancing or unbalancing a section, in accordance with its meaning We are using our old friends, number of lines and length of lines, to provide the answers to the questions: 1. What have I got? 2. What’s different than that? Match line rhythms perfectly Match line rhythms imperfectly Lyric rhythms are created by repetition of figures made up of stressed and unstressed syllables. Let’s use DUM to stand for a stressed syllable, and da for an unstressed syllable. da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM These are perfectly matched lines: they not only match their number of syllables, they match stress-for stress, unstress-for-unstress. They match their rhythms perfectly. Of course, if we can create lines of the same length, we can also create lines of different length: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM  da DUM DUM DUM da DUM This creates a stronger impulse forward than would be created by simply being thrown off balance by a shorter line. The figure (da DUM) is also asking for repetition: there is a rhythmic impulse making the shorter line feel even more incomplete. It makes you want to continue tapping your feet. We feel the same impulse even if we change the shorter line to a triple feel: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM DUM da da DUM da da DUM Now you feel two things at once: the shortening of the second line, and the change of feel that speeds up the second line. The change of feel makes you wonder where you’re going next. Metaphor ranks in power with object writing as a brainstorming tool. As you learn to recognize and create metaphor, your ability to find and execute ideas will increase dramatically. And your object writing will gain new depth and direction. Plus, making metaphors is downright fun. Simply put, metaphor is seeing one thing as something else: success as a prison, a planet as a dancer, money as a drug. • supply a noun to create a metaphor with another noun, as in The dinner table is a currency exchange. • supply an adjective to create a metaphor with a given noun, as in rusty memories. • supply a noun to create a metaphor with a given adjective, as in tangled clouds. • supply a verb to create a metaphor with a given noun, as in hope floats. • supply a noun to create a metaphor with a given verb, as in Her conscience fled. Complete the final 5-step exercise on page 18 in Writing Better Lyrics accidental collisions Now for some nitty gritty: how writers actually find metaphor on a daily basis. They notice something--the way the wind blows the trees and the trees bend. The action of bending reminds them of something else bending, perhaps actors acknowledging applause. They make the connection: trees bowing to the wind. Mostly it is done without thinking too much, just by noticing. We can break the process down and articulate it in the form of two questions: 1. What quality does my object have? 2. What else has that quality? Now watch things get interesting. First, we look for nouns, verbs, and adjectives that belong to one of the terms, say, gate. Let’s just look at a few. gate Nouns: opening, mouth, lock, hinge Verbs: swing, slams shut, invites, intimidates, welcomes, push Adjectives: rusty, sticky, squeaky, imposing, impenetrable Let’s apply a few of the nouns, verbs, and adjectives that belong to gate and also to the other term, college exam. Here are a few to start you off, then go ahead and do a few more yourself. She felt locked out by the weight and size of the exam. Her future hung on rusty hinges--would the exam open the way or refuse to budge at all? The last three questions slammed shut on her hopes for a scholarship. Balancing: Number of Lines one of the four fundamental aspects of structure: the number of lines in a section spotlight important by ideas using balancing positions An even number of lines creates a feeling of balance odd number of equal length lines gives it a feeling of being incomplete Because the last lines balance the sections, they get more attention opening lines are in natural spotlights power positions--places getting special attention: the opening lines and the balancing lines put something important where your listener is most likely to notice it Unbalancing: Number of Lines, Rhyme spotlight important ideas by using unbalancing positions support the emotional intent of a lyric section by balancing or unbalancing the number of lines By adding the extra line, we have created an unbalanced position--a position that makes us want to move forward to balance the section with another line. Now the section feels unstable, and because we didn't expect the extra line, spotlights turn on to highlight it there are varying degrees of instability possible, and many techniques available creating Prosody with structure: supporting the meaning of a section with the way you put it together support the emotion of ideas with motion of one section into another balance or unbalance a section by using and even or odd number of lines balancing or unbalancing can support the emotion or meaning of a section We can also use the principles of balancing and unbalancing to apply to the way sections fit together in a song Given any two sections, there are four possible combinations: 1. Balanced section moving into balanced section 2. Unbalanced section moving into balanced section 3. Balanced section moving into unbalanced section 4. Unbalanced section moving into unbalanced section appropriate for the tone. Good prosody. things go from unbalanced to balanced--from problem to solution. technique to learn and understand prosody: balancing and unbalancing sections using even or odd numbers of lines balancing and unbalancing using line lengths control the motion of lines within sections by matching or unmatching line lengths balancing and unbalancing, this time using line lengths. Varying Line Length The best way to create sections larger than couplets is to vary line length. Start with our same line: DUM da da DUM da DUM da da DUM Give her a chance to sing by herself Next, let’s add a shorter line, keeping the same rhythmic feel: DUM da da DUM da DUM da da DUM DUM da da DUM da DUM Give her a chance to sing by herself Give her the room to shine You tap your foot four times in line one, but only three times in line two. Your body feels the imbalance--there are some matching rhythms between line 1 and line 2, but there is asymmetry caused by the lengths of lines, throwing the section off-balance. Since we are off-balance, we must continue to move forward. Next, let’s write a third line. It could be one of three options: Option 1. It could match the first line. Option 2. It could match the second line. Option 3. It could be something new. We will look at each of these possibilities. Option 1 Matching the third line with the first line is a solid move. It creates strong expectations for a fourth line: DUM da da DUM da DUM da da DUM DUM da da DUM da DUM DUM da da DUM da DUM da da DUM Give her a chance to sing by herself Give her the room to shine Watch as she smiles and everyone melts Now the pressure builds up. The structure is still off-balance, with its odd number of lines. Because lines 1 and 3 match, we expect something quite specific: • A fourth line to balance with an even number of lines • A line that matches the length and rhythm of line two (the odd-duck line) Specifically, you want to hear DUM da da DUM da DUM giving you this section: DUM da da DUM da DUM da da DUM DUM da da DUM da DUM DUM da da DUM da DUM da da DUM DUM da da DUM da DUM Give her a chance to sing by herself Give her the room to shine Watch as she smiles and everyone melts Hearing a voice divine You feel the resolution. This structure too is a rhythm paradigm. It is called common meter. You will find it everywhere, because it too, like matched couplets, fits perfectly into an 8-bar sequence. Option 2 You could write a third line that matches the second line: Give her a chance to sing by herself Give her the room to shine Using her voice divine Even with the rhyme, the structure feels a little funny. You feel like there might be more coming, but you have no idea what it could be. Without the rhyme, the feeling of suspension is even more obvious: Give her a chance to sing by herself Give her the room to shine Raising a voice so sweet This third line creates no strong expectations. We certainly don’t expect a match of line one. It might be tempting to try it, but it doesn’t really balance things, since it reverses the sequence: 4 3 3 4 Give her a chance to sing by herself Give her the room to shine Raising her voice divine Watch as she smiles and everyone melts This feels incomplete, but does raise expectations that we’ll have two additional lines that match lines two and three: 4 3 3 4 3 3 Then we’d feel balanced. Option 3 Line 3 can be something new. DUM da da DUM da DUM da da DUM (4) DUM da da DUM da DUM (3) da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM (5) Give her a chance to sing by herself Give her the room to shine You’ll see at once how far she’s come along Now, even if you match line two, the structure will still feel off balance: Give her a chance to sing by herself Give her the room to shine You’ll see at once how far she’s come along Raising her voice divine Not that being off balance is a bad thing, but here the content doesn’t seem to profit by it. More likely, the new third line would raise expectations for something like 4 3 5 4 3 5 DUM da da DUM da DUM da da DUM (4) DUM da da DUM da DUM (3) da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM (5) DUM da da DUM da DUM da da DUM (4) DUM da da DUM da DUM (3) DUM da DUM da DUM da da DUM da DUM (5) Give her a chance to sing by herself Give her the room to shine You’ll see at once how far she’s come along Watch as she smiles and everyone melts Hearing a voice divine Heaven’s here, it’s living inside her song Perfect balance, even though some of the matching lines match imperfectly. When you don’t match the first two lines of a section, anything is possible. All three options have their uses, depending on how you want to construct your section. Always keep an eye on prosody: does my structure support my idea? That question is always a beacon of light, drawing you in the direction of effective lyric writing. structure, working with the number of lines in a section, line length, and rhythm. Now it is time to turn to the fourth and final controller of structure: rhyme. Stressed Syllables The purpose of language is to communicate ideas, information, promises, requests, and much much more, as efficiently as possible. To that end, we talk pretty fast, or at least, we don't pause between the words in our sentences. We speak legato--smoothly without stopping. That's why language comes in a steady stream and seems to go by so fast when we don't understand it. Languages all have strategies to allow speakers to be efficient (speak legato) and yet know which syllables stand alone and which ones clump together to form a single word. In English, we use pitches to create melodic shapes. Pitches give English speakers a second way (besides sound) to identify multi-syllable words. Listeners learn to hear the shape of the language--to pay attention to pitches as well as sounds. That way, when a word has several syllables, we can identify it as one word even though it is embedded in a steady stream of syllables. Every word with two or more syllables has a melodic shape: one or more syllables have higher pitches than the others. We call them stressed syllables. When there are two or more stressed syllables in a word, one is highest in pitch. It is called the primary stress. Stressed syllables in any multi-syllable word are pretty easy to find because we agree on them. At least the primary stress is listed in our book of agreements--the dictionary. One-syllable words are stressed when they have an important job to do, like delivering a message. Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs all get sweaty because they work hard Because their function is to carry meaning (a cognitive function), they will always be stressed. We learn as a children to raise the pitch of our voices on these words to show that they are important. Other one-syllable words have a different function--a grammatical function. Think of them as sign carriers. Their job is to show how the important words relate to each other. Here is a list of some of these workers. In most cases, they will be unstressed. prepositions (e.g., of, to, after, over)  articles (e.g., a, the)  conjunctions (e.g., and, or, but)  auxiliary verbs indicating tense (e.g., have run, had run)  auxiliary verbs indicating mood (e.g., might run, may run)  personal pronouns (e.g., I, him, their)  relative pronouns (e.g., which, who, when) Of course, any of these can be stressed when a contrast is involved. I asked you to throw the ball tó me, not át me. I asked you to throw the ball to mé, not to hér. I asked yóu to throw the ball, not hím. You'll be able to tell. Just use your ears and your common sense. Secondary Stress: Multi-Syllable Words Multi-syllable words with more than one stressed syllable will contain a secondary stress. Note that in the textbooks, secondary stress is marked with "//". Secondary Stress: Two-Syllable Words There are some two-syllable words that contain both a primary and secondary stress. These are unusual, but easily recognized, since they are usually made up of two separate words that would be stressed if they appeared alone. Prepositions and conjunctions, because their job is to show relationships between nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, are usually unstressed. They have a secondary or grammatical function. Yet many prepositions are two or more syllables long and contain, within themselves, more and less stressed syllables. For example, "óver" has a stronger first syllable. The second syllable is stronger in "befóre." Because prepositions are not as important as the nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs they serve, we will mark the stressed syllables of prepositions with a secondary stress, to note their secondary function in the line. This will remind us, when setting lyric to melody, to relegate prepositions to secondary positions in the bar. Take a second to notice "into," another two-syllable preposition. It is stressed ínto, not intó. It is probably the most badly handled word in songwriting--perhaps since it usually follows a stressed syllable: She walked into the room. The proper handling is She walked (pause) ínto the room. not She walked intó the room. 'Nuff said. Find the most important musical spot in the chorus. It is the musical hook, and that's where your title should go. It might be interesting to ask, "What should I say right before I say the hook in the first line of the chorus to lead naturally to it?" That is, you might focus on that last verse line first, so you'll know what target you have to hit. A little more "writing backwards." Creating Rhythmic Ideas for Your Lyrics Introduction Objectives By the end of the lesson you’ll be able to: • Set the same lyric in a variety of ways, depending on how you want it to sound to your audience. • Use note length, phrase length, and space to emphasize certain parts of your lyric. • Recognize the strong words in any lyric line and set them effectively. • Recognize masculine and feminine endings and set them effectively. • Use the beginnings and endings of melodic phrases to emphasize important lyric ideas. Lyric Setting and Emphasis We begin with three rhythm tools for setting lyrics: note lengths phrase length space These three tools will lead you to many different ways of setting a lyric. They will also help you to emphasize the "lyric hook" (usually, the song title). Note Lengths Different note lengths can have very different effects on the way the audience hears a lyric. 1. The Rolling Stones. "Honky Tonk Woman" from Get Yer Ya Ya's Out. ABKCO, 1986. 2. Prince. "Nothing Compares 2 U" from The Hits/B-Sides. Warner Black/1993. 3. Bob Marley. "No Woman No Cry" from Natty Dread. Island Records/1974. 4. John Fogerty. "She Thinks I Still Care" from The Blue Ridge Rangers. Fantasy/1991. Phrase Length and Space Phrase length and space are often considered together. Notice the different effects phrase length and space can have on a lyric. 1. Neil Young. "Rockin' in the Free World" from Freedom. Reprise/1989. 2. The Police. "Message in a Bottle" from Every Breath You Take. A&M/1988. Phrase Beginnings/Stressed Words The ways that phrases begin and end, and the location of the strong words within the phrase, all contribute to the song's effect. Sometimes, the lyrics and melody are synchronized in their structure and how they use points of power. Sometimes, they are not. How the length of the lyric relates to the length of the melody gives you many creative possibilities. 1. The Beatles. "Something" from Abbey Road. Capitol/1969. 2. The Beatles. "Yesterday" from Help!. Capitol/2000. 3. Chaka Khan. "Tell Me Something Good" from Stompin' At The Savoy. Warner/1983. Phrase Endings Recognizing whether a phrase ending is masculine (one syllable) or feminine (two syllables) can help you set lyrics to a natural-sounding rhythm. These endings often happen naturally when we sing. Remember to sing all your melodies. This is vocal music! Downbeat Endings for the Title Ending a title on the downbeat is one of the strongest and most common tools I’ve found. Once you learn this way to emphasize your hook, you’ll use it all over the place. One of these titles has a masculine (one-syllable) ending. The other has a feminine (two-syllable) ending. 1. Bob Dylan. "Blowin' in the Wind" from Before the Flood. Colombia/1974. 2. Smokey Robinson. "Tracks of My Tears" from The Best of Smokey Robinson. Spectrum/1995. 3. Eric Clapton. "Cocaine" from Slowhand. Polygram/1977. 4. Randy Travis. "Forever and Ever Amen" from Greatest Hits. Warner/1992. Recap This week, you learned to pay attention to the rhythm of a melody in new and exciting ways. Now, you’re more aware of the different effects various rhythmic tools have on lyrics. Once you develop facility with these tools, you’ll be able to use them in any setting. Length of Phrases: Controlling Your Speed Contrasting Sections Number of Phrases: Getting Your Balance Lyric Phrases/Musical Phrases Lyric phrases and musical phrases should match. Balancing/Unbalancing Unbalanced sections create a sense of forward movement., while balanced sections stop the motion. Balancing or unbalancing sections of your lyric can serve at least three purposes: Spotlighting Important Ideas When a section has an even number of phrases, the last phrase, the balancing position, is a perfect place for important ideas because it is a place where the lyric structure stops moving. It shines a spotlight on whatever you put there. As a writer you must decide which ideas are most important, and then put them where they are the most likely to be noticed. Moving One Section Forward Into Another Moving is important when you intend to connect one unbalanced section to another equally unbalanced section. Using an odd number of phrases to unbalance a section works wonders if you want to build up pressure, for example, in a transitional section between verse and chorus. Repeating the same phrase three times creates dramatic movement, but you can get the same effect using different phrases too. The pressure to move forward builds up simply because you feel the need for a balancing position. Contrasting One Section With Another This is the third practical use of balancing. When you already have a balanced section, you can write another section to match it except at the end, where you unbalance it, usually by adding another phrase. This unbalancing strategy is also useful when you have two verses that lead into a chorus. Make the first verse completely balanced, then unbalance the second verse by adding an extra phrase. This unbalancing will make it move forward into the chorus. '''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?"'' brainstorming exercise - Object Writing '''Sustaining Emotions:''' ''"What is the background feeling that keeps you engaged in writing hit lyrics?"'' ''"When you are writing hit lyrics, what emotion is always operating in the background of your experience to help keep you writing hit lyrics?"'' '''Signal Emotions:''' ''"What is the background feeling that keeps you engaged in writing hit lyrics?"'' '''External Behavior:''' ''"What are you doing on the outside that is essential to manifesting writing hit lyrics?"'' '''Contributing Factors:''' ''Note them if the arise'' [[category:Music]] [[category:Songwriting]] [[category:Lyrics]] __NOEDITSECTION__
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