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In my everyday life as a music teacher, I tend to design quite a lot of worksheets. In my online life trying to share songwriting ideas, I’ve never put this skill into use. Until now, that is. You see, a written worksheet can be a very useful thing. As songwriters we’re often scribbling on random bits of [...] Harmony is important. Why? well… lots of reasons, but I’m going to try: ‘because it gives a sense of mood, emotion and character.’ Whatever the character of the songs you’re working on, you’ll need to decide what kind o harmony you need. Even an unnacompanied solo vocal song will have an implied harmony, so it’s a musical [...] Form, or structure, is simply what happens when. Do you just have the first verse, then the second, then the third? Do you have an introduction, a chorus, a bridge, a guitar solo? What order do they happen in? Getting it right is vital if you don’t want to bore your listener. A twenty minute [...] A couple of posts back I wrote a little about emotion in songwriting. Unsuprisingly, (at least to anyone familiar with what this blog is about), I argued that songwriting is not about expressing your emotions. Songwriting is about moving the listener, not yourself. A gentleman who is also named Tom disagreed, saying that he thought the best [...] Emotions are the whole point of songwriting. The emotions of the listener that is. I often talk about the nuts and bolts aspect of songwriting on this site. That’s what Songwright.co.uk is for, of course, but that doesn’t mean we should forget the emotional aspect of music. What is music for? I’m not entirely sure, but I [...] A chorus, usually near the end of a song, where everything but the vocals, and perhaps the drums, drop out. It’s a fantastic way of introducing contrast and (potentially) getting the audience to sing along Here are two examples (the drop chorus happens right at the end. Sorry to those of you who have a low [...] The worst thing music can be is boring. Too many verses, dull lyrics, the same note, chord, key or rhythm repeated too often (say hello Bob Dylan), all can ruin a song. Unfortunately, all are easy sins to commit. I wrote countless dull songs when I first began composing. In particular, I often fell into the [...] I’ve been posting semi-regularly about music theory basics. While the basics aren’t the main focus of songwright, they are vital for anyone who is serious about the art of songwriting. At the very least you should know: The major and minor scales Who listens to music? The obvious answer is ‘everyone,’ or near enough everyone, but that depends on how you define ‘listen’. Most people have music in the background. It’s the soundtrack to their daily commute, the background drone when they do the housework, the beat they dance to. The way normal people use music doesn’t involve a [...] |
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