Joined: 31 Aug 2007
Posts: 16
Location: KL.
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You’ve got a great concept. You have a truckload of inspiration. The melody is impeccable. You’re all geared up to write the mother of all songs.
What next?
At the base of every great song is an amazingly solid structure. Everything else is a sidenote. The one thing that must be crafted with exceptional care is the structure. This is true for basically every possible song, even if you decide to sing blather over random free verse chords. The song structure has to be planned out clearly and coherently, and this guide is aimed at helping you do just that.
To make visualization easier throughout this article, I shall liken a song to a story. Let’s take a look, then, at a couple of normal parts of a song:
Stanza, Refrain, Chorus, Bridge, Instrumental, Narration, Coda
The stanza is the meat of the story. It serves to further the story, offer descriptions and basically tell the tale. The number of verses used is entirely up to you. It is vital, however, to maintain the momentum of the story. It’s better to have two clever verses than five incoherent, sub-standard ones.
What is the difference between a Refrain and Chorus? Quite simply put, the Refrain tells what MIGHT happen. It predicts the story outcome and is unsolved. The Chorus, on the other hand, covers what has already happened. In a song featuring Refrains, the final Refrain is commonly replaced with a Chorus to ‘reveal’ the conclusion. In other cases, the songwriter might decide to reveal the conclusion after the last Refrain. This is, again, completely up to personal taste.
The Bridge is basically a part of the song played over a melody distinctly different from the other parts. It usually acts as a climax. In Wheatus’ ‘Teenage Dirtbag’, a ‘female’ voice is used for the Bridge to humorous effect. In this particular example, the Bridge also acts as climax and conclusion. An instrumental section is, of course, pretty much self-explanatory. A Narration is a section where you ‘talk melodically’. Hardly used nowadays, but there are some tweaked variations. Josh Woodward’s ‘Gallows Hill’ can be said to be a variation of the Narration technique. The Code is the ending section and usually refers to a fade-out ending.
With that out of the way, let’s take a look at musical devices and the key factors in plotting a song. Here are three formulae that are simple and important.
Pitch + Volume = Tone
Tone + Rhythm =Melody
Melody + Lyrics = Song
Now to figure out everything we need to know about each of these aspects.
Pitch refers to a note range and is commonly divided into sharp and flat (or high and low). Volume, also known as dynamics, is the variation of softness or loudness. Take a look at another simple set of formulae below:
SHARP + Soft = False-voice
+ Loud = Sharp
FLAT + Soft = Breathy
+ Loud = Deep
False-voice and sharp are classified as TREBLE. Breathy and deep are classified as BASS. Note that flat + very loud gives us something unofficially termed as ‘Power’.
These formulae show you how you can modify volume and pitch to achieve a certain tone. Plan beforehand what type of voice you wish to use. Refer to the melody to make sure everything you sing fits. A simple tip is to modulate your volume according to the sections. Sing a bit louder at the chorus than at the verses. When the drum kicks in, you should also generally sing a tad bit louder.
Now that you have a strong foundation, here’s an insanely short guide to vocal techniques. At its loosest meaning, vocal technique is the usage of vocal production for every vocal mechanism. This refers to the unifying register (head, middle and chest). Get yourself a good vocal teacher to guide you through posture, breathing, phonation and vocalization. In case you didn’t know, you should practice dropping only your lower jaw when opening your mouth when singing.
There are tons of great columns on writing melodies and good lyrics, so I doubt I’ll touch on them in my short tutorial. Check them out, decide what works for you, and keep practicing. Songwriting is an art form in itself and should be treated thus. I can, however, give you a couple of words of advice for writing strong lyrics.
Never force your lyrics. Be natural. Rhyming dictionaries can be used online and can come in handy sometimes. Familiarize yourself with them to enhance your skill. Always remember that, above all, the way the words sound over the melody is the most important part of the lyrics.
Broaden your mind. I’ve written songs about my emotions, my friends, degeneration of society, the end of the world, love and an anarchy movement, among others. Everyday life serves as the ultimate tool for your creative juices to flow. For example, an expired tomato in a supermarket sparked a song complaining about supermarkets. That turned into a song about closing times (can you catch the double meaning?). That in turn evolved into a song about nights. Which led to shadows, which led to the song ‘Umbrage of the Night’. See what I mean? Inspiration comes from everywhere.
I hope my short guide has given you the confidence to write stronger songs and build on song structure as never before. Always remember, the foundation is the almost important part of the song. Happy writing.
Wayne
Linear Equation
2007
linkinwayne@msn.com
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The Linear Equation Music Project:
http://house-of-jupiter.blogspot.com
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