If you were a novelist, you’d be hoping to write a “page-turner.” As you know, all that means is that the reader simply can’t wait to turn the page to see what happens next. Is there an equivalent to the page-turner in the songwriting world? That concept of anticipation exists in every art form, though […]
The key of your song is usually determined by the key of your chorus. Your song’s verse might be in A minor, but it’s quite common for the key to then switch to C major for the chorus, and that’s usually what we think of as the song’s main key. When you put the magnifying […]
If you’re familiar with Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero”, you will know that it is comprised of a 32-bar long melody in two 16-bar parts which repeats, over and over again, with the only change being the orchestration of the melody. There is no other musical development. No change of key, no change of tempo, no competing […]
It’s usually not hard to know that a song we’re listening to has reached the chorus. We’ll notice that the chord progression will get shorter and simpler, and target the tonic chord more. The melody of a chorus is often made up of short, catchy, hooky bits that get repeated over and over, and the […]
Last week, I wrote about earworm melodies, and how chords (specifically open cadences) can play an important role in keeping a melody rolling around in a listener’s mind. That got me thinking about songs in general: What keeps people listening to your songs? I’m not talking about the larger topic of what keeps people coming […]
Written by Gary Ewer (Follow Gary on Twitter) “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” eBook Bundle To create musical tension means that we’re writing/playing music that makes listeners think that something more exciting is right around the corner. Musical tension includes anticipation of a climactic moment in the very near future. And that sense of anticipation is what keeps an […]
