Why are you a songwriter? You may be hoping for a career either as a singer-songwriter, or as a member of a band that makes use of your songwriting skills. Or perhaps you’re hoping to entice others to sing your songs and make a name for yourself as a go-to for good songwriting material. “The […]
When lyrics sound stiff or rhythmically awkward, it’s usually the case that the basic pulse and accents of the words and phrases aren’t being honoured by the pulse and feel of the music. One easy way to deal with this is to read your lyric aloud, getting a sense of the natural pulse of the […]
If you’re hoping to make lyrics a more important feature of your songs, you need to read “Use Your Words! Developing a Lyrics-First Songwriting Process.” Right now, it’s free with your purchase of “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 10-eBook Bundle.” For most languages there is a written form and an oral form. You’ll notice this […]
This is the time of year that many songwriters are heading back to school. Whether you’re a student or a teacher, you’re likely discovering (or are about to discover) that the amount of time you have to write music is becoming increasingly hard to find. Are there any tricks for managing your limited time? Or must songwriters simply get […]
What does the word energy mean in music, and what role does it play? There are several possible ways to use that word when discussing music, and songwriting in particular. Energy might involve any, or a combination of, the following: Loudness; we think of louder music as being more energetic. Tempo; energetic music is often faster. Instrumentation; in […]
A number of years ago I wrote a blog article called “Pop Songs: What Checking the Fossil Record Can Do For Us“. In that post, I made a comparison between how Gregorian Chant (the music of the early Christian church of about A.D. 500) bore certain similarities to the way melodies are written today. You may […]
