MAKING EFFECTIVE MUSIC

 

Becoming an Effective Songwriter

You need to know your subject matter, this is IMPERATIVE. After all, it is difficult at best to discuss subjects that you’re not knowledgeable of—and research, know about the subject matter as much as possible
Write about what you know. If your songs are not meaningful to you, they probably won't be meaningful to other people, and the lack of knowledge on your subject and your lack of enthusiasm for it will show through.
Write primarily as an expression of your own feelings, and who knows better about what you're feeling than you?
Strive to expand your vocabulary. While some phrases may be very meaningful, there are probably words that fit the image you are trying to create more appropriately. Also, if possible, try to live "in" the subject matter.
You need to be vulnerable; to be a good writer, you must remain vulnerable in your writing. If you hide, then the song hides. There is no safe haven for songwriters. If you choose to play it safe and not lay it on the line, your songs will be cliché-ridden, shallow and boring.
You need to practice and you need to be persistent; Yes, sometimes, the words and melody simply flow. But most of the time songwriting is hard work. Songwriting requires work, practice, mentors, study, diligence, and commitment. We should give ourselves to the development of our writing skills.
Practice, sing and write constantly. Write something every day, even if you come up with something that might initially sound trite. You can revise it and make it something good later. Whatever musical impulse lies within will come out.

Important Elements of a Song

The most important aspect of a song is "sing-ability"

• Do the stressed syllables of the lyrics match the stressed beats of the music?
• Are the words you want emphasized sung with longer notes?
• Does it have a smooth melody?
• Are the intervals easy to sing? (Usually 2nds, 3rds, 4ths, 5ths and octaves are easiest.)
• Is the melody supported by the chord progression?
• Does the melody fall within the sing-able range of the majority? (Usually, not much lower than an A; not much higher than a D.)
• Is it too wordy? Too many words make it difficult to focus on the subject matter.
• One Theme: stay focused on the "seed thought".
• Repetition: This makes the song easier for the congregation to retain and memorize.
• Imagery: Does it capture an image? Does it paint a picture of how you feel about a given situation at a given moment in time?
• Consistent within itself: Is the melody "saying" the same thing as the lyrics? Try to avoid putting happy sounding lyrics with a haunting melody. Of course, this can be done: for example, songs by Asaki are a good example (they have haunting songs, but celebratory)
• Is it “catchy”?: Is there a creative chord progression? Is there an interesting rhyming scheme? Is there a creative melody? Is there alliteration?

Making the Connection

• The lyric is arguably the most important part of a song. Be clear. It is primary and fundamental that the audience understands what you are saying. If not . . . it might as well have been an instrumental.
• Does it use the language of the assembly? If aimed at Youth, does it "groove"? If aimed at Kids, is it happy?
• Is it intended for small group or a large crowd? Can it be sung by your choice of line up?
• Are there long pauses that could be filled with a lead instrument?
• Could there be more pauses to let your rhythm take a "rest"?

Simplicity

Simple images cut deep like a sharp knife. One of the most common mistakes made by beginning songwriters is trying to say too much. The simplest songs are usually the most powerful.
Complex writing in "code" that sounds like some other good song somewhere doesn't cut it. Many writers play it safe behind vague or complex lyrics.
If you try to say in three minutes or less how you feel about everything in your life, you will lose people. It is more powerful to show how you feel about ONE thing, right now.
Once you've gained considerable experience in writing songs, you may decide to add some elements of symbolism, metaphor, or irony into your work. A song with several layers grows progressively interesting; if there is more to the song than first meets the ear, it will stay fresh.

Sparking the Creative Flow

• Quiet time: The key to expressive songs and lyrics is personal quiet times.

Meditation is a very effective way to do this. There is no more creative expressiveness than your inner voice. Inner voice can both flow and be shaped: you can let ideas come to you and you can alter them. It usually comes when you quiet your mind. As you open to your inner voice, it becomes easier to hear, grasp and shape ideas.

• Difficulties and Devastation Speaking from life-changing personal experience.

This is important in folk-style songs, such as Blues and Country Music. Negative stories with a positive resolution can be very inspirational. Angry lyrics can be the release a listener is looking for.

• Brainstorming If you are a musician, sit at your instrument and just play.

If you are a lyricist, write or sing whatever comes to mind. Even seemingly boring or strange lyrics must be written down, to open your mind to the more interesting and familiar lyrics. It is important to at least consider everything that comes to mind. You can rewrite and reshape the lyrics later, as it becomes more and more clear, what you were trying to say or realized you could say instead.

• Was it just a feeling? Then follow your feeling—do not look for anything else.

Put those feelings into words and music. Either you must look for situations to match the feeling or feelings to match the words, Be emotionally well-rounded: write songs of varying feelings, but realize what emotions won't fit, Don't write funny if you consider your genre very serious.

• Do you just have a melody? Sing something, anything, to it.

Flip the notes around: try the second note as a fifth then as a fourth and third. See what works. Remember that the more familiar always sounds better, so you have to try any new melody you wrote several times before throwing it out.

• Is it just a thought?

Single thoughts are a powerful way to write. The feeling is often already implied. An interesting story, onatomatopiea, or extended reasoning or metaphor, could easily be written around a simple thought with enough hours spent. Every little thought counts, that you have about every phrase, word, and sound. Don't be afraid to try anything that comes to mind. Use the satisfaction from improving your thoughts to continue to improve your thoughts.

• • Brainstorm - write down every corresponding thought that comes to mind,

and don’t ever throw anything away. Bob Dylan is quoted in his famous deal with a higher power interview, as saying that he would move onto other songs if a new song wasn't happening. In another interview about Dylan's song Tangled Up In Blue, he said he spent years on the song graphting various women into one character, so sometimes move on, but keep every idea for some use somewhere.

• • Write down your ideas and lyrics, and always record a rough draft of your songs.

Listen to the recording. Does it have a linear thread through the whole song? Or is it like this wiki: a patchwork of many seperate ideas under one umbrella? Are there any phrases that don't quite make sense? Is there another phrase you could replace it with? Is there anything you cring at? Do you talk about your muffin in a song about poker?

• • Read your lyrics out loud.

Is there a clunky bunch of words? Is there anything that means something very powerful, but doesn't sound that way outloud? What is that powerful meaning and can you just write that instead?

• • Is the theme universal, or is it so personal that it could only mean something to you?

Remember theme is the universal meaning behind the details like love, bravery, good, evil, etc. There is always a theme, you just have to make it consistent.

• Do you have a great chord progression? If you have access to a piano, voice the chords with left hand and just improvise a melody with the right.

There are actually a limited number of simple good progressions, and they've all been written already, which explains why you wrote that really cool song, and then realized you took it from so and so, They "took" it too, because we ran out of "new" simple chord pregressions centuries ago, and the more complex ones are really combinations of simple ones.

• Or . . . do you just want to get rich?

We don't waste your time in music, there are a lot of other professions that immediately pay a lot more than 99.99% of musicians ever make. Even many supposedly rich musicians never made a dime, because of too much money spent on production, touring, and distribution. If you want to get rich, then check out any profession with a lot of demand. Yes you can become a millionaire from music, but count the number of hit songs and then think of the total number of songs written ever, and then think of the number of hit songs that were profitable. Also, consider that even if you wrote a hit level song, how do you get the national audience needed to become a millionare? Record labels don't even listen to submissions anymore. You have to tour relentlessly after you spent years begging friends, to come to shows and not even listen your perfectly written songs. And then consider that everyone has an ego, and that your song is not as good as it at first seems. Actually success depends on you opening your ego, unless you just happen to part of a social movement, and then nobody is really listening anyway. One exercise in ego would be to take the first two lines of your favorite song and break it down, then break down the language and poetry of your best song. And even opening up to better writing still doesn't guarantee success, There are countless songwriters that pop up years after there death as being great writing, but yet unacknowledged in their lifetime.

• • It's not completely impossible. Just close to impossible.

If you make songs just to get rich, there’s a strong chance you’re going to be terribly frustrated. We have little control over how others receive what we create. And if you try to change to fit what you think they want, you will never be happy with it, and they will never be happy with you. But at the same time, if you are unwillingly to change your lyrics to make more sense, because of some intangible lofty feeling, then you might be fooling yourself, and your success depends on deaf ears.

A Word Concerning Originality...

As songwriters, we don't have to re-invent the wheel; we just need to spin it our own way. A composer fails to be original when he or she does not listen to his or her own musical voice. Composers frequently re-create melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic tapestries that lie deep in their sub-conscious. Initially this is not a problem, since all music must take off from somewhere. We must be able to take it to a NEW place . . . one that it is original to our "take" on the style. Sometimes a composer is successful with a song only to find it has already been written.
Alternatively, it is common for a songwriter to use the same (or similar) well known melody. for example, Gekkoka (Moonlight Flower) and Tsubasa (wings) are both based on a classical piano piece, Midori no haze. However, with variations on melody (one is more melodramatic, while Tsubasa is more upbeat), and different lyrics, they become two distinct songs. Still, one should be very careful about using another person's melody, especially in countries in the developed world, which usually have the toughest copyright laws.

Conclusion

• Once you have a song that you think is ready for the group, run it past a few objective and mature friends for an honest critique. Don't be afraid to refine it, taking into consideration their input.
• Focus on the process, not the outcome. It's good to have a goal. It's more important to spend your days doing what pleases you. Years of deprivation and sacrifice to reach a “place” most times equal years of deprivation and sacrifice. The “place” is never enough compensation. Just ask anyone who is in the “place” you want to be.
• If you are really strong, you can find your identity in the songs you write, just like any poem.

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