SONGWRITERS ON SONGWRITING
Semester 2 Project 2 – Songwriting workshop
UNIT 1: MELODY
Always know the seventh chords in your chosen key. Over time learn them all. The circle of 5ths and our major/minor scales make this easy.
seventh F# G A B C D E
Key of G: Chords: fifth D E F# G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (8/1) third B C D E F# G A
G A B C D E F# G Root G A B C D E F#
MORE SONGWRITING AND MUSIC CREATION TIPS!
Pitch (note choices) and Rhythm (timing choices): START WITH
1. Up to three note chosen from a key, stepwise motion plus either a skip or leap, grouping these and combining them as shapes, pitch maps, contours, etc.
2. Single simple rhythm to start: Quarter notes and eighth notes –
This can only vary after you have stayed with your chosen rhythm for the first version of your verse or chorus (whichever you write first.
3. Use repetition and small variations- AND RESTS! (elision) - There are many Forms of Repetition and they can be combined to produce all kinds of great developments
- Melodic contour used to develop ideas and variations - create a structural balance between similar shapes and contrasting shapes (upward arch, downward line, upward line, downward arch)
- fragments of original line can be chained together (as in the melody for "let it shine, let it shine, let it shine")
- displacement of/by: pitch dimension (ex. octave displacement or transposition by another interval), rhythm (displacing notes or fragments of a melody in time)
- Elision can be considered a special form of displacement of both pitch and time, since the note or notes elided are no longer where they were before (they are nowhere...yet)
Repetition adds strength and reinforces expectation, variation adds tension which is resolved by a return to familiar material and a tonal center (Tonic of the key to close, or Dominant to prolong movement forward)
Remember the types of variation which are:…? (class responses, making note of who [participates and remembers!) Displacement by octave, by another interval, displacement in time, including elision.
Other basic yet very important considerations beyond Pitch and Time dimensions:
- Register and voicing
- Tambre/Tone color
- Dynamics
- Articulation
- Phrasing - emphasis
LYRICS (weekly homework): Each day, in your journal 2 or 3 times daily for 5 minutes each time, write creative ideas that will become songs. Morning, afternoon, and evening is a good routine - only 5 minutes each time.
Write a 4 line verse and/or a 4 line chorus in your journal.
As with our examination of blues and folk song, make small lyric changes to the verse but use repeated ideas from original verse to extend the song.
You may create a third section, most commonly called a “bridge” or “pre-chorus” if you are so inclined. This is an excellent way to building dramatic shape into an otherwise “blocky” song structure.
IN CLASS SONGWRITING EXERCISE:
Due after class today, before next class
Create and share a Word or Google Doc in which you:
Harmonize and create a connecting melody between harmonies for a song's chorus - given lyrics from a short poem.
2 class periods.
(0-3) completeness: efficiently prioritizing your workflow, every syllable has a melody note, every important word has a harmony
(0-3) harmony using circle of 4ths/5ths within an indicated Key Center (indicate key on top line of document)
(0-3) well constructed melody, using smooth and effective voice leading, mostly adjacent, consonant tones, and resolving most if not all dissonances (indicate any leaps with the direction) ex.LUb=leap up to b
(0-1) use of borrowed chords trying out a technique such as secondary dominant, modal interchange, or deceptive cadence
(extra 0-1) powerful melodic motifs, additional craftsmanship strengthening melody harmony or rhythm
Poem by Izumi Shikibu (976-1030AD)
What is it about this twilight hour?
Even the sound of a barely perceptible breeze
Pierces the heart
MORE Diatonic music notes
Using Diatonic structures
Songwriting Tips and Tricks
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