level 9
甜味剂
楼主
写歌心得: 写词
2012-05-24 03:01:37
There are 7 main types of cues or devices that you can use to begin writing lyrics with:
Title: Based on the title/theme.
Phrase: Similar to the above but based on a phrase.
Experience: An experience. Can be personal or in another person's shoes.
Event: Description of a certain event. Does not need to be experienced by the writer, but perception only.
Story: Story driven, has a progression and informs the listener of what's happening.
Message: Usually in the form of a warning, or advice.
Reference: A response, inspired by, or in relation to another song or written text.
Lyrical details are divided into two main categories:
External: The environment, details that can be perceived by the 5 human senses. External information that sets the scene (i.e. who, what, where, when, why?). Also, climate and motional influences/factors.
Internal: Feelings, emotions, thoughts.
Note: Male writers tend to be more "external", while female writers lean towards "internal" detail.
Thoughts:
A good practice to improve on your songwriting skills is to start with your weakest tool. People tend to rely on only one or two sources (in most cases, their strengths), which potentially leads to a repetitive outcome. For a pianist like me, if I was to start writing a new song, it's natural for me to go straight to the piano: chord sequence, a riff, or a melody.
It's no surprise that there wasn't much progression during my whole year of hiatus. My work and writing method became repetitive, therefore I tried to find different ways to improve the very same method. The disadvantage of this is obvious, I'm still just using the same method! Instead, I should've moved on to explore different methods and devices to help my writing. Weird example, in Diablo3, every spell or action has a cooldown period. It doesn't necessarily mean that the skill isn't working anymore, but it just needs time to recharge, and come out fresh the next time it's activated or cast by the player.
Moreover, by starting with the music first, there's a change that I'm limiting the choices and amount of possibilities later in the lyric writing stage. Why? If I'm stuck to a specific chord sequence, I'm limited to a set melody that's based on the chords. When I have to write lyrics strictly to that melody, word lengths and phrasing become less flexible. The delivery of the intended story or message becomes less effective due to the adaptation to the melody.
So what's another method? Rather than the music first, how about the lyrics first? I'm not going to go into detail on this yet, as I still have to try it myself. Haha. I promise you I will come back to this in a future post. However, take note of the material at the beginning of this post. They will be the devices that I will be using. First choose one of the 7 types to write with, and make sure you have a good balance of the two lyrical detail in your song. External details are mostly used in the verse, and internal detail in the chorus.
Please note that I'm not saying "this songwriting method is better than the other". I'm used to writing with my piano and music first, so I will attempt and start writing with lyrics first (not even with a melody, but just pure text and content). However, this might have the same effect as writing with music first. If I have already completed a full set of lyrics, it could be hard for me to write a melody or rhythm as I have to follow the amount of words and syllables. Fortunately, a single syllable can have multiple notes in it, as opposed to a single note cannot have multiple syllables...well...you actually can if you're repeating the note, but it'd sound really forced and intentional (i.e. singing a 5 syllable word on a single note in the middle of a melodic phrase). But again, it depends on what you want and what you're looking for. Comedic songs use long words that are sung on the same note, and it works.
So next time somebody asks you, "What's the best way to start writing a song?" Your answer will be "Depends what you're looking for." To have a more musical and melodic orientated song, it's best to start with an instrument and the music first. Get your chord sequence or riff and build a nice melody (or vice versa). If you're looking for a more message and story dominant song, go for the lyrics first.
Hope ya'll enjoyed this first post,
Y. Lam
2012年05月24日 10点05分
1
2012-05-24 03:01:37
There are 7 main types of cues or devices that you can use to begin writing lyrics with:
Title: Based on the title/theme.
Phrase: Similar to the above but based on a phrase.
Experience: An experience. Can be personal or in another person's shoes.
Event: Description of a certain event. Does not need to be experienced by the writer, but perception only.
Story: Story driven, has a progression and informs the listener of what's happening.
Message: Usually in the form of a warning, or advice.
Reference: A response, inspired by, or in relation to another song or written text.
Lyrical details are divided into two main categories:
External: The environment, details that can be perceived by the 5 human senses. External information that sets the scene (i.e. who, what, where, when, why?). Also, climate and motional influences/factors.
Internal: Feelings, emotions, thoughts.
Note: Male writers tend to be more "external", while female writers lean towards "internal" detail.
Thoughts:
A good practice to improve on your songwriting skills is to start with your weakest tool. People tend to rely on only one or two sources (in most cases, their strengths), which potentially leads to a repetitive outcome. For a pianist like me, if I was to start writing a new song, it's natural for me to go straight to the piano: chord sequence, a riff, or a melody.
It's no surprise that there wasn't much progression during my whole year of hiatus. My work and writing method became repetitive, therefore I tried to find different ways to improve the very same method. The disadvantage of this is obvious, I'm still just using the same method! Instead, I should've moved on to explore different methods and devices to help my writing. Weird example, in Diablo3, every spell or action has a cooldown period. It doesn't necessarily mean that the skill isn't working anymore, but it just needs time to recharge, and come out fresh the next time it's activated or cast by the player.
Moreover, by starting with the music first, there's a change that I'm limiting the choices and amount of possibilities later in the lyric writing stage. Why? If I'm stuck to a specific chord sequence, I'm limited to a set melody that's based on the chords. When I have to write lyrics strictly to that melody, word lengths and phrasing become less flexible. The delivery of the intended story or message becomes less effective due to the adaptation to the melody.
So what's another method? Rather than the music first, how about the lyrics first? I'm not going to go into detail on this yet, as I still have to try it myself. Haha. I promise you I will come back to this in a future post. However, take note of the material at the beginning of this post. They will be the devices that I will be using. First choose one of the 7 types to write with, and make sure you have a good balance of the two lyrical detail in your song. External details are mostly used in the verse, and internal detail in the chorus.
Please note that I'm not saying "this songwriting method is better than the other". I'm used to writing with my piano and music first, so I will attempt and start writing with lyrics first (not even with a melody, but just pure text and content). However, this might have the same effect as writing with music first. If I have already completed a full set of lyrics, it could be hard for me to write a melody or rhythm as I have to follow the amount of words and syllables. Fortunately, a single syllable can have multiple notes in it, as opposed to a single note cannot have multiple syllables...well...you actually can if you're repeating the note, but it'd sound really forced and intentional (i.e. singing a 5 syllable word on a single note in the middle of a melodic phrase). But again, it depends on what you want and what you're looking for. Comedic songs use long words that are sung on the same note, and it works.
So next time somebody asks you, "What's the best way to start writing a song?" Your answer will be "Depends what you're looking for." To have a more musical and melodic orientated song, it's best to start with an instrument and the music first. Get your chord sequence or riff and build a nice melody (or vice versa). If you're looking for a more message and story dominant song, go for the lyrics first.
Hope ya'll enjoyed this first post,
Y. Lam
