Tag: poetry

Today we are going to be talking about how changing the form by balancing/unbalancing sections can makes things – pop out.

Think about it. A section that is balanced in a group of unbalanced sections would stick-out in the listener’s mind through this juxtaposition. And this works in vice-versa.

A verse of 4 lines where 3 lines out of the 4 rhyme – the odd one out will get more attention from the listener.

Verses that have an unusual rhyming pattern or odd number of lines will create tension. Making the chorus a place of even resolution will make the chorus stick-out from the verses around it; thus, giving the section more power.

Keep this in mind as you are revising your lyrics.

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Unless it is your intention to do so, you usually never want your lyrics to come across as boring.

As you a revising your lyrics, here are some options of edits that you can make in order to make your lyrics become less wordy, or have more variety:

1.) Delete a verse – if you have too many verses, it might sound like a story book more than a song.

2.) Make a verse a bridge – say that you want to keep the lyrics, but want to change how it is performed to make it interesting to the listener.

3.) Add a bridge, refrain, prechorus, etc. – gives a bit more variety to the structure and progression of the song.

4.) Change the inner structure of the verse – instead of the predictable structure, try using one of those “surprises” we have talked about in previous blog posts.

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This is going to be a short post.

Below, I have attached a photo showing different rhyme schemes and patterns depending on the number of lines in your verse:

To read this “X” is any line that will not rhyme, and “A, B, C…” are lines that will rhyme with their same letter within the same line or in a future verse.

Practice by randomly taking one from the graph above and trying it out.

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Today we are going to be talking about structure – and more importantly, the inner structure of your lines, stanzas, verses, etc.

When you are writing a song, you want the message to come across as clear as possibly desired to your audience. Having a good structure will make that happen.

So, five main areas of structure within you lines are:

• Number of lines
• Length of lines
• Rhythm of lines
• Rhyme scheme of the lines
• Rhyme type to the words in the lines

Let’s briefly talk about them individually.

Number of lines has importance to it. an even number of lines produces stability while an odd number of lines creates tension or a lead-in to something with irresolution.

Length works the same way. Compare a song with each lines of the verse being the same versus ones where they are not.

Does the natural rhythmic flow and accentuation of the words change from line to line? And is that what you want?

With the rhyme scheme, you are basically deciding if the rhyme pattern will be predictable of not (more to come soon).

And finally, will these rhymes be close family or loose rhymes?

Think this stuff over as you are revising and editing your lyrics. Look over the structure and make sure it is what you intended it to be.

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Prosody – the unity between two or more things. Balance. Connection. Relation.

In music there are three major areas of prosody that should be kept in mind when writing and editing your lyrics. Those are:

• Prosody between words and the music/key
• Prosody between syllables and notes
• Prosody between rhythm and meaning

Let’s take the first one for example. If you are using a minor key and trying to write really ominous music, does it make sense to use “happy” descriptive words?

We’ve talked in the past about aligning stressed syllables with stressed beats, but the rhythm of how you pronounce the words should be natural as well. In addition, if you want to create a frantic meaning – would you use a fast rhythmic pattern or a slow one? Fast because it creates a unity between the rhythmic performance and musical meaning.

Keep in your conscious mind how you can make one part of your song (music and/or lyrics) relate to another.

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A surprise is something unexpected – something out of the ordinary. When your lyrics are becoming predictable (AKA expected) you can use a “surprise” to grab the audience’s attention back.

Some examples of “lyrical” surprises are:

• Delaying the resolution of a thyme with an extra line
• Placing the stresses on different words
• Placing the stresses on different beats
• Changing the rhyme scheme/pattern.
• Removing or adding lines to the from.

…or anything else that you can think of. Some modern examples are going from a typical rock song structured verse to maybe a rap.

Whatever you do, be confident in it.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read! Feel free to comment, share, and subscribe for more daily tips below! Till next time.

One aspect of your lyric writing you should be aware of is how the words line-up with the stresses of the meter in the music.

To review, meter and measure is the grouping of beats (pulses) together into a repeated hierarchy. In most music, the meter is 4/4 and the first beat is the strongest… followed by the third, second, and fourth.

As you speak your lyrics, you will notice that there are certain words (or maybe syllables of words) that have emphasis/strength. The overall goal is to make sure that those accents in your singing naturally line-up with the accents of the meter.

Strong words at the beginning of a verse should start on the downbeat while weak words at the beginning of a verse should start on an upbeat/anacrusis.

Of course, you can play with the syncopation and placement of accents. However, to achieve a fluid and natural sound – aim to get the lyrics stresses on the beat stresses.

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Today we are going to talk about the different points of view (separately) when writing lyrics.  It is important to be conscious of the song’s/story’s point of view because you want the intended message to come across to the audience.  For example: if you want to talk about a personal subject, would you be using the word “you?”  Probably not.

For this post, we are going to talk about the Direct tense.

Direct tense is similar to the Second Person point of view with the words as well as the level of intimacy.  However, this is used for talking more directly, as in a command.

• Subject – you
• Direct Object – you
• Possessive Adjective – your
• Possessive Predicate – yours

Thank you so much for taking the time to read! Feel free to comment, share, and subscribe for more daily tips below! Till next time.

Today we are going to talk about the different points of view (separately) when writing lyrics.  It is important to be conscious of the song’s/story’s point of view because you want the intended message to come across to the audience.  For example: if you want to talk about a personal subject, would you be using the word “you?”  Probably not.

For this post, we are going to talk about Third Person.

Third Person is for storytelling because of how objective it is.  If you want to tell of a situation happening to outside characters, the Third Person point of view is the best option.

The following are words used to convey the Third Person point of view:

• Subject – he, she, it, they
• Direct Object – him, her, it, them
• Possessive Adjective – his, her, its, their
• Possessive Predicate – his, hers, its, theirs

So, if you want to convey the Third Person point of view, keep in mind of using those words above.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read! Feel free to comment, share, and subscribe for more daily tips below! Till next time.

Today we are going to talk about the different points of view (separately) when writing lyrics.  It is important to be conscious of the song’s/story’s point of view because you want the intended message to come across to the audience.  For example: if you want to talk about a personal subject, would you be using the word “you?”  Probably not.

For this post, we are going to talk about Second Person.

Second Person has the most intimacy to it, because you are talking directly to another.  However, it needs to be used carefully – you don’t want it to come across like you are a dictator; you want the words to come across as conversational.

The following are words used to convey the Second Person point of view:

• Subject – you
• Direct Object – you
• Possessive Adjective – your
• Possessive Predicate – yours

So, if you want to convey the Second Person point of view, keep in mind of using those words above.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read! Feel free to comment, share, and subscribe for more daily tips below! Till next time.