Tag: songwriter

Improve Your Lyrics – Tip #20

A quick mindfulness tip when writing and revising your lyrics:

Say that the purpose of your song is to have a “build-up” of thematic material or a load of hints before the final reveal at the end/chorus.

The best way to make a flow with continuity before the big reveal is to make sure one thing is carried over from one verse to the next. This allows for connectivity as well as continuous exponential growth in the thematic details before everything is pieced together in the end/chorus.

Think of each verse as an opportunity to dig a bit deeper into the details of the story. You start at the surface and work your way to the core.

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Tip #154 – Cheat-Sheet for Four-Part Fourth Structures

Okay, the title may seem really confusing, but this is what it is:

This post is about how to create fourth structures (harmonies built on intervals of fourths) with four notes.

To read the cheat-sheet below, take a melody note and decide what function is it in relation to the chord. Then, you add three remaining chord member notes below it. Finally, you analyze the chord in relation to the melody note being the tonic:

So, say that I have the note A, and I want it to be the m3 of a chord:

Because A is the m3 of the chord, that means the notes below it (from highest to lowest) are E as the b7, B as the 11, and F# as the root 1. We can thus analyze this as vi 11 in the key of A major:

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Tip #153 – Dropped Voices

For the longest time, I had no idea what people meant by “use a ‘drop-2’ voicing on that chord.” That terminology was unfamiliar to me at the time. However, I am here no to tell you all so that you don’t end up in the same situation as I was of not knowing.

Dropped voicing is a simple way of creating an open position chord voicing by lowering specific notes by an octave.

First, you start with a chord (usually, in four-part density with the melody note doubled) just like the examples below:

Then to do “drop-2,” you simply drop the second voice from the top an octave down:

This can also be done as “drop-3” or “drop-4” depending on your liking of the sound. In addition, you can combine certain ones together. Most typically, arrangers use “drop-2 & 4” in their scores:

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Tip #152 – Understanding the Vakulabharanam Scale

The Carnatic music of South India has 72 scales (melakartas) comprised of seven different notes in either an ascending (arohana) or descending (avarohana) fashion. These scales are used in a kind of India music called rāga and are extremely beautiful. In addition these scales are grouped into different chakras, based on certain similarities.

Today’s melakarta is the Vakulabharanam scale (roughly meaning “all of family”), the second scale from the third chakra.

Below is a representation of the scale as if it was put into Western notation:

Both the first (SA) and fifth (PA) scale degrees are in a placement normal to most scales found in Western music. However, there is an augmented distance between the second (RI) and third (GA) scale degrees.  While this may sound dissonant or exotic, this scale gives a great amount of opportunity to play with tension and chromatic passing tones.

Try playing around with the scale, possible harmonies, and progressions!

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Tip #151 – Using Fourth Structures in Harmonization

Continuing with a topic discussed the other day, we are going to take a look at how we can harmonize a melody using these fourth structures.

First, start off with a melody:

Then, add the diatonic fourth below the melody (this can either be a P4 or a tritone):

Now, we are going to do a closed fourth voicing, which means that we will add a third below the melody note. However, for the harmony that has a tritone, we are going to add a third ABOVE the bottom note:

If we instead wanted to do open fourths, we would need to stack two intervals of a fourth on top of each other. So, that simply means adding another fourth below the fourth from the previous example:

But, notice how the one with X’s have a tritone in them. Technically, that does not exactly fit the definition of an open fourth structure. To edit this, we use chromatics to adjust the harmonic intervals:

And there you go!

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Tip #150 – Difference Between Open and Closed Fourth Structures

Just like triads (tri- three) that are made of thirds, you can construct chords out of the perfect fourth interval.

Simply, and open fourth structure is a chord built from two P4 intervals on top of each other, spanning a m7 interval. A closed fourth structure is one that spans an interval of a P4 with a third below the melody note (either m3 or M3 depending on the diatonic scale)

However, in the case that the interval of the diatonic closed fourth chord is a tritone, the best way to reharmonize it is to create an interval of a third between the bottom note instead of the top:

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Tip #149 – Cheat-Sheet for Using Definitive Triads

The concept of definitive triad – while not commonly known – is very easy to understand and master.

It is using two adjacent diatonic triads of piece of music’s scale or mode to harmonize an entire melody.

Each melody note will be harmonized be either one of the two definitive triads in relation to its chord tone. Of course, there will be one remaining pitch that will not have a direct harmonization to one of the two definitive triads. In a simple exemption to the rule: use any diatonic triad containing that note to harmonize.

Below is a cheat-sheet on what chords within their respective scales or modes work best as the two definitive triads for harmonization:

So, a melody based in the mode of B Lydian will use the I and II chords… the B major triad and C# major triad. Because of the combination of those two chords { B , C# , D# , E# , F# , G# }, the A# is the note left-out… and thus, can be harmonized by any triad of your choice that is diatonic to the B Lydian scale.

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Improve Your Lyrics – Tip #19

Another quick instalment on how to revise and edit your lyrics:

Objectively, you want your verses and choruses/refrains to be different from another.

Verses are designed to the show the details of the story while choruses/refrains should tell the overall meaning of the story.

Because the chorus is used as a “home-base” to reiterate the meaning to the listener, the verses should have the job to add color.

Basically, ask yourself, “What is the meaning of the song?” and “Does the chorus/refrain alone get the message across?”

If you need the verses as crutches to support the meaning of the song, it means you have a weak chorus. So refine and edit the chorus till the point you have no doubt about it.

As for the verses, they should be connected and related to the overall meaning of the song, but should also be used to express the details.

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Improve Your Lyrics – Tip #18

This is going to be a short piece of advice:

When you a building a bridge to connect two areas together, should the bridge contain a lot of material, a balanced amount, or a bare amount?

Obviously, the answer is a balanced amount.

That is the same mentality you need when writing verses in your song.

Verses, while should be unique from each section, should also have some connection between each. You don’t want a laundry-list of things talked about in your verses that runs on-and-on. Pick a strong theme and stick to it with development.

You don’t a single thread of an idea to be the thing holding the verses together in relation to one another, and you certainly don’t always want to repeat the same things (that can lead to boredom). You want there to be fluidity and strong connectivity from one verse to another.

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Tip #148 – Reducing Dominant Chords to Three-Note Harmonies

Tailgating on the idea of being limited to a three-part harmony; you are going to have to make some choices if you want the sound of a dominant chord, but can only voice three notes.

To remind: a dominant chord is a major triad with a b7 interval above it (and is usually decorated with extra upper extensions as well as tension tones).

So…

Whenever the root, 9, b9, #9, 11, +11, 13, or b13 is in the melody – support it with the 3rd and b7th of the chord underneath it.

Whenever the 3rd or 5th is in the melody of the dominant chord – support it with the b7th, and the remaining 5th or 3rd.

Whenever the b7th is in the melody – support it with the 3rd and 5th underneath it.

Whenever there is an alternation or substitution in the dominant chord – keep it, but make sure the distance between the two upper notes is not a m2.

And more so…

Keep this in mind as you plan how to do a harmonic arrangement and support of your musical work.

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