Iambic WHAT!?
Did you decide what kind of layout your song is going to have? Now that you know how a song is laid out, you're ready to start writing the lyrics to your song. If you don't have a clue, don't worry; you will probably get some ideas as you write.
Writing lyrics for a song is like writing a poem. Actually, it is writing a poem, and your writing should follow the rules of poetry, at least mostly. A review of poetry-writing would be in order here. Don't worry. I won't go into all the technical stuff, like iambic pentameter and all that. Just the basics.
Poems are different from other forms of writing, like essays and novels, because of their structure. While novels and essays are made up of sentences that come one after the other, poetry is divided into lines. A stanza (remember that from the last couple of posts?) has a certain number of lines which usually rhyme at the end. The lines can have different rhyme schemes.
Songs usually have an even number of lines per section. For instance, "Holy" has 4 lines per verse. The chorus has five lines, but the last line is a repeat of the previous one. "Seek Ye First" is a chorus with four lines.
Often, a verse has 4 or 8 lines, and a chorus 4. A really long chorus could be 8 lines, and a prechorus or bridge could have 2-4. Of course, it all depends on how you want to write it. To have some variety within the song, you may want a long verse with a short, repetitious chorus. Or a short verse with a longer chorus.
There seems to be a trend in songwriting not to have very many rhymes at the end of the lines. I think this is partly because there are not very many rhyming words in the English language that have not been used over and over. However, these songs seem to be a little rougher and it is harder to predict where they are going. As a result, they are harder to learn. With end-of-line rhymes, it is easier to remember the song. Also, repeating of words and phrases in a song make it easier to remember, as well as repetitions in the melody. Is this starting to sound repetitious, repetitious? It is--a ballance of repetition and variety is what you want in your song.
Next post, I'll put in some examples of different poems and songs to show how they are put together.
Until Then,
Tim
Writing lyrics for a song is like writing a poem. Actually, it is writing a poem, and your writing should follow the rules of poetry, at least mostly. A review of poetry-writing would be in order here. Don't worry. I won't go into all the technical stuff, like iambic pentameter and all that. Just the basics.
Poems are different from other forms of writing, like essays and novels, because of their structure. While novels and essays are made up of sentences that come one after the other, poetry is divided into lines. A stanza (remember that from the last couple of posts?) has a certain number of lines which usually rhyme at the end. The lines can have different rhyme schemes.
Songs usually have an even number of lines per section. For instance, "Holy" has 4 lines per verse. The chorus has five lines, but the last line is a repeat of the previous one. "Seek Ye First" is a chorus with four lines.
Often, a verse has 4 or 8 lines, and a chorus 4. A really long chorus could be 8 lines, and a prechorus or bridge could have 2-4. Of course, it all depends on how you want to write it. To have some variety within the song, you may want a long verse with a short, repetitious chorus. Or a short verse with a longer chorus.
There seems to be a trend in songwriting not to have very many rhymes at the end of the lines. I think this is partly because there are not very many rhyming words in the English language that have not been used over and over. However, these songs seem to be a little rougher and it is harder to predict where they are going. As a result, they are harder to learn. With end-of-line rhymes, it is easier to remember the song. Also, repeating of words and phrases in a song make it easier to remember, as well as repetitions in the melody. Is this starting to sound repetitious, repetitious? It is--a ballance of repetition and variety is what you want in your song.
Next post, I'll put in some examples of different poems and songs to show how they are put together.
Until Then,
Tim
posted by Tim Heider at 7:00 PM
4 Comments:
You're gettin' to the fun stuff, the fun stuff! (Am I being repititious?)
yes you are! (that was a homonymous sentence! yes you are being repetitious and yes Tim is getting to the fun stuff) whoa!!!!
Don't you mean "hononymous"? as in, hononym?
Whoa, now. This is getting deep!
Post a Comment
<< Home