Music Composition/Songwriting How To 6

I'm certain Mariah Carey's songwriters know this stuff. You should too.

You can break these rules but you'll want to know that you ARE breaking them and better yet why you're breaking them and that it will probably reduce the sellability of your material if you do.

A related point is that if the chorus starts on the first note of the scale and the first beat of the first measure then the verse shouldn't do either. For variety's sake you should start the verse on a different note and a different rhythmic starting point.

This is the main thing amateur composers miss. I've heard it on all of the songwriter/composition forums I've belonged to. 95% of the stuff people are posting for review aren't taking advantage if this basic strategy.

Every section sounds like its supposed to be a chorus if they all start on the downbeat and on the first note of the scale. The effect is usually boredom.

To recap, the Chorus starts on the downbeat and on the first note of the scale.

The verse doesn't start on the downbeat (perhaps on the "and" of 1 or on beat 2 or before the downbeat) and on some other note of the scale such as the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 2nd, 6th or 4th in that order.

If your chorus started on the 5th which is a slightly weaker note then you probably don't want to start the verse on the 1st note of the scale because it's a stronger note and you'll be relegated to choosing from the 7th, 2nd, 6th or 4th.

The fourth is actually a dissonant interval which is why it's placed last and most tunes don't start with it so if you feel like you need to narrow your choices feel free to drop it from your available options especially if you're a beginner and aren't sure how to treat it.

Now, what are you going to put in those sections? A better question is how are you going to put it in?

Did you know that most sections of popular music have at least two melodic phrases? And you have to write the first one to sound like it's not finished so that people will be expecting the second one?

There are two ways to accomplish that. The first way is where it ends and the second way is what not it ends on.

In a 4 measure phrase if you end on beat one of the 4th measure it will be a strong ending position. The phrase will sound finished.

If you also end on the first note of the scale or the root of the chord that's playing then it may even sound like the end of the whole tune.

Obviously you don't want to end in that position or on that note if there's more music coming. So don't. End somewhere else and end on any other note, preferably not the one you started on either.

Again I've never seen this advice anywhere except in the Berklee book. Not even in books on classical composition. It's very specific and advice that's easy to accomplish.

Creating Variety in Music

If you listen to a standard artist such as say Avril Lavigne or John Secada, the instrumentation is always the same on every song. Keyboards, bass, drums, guitar, vocals. That doesn't change usually except they might add another instrumental player such as a harmonica but that occurs very rarely. There's usually a standard instrumentation for stuff.

The style of music I play does incorporate the bowed rebab from the middle east and I've been trying to get my hands on one so as to have another instrumental voice to work with.

I'm very much concerned about having variety in my music. Here is what I've already done to create variety in my tunes. Every song has a different form.

Although they all have at least three different sections (some more). I made a chart of how they could all be different. The first consideration is section length.

The three basic sections can all be eight measures. But you can make them shorter or longer usually in groups of even numbers. Although odd numbers are also possible but you have to have a reason for doing that.

8 8 8
8 8 4
8 8 16
8 2 8
168 8
168 4
2 8 8
4 8 8
8 162

You get the idea.

The other thing is that I base the tunes on a variety of keys. But my music only uses 5 notes so there's only 5 to work with.

As I said each tune has a different tempo

88
106
162
120
112 etc...

The other thing I do is to make sure that if an instrument is featured in the A section for example then in the next 10 songs it won't be there again.

If one tune goes; wooden xyllophone, flute, zither

then the next tune might go pot gong, zither, flute

Another thing I do is vary the compostional technique between sections.

If the A section is using the wooden xyllophones compositional technique whether or not a wooden xyllophone is actually playing it then the A section won't feature that on the next tune. It will use something else.

I often use smalle cymbals as an accompaniment and the rhythm they play is different on every tune. I keep a chart so I don't repeat myself.

I also have different ways of announcing section changes. The main way is by striking a gong but sometimes I use a different sounding gong or a cymbal instead of the same gong all the time. Or I use a glissando on something such as board zither or xyllophone.

Songwriting Intermediate II

The last chord of the verse sections should have Subdominant function which may be the actual subdominant chord. Taking the example of a verse starting in C Major then it's last chord could be F Major but other chords can serve as substitutes for subdominant function. The second chord D minor will work.

You just don't want to end on the I or the V chord in the verse unless you know how to treat them, such as placing the IM7 chord in 3rd inversion weakening it's tonic function. Now you have the first and the last chords of the verse and the first chord of the chorus. Often the chorus ends on the I chord but you can also use another chord that can substitute for the tonic function such as the iii chord. Following these "rules" for harmony will help avoid wandering chord progressions.

Another thing to think about is what the Beatles used to do. They would say if the chorus doesn't have any chromaticism then the verse will: either in the melody or in the chord progression or both. Another way to do that is if there is chromaticism in the melody in the verse then there won't be chromaticism in the chorus' melody but can be in the chorus' harmony in order to change things up.

The same idea applies to the melodic rhythm. One section can have some syncopation, while the other is more flat footed. Or if the melody is flat footed then the accompaniment is syncopated and visa versa. That's not something I've employed much consciously but I'll give it a shot at some point not that I probably haven't already done it unintentionally.

Also the first phrase within a section can be syncopated while the second phrase is flat footed or the antecedent within the first phrase is syncopated while the consequent is more on the beat within the first phrase. Cuban and African music even take it down to the level of one or two measures, where the first measure of the Clave is syncopated and the second measure is on the beat.

Hope that helps. I'd say good luck but it's mostly skill.