A lot of times, creating a contrast in your melody is a great way to keep your melody interesting throughout your song. This is particularly true as you travel from one section of your song to another. For example, melodic contrast is key when going from your song’s verse to its chorus. Or from its chorus to its bridge. When creating a contrast in your melody, you can contrast the rhythms or the pitches of your melodies, as these are the two components that make up a melody. Well look at how you create those contrasts here.

Rhythmic Contrast

Short Notes vs Long Notes

A great way to achieve a melodic contrast from one section of your song to the next is to have shorter notes in one section of your song, then switch to longer notes in the next section, or vice versa. This is one of the techniques used in the song “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” by R.E.M. The notes in the verse are very quick, while comparatively the chorus notes are long and drawn out to create a contrast. There’s also prosody in that contrast. While the lyrics of the verses are fast paced and about chaos, they’re contrasted by the longer, more drawn out notes, which end on the phrase “and I feel fine.” Which is how the long drawn out notes make you feel after hearing the more chaotic fast notes of the verses.

Short Spacing vs Long Spacing
In the same way we can contrast our sections with the length of our notes, we can also do it with the length of the breaks between our notes. So for example, if your verses have long pauses between most of the notes, an effective way to contrast that idea in the verse or bridge is to use much shorter spacing between the notes.

Varied Rhythm vs. Steady Rhythm
Another less considered way of achieving contrast is to have a varied rhythm in one section against a much more steady rhythm in the preceding or following section. A steady rhythm would simply be one with consistent note lengths and spacing lengths. So if your verses were fairly evenly spaced, having a chorus or bridge that is more chaotic in that sense can create a nice contrast.

Starting on a Different Beat
Starting your melody on a different beat can be a nice, subtle way to create contrast from one section to another. If you’re always starting on the downbeat, every section will have a similar feel of completeness to it. Changing the beat the melody starts on will change the feel of the melody within each section. This one’s often neglected, but can be pretty effective if you use it wisely.

Using Different Phrase Lengths From Section to Section
The phrase of a melody can be in-sync, out-of-sync, longer than, or shorter than your harmonic phrases. In other words, sometimes the length of a melodic phrase and the length of your chord progression will align, and sometimes they won’t. You can use that concept to create contrast between your sections, by using out-of-sync phrases in your verses and then in-sync phrases in your chorus or bridge, or vice versa. It’s more subtle than something like longer notes versus shorter notes, but it’s still an effective and less thought of way of achieving contrast.

Contrasting Pitches

High Notes vs. Low Notes

One of the most effective ways to achieve contrast in your vocals from one section to another is to change the vocal range within each section. For example, it’s ideal to have the verses of a song sung in the middle to lower end of your vocal range, while the choruses can peak out at some of your highest notes.

Varied Pitches vs. Minimal Variation in Pitches
Another way to use your pitches to create contrast between your sections is to have one section use a lot of fluctuation in the pitches of its melody, while the next (or preceding) section has almost none. In other words, maybe your verse fluctuates within an entire octave of notes, while your chorus simply bounces back and forth between a C and a D.

Change the Note the Next Section Starts On
If you’re starting each section of your song with the same note (especially if it’s the tonic of the chord), it can make the beginning of each section’s melody sound similar. That’s why it’s a good idea to experiment with changing the first note of your section.

Combining Rhythm and Pitch for Effective Contrast

The most effective way to create contrast from section to section is to use a combination of melodic and pitch changes in each section. You can use several of the ideas mentioned together to really get your melodies sounding different from section to section. Experiment with these ideas to get the most effective results for your music.

Melodies are essentially composed of only two parts: pitch and rhythm. However, singers often infuse their own stamp on melodies with their unique vocal deliveries. While vocal delivery isn’t technically part of a melody, it’s an important part of infusing any melody with your own vocal sound. Vocal delivery can give any given melody a different style for every singer, even though the actual melody would still look exactly the same on a piece of sheet music for whoever sings it. Having said that, let’s talk specifically about some of the components contained within a vocal delivery to give you a better understanding of what’s contributing to your vocal style.

1. Vocal Color

The color of your vocal tone is the actual sound of your voice, whether it’s your singing voice or your speaking voice. It’s what your voice actually sounds like. It can also be called timbre. It’s the sound of your vocal, independent of pitch, volume or length. It’s also sometimes referred to as vocal tone, although tone tends to carry more aspects of the vocal than color alone. So we’ll stick with the term vocal color here, when talking about the vocal properties independent of pitch, volume or length.

Vocal color is predominantly what makes Mick Jagger’s voice sound different from Jewel’s even if they both sang the same note, with the same volume, for the same length of time, with the same emotion. You’d still easily know who was who because of the color of their respective vocals.

The color of your vocal is unique to you. Your body affects the color of your vocal in a lot of ways. The size and shape of your vocal chords and your overall build can contribute to what your voice sounds like.

The color of someone’s voice can be described in a plethora of different ways: bright, rich, warm, dark, smooth, breathy, edgy, crisp, full, nasally, throaty, etc. These are words that can describe the color of someone’s voice. If you can relate to any of these words as they apply to the texture of a vocal, then you understand what the color of a voice is.

Talking about this is primarily to make you aware of it. While you can change the color of your own vocals as you sing, a lot of your vocal color is built into who you are, simply based on how your body is built.

An example of changing the color of your vocals would be if you sang in a whisper, as opposed to singing with a scream. Disregarding the obvious change in volume and emotions, there would also be a very apparent change in the color of your vocals. Singing in a falsetto is another example of changing your own vocal color. If you sing a note without a falsetto, and then sing the same note with a falsetto, the color of your vocal would sound different.

2. Emotion

The emotion, or energy in your vocals can be a crucial part of a great vocal performance. The emotion you use in your voice should ideally be tied to both the lyrical content of the song you’re singing, as well as the mood of the song.

Consider that your words are just data, or information. How those words are emoted with the energy behind them can greatly affect what they mean. For example, what if I said the phrase “come here.” How I energize the phrase will affect how you receive it. If I said “come here?” with a light tone, asking it as a question, it would probably just make you curious about what I wanted to tell you. On the other hand, if I yelled “COME HERE!,” as if I were a father yelling at a misbehaving child, you would take that to mean something very different. You may even become frightful, or defensive as a result of the energy behind the words.

Singing is an exaggeration of the spoken word, which means how you emote, or energize the words within your melody matters when you’re singing a song. Different lyrics and song moods will call for different emotions in your vocal delivery.

As an example think about the song “Monkey Wrench” by Foo Fighters. Dave Grohl sings that song with a ton of emotion and fired-up energy which is completely fitting for the face paced, heavy mood of the song, as well as the content of what he’s singing about. The vocal delivery really works in regard to how it’s emoted. It’s very appropriate for the song.

Conversely, think about the vocal performance we hear Cyndi Lauper give in “True Colors.” It’s very different, but just as effective as Dave Grohl’s for similar reasons. The energy behind the vocal is much more reserved, which is fitting for both the words being sung and the feel of the song.

Adding emotion to a given melody is probably the most important part to a vocal delivery and in turn, the melody. It’s your chance to interpret the lyrics and mood of the song as you see fit and to express it through your vocals. It can make or break a given melody.

3. Volume

Volume is a straightforward enough concept, but it’s worth mentioning within the concept of  vocal delivery. First of all, volume tends to be very tied into the emotion of a lyric. For example, rock vocal deliveries filled with anger and aggression are naturally going to be much louder than those of a whispered acoustic song.

Well, at least that’s true in a live performance. At lot of times a lot of compression is used in recordings, which can make the vocal stay within the same range of volume whether it’s a whisper or a scream. So it can take away the dynamics you would have in a a truly live version of the song.

4. Pitchiness

I suppose technically the idea of pitchiness falls within the “pitch” part of a melody, but I’m mentioning it here as part of vocal delivery for a specific reason. When you write a melody, you‘re usually intending to hit certain notes when you sing. Pitchiness happens when the notes you sing stretch a little (or maybe even a lot) outside of the notes that were intended in your melody.

Pitchiness is usually considered a bad thing in someone’s vocal delivery. That’s why

I recommend thoroughly practicing your melody. Knowing the notes of your melody inside and out is a good way to minimize pitchiness. If you’re not too sure what the notes of your own melody are, it’s very likely that your delivery will be pitchy. But if you’re coming up with a clearly defined melody, it will be easier for you to practice and perfect it. Conversely, if you come up with a long and drawn out melody off the top of your head, it’s likely to get pitchy if you’re not 100% clear on what it is and where it’s going.

5. Pronunciation

Pronunciation isn’t a big one, but it’s still worth making note of. Different singers can articulate words differently when they’re singing them. Some singers have a tendency to over-articulate certain sounds. For example, they may hit the final “t” sound hard in a word like “right,” so that it doesn’t get lost in the mix of the song. Other singers have a tendency to slur their words together when they’re singing, which can make the lyrics harder to make out. Eddie Vedder seemed to get parodied a lot for that kind of delivery when Pearl Jam’s first album came out. Particularly on the song “Even Flow.”

I find that splitting the difference between those two extremes usually works best in a vocal delivery. It’ll keep the song sounding conversational. In other words, don’t over-articulate, but don’t slur your lyrics either. You want your words to be clearly heard within your melody, in a conversational presentation.

Accents are another way singers can bring different pronunciations to a vocal delivery. A lot of times accents seem to get lost in a vocal delivery. We’ll hear a song on the radio that appears to be without an accent, but then we’ll hear the singer speak and he will have an accent after all. So a lot of times accents don’t even come into play when singing, but if the vocals are delivered a certain way, they can show up. A good example of that is “Song 2,” by Blur. There’s a detectable English accent in that song.

Last Note

Now you have a better understanding of how a singer can put his or her own unique stamp on any given melody. While a melody is only composed of rhythm and pitch, how you deliver the vocal can make the melody entirely your own. So use this concept to your advantage the next time you’re singing a melody.

One of the things I’ve noticed while researching various topics for articles and blog posts is the lack of reliable statistics relating to independent musicians. It’s easy enough to pull up statistics from the Recording Industry Association of America but their data is largely related to what is happening in the main stream of the music business. But what about the average musician who is out there in the trenches every day, performing live and releasing albums but not necessarily achieving rock star status? I thought it was worth knowing what was normal and what wasn’t. How many albums the average musician is selling, where the sales are coming from, and what the average musician is doing to promote their albums in the first place?

I sent out a survey to my subscriber base (which is currently made up of over 10,000 musicians) and these are the results that came back from those who completed the survey.

Some of the results were surprising, and some not so much. Below I’ll share the results with you and offer a little analysis of what the statics suggest, and how they might be relevant to your music career.

Where do the majority of your album sales come from?

While it’s a bit disheartening to hear, it’s not all that surprising that the most significant source of album sales is “friends and family”. It seems the average musician is simply paralyzed when it comes to applying a marketing strategy that can expand their reach beyond their own personal network. This really needs to change folks. In line with that is the fact that the second richest source of sales is “live shows”. Live shows certainly are a great way to sell albums but the problem there is simply that your reach is limited to the amount of available time and energy that you, the artist, has at your disposal. In short, it’s not easily scalable, nor is it often even feasible.

What WAS a bit of a surprise, a shocker really, is that a mere 1% of sales are coming from people’s mailing lists. This is HUGE missed opportunity folks. Especially given that “the internet” is nearly on par with “live shows” as a source for generating album sales. A mailing list and a little knowledge of copywriting is your best chance and generating sales. It’s more powerful than shows, it’s more powerful than press, it’s more powerful than any marketing strategy out there. More importantly, expansion is possible without a significant increase in your expenditure of time, energy or resources.

Honest answer… On average, how many albums do you sell per year?

These numbers are just straight up devastating. Don’t let the breakdown fool you you either. 57% Percent of musicians are selling less than 50 albums a year. Yeesh.

More shocking… We’ve all heard about the 1000 fan model that suggests (I think very wisely), that an artist can flourish with only 1000 true fans. Well… gulp… 93% of artists are selling less than 1000 albums a year. Imagine those kind of statistics in any other industry. What would we also say if we learned that 93% of carpenters were not making a basic subsistence level salary? No wonder our parents tried to talk us out of becoming musicians.

It seems obvious already that there is a real disconnect with independent musicians when it comes to developing a methodical sales strategy. As unromantic as it is, if we are going to succeed in the music business we need to act like a business. That simply means following a strategy that produces more output than it requires input. We can do this folks.

Have you ever signed a record deal?

These numbers sound right to me. I wouldn’t be shocked to learn that the percentage of signed artists who took this survey is higher than average given that my subscribers are a much more proactive group of musicians than the norm (good on you guys). The one thing that does stand out is the fact that 16% percent of artists have had record deals but only 7% of artists are selling more than 1000 albums per year. This suggests that the marketing strategy failure spans more than just the DIY crowd.

Do you regularly perform live shows?

There are a number of ways you could slice these statistics. On the one hand this is an indicator of how many musicians are leaving potential sales on the table by not performing live. On the other hand I’m a passionate believer in developing direct response marketing strategies that work regardless of whether or not you perform. At any rate, it’s interesting to learn that almost half of the musicians out there are not performing regularly.

Approximately how many albums do you usually sell at shows in relation to the audience size?

This was really interesting to me. 33% of musicians “never sell ANYTHING” at live shows. And yet live shows are the greatest source of album sales beyond friends and family.

One of the primary mantras of marketing and sales is that you always need to ask for the sale. This DOES NOT mean simply spamming people and saying BUY MY S@*T. But it does mean requesting that people take a specific action at the right time. This is true whether you are selling on your website, via an email blast, or even at a live show. A live show is one of the best opportunities a musician has to land sales. The fact that so few are selling ANYTHING from their shows suggest a fairly deep rooted ignorance, or possibly resistance, to marketing in general. Another thing that I hope we can change here.

Another thing that stands out is that the conversion rates at live shows are on par with those we see with good email marketing. In fact I’d say email marketing yields better results on average. With the average email marketing campaign I am seeing a conversion rate between 1% and 10%. 14% was the best I have personally ever experienced and I’d say that 4% is about average. That simply means that of 100 people to sign up for my list about 4% eventually purchase. Judging by the results of this survey it appears that the average show is converting at only 2%. And email marketing doesn’t require gas money

How big is your mailing list?

Well, the reason so few of you are seeing sales via your mailing lists becomes immediately apparent. Most of you don’t have one… doh!

With any form of email marketing your sales are going to be in direct correlation to the size of your list. As I mentioned above… An extraordinarily good conversion rate would be in the 10% range. So a list of 172 people just isn’t going to cut it. Increase your mailing list size and you will increase your sales. The most common mistake I see when it comes to building your mailing list is not having a clear and direct reason for people to opt in to your list. That tiny little opt in box on the corner of your site that says “join my mailing list” just isn’t going to do it.

If you’re one of my subscribers than you know I recommend the use of what are called “squeeze pages”. To give you an example of how much a squeeze page can help… I have a very pronounced opt in form on my blog. It currently converts visitors into subscribers at a mere 4%. My Squeeze page, by comparison, is currently converting at over 25%.

It seems that a conscious change in the way many musicians are going about building there mailing list is needed. Build your mailing list and you will increase your sales. It’s that simple.

Have you ever personally spent money on advertising to promote your music?

This one somewhat surprised me. I expected to hear that only a tiny fraction of musicians had actually spent their own money on advertising. Good on you on guys for proving me wrong. That shows the kind of proactivity that is needed to succeed as an independent musician. The only disconnect here is that the number of artists selling a significant volume of albums is much MUCH less than the percentage of artists who have spent money on advertising. It makes me wonder how that money has been spent.

I know from speaking with musicians each day that most artists are still following the old branding strategies that the major record labels have been using for decades. Vague ads in the back of the LA Weekly just aren’t gonna cut it when it comes to direct response marketing. Instead of spending money on advertising that generates “exposure” to you as an artist, I suggest looking into much less wasteful advertising such as ultra-targeted Pay Per Click. Better yet, use geo targeting and advertise to only those along your tour route. You can potentially make album sales on the front end and ticket sales on the back.

Music Industry Statistics Concluded…

Hopefully these stats can serve two purposes. One, to show you that you are not alone if you are still struggling to sell albums as an independent artist. And two, to point out a few potential disconnects between what musicians are doing, and what actually works.

Needless to say, some of these statistics make things seem pretty bleak. But take solace in the fact that it doesn’t have to be that way. There ARE strategies that work out there. Most musicians are just making music, sticking their heads in the sand, and hoping that it just all works out. In my opinion that is what has been leading to such dismal results for most musicians.

But in reality selling music is no different than selling anything else. Drive traffic, generate leads, build a GENUINE relationship, tap into what music lovers ACTUALLY want (which by the way is an experience, NOT just another download), and ASK for the sale.

If you’re interested in learning how to avoid becoming “just another statistic” and take the art of selling music into your own hands, you might consider taking a look at Music Marketing Manifesto. You can learn more with this link:

www.successforyoursongs.com/music-marketing-manifesto

About John Oszajca

John Oszajca has released albums independently as well as for Interscope and Warner Brothers Records. You can learn more music marketing information from him at his blog, Music Marketing Manifesto.

What makes a song emotionally powerful? Most often, the impact comes from a special combination of melody, chords, groove and lyrics. With Dolly Parton’s song “Coat of Many Colors”, one element seems to stand out most: the lyrics. Learn about this concept in the audio file below.

Click Play:

Using the Universal Human Experience in Your Songwriting

About Michael Shorr

Michael Shorr teaches songwriting, lyric writing, music theory,  and guitar to individual students and bands as well as on BerkleeMusic.com. He is a graduate of Berklee College of Music (Songwriting, ‘02). His website is www.ChocolateStrawberryStudios.com and has samples of his songs and compositions.

NOTE: This article should not be considered legal advice. It discusses opinions on copyrighting your music. Copyright laws are different in each country, so if you’re unsure about how something will affect you specifically, please contact a lawyer for how to proceed.

In this article, we’ll get into what you need to do to protect your music. In Part 1 of this article, I talked about the general perception of copyrighting among songwriters. If you missed it, you can read it here: http://www.successforyoursongs.com/past-newsletter-issues/issue-75/

Basically, when you submit a song for copyright you’re simply proving the date of submission of your work. The fine folks of the copyright office don’t sit around listening to every submission to see if they’ve heard it before. That would be an impossible task. When you write or record your song, technically, you have created it. By submitting it to the copyright office, you’re protecting your song, simply by acknowledging the date of your creation.

It’s also important to note that certain aspects of your song are not protected even if the song’s copyrighted. These include chord progressions, the overall idea or concept of your song, and a title or short phrase. Just think about how many songs have used cliche ideas like “I wish you were here,” or “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Also, imagine how many copyright infringements there would be if the I – V – vi – IV chord progression could be copyrighted. On the other hand, melodies and the actual lyrics are very much covered under copyright protection.

The website for submitting your song for copyright in the United States is http://www.copyright.gov/. On the website, you’ll be able to print forms for mailing in what you want to copyright, or you can submit your music for copyright online, which makes submitting even easier.

When it comes time to copyright your music, there are two forms you can use as a songwriter. They are Form SR and Form PA. Technically, there are three forms, if you consider the fact that there’s also a short form version of the PA form. But that offers the same protection as the PA form. SR stands for Sound Recording, while PA stands for Performing Arts. So how do you know which one to use? The following is from the Copyright Office’s website and will answer that for you.

When to Use Form SR (Sound Recordings)
Use Form SR for registration of published or unpublished sound recordings, that is, for registration of the particular sounds or recorded performance.

Form SR must also be used if you wish to make one registration for both the sound recording and the underlying work (the musical composition, dramatic, or literary work). You may make a single registration only if the copyright claimant is the same for both the sound recording and the underlying work. In this case, the authorship statement in Space 2 should specify that the claim covers both works.

Form SR is also the appropriate form for registration of a multimedia kit that combines two or more kinds of authorship including a sound recording (such as a kit containing a book and an audiocassette).

When to Use Form PA (Performing Arts)
For registration purposes, musical compositions and dramatic works that are recorded on disks or cassettes are works of the performing arts and should be registered on Form PA or Short Form PA. Therefore, if you wish to register only the underlying work that is a musical composition or dramatic work, use Form PA even though you may send a disk or cassette.

Examples of the Proper Use of Forms PA and SR
Jane Smith composes words and music, which she entitles “Blowing in the Breeze.” Even though she records it, she is not interested in registering the particular recording but only in registering the composition itself. If she decides to submit “Blowing in the Breeze” for copyright registration, she should use Form PA.

Emily Tree performs and records Jane Smith’s “Blowing in the Breeze” after complying with permissions and license procedures. If Emily decides to submit her recording for copyright registration, she should use Form SR.

The same principles apply to literary and dramatic works. A recorded performance of an actor speaking lines from “Hamlet” could be registered on Form SR as a sound recording. The claimant in the sound recording, of course, has no copyright in the underlying work, “Hamlet.”

There is a cost associated with each application, whether it’s a Form PA or From SR. Check the Copyright Office’s website for the most up to date fees. The good news is, if you’re copyrighting your own music, you can submit multiple songs under one application for one application fee. So if you’re copyrighting an album of ten songs, as opposed to copyrighting them one by one, you’ll save a few hundred bucks when protecting your work. Plus it saves you the paperwork of copyrighting all of your songs separately.

It’s also worth mentioning that there are a couple makeshift copyright alternatives that songwriters occasionally like to talk about. I don’t recommend doing these. The most popular is called the “Poor Man’s Copyright.” This is when you physically mail a recording of your song to yourself and keep it sealed. Supposedly the postmark on the envelope will date your music and therefore protect you if someone comes along after that and steals your song. A newer version of this idea is simply putting your song on YouTube or another time stamped social media outlet. The idea is that your music is dated and therefore protected by the time stamp on the social media site.

All I can say about these kinds of alternatives is don’t do them! Their ideas may make sense to you, but if it ever came down to a court battle, you would absolutely want your music properly registered with the copyright office. Especially considering the fact that it’s really not that expensive if you submit a whole collection of songs at once. Taking the proper means to protect your music is something all artists should do as they move forward with their music careers.

Now that you have a background on how to get your music copyrighted, move forward with the process so you can get your music out to the masses and get heard!

Before we get into exactly what you need to do to protect your music, I want to talk a little bit about the general perception of copyrighting among songwriters.

Many songwriters have a fear of putting their songs out into the world. Part of that fear has to do with the fact that they’re afraid that if they put their songs out there, people won’t like them. That’s a topic for a different article. But another aspect of that fear is songwriters are afraid that if they put their music out in the world — where ANYONE can hear them — another songwriter will come along and steal their music. And that would be a great injustice, of course!

So before we talk about the nuts and bolts of copyrighting, I just want to talk about why that fear is a tad irrational. Let’s start by talking about what would have to happen in order for your song to be stolen and for you to be willing to take legal action.

First of all, someone has to find your song before they decide to steal it. If you’re not great at marketing your music, building a fan base, and driving traffic to your songs, that’ll be hard for them to do, because of the few people who actually hear your music, most of them won’t be thieves. But that in itself probably isn’t a great argument, so let’s move on.

When it comes to music publishers, if your song’s good, most of them would simply prefer to publish your song instead of stealing it and potentially having to defend themselves in court one day. When it comes to another songwriter stealing your work, he would have to steal your song and be pretty strict about sticking to what you wrote it for it to become an issue. You can’t really copyright phrases used for titles or overall song ideas, so if someone wrote a song about the same subject you did, they’re probably within their rights to do so. Besides, the idea itself isn’t as important as how that idea is developed into actual words and music. That’s where the true artistry comes into play.

If you have a fresh new idea, but simply didn’t develop it well, it’s unlikely anyone would want to lift it from you. However, if someone realized you had a cool idea and decided to develop it differently than you did (in the way he wrote his lyrics and music) it would not constitute any copyright infringement as long as he didn’t take your specific words or music when crafting his own song based on your song’s idea. On the other hand, If someone took your melody, or your exact lyrics, that’s a different story. That would be a copyright infringement.

Having said all that, of course it is possible a thief can find and take your music, as-is. If he does, and he takes your song (or enough of it that’s clearly more than something that’s just inspired by what you wrote), you probably wouldn’t decide to pursue legal action UNLESS that thief was making money with what you wrote. And as a songwriter, you know how tough it can be to turn your songs into money makers. So not only do you have to be so unfortunate to have your song lifted in the first place, but then you have to factor in the small chance that your thief is able to turn your song into a hit!

Your music also has to be damn good for it to be “worth” stealing in a thief’s eyes in the first place. If you’re someone who’s never posted your music online (or anywhere else), it’s possible you’re fairly new to songwriting and have more work to be done before you’re crafting songs people love anyway.

Having said that, I’m not saying there aren’t scenarios where songs get lifted. Because of course it can and does happen. I’m simply saying that obscurity is a much bigger problem than theft among aspiring songwriters. So if your fear of theft is holding you back, you’re greatly hindering your success. You have to get your music out there. It’s the only way you can succeed.

I’m also not saying that you shouldn’t protect your work. And I’m not saying you should just throw up tons of unprotected music up on the web. But I AM telling you not to get stuck on the other end of that spectrum either. Don’t be so afraid to show anyone your music, because of a crippling fear that someone will steal it and you won’t know what to do if that happens, because that fear will prevent your success as a songwriter. People have to hear your work if you want to be successful. Period. It will greatly hinder your success if you take the mindset of a fearful songwriter. Instead, find that happy medium on the spectrum, where you are protected, but you’re also promptly releasing all your cool new tracks to your fans so they can continue to love what you’re doing. In a follow up article we’ll look at how you can go about actually copyrighting your work.

1. Set Up a Place at Home to Write

2. Set Up a Time of Day to Write

3. Keep a File of Unfinished Songs

4. Find a Co-Writer

5. Give Yourself an Assignment

6. Tell Yourself You’ll Only Write for Five Minutes

Conclusion

About Cliff Goldmacher

http://www.EducatedSongwriter.com/video-podcast-series

Cliff’s company, http://www.NashvilleStudioLive.com, provides songwriters outside of Nashville with virtual access to Nashville’s best session musicians and singers for their songwriting demos.

You can download a FREE sample of Cliff’s eBook “The Songwriter’s Guide To Recording Professional Demos” by going to http://www.EducatedSongwriter.com/ebook.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/EducatedSongwriter

Twitter: edusongwriter

But Could There Be a Third Way?

Here are a Few More Ideas for Musicians:

In this video, you’ll learn an easy technique for writing effective, singable melodies your listeners will be singing, even after your song is over. Watch it here:

To give you an idea of what I’m talking about, let’s plan out the sections of a song as an example. Before we do anything else, lyrically, we have to have an overall idea for our song. What is this thing going to be about?

For this example, let’s say our idea is simply a title that we’ve come up with that we think is cool. That title is “It Makes Me Want to Run.” I like it, because it’s generic enough to be a good title, while at the same time there’s some intrigue. When you see it, you probably wonder WHAT makes her want to run, if you didn’t already know anything about the story.

With that title, we also have our overall song idea. I usually recommend starting with the chorus anyway, since it’s usually the most general section of the song and it’s the same each time.

Additionally, let’s say we already know we want this song to have an ABAB song structure, meaning it’s simply a verse / chorus / verse / chorus song. Now we can start to kick around some ideas for each section of our song.

For the verses, we can throw around some ideas for what we want “It Makes Me Want to Run” to mean. It’s a phrase that can be pretty open to suggestions, so we can use a different verse idea each time to keep the story interesting. The verses of your song will usually move your story forward. The chorus is likely to have the same words each time, so the verse is your chance to keep your ideas moving. Verses are generally more specific and detailed oriented than the chorus.

For example, the phrase “It makes me want to run” is left open enough that it can either mean it makes me want to run toward something, or away from something. Being that those ideas are opposites, I think they can be a nice way to advance our verses, if we used them both. The first verse can be about being excited for something and wanting to run towards it to get started, while the second verse can be about being tired of that same thing and wanting to run from it. In both cases, our title/big idea/chorus still makes sense.

There are a number of topics that can fit this concept. It could be referring to a job, a relationship, a friend or any number of other things. For our purposes, let’s say it’s about a relationship. Our first verse could be about being excited to be in a new relationship, leading to a chorus that’s about “making me want to run” (to you). The second verse could get into the specifics about how the relationship grew stale, or how our lead character found out that her boyfriend turned out to be someone completely different than he led on. A cheater, a liar, or something like that. Someone who would make our character want to run away from him. So with that in mind, our song outline could look like this:

Verse 1: She meets someone new, and she’s excited about him

Chorus: It Makes Me Want to Run (meaning: to him)

Verse 2: She finds out he’s not who he said he was. He’s a liar and cheater.

Chorus: It Makes Me Want to Run (new meaning: from him)

Maybe there could even be a bridge about how even though she wants to run, it’s hard to, because she still has feelings for him. It’s just a thought, but since I originally settled on an ABAB song, i’ll stick with what we’ve got for now.

Now we can start to write lyrics to these sections in a well organized manner that is likely to get us conveying a compelling story to our listeners. At the same time, we’ve weaved some nice forward motion in our lyrics by changing what they mean as the story progresses. Plus, going through this exercise will help you take something that’s just an idea and turn it into a fuller song with a purpose. I highly recommend doing this before you write out your actual lyrics.

In this video, you’ll learn how to write a song in any style by modeling the style of songs you already like.

]]> http://www.successforyoursongs.com/past-newsletter-issues/issue-68/feed/ 0 http://www.successforyoursongs.com/past-newsletter-issues/issue-67/ http://www.successforyoursongs.com/past-newsletter-issues/issue-67/#comments Mon, 11 Mar 2013 05:59:24 +0000 Anthony Ceseri http://www.successforyoursongs.com/?p=1026  

In this video, you’ll learn how to get the full potential of your lyrics based on where you put them in your music. This technique will help your listeners better relate to the lyrics you’re singing.

]]> http://www.successforyoursongs.com/past-newsletter-issues/issue-67/feed/ 0 http://www.successforyoursongs.com/past-newsletter-issues/issue-66/ http://www.successforyoursongs.com/past-newsletter-issues/issue-66/#comments Mon, 04 Mar 2013 09:30:38 +0000 Anthony Ceseri http://www.successforyoursongs.com/?p=1002  

You may have heard me discuss why a strong opening line is an important gateway into your story. A great lyrical introduction is an excellent way to get your listeners interested in your story right off that bat. Plus, if it’s a snoozer, you run the risk of losing them. People have really short attention spans these days, so effectively grabbing their attention early is crucial.

Having said that, I better get to my point… and make it quick! I recently revisited a great example of a strong opening line in the song “Round Here” by Counting Crows.

The first line of the song says:
 
 

Step out the front door like a ghost into a fog,
Where no one notices the contrast of white on white

This is a great intro for a few reasons. The first is it’s really visual. Any time you engage the senses, you’re probably doing a good job of inviting people into your story. This line does that by engaging your sense of sight. It’s easy to picture a ghost and a fog as described here. Immediately, we set a stage of what this lyric will look like in our heads. And it’s effective.

It’s even fun to try and visualize the slight contrast that might actually be there between what we envision a ghost to look like and a thick fog.

In addition to that, this is a fantastic simile. There’s a comparison being made between someone who feels they just aren’t being noticed by the world, and a ghost in a fog. The element that ties these two thoughts together to make it an effective simile, is the idea that no one can see this person. It works very well.

This opening line is also very intriguing. After hearing it, I already want to know more because it’s so interesting. Had the first line had the same idea, but been said more simplistically and generically, I wouldn’t care as much. What if the song had opened with a line like this:
 
 

Step out the front door
Feeling like no one can see me

 
 
Eh. Suddenly I just don’t care as much anymore. I mean, it’s basically saying the same thing as the real first line, but in a bland, non-descriptive and generic way. Maybe I’d listen carefully to the rest of the lyrics. But maybe I wouldn’t. The “ghost into a fog line” is infinitely stronger and makes me want to stick around for more.

You can see how putting a really strong line up front is a great way to get your listeners excited about your story right off the bat. Granted, you want to keep them interested as your story continues along, but that first line can be crucial to getting their attention. Good imagery with a strong simile or metaphor, like we saw in the opening line of “Round Here,” is an awesome way to get your song rolling.

I always love a great example of a strong use of prosody in a song. When the words and the music work together towards the same idea, you can create some really magical musical moments. This is especially true when those moments span the length of the entire song, for the most impactful listening experience.

One of my favorite examples of this happens in Carole King’s song from the early 70’s, “I Feel the Earth Move.” It’s a great example of a song with good prosody working on a several different levels.

There are essentially two sections in this song. The first is very upbeat and bouncy, while the second is more laid back. The upbeat section of the song kicks off the song. The more laid back portion of the song aligns with the words “oh baby, when I see your face.” The song’s structure simply flips back and forth between those two sections. Check it out on YouTube if you’re not familiar with it, or you need a refresher.

What’s interesting is how the two sections are addressed. When the song begins, the upbeat nature of the first section is highlighted with its lyrics. Lines like “I feel the earth move under my feet,” and “I feel my heart start to tremble” go hand in hand with such bouncy music underneath. That idea continues throughout each of the upbeat sections.

On the other hand, once we get to the section that lays back, its subtler intent is also reflected in its lyrics. In these sections, she uses lines like “Mellow as the month of May,” and “You tenderly call my name.” These are lines ask for music that’s more laid back, as opposed to music that would make the earth move under your feet. And those lyrics get what they deserve, in music that’s appropriate for them.

But the prosody doesn’t stop there. At the end of the last mellow section, King sings the line “I know that my emotions are something I just can’t tame” just as the song heads back into the upbeat section. Again, here the lyrics are directly tied to the music. She sings about something she can’t tame, just as the laid back section gets away from her and slams back into the upbeat section, where she gets back into the “I feel the earth move under my feet” lyrics. Almost as if she couldn’t tame the music. Awesome.

And if ending one of her sections with appropriate prosody wasn’t enough, she also ends the entire song that way too. The song ends on King repeating the latter half of the line “I feel the sky tumbling down.” As she repeats “tumbling down,” the music seems to tumble down along with her words, as it slows to a crawl before it fades out altogether. You can hear it clearly if you listen to the tail end of the song. It’s a really nice way to attach what she’s singing about to her actual music.

As you saw here, what’s cool about this song is not only does it have great prosody, but the prosody happens on a few different levels. It happens within each section of the song, by having the lyrical content match the mood of the music. It also happens from section to section when the lyrics that “can’t be tamed” propel us into a more upbeat section, musically. Finally, it happens as a way to end the whole song, which is also a great way to remind us what we heard throughout the song, since it’s the last thing in our minds. If you can start thinking about prosody in your music the way Carole King has in “I Feel the Earth Move,” you’ll be on your way to putting together some really effective songs.

In this article, I want to talk about the use of grammar as it applies to your lyric writing. In most cases, it’ll be in your best interest to be grammatically correct when you’re writing lyrics, but as you’ll see here there will also be times to break that rule. So let’s look at the importance of proper grammar (or lack thereof) when you’re writing a song.

Using Good Grammar

Unless you have a good reason to stray from the typical rules of grammar, you probably shouldn’t. There are a few songs I can think of with grammar so bad it makes the lyrics hard to listen to.

One of those songs is “More Than Words,” by Extreme. The song opens with the line “Saying ‘I love you’ is not the words I want to hear from you.” If you had written that sentence in a high school paper, your English teacher would still be slapping you to this day… and rightfully so. Something like “‘I love you’ isn’t what I want to hear from you” would have made much more sense, from a grammatical standpoint. Especially since it’s the opening line of the song and is setting a standard for what’s to come.

What comes after that doesn’t get much better. Another line within that verse states “More than words is all you have to do to make it real.” I’m not even sure how to fix that one, but you can see how it makes for a rough listen.

I don’t mean to beat up on Extreme, because I do love the song “More Than Words.” However, better grammar would have been a nice touch here, since there’s no reason for the poor grammar other than simply not knowing any better.

Using Bad Grammar

Reading what I just wrote may make you think it’s never okay to stay from the rules of grammar when writing a song, but that’s not the case at all.

As a singer, you’re essentially a character in your own story. Different characters speak in different ways. For example, in Amy Winehouse’s song, “Rehab,” she sings the line “I ain’t got the time and if my daddy thinks I’m fine.” Obviously, using the word “ain’t” isn’t considered grammatically appropriate, but in the context of this song it’s fine. It fits the Amy Winehouse “character” in this song. She’s gritty and rough around the edges, so of course she’d use the word “ain’t” when she doesn’t want to do something. It makes sense.

A similar thing happens in the title line of Winehouse’s song “Me and Mr. Jones.” Sure, from a grammatical standpoint, the line is incorrect. However, putting “me” first is a common mistake that Winehouse’s character would probably use. Plus, had she used correct grammar, the song would have been called “Mr. Jones and Me,” and Counting Crows already had a big hit with that line.

That’s not to say that Winehouse doesn’t have her share of grammatical issues during other lines in her songs in the same way we saw in the Extreme example. However, in the instances we talked about here, it doesn’t bother me, because it’s just how her character would speak.

The same idea applies to lines like “I can’t get no satisfaction.” Sure, that line is a grammatical nightmare, but it’s okay because it fits Mick Jagger’s edgy character. We expect his character to speak that way. In the same way, I wouldn’t expect Eminem to use proper grammar in his songs.

For that reason, you shouldn’t be going through all of your songs trying to rewrite any lines that use made up words like “gonna,” or “wanna,” because people DO actually say those things in North American English. It’s okay. Most of the times lyrics are meant to sound conversational, as those “fake” words do. In a lot of cases it would actually sound weirder to hear “I’m going to” than it would to hear “I’m gonna” because that morphed phrase has become such commonplace. Singing is an exaggerated form of speech, so ideally you’d want to sing your ideas in the same way you would say your ideas.

Also, knowing the difference between “your,” “you’re,” “there,” “they’re,” “their,” etc. would be wise too, but since we only hear songs this one won’t even come up for you when writing lyrics, unless someone’s looking at your written out words. In that case it would be helpful to know when to use each of these, so you look like you know what you’re talking about.

Last Note

As you can see, bad grammar can occasionally be okay to use when you’re writing songs (but don’t tell your English teacher I told you that!). If you find yourself twisting the typical rules of grammar just to make one of your rhymes work, you’re using bad grammar for the wrong reason. If you’re doing it because it’s how your character would speak to someone, then it’s probably okay.

If you’re just not sure if your grammar’s wrong, ask a friend (who would know) to look it over. If some of your grammar is intentionally bad, as we talked about, just let him know that before he checks it out. Hopefully I didn’t make too many of my own grammatical errors while trying to convey this information to you, but if I did, but try not to hold that against me.