The Songwriting Workshop

Welcome to the Rhythm Section! Here, we'll explore the heartbeat of music, exploring beats, bars, time signatures, tempos, and reference tracks. Our focus will be on understanding the beat—a song's inherent pulse that instinctively makes you tap your foot—as we uncover the layers that create a song's rhythmic foundation.

Tempo, the speed at which a piece of music unfolds, is measured in beats per minute (BPM), akin to a car's speed measured in miles per hour. This essential musical element dictates whether a song moves with rapid energy or a soft cadence, providing the dynamic rhythm that guides the listener's experience.

The time signature determines the number of beats in each bar. It identifies which note value equals one beat, serving as the blueprint for a song's rhythmic structure. Popular music often leans on 4/4 and 3/4 time signatures. By listening to referenced songs or exploring the time signatures of your favorite tracks, you'll develop a keen sense of how these rhythms shape music.

A reference track is a guiding light in the music production process, especially prevalent in the film and TV industry. It's a song provided by music supervisors to writers, offering a clear direction on the desired vibe for a project. In our journey, we'll also harness the power of reference tracks to shape our understanding and application of rhythm, ensuring our creations align with the intended emotional and musical direction.

What is the ideal number of reference tracks for our work? Using more than one will help us maintain originality by avoiding copying the source too closely. However, using more than four reference tracks might be less helpful. Therefore, we will be using three reference tracks. We can imagine a triangle where each vertex represents a different reference track, and our song is in a harmonious space at the center. It's time to select three songs and analyze their tempo to set the stage for a unique and inspired creation.

Discovering a song's tempo is straightforward: a simple online search with the song's name followed by 'BPM' usually yields quick results, like 'Don’t Stop Believing BPM?' Alternatively, the GarageBand mobile app offers a 'tap for tempo' feature, allowing you to manually tap along with a song to find its beat per minute. These tools are invaluable for accurately gauging the pace of your reference tracks.

Our journey into beat construction will focus on simplicity and clarity. We'll start by stripping drums down to their core components—the kick and snare drums—laying the foundational pulse of our tracks. From there, I'll guide you through programming straightforward beats using a beat sequencer, ensuring you can easily craft compelling rhythms.

Join me as I select three songs and employ the GarageBand app to pinpoint their BPM. By triangulating the tempos of these tracks, we'll ingeniously determine the perfect beat for our new song, showcasing how to blend inspiration with innovation for rhythm creation.

Let's delve into the essence of melody—the captivating musical sequence that breathes life into lyrics, creating those unforgettable earworms. This section introduces the concept of 'melodic language,' a technique for crafting melodies by focusing on the musicality before adding words. We'll explore the construction of melodies through notes and phrases and examine the role of familiarity in songwriting, guiding you to create tunes that resonate and stick with listeners.

Before the development of language, humans used basic sounds to communicate. To revisit this primal approach, we will eliminate words and instead create melodies using simple sounds such as 'oohs,' 'ohs,' 'las,' 'nahs,' and 'dah dee dahs.' This method allows us to concentrate solely on the melody, assessing its catchiness and emotional impact without the interference of words.

Melodies weave through every layer of music, transcending beyond vocals to define the soul of a song. Unlike rhythm, which relies on beats per minute and time signatures, melodies are crafted from individual notes and their collective arrangement into phrases. Each note is a singular sound, while a phrase is a meaningful sequence of notes within a measure. Our creative challenge is to construct these notes into phrases that are pleasing to the ear and linger in memory, shaping unforgettable tunes.

Melodies can be defined by their movement along a musical scale. A sustaining melody stays on the same note, creating a consistent tone. An ascending melody rises while a descending melody goes down. Each type creates a different emotional color and narrative feel. By experimenting with sustaining, ascending, and descending melodies, you can discover which best suits your musical expression and resonates most deeply with your audience.

The power of a melody can often be amplified not just by the notes themselves but by the silence that frames them. This space between notes can transform a tune, making it more memorable and catchy. Experimenting with these pauses by intentionally removing notes allows the song to breathe and gives each note more impact. This approach can significantly enhance the catchiness and overall feel of a melody.

Human nature gravitates towards familiarity, especially in music. We inherently enjoy melodies that resonate with a sense of recognition. However, the artistry in songwriting often lies in balancing the familiar with the unexpected. By starting with a recognizable sound, weaving in original elements, and then returning to a familiar note, you create a musical journey that engages and surprises listeners, enhancing their connection to your song.

Revisiting our trio of reference tracks, we'll transform their lyrics into our melodic language, allowing us to dissect note lengths and movements. This exercise serves as a springboard to brainstorm 3-5 unique melodies using the GarageBand app. Embrace every melody that strikes a chord with you, recording each one. Then, step away—giving yourself the space to return later with fresh ears. This process enhances our ability to critically assess and refine our melodies, ensuring they truly resonate.

Welcome to the 'Music' section, where we dive into the harmonic heart of songwriting, encompassing notes, keys, scales, chords, and chord progressions performed by non-percussive instruments. With our beat and melodies laid down, let's enrich our compositions with these musical elements.

Building on our previous discussion of notes, let's delve further into the musical alphabet of Western music, which comprises just twelve unique notes. The interval between these notes is a half step, forming the basic building blocks from which all melodies and harmonies are constructed.

A key is a group of notes that forms the basis of a musical piece, while a scale is a specific arrangement of these notes in a particular order. Determining the key and scale at the beginning of the songwriting process helps us focus our creativity and simplifies decision-making later on. This step is essential in shaping the harmonic progression of our compositions, making it easier to integrate chords and progressions in a natural and effective way.

A chord emerges from playing three or more notes together, creating a harmonious sound. With a wide array of note combinations, we can craft various chords, each imparting a unique emotional flavor. To simplify our journey and enhance our understanding, we will focus on three essential chord types: Major Chords, Minor Chords, and Major Seventh Chords.

A chord progression unfolds as a sequence of chords played one after the other, forming the musical backbone of our songs. To fuel your creativity, experiment with chord progressions, tweak them, and explore combinations. Engaging with this process is essential for getting your creative gears turning. Feel free to draw inspiration from the provided PDF or delve into popular chord progressions listed below.

What components construct a modern song? We can organize a song using 'alpha symbols' or by naming its distinct sections, such as the introduction, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge, break/breakdown, and outro. Let's take a closer look at each of these sections by name, understanding their roles and how they contribute to the overall structure of a song.

The hook is the song's most memorable segment, often spotlighting the title and designed to captivate listeners instantly. While the hook typically aligns with the chorus, its magic can manifest anywhere within the tune. Embrace the creative challenge of crafting hooks beyond the chorus, exploring new territories to see where your song's most compelling moments might arise.

Many songwriters excel without playing an instrument, leveraging tools like GarageBand to create musical loops—a sound or series of sounds that can repeat indefinitely. Adding a loop of a chord progression over a beat loop simplifies the process, especially when it comes to overlaying our melody. This approach facilitates experimenting with lyrics, making it easier to see how they mesh with the music's flow.

Now, taking one of our melodies, we'll identify our song's root note and key. This step allows us to experiment with various chord progressions that complement our melody in GarageBand. Following this, we can designate these melodies to specific song sections, such as the verse or chorus. We'll also revisit our reference tracks, using them as a blueprint for structuring our song effectively.

We've come a long way without penning a single word, illustrating the core of our songwriting approach. New writers often stumble over lyrics, but I encourage you to view songwriting through the lens of storytelling. This section explores Mood, Universal Stories, Song Titles, and Rhyme Schemes. We'll dive into mastering your Topic, harnessing the power of free writing, and refining your song to perfection.

To kickstart our song's narrative, let's first define its mood. With a foundation of beats, melodies, and chord progressions in place, consider the emotional tone your new song evokes. The mood in music acts as the song's body language— conveying emotions like anger, sadness, sensuality, or joy. Utilize the provided mood list to pinpoint the feelings your song elicits, guiding the direction of your lyrical storytelling.

This approach encourages you to start with a clear vision instead of leaving the theme as an afterthought. Begin by identifying the story or message you aim to convey through your song, then craft your lyrics with this central narrative in focus. Aligning our moods with universal story themes, utilize the provided chart to kickstart your creative process.

Opportunities for songwriting inspiration are abundant—if you're open to them. Whenever I recognize a potential song idea, I try to jot it down. While it's possible to write a song and determine the title later, in this process, I encourage you to explore the mood and story theme from the outset and go ahead and define a working title.

All our efforts thus far aim to streamline finding the perfect lyrics. Now, we delve into a form of brainstorming and word association. Explore every conceivable word and phrase linked to your mood, theme, and potential title using the provided songwriting template to aid your brainstorming session.

Songwriting Template:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qVCohzxSDE0b5BceasqjX96cqwT9twBNkONI0PyRAP0/copy

Paul McCartney's initial draft of Yesterday famously began with 'Scrambled eggs. Oh, my baby, how I love your legs.' In this phase, he wasn't critiquing his words; they filled the melody's space, providing a starting point for refinement later on. Similarly, free writing entails setting a timer and allowing words to flow without judgment. Embrace any ideas, no matter how seemingly absurd or unrelated, as they serve as raw material to fuel your creative process.

Rhyme is a fundamental element in our lyrical arsenal, defined as words, syllables, or phrases with similar sounds, such as 'cat' and 'bat.' In this section, we'll explore various rhyme schemes, allowing each section of your song to adopt a distinct scheme. Additionally, we'll encourage experimentation with different types of rhymes, enhancing the versatility and impact of your lyrics.

Armed with your theme, title, and mood, tackle one section at a time, retaining resonating lines and crafting new ones to enhance cohesion. As we discussed earlier, experiment with diverse rhyme schemes, allowing them to inspire fresh ideas. Keep the focus on storytelling, characters, setting, and mood, striving for phrases that align with the song's essence.

If you encounter a creative block in one section, switch gears or take a break; sometimes, stepping away can provide clarity. Be patient with yourself, offer grace, and dive back in with renewed determination to refine your lyrics.

In this phase, we shift our focus to refining our song, scrutinizing it with a critical eye. The goal now is to elevate our song to its fullest potential. Enhance it by strategically incorporating repetition, removing unnecessary elements that detract from the message, eliminating clichés, refining dialogue, and ensuring syllabic consistency throughout.

Now, let's dive into the lyrics! I'll select a mood, theme, and title for the song we've been developing throughout this course. Then, I'll thoroughly explore the topic and engage in free writing to generate ideas. You'll witness firsthand how I refine songs using this approach, demonstrating the polishing process to enhance the lyrical quality.

My greatest skill? Not giving up. Despite my initial struggles, I keep pushing forward, fueled by the belief that practice makes progress. Embracing each mistake as a stepping stone, I learn, grow, and, above all, have fun. Through dedicated practice, continuous writing, and a commitment to enjoyment, forge ahead like me, undeterred by challenges.

If you've been keeping up with the writing exercises, congratulations! You should now have a fresh new song ready to go. In this session, I've written this song and now you can listen to the final product. A big shoutout to Austin Filingo for collaborating on the production.