Gloomy songs

Last week I looked at the analysis of some motivational songs. We have seen that the song form for these kind of songs leans very strongly towards the verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus form.

I wrote my motivational song with verses and chorusses and added a bridge and refrain. Unfortunately for those interested, as the song was written under commission, I can only publish the song once recorded and published by the commissioner. Hopefully, that will be soon.

As a test, I looked at the opposite of the motivational songs, i.e. gloomy songs. There is no better examples of the songs of gloom as those from the fathers of gloom rock, Black Sabbath.

I have to confess to being a great fan of Sabbath, especially of the Ozzy era. So happy that they are back together and recording again.

So, I took a few of Sabbath's greatest early songs and analysed the basic song form to see if we can learn anything about gloom songs. I was surprised about what I have found.

Firstly, many of Sabbath's song do not have a chorus at all. Their songs mainly follow the AAA song form, i.e. only a number of verses where the basic chord structures and melody is repeated, but not the words.

The second striking thing about their songs is the almost absence of the song title in the song. Many of their songs will use the song title only once during the whole song (e.g. War pigs, Sabbath bloody sabbath, etc), or sometimes not at all (e.g. Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Sweat leaf, Wizzard).

A third noticable factor about Black Sabbath's songs is the use of easilly recognizable riffs. In classical music, it would be called motifs, I guess. Iommi is a master at the guitar riffs. Very important about his riffs, or themes, is that most of the songs have more than one riff. War pigs is the best example (ever?) on how to use riffs, variations on the riffs, and mix them up.

Going with the above, is Sabath's use of the breakdown in their songs. Many classic rock and heavy metal bands are to lazy to spend the same amount of time working on the song arrangements. A tip for songwriters and band all over the world to take home from Black Sabbath's teachings: everybody does not have to play all of the time. Mix it up. Change the tempo. Change the feel. Break the song down and build it up again. That is how you can keep your songs interesting to listen to - and no, just a guitar solo does not count.

Many have followed the Black Sabbath recipe for gloom to some extend, especially in the heavy metal genre (e.g. Slayer, Sepultura).

 

The motivational song

I was asked to write a motivational song. Easy enough. There is not much trickery to it. I just have to write something about how great things will turn out if you keep on believing in yourself.

As homework, I decided to do a bit of song analysis. Let's see what song forms other popular motivational songs take on and see if there is something in these songs that made them popular. It is not difficult to find motivational songs. There has been many of them throughout the history of pop music. To choose the songs to analyze, I googled for inspirational songs, and came up with 13 songs, many from the list at lifehacks.

You may come up with a list of your own favorite inspirational songs. Feel free to add your list and analysis in the comments below.

Looking at the song form, one thing became very clear, i.e. each song is structured a bit different, but there is no definite thing in the song form that will make an inspirational song different than any other pop song. Most songs in my analysis has the standard verse-chorus plus bridge structure. Louis Armstrong's What a wonderful world is the only song in this list that broke away from that form with the AABA song form.

Many of the songs have an anthem section, either as the chorus, or part of the chorus, or, as in the case of Don't stop believing, an anthem added as a bridge part at the end.

The theme of the lyrics are also diverse. There are a few run-of-the-mill love songs, a few breakup songs, a few general-life inspirational songs, and even a few protest songs. The one thing common amongst them all are the positive inspirational message, usually sung as the chorus or anthem.

Here is my list of the13 popular inspirational songs:

Purple rain by Prince

It is the epic performance by Prince and the production of this song that makes it stand out. It is in essence a standard love song with a standard verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus (ABABCB) song form, with a fairly extended add lib section at the end. The chorus is in an anthem style.

Stronger by Kelly Clarkson

This is a great modern pop song with a ABABCB form and the first break-up song on the list. The first verse gives the backstory - rather sad and down in mood. The chorus immediately changes the mood to an inspiration song with a possitive message in an anthem style. The second verse moves the story forward into the present with a 'take that, you bastard' type message. The bridge moves the story line further forward into the future, with the last chorus and add lib to re-inforce the anthem.

Don't stop believing by Journey

This is a classc in every way. The song form is a standard verse-chorus song with a bridge (ABABC). It is different from the previous two songs in that it does not return to the chorus at the end, and the bridge forms the anthem part of the song. Typically of many 80's pop songs, this one has pretty impressive instrumental breaks in between.

Ain't no mountain high enough by Marvin Gaye

This song is from an era before bridge sections were common in songs. The song form is very standard verse-chorus form with a variation in form by starting the song with the chorus, and repeat the chorus at the end, making it a BABABABB form. The theme is a standard love song, with every verse giving the same message in different words. The chorus is in an anthem style.

Save the world tonight by Swedish house mafia

This is the first protest song on my list with a very strong message. The song is made even more memorable with a very cute music video of the doggy gang saving the world. Song form is plain ABAB (verse-chorus-verse-chorus). The anthem is mostly pointless oohs at the end of the chorus, in my view spoiling what would otherwise have been a great song.

Skyscraper by Demi Levato

Another break-up song in standard ABABCB form. The verses starts with a backstory, then moves the song into the present, with the bridge giving a conclusion to the story line. The songwriting team of Gad, Koiv and Robbins did a great job of following a very standard format. Even though the message is very possitive, Demi's performance gives the whole song a very sad mood. This is the first song on my list that lacks an anthem section.

Get up, stand up by Bob Marley

Another political protest song. The song form is identical to Gaye's song above, i.e. chorus-3x(verse-chorus)+chorus (BABABABB). It is the chant-like chorus / anthem that makes this song memorable.

It's my life by Bon Jovi

Another 80's pop song, with everything that makes Bon Jovi's songs popular. Another ABABCB song form with an almost-over-the-top anthem style chorus. The lyrical theme is a general-life inspirational theme.

Where is the love by Black eyed peas

Another protest song with a standard 3x verse-chorus form (ABABAB). The chorus consist of three parts, with a pre-chorus, anthem and chorus.

What a wonderful world by Louis Armstrong

This is another general-life inspiration feel-good song. It is unique in that it is the only AABA song form on my list, with added BA sections and a simple refrain at the end. The song does not really have an anthem section, other than the refrain.

Stand by me by Ben E. King

Another love song in the verse-chorus form (ABABB). A classic in its simplicity with the chorus as the anthem.

Lovely day by Bill Withers

Another love song in the 3x verse-chorus form (ABABAB). Beautiful song, but nothing special. Not much of an anthem.

Beautiful day by U2

Before I go on, let me make something very clear. These guys are infinitely more successfull than I could ever dream to be and this song sold infinitely more than any of my songs. I respect these guys and have no right to critisize them, but can merely state my opinion, which, in this case I will withold.

 

So, what does a musical coordinator do?

If you google for a musical coordinator, you will find many pages telling you what a musical coordinator does. None of them are really in agreement, and none of them really describe what a musical coordinator really do. So, here is my take on what a musical coordinator does.

In summary, a musical coordinates all the aspects relating to the music in the production of a musical theatre show. A musical coordinator's job is to do everything that nobody else does.

The tasks listed here are usually the responsibilities of the musical director, but the musical coordinator does not report to the musical director. If he does, he would be called an 'assistant to the musical director'. He would still do all the same tasks. The only difference is, if you report to the musical director, you do what the musical director tells you to do, but if you report to the producer, then you have to take the initiative, check for everything that needs be done, and do it - or find somebody to do it.

In our show, I am performing the role of the musical coordinator. As the production developed, I invented this job myself, and are making up the job description as I go along. Your job description will be different from show to show and in many cases, some of these tasks are not relevant. Just for the sake of completeness, I will add some tasks which I do not perform in this show, but which may normally form part of your task.

1. Song writing

This will depend on the show. The director may ask you to write some songs if he can not find an appropriate song to fill a specific gap. You have to write a song 'to spec'. The director will tell you what mood and feel is needed, and sometimes what the lyrics of song is about. This is not your chance to showcase your personal favorite from your own past catalog. Write a new song according to what the director want. If you can not write your own songs, coordinate with a songwriter. If the show is for a non-profit organization, chances are that you will not get paid for it. Just make sure that you sign a songwriting agreement and retain all the rights to the songs you write. That way you might be able to use the song again in another show or demo reel.

2. Music licensing

If the director makes use of pre existing hit songs, make sure that you obtain permission to use that music from the local music rights organization (SAMRO, BMI, ASCAP, etc.). This may require you to do some research to determine who the rights holders are and fill in the forms, or at least assist the producer in these tasks.

3. Music budget

Ok, in this case, I have no responsibility regarding the budget, but in many instances, the producer may give you a maximum budget within which you have to hire musicians, musical directors and pianists, etc. At least, if the director handles the full budget himself, you may have to make sure that you are compensated for all your own expenses,

4. Hiring

This is a difficult one. It is the responsibility of the show director to hire a musical director. The musical director must be responsible to the director. If the director ask for your assistance in this regards, make sure that everybody understands that you are only acting on behalf of the director. The musical director may ask you to hire a rehearsal pianist. It would be ideal to have the show pianist and the rehearsal pianist as the same person, but it is not always possible. If you have a large orchestra, you also may need to hire a conductor.

5. Musicians

The musical director may abdicate her responsibility regarding the band to you. Check with the director and musical director what kind of sound they want, and put a band together according to their needs. In the average non-profit show you may end up with a 4 or 5 piece band (drums, bass, piano, guitar, saxophone). In the average Broadway show you may have a 9 to 24 piece orchestra.

The director may have made commitments to some people or friends to include in the band. Make sure you adhere to his wishes. Where there are gaps, get somebody. It may even mean that you fill in a seat yourself - just leave your ego at home. This is not a time for you to showcase your talents as lead guitarist, but rather an opportunity to demonstrate how well you can make things happen 'behind the scenes'.

6. Band practice

You must make sure that the band know the songs. Draw up a schedule and agree the schedule with the director, musical director, choreographer, producer, and band members. It is very unlikely that you will get all those people in one place at one time, so you will be required to do a lot of walking and phoning around. The normal schedule would include:

• Singers training and rehearsals. This is almost always the job of the musical director. Attend the sessions to understand what keys they sing in, what verses gets dropped, and what tempo songs are done in. Record the singers and play it to the band. Keep on recording the songs at each rehearsal and always keep the latest and best version.
• Band practice. Give the band enough time to get to know the songs before they rehearse with the singers. First just practice the songs until all band members know the music, the chords, and the tempo, etc. The songs don't have to be practiced in any specific order. Spend as much time on each song as may be needed. More difficult songs may need more time.
• Band rehearsals. When all band members know all the songs, rehearse the whole show from start to finish. At this stage each musician must be on the instrument he or she will use during the show. It is fine for the pianist to use an electronic keyboard during practice, or the guitarist using an acoustic guitar. In rehearsals the pianist must use a real piano if that is what she will use in the show, and the guitarist must switch to the electric guitar if the show needs it.

• Rehearsals with singers and dancers. Somebody invented the name 'sitzprobe' for this. I have no idea what it means, but it sounds epic. It is your job to make sure that the band knows all the songs by heart by this time. There may be some surprises as you may need to adjust some songs in tempo or key at this stage. During rehearsals songs may be done in whatever order is convenient. Coordinate with the band, directors, and singers to draw up a schedule. You do not want singers to sit around wasting their time while waiting for their songs to be rehearsed. However, when you rehearse a song, it can be a waste of time if the right singers are not present. That includes the chorus ensemble. During this time, take special care to balance the volume between the instruments and the singers.
• Dress rehearsals. The last week before a show is usually set aside for dress rehearsals. This time, the whole show is rehearsed from top to finish, in the order that the show runs. This is like running the show without an audience. The first dress rehearsal may be stopped and started as needed. The director would want to have at least two dress rehearsals running all the way through without interruptions, before the show opens. As musical coordinator, you must leave proceedings in the hands of the director. Do not interfere, comment, or interrupt. Make sure that no interruptions are caused by the band. If needed, make notes and discuss with the band after the rehearsal. The sound engineer must be present at dress rehearsals to make sure that sound levels are appropriate.
• Opening night. Calculate your schedule by starting with this date. This is the date you can not miss. Determine how much time is needed for each task and work backwards from here to calculate a start and end time for each step listed above.

7. Coordinating between band, musical director and choreographer

It is your job to make sure everybody has a copy of all the music. Make up a folder for each musician in the band, choreographer, musical director and rehearsal pianist. The 'flip files' work best for this (a file book containing 30 or 50 see-through plastic pockets). Inside each musician's file, place a copy of the chord tabs of each song. Keep the songs in the order in which they will be done in the show. Do not print songs double sided. If a song spills over to a second page, place it such that the song starts on the left side and continue on the right. This will avoid musicians having to turn pages during a song.

Pianists do not like chord tabs. Print out complete scores for the pianists. Again, print on single sided paper. Pianists like to tape the score together to enable them to open it out on one long stream to place it on the piano music shelf. Brass and wind players also need a score printed, but for them you need their dynamic parts, i.e. the music notes containing only the parts they play, with no piano or vocal parts. Take heed of special tuning requirements for brass players.

Each file must also contain a CD of all the songs. This CD must be replaced every week. In the beginning each CD will have only original artist recordings. Replace these recordings with the singers and rehearsal pianist recordings.

8. Other music consumables and needs

You may need to check that all musicians have all they need. Each band member needs a music stand and music lights. Guitarists must put on fresh strings before the show. Pianos may need tuning. Everybody will however have to bring their own toilet paper.

This list is by no means complete. There may be many other tasks added here. Feel free to add anything you feel belongs here in the comments below.

 

Long long time

Track: Long long time

Album: Out takes from the Exile concept album recordings

Remember the exile? Off course you remember the exile! This is a blog started about the exile. The exile is a musical and this blog is about everything musical and theatre.

The recordings of the concept album for the exile had about 16 tracks. Why do I say about. Last count, it was exactly sixteen! Anyway, those sixteen tracks was representative of the songs of the musical, but it was not everything. There are a few other songs as well - some of them were recorded, but did not make it unto the final issued album.

I am glad to present to you one more of those tracks which was recorded, but not included on the release.

Long long time.

After Hugo has been intruduced to his son, which he did not even knew he had until now, he sits down and fills his son, Tyler in on what was going on since he left South Africa and went into exile. At the end of the track he sits down and try to explain to himself why he never returned to his home country, even after he reached the goal of democracy in his homeland.

To listen to the whole album from track one to the end, go to the link at the top of this page or just click on this link.

There was nothing wrong with original vocal recording and to let the work goes to waste would do injustice. The song did not make it because there was something wrong with the songwriting part of it. The verse vs. chorus just did not work. For this remix, I try to solve part of the problems, firstly by not having a chorus. The song form is thus a AABA form pure. I've thrown in a bridge with a brass instrumental not just for variety. The purpose of that interlude is to give the stage actors a moment to do what they do, i.e. Hugo turns away from Tyler, to whom he was addressing the first part. He looks around to the other room where Cathy is talking to Melissa and then starts to sing the last verse, half to himself, but also so that Tyler can hear him.

I wanted to rewrite the song completely with new words - and still rederves the right to do so, but this week a bright idea hit me. Well, I had a day off from work to start with and decided to use the day productively. I decided to give the track a bit more epic sounding orchestration.

Let me know if you like it!

 

I had to say it in a song

Every day we experience many emotions. During any day, our emotions may change hundreds of times from one moment to the next. These changes in our emotions may be triggered by the people who we meet during the day.

It may be that taxi that skip over a red traffic light and barely missed you. You feel many different emotions. Anger, disgust, hate? You may decide to not allow it to get the better of you and drive on.

You may see a homeless person begging at the next traffic light. You feel pity. You want to help, but your wallet is locked in the boot of the car. You feel sorry that you can not help. You feel helpless.

There are many ways you can react to these changes in your emotions.

• You can ignore the emotion.
• You can confront the person who caused the emotion head on.
• You can address the person who caused the change in emotion in an indirect way.
• You can ignore that person, and discuss your emotion with a friend.
• You can address you emotion with a complete stranger.
• Suppress your emotion and contemplate it later on

Or

 

You can write a song about it!

 

Here is the chorus from a song I wrote from such a moment:

 

"In the house of riches she was dressed so fine

Filled with shame for her mother's grime

Trampling on her dress

and she trampled on her heart"

(C) Eric Swardt

 

The 15 things a theater composer should never do

Many books and blogs offers you long lists of dos and don'ts. As a songwriter for musical theater you may get confused about which lists makes sense and which ones can just be ignored. Each list is simply the personal opinion of whoever wrote the list. I used some of those list and changed it a bit to my own liking, reflecting my own experience and opinions.

1. Do not think that there is any one list of dos and don'ts that make the world go round. There is no such thing as THE magic formula. These lists are only opinions. Sometimes they are opinions of people with experience, so do not disregard them totally, but do not follow them religiously. You have to do what works best for you. Listen to all the advice you get, then follows what works best for you.

2. Don’t burn your bridges. Do not be rude or dishonest. You can never survive in the theater world without other people. The theater industry is just too small. You path will cross again with that person you have been rude to today. That person who brings your coffee today just might turn out to be the production manager on your next show. And yes, there are those who will treat you like snake poo today. Resist the urge to return the favor, knowing that one day the roles will change and that person will need you.

3. Do not get worried about debates about what come first, the music or the words, or what the ultimate chord progression is, or whether or not you should be allowed to edit a song as you go along, etc.. These are just ideas to get you started. They sometimes work for some people and sometimes they don't. Most often, those who preach these formulae don't even follow them all the time. Most song writers will do different things at different times. Try these ideas and do then what works best for you. Put all these ideas in your toolbox for use when they are needed. The most successful songwriters are those who know how to best use all the tools in their toolbox.

4. Do not imitate your idols. Be yourself. Learn from your idols, but if you want to be successful, you have to have your own style, your own approach. People will quickly notice if you try to pretend to be like anyone else. They already have a Stephen Sondheim and a Andrew Lloyd-Webber. They do not want another one. Take from these masters what makes them great and put your own spin on it.

5. Do not hate someone for the feedback they give you. Remember that everybody will not love everything. If you can not take criticism, you are in the wrong business. You would be better off sorting apples in Alaska. Most of the time when you pitch your work for criticism, that person is genuinely trying to help you. You do not have to agree with that opinion, nor do you have to follow every piece of advice, but gracefully accept the few nuggets of gold that comes your way. Be open to criticism. It will make you a better song writer.

6. Do not forget the basics. Good spelling, sound grammar, correct formatting, etc.. They are the foundations that makes the difference between the true professionals and the forever amateurs. Always remember, if a busy publisher has 20 submissions on her desk and very little time to go through them all, the first ones that will hit the dustbin are those that look like fish paste with spelling errors.

7. Do not put all your eggs in one basket. Always be working on your next project or idea. Keep your creative side going while you are focusing on the business of selling your last work. Sometimes it helps to clear your mind when you get stuck on a project by focussing on something new.

8. Do not follow the latest and hottest trend in a hope to make a quick buck. A musical takes a lot of time to get from the basic idea to be the next hit on stage. By the time you have gone through the loops, the trend will likely have passed.

9. Do not get overly attached to your babies. We all have our babies. It might be a favorite character, a song, or a specific scene. A time may come when you just may have to loose that character. You may have to become ruthless for the sake of the story as a whole, by getting rid of a character or song that just does not work. Sometimes you may feel that your song is the next big hit on Broadway. If it does not enhance the story, you may have to get rid of it.

10. Don’t hate somebody else for being successful. If you are pitching a work for production against several other writers, remember that it is not a contest for prom queen. If you do not win, do not be spiteful about those who made it. Be happy for them and congratulate them. Next time, they just might support you to get the job. Even if you think that your show would have been so much better, keep your thoughts to yourself. By bitching and moaning about it, you will only come across as... well .... a moaning bitch.

11. Do not get lost in your cave. Go out and experience life every once in a while. Go to the theater and watch a musical. Go watch a show. Go watch as many shows as you possibly can. Get involved with the shows. Help out with the production on other shows. All the experience you can gather will come in very handy when you write your own show. If you hate watching musicals, well.... I have good news for you. Don't write them.

12. Don’t assume writing songs for musical theater is easy. Writing a song is hard work. Writing 25 song for a musical is not only 25 times harder. It is 100 times harder, as you have to make sure that all the songs work together. Do not think you can write a musicals with a collection of pretty songs thrown together. That will end up being a concert, not a musical. Well... not that there is anything wrong with making a concert to work!

13. Do not let the trolls get the better of you. Know that there are people out there who just troll for the sake of trolling. Learn to recognize them for what they are and ignore them. You will find them on blogs, Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Sometimes you'll even find them posing as critics in legitimate newspaper columns. It’s not personal. Learn to recognize and ignore those that are just a waste of you energy.

14. Do not think you know it all. How many books do you have on your shelf about songwriting? Do you you have the idiot's guide for songwriters? You mean you do not need it? Well, I have news for you. If you did not even read the idiots guide, then even the idiots know more than you about songwriting. How many books have you read about the business side of the music industry? Do you realize that being a songwriter is like having your own business? Did you follow the advice in that book to register all your songs with the royalty collection agency? Did you draw up that songwriting contract before you started writing songs for your friend's musical? You might be loosing out on a lot of money. You do not have to read absolutely every book on the market, but the more you read, the more you will know.

15. Don't ever give up. Sometimes it may feel like you are going nowhere. Sometimes you may feel that you are just not good enough. Sulk for a short while, and then get over it and get back to working. Keep on writing. That is what you want to do. Nobody had a hit with his first song, well.... at least most. Keep going at it. Once you have 20 unpublished musical manuscripts on your shelf, you may want to go back through them and one of them just might be the next show to celebrate a 20 years run on Broadway.

Everybody has their own lists of dos and don'ts, and I would love to hear from you what you think, so please add your ideas and opinions in the comments below. Here is my list of things which you should not do of you want to wrote songs and music for musical theater.

When a song just does not work

I am not a big fan of song recipes. There is no magic formula that you can follow to guarantee a hit song. However, sometimes it is obvious that a song just does not work, but you can not put your finger on it. That is a good time to refer to those recipes and try to figure out what is wrong with the song.

Here is an example. This is a take-out from The exile concept album recordings. The song is Long long time.

Listening to the song, it is obvious that something is just not working in that song.

Gary Ewer has a nice checklist on his blog you can use to identify problems with a song. Let's try it out.

Before we go into the checklist, just a few comments. This checklist is clearly aimed at a verse-chorus-bridge song form. In this ormat, the chorus is often repeated. the bridge section is rarely repeated. Not all songs are written in this form and other forms very often work just as well. My song, Long long time uses the AABA song form in an extended form. If we look at the song closely we'll find a AAB AABA form. The melody of the B section in this song is repeated. The lyrics are not repeated at all as in a chorus. This song highlights one problem with the AABA format. As soon as the B section is repeated, it does the same job as a chorus in some way. As we go through Gary's checklist, this will become clear.

Let's go.

Melody

Gary: My melody shows good contour, with a distinctive shape.

Me: No. The melody for this song seems to wander aimlessly.

Gary: I can identify a moment in the verse that would serve as a climactic point for that melody.

Me: No. The highest point in the melody is the 3rd bar of the verse, and wander around for the rest of the song.

Gary: I can identify a moment in the chorus that would serve as a climactic point for the song.

Me: The song does not have an identifyable chorus. The B section does not have a clear climax, with the highest point in the melody on the 2nd note and the melody moving in a downwards contour from there on.

Gary: My verse melody works its way upward, and connects somewhat seamlessly to the chorus. (If it doesn't, it uses a pre-chorus do make the connection)

Me: No. It starts high and work its way down. The B section does basically the same.

Gary: My chorus melody resides a bit higher than the verse melody, and features the tonic (key) note more than in the verse.

Me: The B section is barely higher (average one note) higher than the A section. The chorus features the tonic only 2 times on strong beats and once more on a weak beat. The verse starts offmon the tonic and thereafter features the tonic on the highest note, where it is repeated. Overall this gives the tonic more importance in the A section than in the B section. Generally, the tonic note is not strong enough to give the song a definite feeling of which key it belongs to.

Gary: My bridge brings in a 3rd melody, accompanied by chords that include altered chords, or explores the opposite mode (i.e., major key songs move into the minor).

Me: In this sense, the B section is much more like a bridge than a chorus. It however introduce only a second melody, not a 3rd. This section seems to have an identity crisis.

Chords

Gary: I use more "strong" progressions in the chorus, with more interesting "fragile" progressions in the verse.

Me: No. The chord progression is:

• A section: C,,Am,,F,,G,D.
• B section: Em,G,Am,C,Dm,F,G Em,D C

The B section has a mch more fragile progression than the A section

Gary: I use more vocal harmonies in the chorus than I do in the verse.

Me: There are no vocal harmonies at all.

Gary: I start the bridge, or any other "miscellaneous" section of my song on a chord other than the tonic chord.

Me: Yes. The B section starts on Em. Only problem is that the B section tries to be both chorus and bridge.

Gary: The majority of progressions throughout the song feel like a complete musical journey, and any complex progressions eventually feel resolved by progressions in the chorus.

Me: the verse ends on a D. It needs to end on a C to give resolution. The B section ends on C, but the D leading up to the C avoids the C to sound like a resolution.

Lyrics

Gary: I use relatively plain, everyday language that connects with average people.

Me: Yes

Gary: Despite my use of plain language, I find opportunities to say or describe things, events, people, etc., with an occasionally clever turn of phrase.

Me: No. The whole song just keeps going in an almost conversational manner, becoming boring and uninteresting

Gary: I ensure that my verse lyrics primarily describe events, people and situations, while my chorus lyrics primarily describe reactions and emotions.

Me: No. There is no emotional conclusion at any point. It just keeps going on and on.

Gary: I try to find concise ways to say things, and avoid being unnecessarily wordy.

Me: Yes.

Miscellaneous:

 My song shows, even in a small degree, something innovative that sets it apart from other songs I've written, and other songs of the same genre that listeners would know.

 I've tried to incorporate something unique regarding instrumentation (fiddle, acoustic guitar, acoustic orchestral instrument, etc.).

 The song's intro is, even in just some small measure, interesting, and is likely to pull a listener into the rest of the song.

 I've varied the overall loudness of the song so that the basic dynamic level shows an interesting and compelling contour.

To save time and space, I will answer these 4 questions with one resounding NO. The arangement is generally borng.

In conclusion, this song scores 3 out of 18. No wonder the song sucks. No song have to score 100% in this checklist to work, but it takes no genius to figure out that such a low score is just not good enough.

 

Building sets for Bottom up

This week was a very busy week all round.

To kick start the execution of the plan we started to work on last week, I spend my Monday and Tuesday evenings recording back tracks for a song, Singing comes cheap, from The exile. The tracks was uploaded to Indaba, but I have not yet started searching for singers.

Then there was the meeting with Anne on Wednesday. She loved the song I wrote so much that she promoted me from songwriter to producer X 3. I have to decide if I take the job(s) of producer, but it does sound exiting. That is producing the demo CD, which will be used to get sponsorships exited, then produce the album and then the show. We've spend most of the evening talking about stories for songs to write and the overall vision of the show and album. We might have been a bit over exited for a first production meeting, but we discussed target listeners markets, venue sizes and stage designs. A rough date for the first recording has been decided as well.

There is no way that I can produce a show while I'm holding down a full time job, so I will have to do some serious planning, including planning my leave around the show.

Next we went to Cape Town for the dealers awards. This is suppose to be the annual celebrations day, but whenever a dealer sees me, they read "complaints department" written on my forehead.

The dealers at my table did not disappoint. At least, the whole evening was not a drag. The entertainment from Elvis Blue and his team was as good as it can get.

Back home on Saturday. I had some time Saturday night to work on my song writing, by slowing the song for Ann down from 160 bpm to 140 bpm, and transpose it down from soprano range to alto range. As any songwriter knows, you can not simply transpose a song few semitones and forget about it, so I still have a few notes to work around.

Sunday morning was spend at the Protea Stage Productions warehouse, putting a set together for the show, Bottom up.

It may not look much like the final stage set yet, but after a few adjustments and paint brushes, it will look great.. I have been honored to observe professionals in action. These guys have dome it before, and know what to do as efficient and cost effective as possible.

 

Planning to get more done

Today we will start to do some serious planning. If you remember, we started this all when I realized that I have a problem. My problem is that I have too much to do and not getting anything done. Having too much to do and not finishng anything is just another form of procrastination. This is a very typical problem that millions of people all over the world suffer from. Lucky for me, there is a solution. It is called planning.

Before I draw up my plan of action, I have to establish the extend of what I have to plan for. Let's call this my scope. I start to define the scope first by giving it a mission statement. This is simply putting into words what I want to accomplish; into a single generic sentence.

So, what is my mission? I want to write songs and I want to record them. To be more specific, I want to write and record songs for the musical shows I am working on. Now, that sounds like a mission to me. Let me refine that into some generic words that I can put up on a signboard.

My mission is to write songs and make recordings of the songs from the musical shows I write.

Let's read that again. Not bad. Now we can start to get creative.

Now that I know what I am doing, I can start to break that down further into more detail. I am talking about musical shows I write. I have a long list of those, in various states of completion. Let's look at that list again:

1) The exile

One concept album with 16 songs dne. Nine more songs written (words and melody) to be recorded.

2) Wake not the dead

One song recorded. Three sng, words and melodies written and needs to be recorded. Nineteen more needs words, melodies, and recordings.

3) The nightingale

One song recorded. Five more, words and melodies are written and needs recordings. Twenty six more needs words, melodies, and recordings.

4) Ghost town

One song recorded. One more with words and melody. Total extend unknown.

5) Christification (bet you did not know about that one?)

Book and story in progress, but no songs yet.

6) Denise (this is just single songs)

Two songs submitted.

7) Rock fable

One song with words and melodies written. Backtracks recorded. Needs vocals. Many more to go.

 

I will leave the other activities like Protea Stage Productions off this list for now. Rock fable includes full production responsibilities (album and stage show). Butbfor the purposemof this excercize, I will listbonly the initial songs required for the promo.

Next, let's see what work needs to be done for each song. Every song needs lyrcs (or words) and a melody. Then we need to record backing tracks (guitars, drums, piano, etc.) and then we will submit it for a vocalist to do his or her job. Often it needs second lead vocals and backing vocals as well. After vocals are recorded, we spend some time on mixing it together and then upload it for general public consumption.

So many works in progress, and so much work that needs to be done on each song. We will have to prioritize. After reviewng the list, I decided to prioritized Rock fable, The exile and Wake not the dead at the top of the list. We can get quickest results with them. If we see how much we can get done on these few, and then tackle the others.

The next step is to list all the work that needs to be done. For this I will use a simple spreadsheet like the one shown here. A spreadsheet is easy to use and a very effective tool. In the next blog post I will explain my spreadsheet in detail.

 

 

 

One week in the birth of a song

Monday afternoon: Meet client. Get general instruction and guidelines, style of music needed and some reference artists. (Aprox. 3 hours)

Monday evening: Research. Listen to reference songs. Listen to more songs from same artists. Listen to more songs from same era. (Aprox. 3 hours)

Tuesday evening: research. Download lyrics of reference songs and analyze tempo, chords, lyrics, form and structures. Make notes. Went to bed very late. (Aprox. 5 hours)

Wednesday evening: Start writing lyrics with Celtx on ipad. First just write ideas for the story. Freeform paragraphs. Start to convert paragraphs into one-liners. (Aprox. 3 hours)

Thursday morning: Decide on a song structure. Verse, verse, bridge, chorus, verse, bridge, chorus, chorus. Decide on song tempo and rhythm. Got general idea of melody in head. Start rewriting lyrics to fit form. (Aprox. 2 hours)

Thursday evening: Spend a lot of time with dictionary.com and rhymezone apps to write lyrics. Get some ideas for chord progression. Start Band in a box (BIAB), type in chords and search for style. Keep working on verse 1, bridge and chorus. Keep playing and singing over and over until it fits. (Aprox. 3 hours).

Friday morning: Refine lyrics more. (Aprox 1 hour).

Friday evening: Start BIAB and loop over and over, changing lyrics to fit chords and rhythm. Refine chords when required. Export midi files. Start Notion and import midi files. Start writing melody in Notion and add lyrics. Keep changing lyrics to fit melody. Go to bed about 2 a.m. (Aprox 6 hours)

Saturday morning: Listen to song. Keep changing lyrics to fit better. Write background vocals in Notion. (Aprox. 4 hours)

Saturday afternoon: Export audio files from Notion for vocal guide tracks. Fire up Sonar. Import midi files and vocal guide tracks. Fire up BIAB and search for real tracks. Export to audio. Search BIAB for piano tracks. Ended up with 5 options. Mix and match piano tracks. Mix up scratch mix in Sonar with Steven Slate drums, Virtual Piano, Sampletank C7 piano, Dim Pro on Bass, Realband on 2 x acoustic guitars and 2 x electric guitars (Aprox. 3 hours)

Saturday evening: Export audio 1 mix with instruments only and 1 mix including vocal guide tracks. Print pdf with lyrics from Celtx. Write pdf with vocal music from Notion. Upload to web site and send email to client with links. (Aprox. 2 hours)

Saturday evening: Wait for reply from client and write blog.

Not bad. About 35 hours on a song. I have written song before in less time, but most of the time a song would take much longer than this. This song is far from done. Next the client will want to make changes. If we are lucky, not many. Then at least a three hour session to record the vocals. Another 3 hour session to record back tracks. Depend on client budget, the final tracks may go to another studio for mixing. That is another 6 hours. All in all, we may have a song at the cost of 50 hours.

How much shall we charge? At a minimum union wage rate this song is worth some. I would be so lucky. Let's face it. I will be only to happy to make one tenth of that amount and hope life time royalties will make up another few bucks. If one song out of every 25 songs get some radio play or gets accepted on a movie soundtrack, it might make up for a bit more and might actually earn half of what it cost. The other 24 songs? We keep on reminding ourselves that we do this because we enjoy it.

And yes. We do do this because we enjoy it.

 

So much to do in so little time

For somebody who is doing this while holding a pretty busy daytime job, I have far too many projects in progress.

First there is The exile. This is my main project which we are now in the process of pitching to producers.

Next there is Ghost town, a rock concert musical in development.

Then I have Wake not the dead, the horror musical. This is a musical propper, and if all goes well, I will record the songs by sometimes middel of this year.

Last on the list of musicals is A story of a nightingale. Many of the songs are written.

For all of these musicals, at least one, and sometimes many, demo songs are recorded.

Next in progress, on the production side is the farce, Bottoms up, by the Protea Stage Productions. My involvement here is more on the hand-of-all-trades and whatever-I-can-find-to-do-to-look-like-I-am-helping nature. The show will go on stage in May 2013. Later this year, around October, we will put a musical up, so watch this space. I will be much more involved in that production.

On the songwriting side, I am pitching songs for 2 projects. One I am especially keen for. This will probably turn into a 50's /Jim Steinman style rock show. The other project is pure adapting of some of my songs for a singer who plan to record an album this year.

So, if all these projects just keep moving forward and if my work gets accepted, then this year will be a very busy year. Keep watching this space.

 

You got to love those professors and time travelers

Time traveling is nothing new.

 

 

Waldo Selden Pratt (1857–1939) is highly regarded as one of the authorities on the topic of the history of music. His work, the history of music, was published in 1907 and has since been used by many (or at least two I know of) students as a version of the truth.

 

For the history of music in pre-historic times, Pratt made use of many sources for his book, including stories gathered from time travelers. In chapter 1, on page 25 of his book, he makes this astonishing revelation about his sources:

 

"The great difficulty of the topic lies in the variable accuracy and clearness of the first-hand reports of the facts that come from travelers, misionaries and other observers."

You got to love those learned guys. They have gone through so much to bring us the truth. They even built time machines. Pratt was able to describe music as it originated in prehistoric times in much more detail as anybody was able to do since. The music of the "savages", as he refers to the musicians of old, is described in much detail, with great respectful reference to, what he calls, the "childish attempts" and "rudimentary attempts" of said savages.

 

He also studied, what he refers to as, the "Semi-civilized music" of the Chinese and Hindus, as well as the ancient Egyptians, Assyrians and Hebrews who were "on a similar footing" as above-mentioned.

 

The most astonishing part is what he documents as facts, presumably exactly as told to him by those time travelers. He reveals that these savages made music mainly for social purposes, affording an outlet for surplus animal spirit. This is not only important for the study of music, but also proof that early music was used as soundtracks of porn movies. He tells us:

 

"The practice of music is sometimes shared by men and women alike, but sometimes, for obscure reasons, is reserved for one or the other sex".

Just as porn music is nothing new, he also tells us that pop music, rap, and beat boxing is also an ancient custom:

 

"Instances occur of the use of mere nonsense-jingles and of even a song-jargon, quite distinct from ordinary speech".

Even heavy metal is nothing new. We only had to add the guitars:

 

"..given melody contains but few distinct tones, though sometimes varied with indescribable slides or howls".

I am not planning on quoting the whole book out of context, so I would rather advice those interested in the musical experiences of the time travelers to follow the link above and read the original text. Alternatively, you can go to your library and find any other text that is authoritative on this subject. Anything under the Disney section might just do the job.

 

Hope you enjoy the trip to the library. They say you might find more virgins there than in the cloister.

 

Lastly, the rest of Pratt's book is actually an interesting read. Go ahead and try it out. Then come back and tell me all about it.

 

Should songwriters follow trends?

Many songwriting books on the market advice us to follow what the top 40 of the day is. Some even analyze the top 40 in terms of tempo, form and subject matter and even the length of the intro, the time to get to the chorus, and the overall length of the song and all kinds of interesting technical aspects, just to find that magical formula that makes a song a hit song.

Leonard Cohen tells us that David had this secret chord that pleased the lord, but does the magic formula for a hit song really exist?

Is it a wonder then that everybody complains that all pop songs sounds the same and there is nothing really new coming out lately, if all the songwriters are taught to follow the trends? Many top divas are competing on how little clothing they can get away with in their music videos, or how many tows they have on display, rather than intelligent songwriting. I am not one who complains about beautiful bodies on display, but really, one have to ask the question, is that art?

The question I am asking does not relate to our problem with the divas, but rather about songwriting in general.

Let's get more specific.

Here is one trend that you are told to follow. A certain analysis shows that 70% of songs in the top 40 follows the verse, chorus format. Half of those add a bridge for extra interest. Those songs who do not follow the basic format, follows the AABA form, where essentially the melody follows a verse, chorus shape, but the words for the chorus does not repeat exact in each chorus. Not a single song included in that survey followed the AAAA format or the ABCD, or free format.

This verse and chorus trend is consistent over the last 100 years or so. Songwriters have always followed this trend. The conventional wisdom is that songs must have a chorus, and those chorusses must be repeated many times. The total abandoning of AAAA format is however sad.

Many very famous songs followed this format. Who remembers "The house of the rising sun"? This song had 4 to 6 verses (depending on which version you listen to), all with the same chord progression, but nowhere a repeat of any chorusses. Most of Bob Dylan's early songs followed this format. Who remembers "Born to run" by Bruce Springsteen? At some time thought to be the greatest rock song ever.

There are many more examples of great songs that followed this form. At least this writer would like to see this form more often. Not because I have any emotional attachment to it, but simply because I would like to see more variety.

The verse, chorus form is great and should be the first choice for songwriters, but please remember that this is not the only possibility.

Until next time!

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What comes first, the words or the music?

Every songwriter gets asked this question all the time. What comes first, the words or the music? Some say they first have a melody, then add words to it. Some start with the words - the lyrics, and then fit that into a melody. I say, it does not matter how you start. As long as eventually they come together.

Most songwriters will tell you that not every song is the same.

I have developed a sort of work flow that works for me for many of my songs. The short version is, it all really happens in parallel, i.e. it come together. The initial starting point is usually the same. For me, writing songs for musical theatre can start in only one place. It must start with the story. Without the song having the story as the main driver, the song does not have a place in a musical.

I can hear lots of people shouting out at me about that statement. People saying, "but what about those musicals that use regular pop songs and put them together, like Mama Mia, Jersey boys, etc.?".

Let me make myself very clear on this point. I have nothing against those kind of musicals, and many of them, I do enjoy. Those musicals are called jukebox musicals. Some of the most successful musicals are jukeboxes. For many producers of musical theatre, the jukebox is a great solution. If you have a great story to tell, but you are not musically trained, it is much better going for this form, than trying to write songs and miserably fail. Staging a jukebox is also often cheaper, as you only have to pay songwriters royalties to SAMRO or similar organization.

Then, you may ask, what am I saying? Let me start by saying: I am a songwriter. I write songs. For me to use a song that somebody else has already written, is not writing. That is using, and I am not a song user, I am a songwriter. I have nothing against song users and jukeboxes. It is like a plumber and an electrician. They both help in building houses. They do not hate each other. They are often great buddies, but they are not the same.

So, when I write a song for a musical, I start with the story. I would find a place in the story where I think the story need a song. That is called "song spotting". When I spot a place where the song goes, I need enough material to put into the song. I'll ask a few questions. What are the emotions at that point? Is it sad, or happy? Is it a love scene (e.g. Strength to carry on), a celebratory scene (e.g. Freedom day), or is it a confrontational scene (e.g. Talk about democracy). The answers to those questions will determine the mood, tempo and melody of the song and often the style of the words I use for the lyrics.

Once I have the general idea of the song, I gather enough material to put into words. Many great songwriters starts with the script or book itself. If you have a well written script, all you have to do is rhyme the words and put it into a rhythmic pattern. Most often things are a bit more complicated and as a songwriter you need to spend extra time in making up enough story to fill up a 3 to 5 minutes of a song. Take note, at this stage I am not talking about full lyrics yet. It will take some time before we have the lyrics of the song ready. I will just write down everything I want to say in the song, without regards of trying to fit it to any rhythm or melody.

Having enough material to make up the song, gives me a good basis to start thinking about the music. Very often I will next decide on the form of the song before I continue. In simple songwriting speak, the "form" refers to the number of repeating verses and choruses. The material I gathered will often lead me here. The general rule with popular songwriting is to have the "story telling" elements in verses and the emotional parts in a chorus. Sometimes there is a part where I want to throw in an alternative viewpoint, or some surprise, which calls for a bridge.

Once I organized the words and stories into logical groups, I decide on how many verses I need and how long each verse should be. Normally, each verse is either 8 or 16 lines long, but different schemes are common. The important thing is to decide on something and then try to stick to it for all verses. For example, if I decide that my song will be best suited by 2 verses, a chorus, then another verse and then another chorus, with the verse being 12 lines long, I have to make sure that I am consistent and have all my verses the same length. Very often, I would find that the material I have gathered in the previous step is not as symmetric as I would like to be, e.g. I have 10 lines for the first verse, 13 lines for the 2nd verse, etc. Clearly, that is not ideal. In such cases, I need to get back to being a bit creative and add extra lines where needed, or cut what is not needed.

Only at that point will I actually switch on my computer, keyboard, or grab a guitar, or take whatever instrument of choice to work on the music. It is my preference to work on the chord progression before I work on the melody. I do not think it is wrong to have a melody first, but then you must be prepared to tweak the melody later on to fit into chord progression. To come up with chord progressions can be a separate field of study all by itself. Without overcomplicating things, I try to keep things interesting and steer away from overused progressions.

Armed with a story and a chord progression, I will start writing the melody. A great tool to use at this point is a little program called Band-in-a-box. I type in the chord progression, choose a style and a tempo and let the computer generate a backtrack. Starting with the first verse, while the computer loop the backtrack over and over again, I will try to sing out the song or play it on the keyboard. This requires me to change the words and the melody repeatedly, until they fit together. It can often take many days before I end up with something that I am happy with.

There are no real rules I follow in writing melodies, other than it must be possible for somebody to sing it. This means I have to know which character will sing it. I have to know at this stage if the melody will by sung by a tenor, bass, or soprano, as each type of singer will have a very different range of notes they can comfortably sing. Believe it or not, but an average man can not sing the same notes as a classically trained soprano.

Once I have a single verse sorted, I will skip to the chorus, following a very similar process as when I wrote the verse.

Having one verse and one chorus is the battle halfway won. Next I will go to the second verse and then the third verse, etc. The melody, at that stage, is more or less fixed, but I might want to go back and tweak it at places. Very often in musical theater songs, different characters will sing different verses (e.g. I am free). It is therefore necessary to adjust the melody to fit for the different voices. The rest is just a matter of fitting the words to the melody.

Until next time. Then we can talk more about the rhyme schemes, rhythm patterns etc.