What is the job of a musical director

Last Sunday I blogged about the job of the music coordinator. Panic ensued in some places after reading the post, mostly from people who confuse the job of a musical director (MD) with the music coordinator. Ok, so if the coordinator is not the director, to make things easier for you, I researched a bit about what is the job of the musical director, or MD.

I started my research with google. The old saying is, if it is on the internet, it must be true. I think it must have been Confucius who said it. Here are some opinions about what the job of a musical director is, and my opinions about their opinions.

 

Wikipedia

• A music director may be the director of an orchestra, the director of music for a film, the director of music at a radio station, the head of the music department in a school, the coordinator of the musical ensembles in a university, college, or institution[1] (but not usually the head of the academic music department), the head bandmaster of a military band, the head organist and choirmaster of a church, or an Organist and Master of the Choristers (a title given to a Director of Music at a cathedral, particularly in England).

Mmmm. Musical theatre is not included there. Maybe we should not relax, as we do need one - or maybe wikipedia is, well, remember what Confucius said.

Ask.com

• The role of a music director is to conduct and compose music, as well as hiring and firing of musicians. He/she is in charge of the overall musical performance including ensuring that the cast knows the music thoroughly, supervising the musical interpretation of the performers and conducting the orchestra.
• The role of a musical director is to teach the songs, coach the actors and direct or monitor the orchestra. A musical director can as well be in control of symphony orchestras, choirs and the musical content of a show or musical awards. The range of their responsibilities however differs depending on the size of the group they are working with.

This one is more to the point and relevant for musical theatre. Compose the music? More than 98.3% of all musicals are revivals and productions of existing musicals. Even those who are originals list a different composer than MD. Go check the Broadway Internet Database. As the old Chinese proverb goes, 90% of all statistics are just made up on the spot.

Creative-choices.co.uk

• Music directors are responsible for making the creative decisions associated with a live performance.
• Musical directors will conduct a group or orchestra. This involves having a clear idea about the performance of a piece of music and leading a group of musicians to realise this idea.
• The director or conductor may carry out the following functions:
• Sets the pace of a musical performance and ensure that everyone plays or sings the right notes at the correct speed
• Interpret the musical score and whether musicians or singers should perform softly or loudly
• Balance instruments and voices against each other in a performance
• Lead rehearsals so that every piece is properly rehearsed in preparation for the performance.
• Musical directing - Musical shows in the theatre have a musical director. Their job is to conduct the musical element of the show, directing both performers and the offstage musicians

This list seems more complete and very relevant for theatre. Maybe Confucius was right. You just have to continue looking.

Wiki.answers

• The Musical Director's job is to teach the actors the music during the rehearsal period of a show. They train the actors in technique and teach notes, rhythms, and expression of songs in a musical theatre show.

This is the shortest and the simplest. I know some MDs who stuck with this definition, even though, in my opinion this is the job of the vocal coach, who is usually appointed by the MD, but very often, the MD will perform this task herself - amongst all her other duties.

Enough for the most trusted resource. Let's see if some other opinions exist in printed resources.

Staging a musical by Matthew White

The musical director (more commonly known as the MD) is, of course, responsible for all aspects of music in the show. Not only will the MD work with the actors in the rehearsal room, but he or she will be fully in charge of the orchestra, or band, and will rehearse these musicians separately until the 'sitzprobe' (i.e., the sing-through involving both actors and musicians; see Chapter 10). For this reason, there will often be an assistant musical director who can be present in the rehearsal room, while the main MD is busy working with the band. In detail, the MD is responsible for:

• Organising (with the help of the producer) a pianist for auditions and
  rehearsals. Attending auditions and advising the director on the casting of the singers.
• Teaching the cast their vocal parts and helping to solve any musical problems which the singers may have.
• If required, making a rehearsal tape for the choreographer of all the dance music in the show.
• Selecting the band or orchestra (in larger productions this may be done by a 'fixer'), and rehearsing the musicians.
• Conducting the band or orchestra in performance.
• Organising vocal warm-ups for the cast during the run, and ensuring that musical standards are maintained. This may involve calling the cast for extra vocal rehearsals.

This book by Matthew is a very valuable resource for anybody interested in any aspect regarding the staging of a musical. He clearly knows what he is talking about.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Amateur Theatricals by John Kenrick

The music director’s responsibilities include …

• Taking part in the audition and casting process, helping assess the musical ability and potential of each performer.

• Recruiting and supervising all musicians, both professional and volunteer. Finding the right people can be a challenge on a tight budget, and pit musicians (whether paid or volunteer) can have egos that more than match the ones onstage.

• Recruiting and supervising any other musical staff. When a rehearsal pianist and/or vocal coach is required, they should report to the MD.

• Scheduling and running effective orchestra rehearsals. The trick is determining the number of these rehearsals based on the budget and the musicians’ level of talent.

• Coordinating the rental, purchase, and distribution of all sheet music, including orchestral and vocal scores. In most organizations, this is handled in partnership with the producer and director.

• Running effective vocal rehearsals for the leads and chorus. It is up to the MD to be sure every song in a show meets its musical and dramatic potential.

• Creating recordings of dance music to be used in dance rehearsals. This can free up the MD or rehearsal pianist for vocal rehearsals.

• Obeying all relevant copyright laws. Rehearsal recordings, photocopying of music, and any changes to the score must be handled within legal guidelines. When in doubt, consult the rights holders.

• Making sure the piano is tuned and well cared for.

• Conducting all major rehearsals and performances. When the curtain goes up, the performers must rely on the MD to set the pace and sidestep potential disasters.

• Maintaining any space reserved for musicians, including the pit and backstage. Cleanliness and safety mean as much here as anywhere, especially with the ever-increasing presence of electronic equipment. It is also the MD’s responsibility to be sure these areas are cleared and cleaned after a production ends.

• Supervising the ongoing use and final return of all rented scores, including cleanup. This tedious task can best be handled by inviting the musicians to a “cleanup” party, handing out erasers and having them clean up their scores before food and drinks are served.

I am a fan of the idiot's guide series, and often these books provide a very valuable resource.

Finally

There are many other good resources on the subject. You can have your own opinion on the subject and you can have another opinion if you are of the opinion that I am opinionated, but in final conclusion, I want to suggest that, if you are serious about being a MD, do not rely on what you read in a single paragraph on the internet. Go and buy one of these good books around. I have quoted from two very good resources, but there are many others. Books are very cheap, compared to what will happen to your reputation if you screw it up because you had no idea of what your job really is.

Finally, some advice to prospective producers and directors. Always make sure that people know from the start what you expect from them. Refer back to my article on basic management principles (principle No 2).

Happy directing!

 

 

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.

 

Why do we see so few new musicals?

It seems pointless to some extend to ask such question, but maybe, that is why I am asking it. I have to do to find the answer to this question is to check out the list of musicals on the circuit at this time.

The problem is that the answer is not the one I was hoping for.

On Broadway, once you look past the revivals, there are not many original musicals. On the local circiut, the situation seems to be much worse. They are almost hundred percent revivals of ex Broadway shows. On Broadway, the few new musicals, are based on fairytales or on movies. There are a fair number of very successful ones based on classic books. The number of original ideas are very, very scarce.

On the local scene, I am getting a bit confused with the vast number of musicals with absolutely no originality in them. How many more versions of Beauty and the beast can we handle? The little creativity we have is limited to the fairy tales catagory. People are getting very creative with slightly rewriting the stories and adding new popular songs to old stories. Only once every two or three years do we get really new musicals.

I do not want to bash the creativity that people are putting into rewriting stories. It is just that I was hoping to see more. There are some people getting very creative with it and making easy money from it.

That is the problem here. There are more money to be made by rehashing old stories and using old songs.

The reason why a production company would choose Aladdin or Phantom for their next musical is simple. Those shows are low risk and sure to make money. You do not have to do much advertising for your show, as everybody knows the story. They know the songs. People will come back to hear your version of those songs. If you are trying to put up a show like The Wonkie brothers or The devil in Paris, nobody know what to expect. They do not know your story and they do not know your songs. People are much less likely to come watch your show if they do not know the show.

And this is where this whole post is leading towards.

In marketing you have have two tasks. Firstly informing people about the existance og your show, and secondly winning them over to come and watch it.

Putting up a show like The phantom is easy for your marketing department. You only have to tell people that you have the show and the people will come. If you have a new original you have to do so much more to draw your crowds. It is not good enough to tell people that you have a show going. You also have to convince them that the show is good enough for them to come and watch it.

In short putting up a new musical is a high risk business and requires much more effort.

But, all that extra effort is what makes it fun!

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

From the Odyssey to The exile - part 2

In part 1 of this series, we saw how the Odyssey by Homer was the initial inspiration behind The exile. Now, let's get some insights into how the story was changed from a 2,000 year old tale into a modern story.

I decided to cut it all down to the spline of the story. Many of the scenes in the Odyssey can form the basis for some scenes in my story, but we there will not be enough time to dwell too much on them. I had to become ruthless about changes to the story. I could not let the Odyssey get in the way of a good story. Whenever it suited me, I made changes. After all, I am a story teller, not a journalist, and there are no real truths in a story that does not exist yet.

The chapters of the Odyssey can be grouped into three sections, 1) the search for Ulysses 2) Ulysses's journey into exile and 3) Ulysses's return. The exile will follow a similar outline, i.e. Tyler's search for his father, Hugo's back story of going into exile, and Hugo's return home.

In the Odyssey, Homer has the war hero, Ulysses. I have Hugo for this role. We had the Trojan war in the Odyssey to form the backdrop of the story. In modern South Africa we had the fight against apartheid. In the Odyssey, Ulysses was in exile on an island. In South Africa, many people left the country to live in exile on an island overseas. The two most popular destinations were, Australia and Britain. I had to make a choice there, and chose Britain. Australia would have worked as well, as the anti-apartheid movement was just as strong over there.

Homer starts the Odyssey with Zeus, the great god, calling on the muse to tell him about Ulysses, the war hero who never returned home. He then gives Minerva permission to free Ulysses and allow Ulysses to return home.

In the first draft of The Exile I had Zuma (Zeus), the president of South Africa, calling the journalists (modern day muses) to fill him in on the detail of the war hero Hugo (Ulysses). After hearing the story, he grants permission to Melissa (Minerva), to go find Hugo. This introduction to the story however soon got canned. There are too many caveats in that scene, and besides, it did not really add anything to the story. The basic test for any scene is: if I leave this scene out completely, would it change or hurt the story in any way? This scene could not pass this test, and was therefore canned. It only added the need for extra characters and extra stage sets, which will not be needed anywhere else in the story. That just adds cost, even though, admittedly, it woulds have made an interesting introduction.

In the Odyssey Homer moves on to Minerva meeting up with Telemachus at a party at Penelope's home, and telling him to get off his backside and go search for his father. This scene is very important, as it provides the real kick-off to the rest of the tale, so I decided to use this as my opening scene. As we dismissed the original opening scene, we needed to get some connection between Melissa, who get the story into action, and Tyler, who is the one who must take the action. The Odyssey sowed enough seeds to allow for a love story between Telemachus and Minerva, so I decided to use that angle and make Melissa Tyler's girlfriend.

In the initial drafts, the occasion for the party was the first democratic elections celebrations in South Africa. Later on we changed this to become the 10 year celebrations. That gave us some space to add some extra plot elements to our story.

From that point onwards the story started to fall into place. Calypso became Cathy in The exile. Menelaus became Manual, Penelope became Pamela and we did away with a whole lot of extras.

Many side stories from the Odyssey were canned for the sake of relevance and to shorten the story. In the Odyssey, the back story is made up by many chapters about Ulysses's travels from Troy until he got stuck in exile. I brought all of that back story down to the only a few songs. I needed enough back story to make my audience understand why he did what he did and how he came to be in exile. There was not enough space to give all the saucy details. All the war scenes and protest march songs got canned.

The back story is broken up in a few short passages, and spread them around. First we give Pamela a chance to tell her side of the story in "I recall" and "Into Exile". We'll have Neil telling us his story in "From afar", and later on will Manual take the story further in "A matter of import". Finally, Hugo will give us the final crucial details in "A long long time" and "Memories long forgotten".

So, until next time....

From the Odyssey to The exile - part 1

The story behind how the story of The exile developed has almost as many twists and turns as the story itself. In this series I will take you down the road how The exile started off, what the inspiration behind it was, and how it got to where it is.

Even though The exile is an original idea by myself, it did not magically one day pop out and came to be. I got help from a lot a people to get it where it is now.

My first attempt to write a musical was to adapt Homer's classic, the Odyssey. In case you do not know, the Odyssey is a 24 book poem that tells the story of Telemachus, the son of Ulysses (sometimes also called Odysseus), going on a long trip in search of his father. Ulysses was living in exile on an island far away, under the the spell of the goddess, Calypso. The goddess Minerva was given permission by the great god, Zeus, to help Telemachus in his mission to save Ulysses and bring him back home. Seeing any connection here?

In The Odyssey, Homer goes into great detail about Ulysses's journey. He left his home just after Telemachus's birth to join the war against Troy, where he became famous for building a big wooden horse, inside of which they hid. When the Trojans took the horse inside their city walls, Ulysses and his men popped out and sacked the city. Heard the story somewhere? This has been the basis for many movies. If ever you wondered where the term 'Trojan horse' came from - now you know?

There are many more stories of Ulysses's travels in the Odyssey, which you may recognize. What about the one where Ulysses met this one-eyed giant who started eating his friends. Ulysses gave the giant some wine to drink, to make the tasteless humans taste better. As the giant got drunk and fell asleep, Ulysses whacked a huge burning spike into the giant's eye, blinding him and giving them the chance to escape.

You may also have heard the story about the Sirens, or by many believed to be mermaids, who sang this most beautiful song. Whenever sailors heard the song they abandoned the steering of their ships, which had disastrous results as the ships ran into the rocks. Note, I am not talking about a certain Italian casino cruiser here. There is also a story about an island of the living dead, which Ulysses had to visit to get directions back home. This could be the origin of all zombie movies today.

Here are some good links if you are interested in reading more about the Odyssey:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odyssey
http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/odyssey.html

Just as I would regard Tolkien as the father of many modern legends, Homer can be be regarded as the father of many classic tales and legends. Homer lived only about 2,000 years before Tolkien.

You may not find it difficult to see why this epic tale inspired me. Trying to adapt this epic tale to a musical would however have been be a life long venture. A honorable goal to be pursued indeed.

I started writing songs based on each of the books of the Odyssey. The initial songs were just instrumental pieces. I started writing what would have been the first of 24 half-hour musicals. Each musical would have covered one of the books from the Odyssey. I soon realized that I have to get more realistic. Nobody is going to sit through a full 12 hour musical. Wagner almost pulled a similar trick off, but he was kind of already famous by that time. This all had to be brought down to no more than 2 to 3 hours. Next thing was to make this more relevant for people today. I had to find a way to make this story fit into a modern world. Stories about boys with winged sandals, who changes into pretty young ladies whenever they feel like it may not touch the souls of many people today.

This was the start of The exile.

In part 2 of the journey from the Odyssey to The Exile, I will tell you how I shortened the 12 hour story down to a 2 hour story.