Well, I’ve just finished my six week songwriting course and all I can say is wow. In spite of having been writing songs for over 35 years, I have learned a whole new way of looking at the process of songwriting. In fact, I will never approach writing a song the same way ever again. Not only that but I will never listen to music the same way ever again.
Having said that, I don’t expect everybody who writes songs to use the same songwriting process. I am sure there are many ways to go about this process that can produce similar results. But I’m going to share the process that I’ve been exposed to in my own way. It may not be 100% identical to the one actually taught, but it’s the way I understand it and interpret it and it will be the process I personally use when writing songs in the future.
It starts with the idea. What do I want to write about? At this point, I would probably jot down some ideas on a piece of paper. When I come up with one I like, I will try to come up with some kind of a title for the idea. It doesn’t have to be the title that the song ultimately ends up with but it’s at least something to start with.
After I get a title, I’ll break out my boxes. In each box I will outline the “story” of the song from beginning to middle to end. The beginning will go in the first box, the middle in the second box and the end in the third box. I will concentrate on making sure that the song Moves, that the story doesn’t stagnate. I will rely on my six friends, who, what, why, where, when and how, to get me through the story and fill in the details such as who is telling the story and why are they telling it and so on.
From the boxes we then move onto our keywords for the story. These are the most important words in the story. And for each keyword I’m going to think of words that rhyme with this keywords. But not just any old rhymes. Words that rhyme but have a direct meaning to the story itself. This will eliminate words that rhyme just for the sake of rhyming.
I will try to use rhymes that are more interesting than just your basic true rhymes. I will try to use family, additive/subtractive, assonance and consonance rhymes. I may not use them all but I will be aware of them all and list them on my rhyming worksheet. I will try to come up with at least nine keywords and at least 5 or 6 words that rhyme with each. I will use a rhyming dictionary and thesaurus to come up with these rhymes.
After I have done all that, I will actually start the songwriting process. I will probably have some idea of what form I want to use for my song, whether it be verse/chorus or AABA. It doesn’t have to be set in stone at this point. It can change. But I’ll start out with some idea of where I want to go with this.
Here is where I will start combining multiple tools into the process in the writing of each line. A lot of different things come into play when writing a line of music.
For starters, I will want to establish a mood for each line as well as the overall song itself. Is the song going to be happy or sad, definitive or wishy-washy? What person will it be sung from? First, second, third? Will the song be about myself or about others who I have observed? This will all help determine the way the lines themselves are constructed.
I will be very conscious of stability for each line. Am I confident in what I’m saying? If so, the line is probably stable. If it is stable, I’m probably going to want to have the accented words coming in on the downbeat of the line, or the first beat. If I’m not really confident in what I’m saying and there is a hint of uncertainty or maybe longing, then the feeling is more unstable and I’ll probably want the accented word to come in after the downbeat.
Moving on to the next line, if the mood is stable, I’ll probably want the next line to have a stable rhyme. So I will lean more towards true rhyme or maybe family rhyme. If the mood is more unstable, I will learn more towards additive/subtractive rhyme or even assonance or consonance rhyme. As for the length of the first verse or section (depending on if we go verse/chorus or AABA) if stable, I will want to keep to an even number of lines. If unstable, I will probably want to use an odd number of lines so that the section naturally wants to move onto the next section.
I will continue this process for every line and every section of my song, making sure that the structure of the song matches the mood of the song.
After the lyrics are done, I will begin working on the melody if I haven’t already gotten one in my head while writing the lyrics themselves. In doing this, I will make note of the tonic of the melody, depending on what key I’m writing in. If the line is stable, I will want the accented words to use notes that are stable to the tonic. So in the key of C, that would be C, E and G with all other notes being unstable. For unstable accents, I will use those other notes. If in the key of C the chord for a particular line changes to the dominant, G, and the mood is still stable, the stable notes change to G, B and D. Suddenly, C is no longer a stable note.
Now, we didn’t get to harmony in the course but something I have figured out on my own over the years is that when you want to express stability harmonically, you’ll use major chords. If you want to express instability, you’ll use minor chords. Minor chords make us feel sad or angry while major chords make us feel happy. I’m not sure exactly why that is. That’s far advanced from what I’ve learned from the course. But I think it rings pretty true with few, if any, exceptions.
Will I “micromanage” each line and even each word of the song I write? Probably. I’ve come to realize that just by changing where the accented word comes in relative to the downbeat can have a HUGE impact on the feel of the song. The question is, will all this micromanaging make for a better song?
It will make it better relative to the amount of skill that you’ve developed as a songwriter. The level of that skill will be determined by many factors including how long you’ve been writing, how long you’ve been using the tools and your ability to absorb concepts and execute them.
Do I believe that everybody has the ability to be the next Jennifer Warren? No, I don’t. But I do believe that everybody has a better chance of achieving that level of expertise by learning the tools of the trade and crafting better songs.
If this makes it sound like some kind of assembly line process, in a way, it is. Yet, there is still room for plenty of creativity in the process. it’s not like we’re making cars where each one is the same.
Anyway, I hope this has been of some help to you in seeing how I would go about the process of writing songs
For The Love Of Music,
Steven “Wags” Wagenheim