How We Write Songs, Part III

This will likely be the third and final part of this series on songwriting and music theory.  If you’re just joining in, here is the first:
http://jennyandtyler.com/how-we-write-songs-part-1
& second: http://jennyandtyler.com/how-we-write-songs-part-2/

I’ll jump right in.  Once we’ve got a melody, lyrics, and basic structure to the song, we then see if it needs adjusting or arranging.  We like to record it on our phones or computers and then listen back.  It helps give us a little more perspective and objectivity.

Let’s take Jenny’s song “Through Your Eyes” for example.

While we were in the process of finishing this song, Jenny had written three verses with a refrain “No one else has to know” at the end of each of the verses.  The verses are introspective and quite dark.  The song felt like it was crying for some offer of hope.  That was when we began to craft a new section, which eventually became the bridge.  We thought Foy Vance’s song “If only you could see yourself like I see you” said it perfectly, so it became our model.  As Picasso (may have) once said, “Good artists borrow, great artists steal.”

Foy’s song has one phrase (the title) that repeats a few times during the chorus, with a melodic vocal run on “ah” at the end.  We put a vocal run at the beginning and did a similar thing, repeating “I want to see myself through your eyes.”  We knew the song was getting close to completion.

We had three verses, a refrain, and a bridge!  It was time to start arranging.  We decided that the bridge was worthy of hinting at, so we made it a musical interlude to create some variety between the second and third verses.

Here are the list of tools we use to make the adjustments:

Melodic/Harmonic Tools

Harmony – most examples are in vocal parts, some instrumentals

• Unison (creates texture, ex. end of each verse of The Sound of Silence, 39s, “within the” & “of silence”
• 2nds (makes vibey if used wisely, ex. “words” on “there are no words for this” in Skyline Hill)
• 3rds (our default harmony, beautiful ex. “the gap between the rich and poor” in Faint Not at 36s)
• 4th (strong and medieval, ex. “on” of “walked on” before the vocal slide in This Isn’t a Dream at 40s)
• 5ths (strong and medieval, power chords in pop/punk/rock music)
• 6ths (like 3rds though not as tight, still beautiful, ex. Holding on to Hope, 2:10s)
• 7ths (crunchy, used in the intro/verse guitar part in Incubis “I miss you“)
• Octaves (adds strength, ex. verses on Song For You, first verse of See The Conqueror)
• 9ths (open & interesting, ex. guitar parts in Dave Matthew’s Satellite)
• 10ths (pretty, ex. guitar part in Blackbird)

Harmonic motion

• Parallel (moving with each other, ex. “Dawn breaks” in Skyline Hill, 2s)
• Contrary (moving opposite each other, ex “weeping” in See The Conqueror at 1:56)
• Oblique (one part moves and the other stays on one or two notes, ex. Little Balloon, 50s

Rhythmic Tools

• Tempo changes (slow down or speed up like in The Legend of John Henry’s Hammer, 4:32-5:32
• Metric changes 1. 3/4 to 4/4 in Lucy in The Sky, 50s, or 4/4 to 3/4 in Roll Away Your Stone, 2:53
  2. Changing from 4/4 to 3/4 within phrases like in Strawberry Fields Forever, 41s

Dynamic/Miscellaneous Tools

• A’cappella – just the voices, no instruments, Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes, intro
• Use of harmony – only singing on some parts of phrases, Roll Away Your Stone, 3:05
• Falsetto – in a male voice, the head voice, Levi Weaver’s cover of Idioteque, 1:10
• Octave jumps – can be pretty or powerful, Bring Him Home, opening line
• Sliding notes – sliding up or down, engaging if not overused, Shane & Shane’s Vision of You, 3:41
• Vocal runs – putting in lots of notes, engaging if not overused, Adele’s Rolling in The Deep, “fire”
• Swells – going from soft to loud while holding a note, Civil Wars Poison & Wine, 1:00
• Whistle, kazoo, trumpet mouth, Bobby McFerrin’s Don’t Worry Be Happy
• Beat box, Ed Scheeran You Need Me, I Don’t Need You
• Suspensions 4/3, 9/8, 6/5 Politik at 4:00
• Trading phrases, sections, words with lead vocals, Brooke Fraser Who Are We Fooling, 2:23
• Speaking, Laura Marling’s Muse, 23s
• Operatic, Calexico with Iron & Wine’s He Lays in the Reins
• Claps, Violent Femmes’ Blister in the Sun
• Snaps, Muse’ Time is Running Out
• Staccato, Regina Spektor’s Fidelty, vs Civil Wars’ Legato (long held out notes)
• Strum (Mumford) vs finger-pick (Paul Simon) thumb strum (Andy Davis)
• Instrument harmonics (Mumford, 2:49 of Roll Away Your Stone)
• Instrumental melodies and harmonies (Mumford, intro of Roll Away Your Stone)
• Key – every key carries with it a different tone, feeling, mood, we usually choose according to how they fit with our voices though.
• Tempo – we typically tap the tempo that seems right to us after writing a song and stick with that
• Key change – can be cheesy or highly effective/striking (3:33, John Mayer’s Bold As Love is a good example)
• Tempo & meter change –  JJ Heller If You Fall, 3/4 & 4/4 on verses, 4/4 on chorus
• Adding/Subtracting beats on the end of a measure (Toadies Possum Kingdom 3:12 1 measures of 4/4, then 1 of 3/4 then 2 measures of 4/4)
• Time signature – 3/4, 4/4, etc
• Time signature change – Mumford, 4/4 until 2:53, then 6/8 or 3/4 in Roll Away Your Stone,
• Chord substitution – keeps listener on their toes, Holding on to Hope, minor 3 to major 3 at 3:14
• Dynamics – really soft(pp), soft(p), medium(mf), loud(f), really loud(ff)
• Instrumentation – adding & subtract throughout to keep listener’s interest
• Golden section – .62 (62% through the song, usually the biggest or most important part of the song, the pinnacle) – Read on wiki, here are some works that use the Golden Mean.
• Half-sections (Mumford I Will Wait – first chorus twice as short as second & third choruses )
• Double-sections (repeating choruses usually)
• Repeated phrases, words – “My, my, my” in This Is Just So Beautiful
• Dropped phrases, words –
• Foreign Accents – Glen Hansard “misunderstood”
• Vowels a ‘uh’ or ‘aih’ – Adele “There’s a fire” or Milk Carton Kids, “There’s a light”
• Repeated consonants – Matt Wertz “Somebody New”

Alrighty.  That’s the list off the top of my head.  If you can think of any examples of things I’ve missed, please tweet us (http://twitter.com/jennyandtyler) or comment below or on Facebook with a YouTube video link and the tool being demonstrated.

I will leave you with what my composer/jazz pianist/organists/choir director dad, Wilson Somers, says is one of the most important musical concepts:

Five Principles of Music

Contrast – this applies to everything from dynamics, to meter, instrumentation, and any of the following. Contrast, possibly above everything else, allows for engaging music.  Lose contrast and you’ve got monotony.
Voicing – this primarily has to do with instrumentation, that is, where you’re putting the notes within the instruments themselves (the voice is definitely included in this).
Rhythm – the backbone of music
Breath – music often needs space in order to speak the most naturally and powerfully it can.  Breath is vital to us humans.  It’s vital to good music too.
Variety – Mix it up.  Form helps with this.  AABA is a classic example.

That’s it.  Let me know if you’ve got some questions by commenting below, tweeting us (@jennyandtyler) or commenting on Facebook.

Peace!

Tyler