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Basic Principles |  |
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Songwriting Craft BASIC PRICIPLES SONG FORM DYNAMICS LYRIC WRITING CLICHÉS DANCE MUSIC |
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BASIC PRINCIPLES by John Braheny I'm not big on rules. Successful writers break them all the time. Some break them by accident and are accidentally successful. Those writers may be "one hit wonders" because they don't understand whyit worked on the first one. Some understand why the rules were made and break them consciously, knowing the principlesbehind them. I believe that if you know some of the basic principles that make songs "work," that make them communicate, you can make use of alternate techniques to compensate for the rule you break. For example; A "rule" is that you don't go more than two verses before the chorus and repeat the chorus at least three times. The Kenny Rogers hit, "The Gambler" and the Eagles' "Lyin' Eyes" both broke that rule. They compensated with compelling lyrics that held your attentionfor three verses before the chorus. The Clay Walker hit "Chain of Love" is AABAABA (verse-verse-chorus-verse-verse-chorus-verse) with only two choruses, ending with a verse. A triple rule-breaker by having two verses after the first chorus, only two choruses, and ending with a verse, the conceptand greatstory lineheld our attention and were ultimately more important to the success of the song than the rules it broke. I won't talk in terms of emotional content at this point. We all know soulful "heart" songs and soulless but well-crafted songs that are just as successful. Something that speaks to myheart may leave youcold. So I'll limit this to principles that work for all songs, both hits and album cuts, though you may have a little more latitude as an album artist if you have a distinctive and appealingsound. Here are the basic, underlying principles. For commercially successful radio songs, you need to: Maintain a balance between predictability and surprise. If your song is too predictable, listeners get bored with it and tune out. If it's too complex, listeners don't feel comfortable and tune out. Make it easyfor listeners to remember your song. Easily remembered melodies, lyrics, concepts, hooks (anything you remember after the record is over) help your song to stay in your listeners' consciousness. Hold the attention of your audience. The tools needed to do the above include a mix of: repetition, rhythm, rhyme, placement of hooks - title line, dynamics, structure. Does all popular music need to adhere to these principles? Not at all. Just the pop radio oriented songs you want your audience to remember. These principles work for album oriented songs too but may not need to be used in the same concentrated way because fans listen to albums in a different way than they listen to "hit" oriented records. They buy albums because they're already committed to liking the artist or the artist's sound. Exceptions are: dance club music that doesn't need to rely on the same techniques and structures as pop music because it already hasyour attention in a dance club. The same is true for musical theater. As a visual medium it already has your attention. We most often listen to the music on the radio while we're doing something else; driving, working, exercising, etc., so radio hits need to break through that to capture your attention and hold it. That's why these principles, though they're important for all types of songs, work especially well for radio pop hits. |
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THE LOS ANGELES SONGWRITERS SHOWCASE - SITE MAP