The secret grammar of music

Guest post by Dale McGowan. This article originally appeared on Soundfly’s Flypaper.

I was 13 when I saw my brother’s college music theory textbook sitting on a table — Walter Piston’s Harmony. I had played clarinet and sax for a while, even did some arranging for jazz band. So I knew a little theory, but I was barely out of the blocks.

When I picked up the book, it fell open to a section called “Table of Usual Root Progressions.” Clickbait! I traced the words with a trembling finger:

(That’s an actual scan of the actual line in the actual book.)

Whoa.

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Why you should write multiple songs at once

When I first started writing songs, I wrote one song at a time until it was finished. This process was so delicate for me that I convinced myself that I had to write the entire song in one sitting or it would be forgotten forever. As a result, my writing sessions were sporadic bursts, going on for hours and hours, then never picking up the pen again for weeks.

This worked well for me when I was in high school and bored on summer vacation. It even worked in college because I had to write songs for assignments. Unfortunately, after graduating, this songwriting process led me to many dry months and I ended up writing just two or three songs for an entire year. That continued for the first few years after starting to work full-time.

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All (human) music is repetition — Let’s talk about that.

There’s a great scene in the sci-fi comedy series Rick and Morty, whereby Morty’s hapless father Jerry is accidentally abducted by aliens and placed in an extremely low-fi simulation, à la The Matrix on a high-school production budget. Oblivious, Jerry utterly fails to notice he’s in a poorly constructed faux-Earth, despite the fact that, for example, the world is suddenly almost entirely populated by identical carbon copies of the same three people. Anyway, Jerry is fake driving himself to fake work and flicks on the fake radio. The aliens, unable to simulate actual terrestrial radio, make it up on the fly and announce that coming up next on “Earth Radio” is “human music.”

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How to use past experiences to fuel musical creativity

Some of the greatest songs ever written only exist because of what the artists went through. From classic breakup songs (or every Taylor Swift album) to nights of crazy parties to the feeling of falling in love, past experiences make up so much of the music industry.

Using past experiences to fuel creativity isn’t limited to music. Some of the greatest paintings of our time were inspired by real-life experiences. The same goes for poetry, books, and even movies.

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“Drivers License:” How Olivia Rodrigo uses much more than lyrics to tell her story

Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” grabbed me (and the rest of the planet) by the lapels and wouldn’t let go when I first heard it. The musicologist side of me wondered why.

Well, after examining it, I think I’ve figured out why the song has such staying power. Here’s a breakdown of the song from beginning to end, and pretty deep in between, too. In case you haven’t heard the song yet (or have been abducted by alien lifeforms and just been returned to Earth), here it is:

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New approach to lyric writing: Telling sensory stories via song

Guest post by Carla Malrowe. This article originally appeared on Soundfly’s Flypaper

Lyrics are very personal; no one can, or should, tell you what to write. However, how you write comes down to skill. And lyric writing as a skill, just like any other, can be improved through open-minded exploration and growth-minded practice.

Today, I want to talk about a new way of approaching lyric writing. It entails using sensory and cinematic stories to relay your core song message. It’s a process of deep exploration to achieve a unique expression.

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8 Ways To Improve Your Songwriting This Year

Songwriting is a beautiful mode of self-expression. It’s a way of giving voice to unspoken thoughts and emotions.

There are so many ways to say the same thing. So many topics and ideas you can write about.

But how do you write better songs?

Improving as a songwriter will require that you put some effort into it. If that doesn’t scare you off, then here are some concrete ways to improve your songwriting this year.

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Chord Melodies

Consider how to compose melodic parts based on which chord progression and which parts will be used in harmony. In order to make your melody sound as harmoniously as possible, interesting, there is one secret that you can use to get a more accurate mood in your tracks and arrangements you can use chord progression generator

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How To Launch Your Music Career Through Video Game Composition

The video game industry is now worth billions of dollars, and that makes it one of the largest entertainment industries in the world. If you have recently decided to start your music career within this industry, then you might want to spend a little bit of time figuring out exactly how you can become a world-class video game composer.

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How AI Is Changing The Music Industry

The music industry has often been an early adopter of new technology. Musicians are keen to experiment with equipment that can usher their creative vision into new directions. Still, there have always been those who have seen the use of gadgets as in some way cheating, or uncouth. From the backlash Bob Dylan received after using an electric guitar at the Newport Folk Festival, to the current industry reliance on Auto-Tune. Perhaps the discussion shouldn’t focus on the fact that musicians are using technology, but how they are using it in order to support their creative visions. 

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3 Tips For Video Game Score Composers

Composing for video games is much like composing music for other productions. However, it is also a unique and relatively recent form of musical expression that requires its own approach in many ways. This can be a difficult niche to break into, but success can be extraordinarily satisfying. These three tips should help set you on the right path.

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Top 5 Things To Know About Marijuana And Songwriting.

Does marijuana boost creativity and help you become a better songwriter?

A recent study showed that cannabis users have a more exceptional convergent thinking ability than non-users. As a professional songwriter, you may use cannabis on a regular basis, but you need to learn several lessons before hitting that good kush.

Not all strains are made equal in terms of creativity. One may require to spend a reasonable amount of time experimenting with different strains and write down their effects, such as how long it takes to onset, how long the effects last, and if there are any side effects. Part of the process of this experimentation may include writing a paragraph while “under the influence.”

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How To Write A Song In A Single Day

Guest post by Sammy Hakim. This article originally appeared on Soundfly’s Flypaper.

You’re sitting down in your home studio with a cup of coffee in your hand, and your guitar on your lap, and it hits you: writer’s block. Rather than power through it, it makes more sense to take a day off and find a way to get re-inspired, right?

Wrong.

Ask any writer in Nashville and you’ll quickly find out that waiting for inspiration can be a quick death to your career as a songwriter. In fact, even in the Los Angeles and New York markets, writers can often have between one and four co-writing sessions a day — meaning that if they can’t write, they might not be paid.

So how do you train yourself to be able to write a song a day?

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How Imagine Dragons Writes Memorable Melodies

What gets us to remember a tune?

Have you ever remembered a song well enough to sing along to it the next time you heard it? Maybe you didn’t know the words, but you could at least hum along. Or have you ever played “name that tune”? What made you win some rounds so easily and yet lose others? One answer lies in how, precisely, the melody is set up.

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