Song Forms and Terms – A Quick Study

 

© I.Woloshen

None of us likes to think that we require any “structure” to our writing…that we just pour out our thoughts and feelings, resulting in a perfect song. That may be true on a personal level…however, chaos is a pretty difficult thing for others to listen to! In listening to newer writers, I occasionally come across a song that seems to have no structure at all, with little or no thought paid to what the listener might be going through :) So as much as you might want to rail against the idea of “rules”, there is one thing to consider. A house still needs a door to go in and out of, it still needs a window or two and some solid walls so it won’t fall down. This, metaphorically speaking, is what song form is all about. It is a framework, a sense of meaningful structure, that makes the song listenable.

Before we tackle the subject of song form…let’s talk about different songwriting terms and what they mean. Most people understand the idea of a verse and a chorus. In an earlier article entitled Song Structure, I discuss in more detail the purpose of each part of a song. But I will briefly go through them here again in order to introduce the idea of song form.

The purpose of a verse is to tell the story or describe the feeling, etc. The chorus is the focal point of the song, the central theme, if you will. A bridge is a kind of fresh perspective, a small part that may consist of only music, or both lyrics and music, usually placed after the second chorus. These are the main parts that are used when describing song form. Song form is no big mystery, just a new term to some people :) You may have seen or heard about a song having an ABAB form, or ABABC, etc. What does this mean?

The oldest song form, is often referred to as folk, where there was no chorus, or any other part, for that matter. Verses are always labeled A. So, in describing a folk song form, or any song that has only verses, the song form is AAAA.

A lot of songs these days follow the next type of song form, which includes a chorus. The chorus is labeled B, so a verse, chorus, verse, chorus type of song is ABAB. Simple, isn’t it?

Now we come to song forms including a bridge, which is labeled C. So here’s a simple form with a bridge: AABABCB. What we have here is a verse, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus.

You will likely find that there are many variations of these forms. For instance, some songs start with the chorus, some have more than one bridge, etc. If you evaluate songs by some of your favourite artists, you’ll find all kinds of variations. But most songwriters don’t start writing by coming up with a song form first…this usually reveals itself as the song is being written. It is, however, a quick and easy language to use when discussing the process with other writers.

Understanding song form is an interesting way to further your education on the craft of songwriting…if you sit down and experiment with different song forms, you may find all kinds of possibilities you didn’t know existed before. Are you stuck in a song form rut, and even more importantly, did you know you were? :) As songwriters, we are always on the hunt for fresh ideas, and changing song forms can be a way to accomplish that.

IJ

Song Breakthroughs – How Do They Happen?

© I.Woloshen

Have you ever had a song breakthrough? Do you know what I mean by that? I’m talking about a song that somehow stands apart from your usual fare…something that doesn’t seem at all your “normal” style of writing. How does it happen, and when it does, do you fight it or do you welcome it?

First of all, the “rut” we all get ourselves into once in awhile often creates a kind of frustration that is actually very useful. I relate it to what happens to children when they are small…just before they have a growth spurt, they go through a small period of restlessness and discomfort. As a parent, you KNOW that when they start getting restless, it’s because a change is coming! If, as a songwriter, you try to view your ruts as the frustration before the breakthrough, this might help you to get through them.

So what do you do to get to the “breakthrough” part? This should be treated exactly the same as when you are simply low on inspiration, which is pretty much the same thing. Many songwriters discuss the idea of listening to other music, something completely out of your normal realm, as being helpful in this cause. Trying other instruments can also bring about a musical epiphany. If you’re stuck on ideas for song topics, read a book that you would not have chosen before, go to a place you haven’t been before and people watch, or read some lyrics from your favourite lyricists.

I’ll tell you something that recently worked for me. I sat down with my guitar and started to pretend I was a completely different singer…I was basically “acting”. And for some reason, this brought out a very unusual (for me) chord progression, melody, and a kind of phrasing I hadn’t tried before. What is “phrasing”? In musical terms, it’s a grouping of words and melody. For instance:

Mary had a little lamb
Little lamb, little lamb

The first line has one phrase, the second has two. I’ve separated the phrases with commas. Do you write in long phrasings, or do you create a series of short ones in, for instance, a verse?

But I digress :) The point is that pretending I was someone else just put me in a completely different head space, and out came something quite new for me. This is what I would consider a “breakthrough”. I could have just laughed at it and moved on, but instead I allowed myself to explore it a little. Don’t throw anything away too quickly! If you’re not sure about it, record it on your trusty little digital recorder and then listen to it later with fresh ears. Then again, you might be extremely excited at what is coming out and have the drive to finish it right then and there. The opposite could also be true…you could finish it and then when you’re listening to it later, it could sound like complete garbage. Oh, well :)

In the beginning, as you’re honing your songwriting craft, you might have quite a few breakthroughs. A learning environment almost always inspires. As time goes by, you’ll likely find that you fall into more predictable patterns with your writing as well. This is not necessarily a bad thing…hey, maybe it’s just your style! But if you feel stagnant, then it’s time to do something really different in your life that will change your perspective and help you to find a fresh path. Changing your songwriting environment may also help. Have you ever tried to write something in the great outdoors? On a beach or under the stars?

Another point: don’t be afraid to explore this breakthrough with several songs. Sometimes painters will draw a number of sketches of the same subject before they focus on one perspective and paint that. If you’ve come up with something really different for you, let it develop a little by writing a couple of songs in the same style. Breakthroughs don’t come along very often…so make the most of it!

IJ 

Songwriting Topics Poll

© I.Woloshen

I did a little survey on the BMI website (of which I am a member), just to see how many people used certain words in their titles. The fact is that you can’t copyright a title, so if you wanted to write a song called (gag) “I Love You”, you could certainly do that, provided you don’t plagiarize someone else’s song. Now don’t get mad at me if you’ve actually written a song called “I Love You” :)

Do you want to guess how many songs are listed in the BMI catalog with just that title? 2,304. I’m asking myself, do people think that this is an original title?!?! There are probably many others in the ASCAP catalog, even more in other countries, and probably ten times that many that have never even been registered! I picked two other titles I thought were obvious…well, these weren’t quite as common. The title “I’m Alright” had 70 entries, but “You’re The One” had 619!

Next, I decided just to use single words…I picked some random ones, and here’s what I came up with:

You (or) I – so many titles I had a runtime error!
Love – 31,404
Me – 25,014
Don’t – 23,943
When – 19,176
Why – 7,291
Life – 5835
Time – 7778

And then I picked some odd words…even they had entries!

Dog – 1302
Spoon – 101

There are 101 registered titles with “spoon” in them???? :)

Try it yourself…go to the BMI website (link above) and type in a few of your most recent titles :) Think they were pretty original? Ha! I found one of mine that was all by its lonesome…”Fusion and Fire”. I thought that was pretty unique and I was right, at least in BMI’s database.

So let’s talk about titles for a moment. What’s so important about a title? Well, I guess in some ways that’s up to you. Sometimes you write lyrics where the title jumps out and you and seems pretty obvious. A lot of people use the “hook” line as a title. Sometimes, there is no obvious title…recently someone asked a question on my forum about the importance of titles in instrumental songs. What do you think? I occasionally use less obvious words or phrases for my titles because I like the sound of them…I will never use something that isn’t actually in the song somewhere. As far as I’m concerned, I want people to remember the names of the songs I play. You improve your chances of that when the title is actually in the song!

But this article is meant to be about topics. I would venture to guess that the most common topic is love, or some aspect of it. Most of the songs I review tend to involve this topic. So if you don’t want to be like everyone else, what else can you write about?

I was watching a series on Mark Twain the other night, and one thing that was mentioned was that he was most successful when he drew from his childhood experiences to come up with some of his stories. Do your songs have to be about you? Of course not. When we’re first starting out, the majority of us tend to write about ourselves…songwriting CAN be a rather self-indulgent form of expression. But you can use your past experiences, which are “truths”, to embellish your lyrics in a more universal way. Remember, “truths” in songwriting are very powerful. When you express something that is a common truth, people pick up on that. I once wrote a song called “One More”, which was really about a personal experience I had with the death of a friend. I get a lot of response from that song when I perform it, or when people hear it on my CD. I must have found a few universal truths when I was writing it that people can relate to.

Where can you find new and interesting topics? Well, if your past or your own experiences are not full of potential songs, what about the people around you? Their experiences may also be a source of ideas for you. Just make sure you discuss it with them, or at least make it anonymous enough so they don’t know it’s about them!! Beyond that, there are stories in newspapers, books and magazines. I wrote a song based on a true story that was on a television magazine-type of show…I didn’t write it immediately after, the but the story moved me so much that it stuck with me.

From the sounds of it, I’m trying to encourage you to write “story” songs. You can use the emotional impact of a story, or isolate small parts of it and only write about that. I have explained this in other articles, but the best songs require a beginning, a middle and an end. Sometimes people think I mean they have to be stories, but that’s not what I mean! I mean that the song has to feel like it makes sense, that it has a beginning, and one verse (one thought) leads to another and then it resolves itself, even if just to say nothing is ever going to be resolved. Does this make sense? In many song lyrics I read, the verses could be all swapped around and it wouldn’t make any difference to the song…whereas a song lyric that is well-written has every verse exactly where it makes sense, and would be ruined if any of them were changed around. THAT’S what I mean. Recently, a fellow who’s song I actually PRAISED for having a beginning, middle and end, told me to read it again! He didn’t get what I meant, and I probably didn’t explain myself well enough :)

Beyond this, you can write about places, spiritual things, or how much your job is a pain in the ass…hell, you could write a song about dancing! Of course it’s been done before…they ALL have, but not with your voice. The fact is that song topics are everywhere around you, and only you can express them in a certain way. And that is the most important point. If we sat down and listened to every single one of those 2,304 songs called “I Love You”…I wonder how many of them would use exactly the same phrases?? So even if you choose to write a love song, remember to write it with your unique songwriting “voice” and stay away from those old, worn out lines and expressions that we’ve all heard a thousand times before.

IJ