Music Composition DUMmIES

Chord progressions can’t be copyrighted; only lyrics and melodies can be

copyrighted.

Still one more way to start a song is to think of a title for it first. A good title

can lead to specific images and ideas you want in your song. For example,

you could decide to call your song “Nice Shoes.” From that title, you could

start writing phrases about watching a person walking, what you think of when

you see that person’s shoes or where they’re going, and so forth. Musically,

the title and words could lend themselves to the rhythm of a person’s gait —

sauntering, pacing nervously, jogging, or what have you. From there, the music

could decide whether it was a menacing or sad song with lots of minor chords

or a happy, carefree song using mostly major chord progressions.

Action words, short phrases, or specific images work well as inspiring titles.

Making your song moody ..................................................................

The mood of the song determines the music you put to your lyrics — or, if

you are a songwriter who’s more comfortable writing music first and then

working on lyrics, the mood of the music you write will determine how your

lyrics are interpreted by your audience. If you present happy lyrics set in a

dark-sounding minor key, or if you put a very depressing set of lyrics to a

happy-sounding upbeat tune (such as Morrissey of The Smiths used to do),

your audience will think you’re being ironic or sarcastic — and if that’s the

feeling you want to get across, then you’ll have succeeded. However, if that’s

not what you were intending, then you probably want to head back to the old

drawing board.

A good rule of thumb is to remember that all music is a form of communica-

tion, and a song with lyrics is perhaps the most blatant form of musical com-

munication. Not only are you talking to your audience through your words,

but you are talking to them through your music as well. If a lyrical phrase in

your song asks a question, then the music can go up at the end of the musical

phrase right along with the words. If the lyrics are quiet and somber in a sec-

tion of an otherwise loud and boisterous song, there’s no reason why the

music can’t get as quiet and spare as the vocalist singing the lyrics in that

part of the song. Ideally, even if the vocals were removed, the emotional mes-

sage should still be clearly carried by the music.

The hook..............................................................................................

“Don’t bore us, take us to the chorus.”

This is a dictum among song publishers. What it means is that your song

needs to have a hook, and the listener shouldn’t have to wait around too long

for it. A hook is a phrase or group of phrases that sums up the idea of the

226 Part IV: Orchestration and Arrangement