It seems paradoxical, but when artists are forced to work within severe limitations, it often leads to their best and most memorable works. Artists all know about this phenomenon, and so they often chase down self-imposed constraints, hoping to spur their creativity. For example, an entire album with only voice and ukulele.
When you're under the gun to produce a whole pile of work in a limited time, the deadline is itself a constraint that can spur your creativity. But there's another set of constraints that you should go ahead and adopt in such high-pressure circumstances: the constraints that correspond to your own personal limitations as an artist.
Instead of struggling to overcome your limitations, this is the time to embrace them. Instead of raging against the handicaps that keep you from reaching your goals, choose them as the constraints that define your style.
If you can't play fast to save your life, you can be the artist who does all slow-tempo songs.
Showing posts with label constraint. Show all posts
Showing posts with label constraint. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Friday, October 28, 2011
Does your song pass the a capella test?
Try singing your melody line all by itself, with no drum track, no chord instruments, no instruments at all. How well does your melody hold up a capella?
A capella (pronounced AH kuh-PELL-uh) is a musical term, originally from Italian, that means "sung without accompaniment" or "no instruments, just voices."
Not every rock melody can hold together without accompaniment. The notes might not make sense without the chord line. Rhythmic syncopations might just sound wrong if there's no steady beat for them to play against. And in some songs, the instrumental lines have all the interesting parts, and the vocal lines are little more than punctuation.
I mention all of these caveats to emphasize that it can still be a good song if it fails the a capella test. It doesn't mean you have to rewrite the song from scratch. But if all of your songs fail this test, then you are missing out on the strengths that melody writing can bring to your music.
A song that works a capella is usually one that people can sing along with easily. It's a song that's easy to remember. It sticks in people's heads. It's the kind of song that people sing to themselves while they're out walking and sing with their friends while drinking. Every album should have at a few of these.
How do you write a melody that works a capella? The most direct way is simply to write the vocal line first, and sing it out loud while you're writing it. After the melody is finished and solid, then come up with chords and the rest of the instrumental arrangement. You'll find that the rest of the writing is easy when the melody is strong enough to stand on its own.
A capella (pronounced AH kuh-PELL-uh) is a musical term, originally from Italian, that means "sung without accompaniment" or "no instruments, just voices."
Not every rock melody can hold together without accompaniment. The notes might not make sense without the chord line. Rhythmic syncopations might just sound wrong if there's no steady beat for them to play against. And in some songs, the instrumental lines have all the interesting parts, and the vocal lines are little more than punctuation.
I mention all of these caveats to emphasize that it can still be a good song if it fails the a capella test. It doesn't mean you have to rewrite the song from scratch. But if all of your songs fail this test, then you are missing out on the strengths that melody writing can bring to your music.
A song that works a capella is usually one that people can sing along with easily. It's a song that's easy to remember. It sticks in people's heads. It's the kind of song that people sing to themselves while they're out walking and sing with their friends while drinking. Every album should have at a few of these.
How do you write a melody that works a capella? The most direct way is simply to write the vocal line first, and sing it out loud while you're writing it. After the melody is finished and solid, then come up with chords and the rest of the instrumental arrangement. You'll find that the rest of the writing is easy when the melody is strong enough to stand on its own.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Aim for the target (not the clouds)
After yesterday's lengthy post about how to avoid the difficulties in the creative process, I realized that I left out a very important point.
When you're starting a songwriting session — or starting any creative work — take a sober and realistic look at the resources that are available for your song. Work within your budget, the business people say, and it's a principal that's just as important in music as in business, although the budget you're working with might not be measured in dollars. Work within the constraints of your actual situation.
Who is going to perform or record the song? For example, if you're going to perform it by yourself at a coffeehouse, then don't write vocal harmonies. There's only one singer.
If you're writing for a specific band, write for the band's actual talents, not for the band that you wish you had. If the band can't play funk to save their lives, don't write them a funk song. The band will sound bad, your song will sound bad, and everyone will be unhappy.
It doesn't matter how good a song sounds in your head. It's easy to have things sound good in your head. Your goal should be to have your songs sound good in reality. And I'm not talking about any possible reality, I'm talking about your actual current situation.
Does this mean you have to compromise your creative ideals and betray your timeless inspirations all because of some short-term shortcoming? Not at all! Protect those timeless inspirations. Put them in a file folder and save them for a time when your world is ready for them.
As a songwriter, you can avoid a lot of difficulties simply by writing things that are easy to write and easy to perform. Remember that a song isn't a good song in reality until someone actually delivers a good performance of it. And it's hard to do a good performance of a difficult song.
If you've signed up for February Album Writing Month, be realistic about what you can do withing the constraints of the FAWM challenge. To come up with 14 songs in 28 days, you need to finish a song every two days, and that's on top of work or school or anything else that your schedule demands of you.
This might mean you can only budget two or three hours to write each song. If that's the case, you might have to write shorter, simpler songs songs than you usually write.
Don't think of this as compromising your ideals; think of it as making up your mind that you're going to win this game.
After all, you don't reach a goal line by standing your ground. You get there by taking the ball and running.
When you're starting a songwriting session — or starting any creative work — take a sober and realistic look at the resources that are available for your song. Work within your budget, the business people say, and it's a principal that's just as important in music as in business, although the budget you're working with might not be measured in dollars. Work within the constraints of your actual situation.
Who is going to perform or record the song? For example, if you're going to perform it by yourself at a coffeehouse, then don't write vocal harmonies. There's only one singer.
If you're writing for a specific band, write for the band's actual talents, not for the band that you wish you had. If the band can't play funk to save their lives, don't write them a funk song. The band will sound bad, your song will sound bad, and everyone will be unhappy.
It doesn't matter how good a song sounds in your head. It's easy to have things sound good in your head. Your goal should be to have your songs sound good in reality. And I'm not talking about any possible reality, I'm talking about your actual current situation.
Does this mean you have to compromise your creative ideals and betray your timeless inspirations all because of some short-term shortcoming? Not at all! Protect those timeless inspirations. Put them in a file folder and save them for a time when your world is ready for them.
As a songwriter, you can avoid a lot of difficulties simply by writing things that are easy to write and easy to perform. Remember that a song isn't a good song in reality until someone actually delivers a good performance of it. And it's hard to do a good performance of a difficult song.
If you've signed up for February Album Writing Month, be realistic about what you can do withing the constraints of the FAWM challenge. To come up with 14 songs in 28 days, you need to finish a song every two days, and that's on top of work or school or anything else that your schedule demands of you.
This might mean you can only budget two or three hours to write each song. If that's the case, you might have to write shorter, simpler songs songs than you usually write.
Don't think of this as compromising your ideals; think of it as making up your mind that you're going to win this game.
After all, you don't reach a goal line by standing your ground. You get there by taking the ball and running.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
7♠ All tied up and nowhere to go
7♠ Seven of Spades in The Rock Songwriter’s Deck: 52 Ways to Write a Song
The Seven of Spades reminds us that creativity is spurred by necessity. Surprisingly creative solutions can emerge when you have to work within extreme constraints.
Can you write a convincing song that uses only two chords? How about a song that runs exactly two minutes and thirty-seven seconds in length?
Can you write an entire lyric using only one-syllable words? Or without using the letter "i"? Or limiting yourself to words that were in Shakespeare's vocabulary?
Decide on your own set of arbitrary constraints, and then see what song you're able to write within those limitations.
The Seven of Spades reminds us that creativity is spurred by necessity. Surprisingly creative solutions can emerge when you have to work within extreme constraints.
Can you write a convincing song that uses only two chords? How about a song that runs exactly two minutes and thirty-seven seconds in length?
Can you write an entire lyric using only one-syllable words? Or without using the letter "i"? Or limiting yourself to words that were in Shakespeare's vocabulary?
Decide on your own set of arbitrary constraints, and then see what song you're able to write within those limitations.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
4♠ Start with a loop
4♠ Four of Spades in The Rock Songwriter’s Deck: 52 Ways to Write a Song
The Four of Spades gives us a time-honored way to write a song. Start with a loop. A loop is a segment of audio that repeats over and over. You build your song over the repeats of the loop. The repetition gives you an automatic catchy element, while it also enforces a constraint on where your song can go.
In olden times, before music was recorded on computers, people still worked with loops and build songs from them. They cut out a section of magnetic recording tape, spliced the two ends together to make a physical loop of tape, and arranged the tape recorder so that it would keep playing that section of tape over and over.
Today, it's almost too easy: you can grab any audio clip and tell your recording program to loop it. (Copyright warning: It's a good idea to use audio material that you're legally entitled to use. If you sample another artist's song, you might create legal troubles that cost more than your new song is worth.)
If looping digital audio doesn't suit your style, you can also do loops the acoustic way: play a repeating riff or chord phrase over and over without variation, and use that repeating material as a framework on which to build a new song.
The Four of Spades gives us a time-honored way to write a song. Start with a loop. A loop is a segment of audio that repeats over and over. You build your song over the repeats of the loop. The repetition gives you an automatic catchy element, while it also enforces a constraint on where your song can go.
In olden times, before music was recorded on computers, people still worked with loops and build songs from them. They cut out a section of magnetic recording tape, spliced the two ends together to make a physical loop of tape, and arranged the tape recorder so that it would keep playing that section of tape over and over.
Today, it's almost too easy: you can grab any audio clip and tell your recording program to loop it. (Copyright warning: It's a good idea to use audio material that you're legally entitled to use. If you sample another artist's song, you might create legal troubles that cost more than your new song is worth.)
If looping digital audio doesn't suit your style, you can also do loops the acoustic way: play a repeating riff or chord phrase over and over without variation, and use that repeating material as a framework on which to build a new song.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Four places to use one chord
Yesterday I wrote about songs that use only one chord. One-chord songs aren't for everybody; they might or might not fit your style. But any songwriter can make good use of one-chord sections of a song.
There are four parts of a song where it's common and conventional to stick with one chord through the whole section.
Verse part A. In songs with formulaic 2-part verses, part A sits in one place for a while, until part B comes along and gets thing moving. There's no better way to sit in one place that to stay with one chord -- typically the [one] chord.
Chorus. Especially with short, hook-laden choruses, you might see a whole chorus stay on one chord. Since the chorus is the musical core of a song, its single chord is the [one] chord by definition.
Bridge. In a certain mid-20th century tradition, the bridge was called the "middle 8" -- and it was exactly eight bars long, and usually eight bars of the [five] chord. Thank goodness we've moved away from that terribly limited formula! But you'll still sometimes hear a bridge that sticks on the [five] chord the whole way through.
Introduction. Sometimes the beginning of a song is just a groove that repeats until the singer comes in. There's a word for that kind of repeating bit -- it's called a vamp. And a vamp is often just a single chord. Similarly, a song's fadeout is sometimes just a single-chord vamp. And if you need a little connecting piece between verse 1 and verse 2, sometimes a few bars of the [one] chord will fill that space perfectly.
I can't tell you how many times I've struggled with various combinations of chords while writing a song, only to finally realize that I only needed one chord after all. It's the desire to make things interesting that trips me up. Of course we want our songs to interest the listener. But if we make everything interesting, you know what? It's boring. Some parts of the canvas need to step back, to be background, white space, or texture. That's why our songwriting toolbox need to include rests, monotones, repetitions, and one chord.
There are four parts of a song where it's common and conventional to stick with one chord through the whole section.
Verse part A. In songs with formulaic 2-part verses, part A sits in one place for a while, until part B comes along and gets thing moving. There's no better way to sit in one place that to stay with one chord -- typically the [one] chord.
Chorus. Especially with short, hook-laden choruses, you might see a whole chorus stay on one chord. Since the chorus is the musical core of a song, its single chord is the [one] chord by definition.
Bridge. In a certain mid-20th century tradition, the bridge was called the "middle 8" -- and it was exactly eight bars long, and usually eight bars of the [five] chord. Thank goodness we've moved away from that terribly limited formula! But you'll still sometimes hear a bridge that sticks on the [five] chord the whole way through.
Introduction. Sometimes the beginning of a song is just a groove that repeats until the singer comes in. There's a word for that kind of repeating bit -- it's called a vamp. And a vamp is often just a single chord. Similarly, a song's fadeout is sometimes just a single-chord vamp. And if you need a little connecting piece between verse 1 and verse 2, sometimes a few bars of the [one] chord will fill that space perfectly.
I can't tell you how many times I've struggled with various combinations of chords while writing a song, only to finally realize that I only needed one chord after all. It's the desire to make things interesting that trips me up. Of course we want our songs to interest the listener. But if we make everything interesting, you know what? It's boring. Some parts of the canvas need to step back, to be background, white space, or texture. That's why our songwriting toolbox need to include rests, monotones, repetitions, and one chord.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
One chord
I wrote recently about writing with no chords. What if we change that zero to a one? Surprisingly, there isn't much different between no chords and one chord.
In either case, you aren't getting the sense of movement that a chord line usually contributes to a rock song. The difference is more a matter of texture than structure: the chord instruments get to play something instead of staying silent.
While it's quite rare to hear a whole rock song with no chords, a song with only one chord is only slightly unusual. There are thousands of them in all different styles:
Some great examples of one-chord songs are "Electric Avenue" by Eddy Grant and "Punk" by General Public. In both cases, a well-crafted arrangement keeps things moving, so you might never realize that the chords aren't going anywhere.
What are your favorite one-chord songs? Please list them in the comments.
In either case, you aren't getting the sense of movement that a chord line usually contributes to a rock song. The difference is more a matter of texture than structure: the chord instruments get to play something instead of staying silent.
While it's quite rare to hear a whole rock song with no chords, a song with only one chord is only slightly unusual. There are thousands of them in all different styles:
- funk and hip-hop songs with tasty grooves that just keep on grooving
- blues songs that eschew the "12-bar blues" formula and just stay on [one]
- ambient and electronic pieces where sound textures create enough interest without the need for chord movement
- folk- and tribal-influenced songs with strong, active melodies
Some great examples of one-chord songs are "Electric Avenue" by Eddy Grant and "Punk" by General Public. In both cases, a well-crafted arrangement keeps things moving, so you might never realize that the chords aren't going anywhere.
What are your favorite one-chord songs? Please list them in the comments.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
N.C. = no chord
We'll be looking at chords in painstaking detail in the months to come. But first, a quick reminder: you can make music without chords. You can write parts of songs, or even entire songs, without chords.
In written music, the songwriter writes N.C. (no chord) where the chord symbol would go, as an indicator that the chord instruments should take a break. This can happen for several different musical reasons:
Here are a few examples of songs that make artful use of N.C. in a minimalistic In each case, you can hear that adding chords would ruin the effect.
In written music, the songwriter writes N.C. (no chord) where the chord symbol would go, as an indicator that the chord instruments should take a break. This can happen for several different musical reasons:
- A melodic riff has taken over.
- A breakdown, with a simplified beat continuing but most instruments dropping out.
- A brief rest, with all instruments dropping out for dramatic punctuation.
- An a capella (vocals only) section, where all instruments drop out to focus full attention on the vocal line.
- A contrapuntal section of music: two or more interweaving melody lines, but no chords.
Here are a few examples of songs that make artful use of N.C. in a minimalistic In each case, you can hear that adding chords would ruin the effect.
- Tori Amos' "Me and a Gun" powerfully relates the stark emotions of a traumatic experience
- Queen's "We Will Rock You" uses a primitive beat and a pentatonic melody to create a memorable singalong
- the first minute of Yes's "Tales from Topographic Oceans": vocal tone-painting evokes the emerging light of the dawn
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