So you want to write a song? OK, then, let's learn from one of the greatest how to go about it.
We have all heard of Ludwig van Beethoven, the great German classical composer. One day, he was walking through a forest with a friend. It was a clear sunny day. They could hear the rustle of the breeze through the trees, the ripple of the stream, the song of the birds. In the distance, there was the sound of farm animals. As they walked and talked,
Beethoven took out a notebook and started to scribble down some notes. He then went home and, taking his notes, set to work at his piano. Sometime later he sent off a new work to his publisher - his Pastoral Symphony.
Beethoven followed four simple steps: Listen, record, play and write.
It sounds straightforward when you say it like that, but there is a bit of work to do: but hey, nothing worthwhile is ever as easy as it appears is it? Anyway, we are not writing a symphony are we? But the steps are the same; it is just that some of them are smaller.
Step 1: Listen
What Beethoven understood was that the inspiration for making music comes from listening to the sounds around you. It might be the rhythm of a train, the sound of traffic, the tinkle of wind chimes or the hammering on a building site. It might even be the unusual sounds of a conversation on the bus in a language you don't understand. Some have found music in a thunderstorm. Music is everywhere, not just what other people have written. The trick is to listen. Just listen. Don't analyse, don't even concentrate too much. Just listen. Let the sound come to you. Then absorb it.
Another obvious place to get inspiration is from other people's music. It is no coincidence that most of the modern great composers and songwriters have vast collections of records. They listen to what other people are doing.
Step 2. Record
The second thing Beethoven understood was that you have to be able to keep a record of your ideas. In his day, it helped if you had perfect pitch and knew all about musical notation. Nowadays, every mobile phone has an inbuilt recorder. If you prefer, get a good quality recorder for the purpose. If you hear something that takes your fancy, record it. If a tune or phrase comes into your head, sing it or hum it into your recorder. The important thing is to get as much down as you can. You can sort out the good from the bad later. Just get it down anyway you can or you will forget it.
Step 3. Play
When we say play, we don't necessarily mean sit down with your guitar or at your piano. You can do that if you are comfortable with it, but what we are talking about is playing with the ideas that you have in your mind or on your recorder. We mean play as in have some fun with. Feel the rhythms. Change the tempo. Sing it high; sing it low. Turn it on its head. Turn it inside out. Creativity does not consist in saying or doing things for the first time. It consists in taking things in, subjecting them to your own individual processes and producing something that is fresh and new.
Step 4. Write
Nowadays, writing the music is easy. There are many good notation programs on the market. Some are even freeware. If you play an instrument, you can connect your computer through a MIDI interface or a good microphone.
You now have the first track for recording your song - the music. All you have to do now is come up with the words, and that is the same process - listen, record, play and write.
We have all heard of Ludwig van Beethoven, the great German classical composer. One day, he was walking through a forest with a friend. It was a clear sunny day. They could hear the rustle of the breeze through the trees, the ripple of the stream, the song of the birds. In the distance, there was the sound of farm animals. As they walked and talked,
Beethoven took out a notebook and started to scribble down some notes. He then went home and, taking his notes, set to work at his piano. Sometime later he sent off a new work to his publisher - his Pastoral Symphony.
Beethoven followed four simple steps: Listen, record, play and write.
It sounds straightforward when you say it like that, but there is a bit of work to do: but hey, nothing worthwhile is ever as easy as it appears is it? Anyway, we are not writing a symphony are we? But the steps are the same; it is just that some of them are smaller.
Step 1: Listen
What Beethoven understood was that the inspiration for making music comes from listening to the sounds around you. It might be the rhythm of a train, the sound of traffic, the tinkle of wind chimes or the hammering on a building site. It might even be the unusual sounds of a conversation on the bus in a language you don't understand. Some have found music in a thunderstorm. Music is everywhere, not just what other people have written. The trick is to listen. Just listen. Don't analyse, don't even concentrate too much. Just listen. Let the sound come to you. Then absorb it.
Another obvious place to get inspiration is from other people's music. It is no coincidence that most of the modern great composers and songwriters have vast collections of records. They listen to what other people are doing.
Step 2. Record
The second thing Beethoven understood was that you have to be able to keep a record of your ideas. In his day, it helped if you had perfect pitch and knew all about musical notation. Nowadays, every mobile phone has an inbuilt recorder. If you prefer, get a good quality recorder for the purpose. If you hear something that takes your fancy, record it. If a tune or phrase comes into your head, sing it or hum it into your recorder. The important thing is to get as much down as you can. You can sort out the good from the bad later. Just get it down anyway you can or you will forget it.
Step 3. Play
When we say play, we don't necessarily mean sit down with your guitar or at your piano. You can do that if you are comfortable with it, but what we are talking about is playing with the ideas that you have in your mind or on your recorder. We mean play as in have some fun with. Feel the rhythms. Change the tempo. Sing it high; sing it low. Turn it on its head. Turn it inside out. Creativity does not consist in saying or doing things for the first time. It consists in taking things in, subjecting them to your own individual processes and producing something that is fresh and new.
Step 4. Write
Nowadays, writing the music is easy. There are many good notation programs on the market. Some are even freeware. If you play an instrument, you can connect your computer through a MIDI interface or a good microphone.
You now have the first track for recording your song - the music. All you have to do now is come up with the words, and that is the same process - listen, record, play and write.
My name is Iain Dutton and I have written the above article in an
an endeavour to take away some of the mystique of songwriting. Perhaps
some of you are a bit daunted at the prospect of writing a song, my hope
is that after reading the article such fears will have been dissolved
somewhat.
Should an interest be generated in songwriting and singing and you wish to learn more about these arts, click here and you will be led to my website where you will be able to enrol on a free 14 day email course and also have a selection of articles to wade through.
Article Source: http://howtopracticesinging.com
Should an interest be generated in songwriting and singing and you wish to learn more about these arts, click here and you will be led to my website where you will be able to enrol on a free 14 day email course and also have a selection of articles to wade through.
Article Source: http://howtopracticesinging.com
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Iain_S_T_Dutton
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