To all,
I apologize for the mis-spelled words etc.. in my original post. I wrote that from my iPhone between recording sessions, I guess it was a bit rushed.
Carroll,
It has been my experience that lyricists do not need to have a whole lot of musical knowledge, that can be left to the musician. However, if a writer submits a general AABA form song with a chorus, intro, outro etc... AND just adds a brief description of the melody (sad, happy, angry or whatever...) it can go a long way in a faster completion of the collab. A real helpful practice for musicians from a lyricist's standpoint is submitting a verse with a melodic idea either hummed out, played on an instrument or just sung by the writer. The singing doesn't have to be perfect but it'll give the musician an idea and a starting point and it will also lessen the frustration of having to come up with a melody/chorus/hook etc...If you give a musician a set of notes that go with a few lines of your written song the musician SHOULD be able to take that and expound on the melodic part as well as develop a supporting chordal structure which leads to the development of a chorus and bridge etc... All that from a few guide notes.
Here is a quick exapmle: "The scent of love lingers forever" take that line and break the individual syllables down into notes that you like: The (C) scent (E) of love (G) lingers (E)
for (E) ever (G) Now if this is sent to a musician he/she can basically see the the notes (C,E,G) you picked are in a C major signature and they can start from there in coming up with an extended melody, chorus and overall feeling for the song. If you want me to explain more, I'd love to help you out-just pm me.
Blu Kola,
i agree with your comment about the free software available online, it is indeed everywhere on the net. you can get anything from DAW (digital audio workstations) to virtual instruments for free just to use as a guide to musical lyric writing.
Shaun,
You're statement: "It would appear that when the person was in the process of writing the song, they must have had some sort of beat, tune, or melody in mind when writing it. Even though the person might not be able to sing it well, they might even consider humming or attempting to sing in order to give the musician an idea of what they are looking for." Is exactly what I'm trying to get at, you nailed it!
I can tell you this: When I have a group of musicians in one of our studios and I bring them some lyrics and there is no guide as far as notes or ideas from the writer it's a huge turn off and the lyrics get flipped to the back of the binder and might not get re-visted ever.
When I come in with a set of lyrics with some sort of guide (melody notes or the writer humming etc...) it's almost an automatic "jam session" and that is where the song starts it's musical birth.
I usually set up a room mic when I'm in the studio with some musicians just to capture by the off chance they start jamming and it's something good we can go back to hear how it was played... but you should hear how quickly a song can be developed (roughly) once the muscians have direction... be it a few notes or a drum pattern or some humming.
Ameirah,
I'm not annoyed by any means. I was just trying to pass on some insight into the writer/musician relationship as I see it from my point of view inside the music business.
There really is no specific post or person I'm referring to it's just that a lot of the posts here are "x needs music" and I can say that without some direction it'll take a musician a lot longer to come up with something that matches what the writer might have in mind for the song if anything at all.
As for me, I'm really not confused by any lyrical content here and you're right a song can sound great across all genres. I really think the "blank canvas" works well with a writer AND musician sitting at a piano fleshing out a tune rather than "please add music to these lyrics" and I'm speaking strictly from a turn-a-round time for completed songs for record labels and radio placements. That's where my main focus is. If it's making a song and collabbing for a hobby then that's another story.
Steve |
