Below you’ll find a great video series of Berklee professor Pat Pattison critiquing a student’s song. One of the most useful lessons here is that the language of the lyric itself must match the melody. If a word or syllable would be emphasized in the line when it’s spoken, it should also receive musical emphasis when sung.
Check it out as Pat and his student demonstrate this.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Because of this, “Writing Better Lyrics” is next on my wishlist!
I CAN’T STOP SINGING!
I can never NOT sing for even 10 minutes. It’s a gift not a curse though. Once I know how to get a great beat starting I can probably make it a worldwide hit! The Nicholas Tozier site totally is helping me become the person I want to become. Good only you Hilary for wanting to buy such a great book! Guess what? It’s next on my wishlist too!
P.S. Do you think there’s a cure for ‘singing-too-much-disease’?
Hillary – it’s totally worth it, even if you have to pay full retail in a real flesh-and-blood bookstore. Just make sure you get the new edition (unfortunately it’s only available as a paperback). The first edition is hardbound but the second edition has a LOT more material packed into it. Something like a hundred more pages. And none of them are wasted.
Gillian Welch’s introduction–brief and full of praise–was the first thing that hooked my eye about it. She’s amazing also; I’m sure I’ll write a detailed post about her work sometime in the coming months.
One more thing,
I want lots to answer.
“WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SONG?”
“WHY?”
“WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE SINGER?”
It’ll be great if I get responses.
THANKS. xxx