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Beginning songwriting: writing your own lyrics, melodies, and chords
Author
Publisher
Berklee Press
Publication Date
[2015]
Language
English
Description
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Table of Contents
From the Book
Machine generated contents note: Activity 1.1. Feeling Inspiration
Activity 1.2. The Idea Notebook
Get Yourself a Songwriter's State of Mind
Bulking Up Your Muscles
Let the Music Flow
Activity 2.1. Musical Awareness
On Your Mark, Get Set, Write Lyric
Activity 2.2. Lyrical Awareness
Come Together, Right Now
It Takes Two ... or Three, or Four ...
Tips and Activities to Try
Activity 2.3. Inside Out, Outside In
Activity 2.4. Collaboration
Activity 2.5. Photos and Words
Activity 2.6. Message in a Crumple
Activity 2.7. Get Specific
Activity 2.8. Music-Inspired Lyric
Activity 2.9. Timed Writing
Verse/Chorus Form
Activity 3.1. Song Forms
Verse/Refrain and Other Forms
Activity 3.2. Name That Form
Activity 3.3. Form and Function
Don't Be a Bore
She's Driving Me Crazy
Melodic Contrast
Harmonic Contrast
Contrast Using Arrangement
Activity 3.4. What's Driving?
It Starts with a Chord
Note Lengths.
Note continued: Key, Time Signature, Tempo, and Scale
Establishing the Key
Activity 4.1. Major or Minor
Count with Me, 1, 2, 3.
Intervals
Time Signature
Activity 4.2. Time Signature
Tempo
Activity 4.3. Tempo
Activity 4.4. Setting a Phrase at a Tempo
Chords and Scales
The Diminished Chord, or "The Weird Uncle"
Minor Key Chords
Writing Chords Down
Moving Outside the Key
Borrowed Chords: Use Them, Then Give Them Back
Relative Keys
Theory and Melody
Activity 4.5. Key and Starting Pitch
Single Chord Tone
Activity 4.6. Melody and Chord Tones
Neighborly Notes
Activity 4.7. Neighbor Notes
Activity 4.8. Writing with Neighbor Notes
Two Chord Tones
Activity 4.9. Two Chord Tones
Activity 4.10. Writing with Two Chord Tones
Passing Notes
Activity 4.11. Passing Notes
Activity 4.12. Writing with Passing Notes
Arpeggios
Activity 4.13. Arpeggios
Activity 4.14. Writing with Arpeggios.
Note continued: A Final Word on Melody and Theory
Note Name Bad, Melody Good
Activity 5.1. The Melodic Motif
Repetition, Repeat
Activity 5.2. Repetition of the Motif
Activity 5.3. Repetition in the Chorus
The Secret Ingredients of Melody
Pitch
Note Length
Activity 5.4. Contrast Using Note Length
Activity 5.5. Melody Writing Using Contrasting Note Lengths
Placement: Before, On, or After
Activity 5.6. Placement of the Phrases
Phrase Length: Short or Long
Activity 5.7. Phrase Length
Activity 5.8. Changing the Phrase Length
Clustered or Intervallic
Ascending or Descending
Full or Empty
Activity 5.9. Full and Empty
Combining the Tools
The Color of Chords
Activity 6.1. Key and Chord Awareness
Keep It Simple
Harmonic Contrast
That New Chord Feeling
Activity 6.2. Simplicity with Harmony
Slow Change, Fast Change
Groove, Baby, Groove
Straight vs. Swing
Rests and Rhythmic Changes.
Note continued: Activity 6.3. One- and Two-Chord Grooves
Activity 6.4. Groove Awareness
Activity 6.5. Recreating a Groove
Activity 6.6. Old Groove, New Tempo
Thinking Outside the Box
The Good, the Bad, and the Indifferent
Point, Point, Point to Your Point
Activity 7.1. Lyric Repetition
Activity 7.2. Using Lyric Repetition
What Do You Want to Say?
Journaling and Sensory Writing
Capture the Moment
Don't Just Walk: Saunter, Hobble, or Glide
Activity 7.3. Using Specific Verbs
Adjectives and Nouns, Metaphorically Speaking
Activity 7.4. Using Images to Get Specific
Activity 7.5. Metaphorical Collisions
Activity 7.6. 10 Minutes a Day
Flaunt What You've Got
Lifting Lines and Making Rhymes
Rhyme Schemes
Rhyme Groupies
The Rhyming Dictionary
Get Your Lyric Groove On
Activity 7.7. Lifting Lines
Activity 7.8. Looking for Sensory Language
Awesome Choruses
Being the Center of Attention.
Note continued: Activity 7.9. Mapping the Rhyme Scheme
Activity 7.10. Lifting and Stacking Choruses
Beam Me Up, Scotty: Bridges and Prechoruses
Verse/Refrain Songs with Sensory Writing
Cleaning Up Your Act
Write Like You Talk
Write What You Know
Activity 8.1. Physical Sensory Writing
Activity 8.2. Reflective Listening with Sensory Writing
Activity 8.3. Reflective Listening for Verses and Choruses
Activity 8.4. Photos and Words
Activity 8.5. Crumpled Paper
Activity 8.6. Metaphor
Activity 8.7. Guided Meditation
Activity 8.8. Being the Expert
Activity 8.9. Spoken Word
Activity 8.10. Melodic Motifs
Activity 8.11. Guided Feedback
Activity 8.12. Write Happy
Activity 8.13. 40 Minutes
Guitar
Piano
Voice
Teach Me Your Ways, Oh Wise One
How Much Should I Practice?
Listening Is Practicing
Rocking the Band
Sharing Your Music with Others
Forming a Songwriting Group
Songwriting as a Career.
Note continued: Writing for Film and Television
Writing for a Publisher
Writing for Visual Media
Recording Artist
Touring Artist
Broadway and Musicals
Taking the First Step
Who Are You?
A. Glossary
B. Song Listening Examples
C. Songwriter Resources.
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