Tuesday, 16 April 2013

Week 6 Using Front and Back Heavy Phrasing





Here's the soundcloud link.

What fun this course has been! What a pleasure it has been to get to know all you talented people through your music and blogging.  I’ll be following you!

In the last week of the course, we were asked to take our song from week 5 and revise it using front heavy (F) and back heavy (B) bar phrasing.  Front heavy means there is a syllable on the downbeat.  It’s used for statements of fact or when stability is desired.  Back heavy means coming in anytime after the downbeat, and is usually used for statements of uncertainty or instability.  Both can be used to set up an important line, like the title or a refrain.  For example, there might be several front heavy lines, creating the expectation of front heavy, and then the title line comes in back heavy, adding a spotlight to it.

Weak bar phrasing was also explained.  A group of 4, four bar phrases, can be sorted as strong, weak, strong, weak, just like the four beats in a measure of 4/4 time.  Using front heavy phrasing in the strong bars is the most stable.  Front heavy phrasing on a weak bar lessens that stability.  Similarly, back heavy phrasing on a strong bar is the most unstable.

We learned how to do this by listening to several iterations of the song “Pieces” co-written by Pat Pattison. It was really instructive to feel the song change as the phrasing changed. I spent much of my spare time this week looking at songs from my “dead file” to see how a good idea might be reworked.

My phrasing of the assignment 5 song changed quite a bit.  The front and back heavy approaches opened up the song for me and made it much easier to sing.  I’m not finished with this song yet.  I think the last verse needs to turn into a bridge to provide more variety in musical direction, and there may still be some tweaking with words.  I love the line “riders and rustlers and limping bronc busters” but I think it has to go for this song – at least the “limping” part.  It adds too much comedy to what I’m hoping will be a serious, dramatic feel.  However, I’m holding the line “riders and rustlers and limping bronc busters who sing a high falsetto” for a novelty song.

Here’s my assignment. I have divided the lyric into 4 bar phrases and marked each phrase with F or B. 
The Passion Rodeo

Verse 1.

She bounces in     (F)      like a Texas tumbleweed  (F)
Bright eyes        (B)      champagne woman          (F)

She doesn’t really (B)      trust the city           (F)
The air is grey    (B)      and the trees are weak   (B)


Chorus

She’s come to win her    (F)  one of the best of the   (F)
Passion rodeo            (F) 

Lookin’ to lose a little (B)  loneliness in this       (F)
Passion                  (F)  The Passion Rodeo        (B)


Verse 2

Riders and rustlers    (F)  and limping bronc busters    (F)
Downing shooters       (F)  with serious impatience      (B)

Reptilian eyes         (F)  paint her on the dance floor (F)
She’s that sugar plum  (B)  they’re all lookin’ for      (B)


Chorus

Verse 3

She’s not proud of the          (B)  life she’s led        (F)
She doesn’t want to die         (B)  in a cheap hotel      (F)
She takes too many chances      (F)  she knows it well but (F)
Like these cowboys she’s got a  (B)  a taste for hazard    (B)

Chorus

© 2013

Sunday, 7 April 2013

Week 5 Choosing the Right Setting to Express the Emotion of the Lyrics


 

Here’s my souncloud link and the lyrics are there. http://snd.sc/10DpfFm
 
I had the week off from work.  Since spring persisted on staying asleep, I enjoyed myself by songwriting  and reading some cool science.  Who would have thought that songwriting, biochemistry and epigenetics had so much in common? Let me take this opportunity to explain.
 
In week 5 we studied how emotion is expressed differently depending on how the lyric is set in the bar (stable, strong beats versus unstable, week beats) and in the scale of the song (stable tonic, 3rd and 5th versus unstable 2nd, 4th, 6th and 7th).
 
In the book Biology of Belief, Dr. Bruce Lipton makes the case that whether a gene expresses itself or not depends on its environment, or its surroundings.  Sound familiar?  While there are some diseases that are clearly genetically determined (eg. Hemophilia) the vast majority of diseases that have a genetic link do not always materialize.  The genetic “hand of cards” we are dealt is not as important as the way we play them. 

 
I had 4 eureka moments in this book.  The first was an experiment where cells had their DNA destroyed through radiation.  They didn’t die.  If fact, they continued doing everything they usually do (metabolic processing, seeking out positive environments and avoiding toxins) except they could no longer reproduce or repair themselves.  Dr. Lipton concluded that the cell nucleus, which holds the DNA, is not the “brain” of the cell, as was previously believed, but rather the gonads.  (This misunderstanding that the DNA is the brain of the cell is understandable, since most of the research to date has been done by men who have had a long history of thinking with their sex organs.) The second eureka moment came from an experiment with 2 sibling agouti mice.  Agouti mice have genes which “make” them turn yellow, grow very obese and become diabetic.  One mouse was fed a diet rich in vitamins while the sibling was not.   Surprisingly, the vitamin-fed mouse did not turn yellow, become obese and develop diabetes like its sister.  And, more importantly, neither did its offspring, although genetically, all still had the genes of agouti mice. Dr. Lipton concluded that it is the environment which makes a gene express itself or stay silent, both in this generation and the next. How genes interact with their environment is the science of “epigenetics”. 
 
Our week’s study was on the “epigenetics” of songwriting. The environment for our song lyrics had a rhythm component (what beat in the bar) and a melodic component (what note in the scale). If we get the setting right – the environment right – the right emotion is expressed fully. If we get the environment wrong, a different emotion is expressed, perhaps one we don’t want in the song. Pat Pattison says we get to choose those emotions.  But can we choose our genetic destiny as well?
 
Using biochemistry and epigenetics, we can make the right environment for “good” genes to express themselves loudly, live long, repair themselves and reproduce perfectly, and “nasty” genes to stay silent and hidden.  Everything we are exposed to and everything we do turns to chemicals in our bodies.  Certainly good nutrition, exercise, and rest are important.  Dr. Lipton has been researching emotions, and in particular, what beliefs do to the chemical environment that bathes our cells.  The third eureka moment was when a patient, diagnosed with an inoperable terminal cancer, died three weeks after diagnosis but the autopsy revealed no cancer.  Why did he die?  Because he believed he was dying? The fourth and biggest eureka moment was an experiment where cells were exposed to different hormones.  Adrenaline, the “flight or fight” chemical, trumped all the others.  So, even if we eat super diets, sleep well, exercise, breathe clean air and drink perfect water, the chemicals produced by our beliefs and our emotions can “win the day”.   
 
Our emotions are processed chemically. Our cells produce receptors to bond with excess chemicals. I don’t completely understand the process but it is how we get rid of the chemical residue we create in ourselves with our emotions.  We all know a person who is always negative.  They win $50 and are happy for an hour, and then they start complaining about something else, like what a pain it’s going to be to go claim the prize.  This is because their cells are so full of receptors to deal with negativity that they (the cells) are craving that chemical, so the brain produces it for them by choosing to dwell on the negative.  It’s a chemical addiction.  How does this relate to songwriting?
 
We can create the same chemical addiction to positive emotions, creating more healthy environments for our cells –  and we don’t have to adopt one of those annoying “bubbly” personalities.  “Positive” doesn’t mean “happy” (but “happy” is positive).   Psychologist Barbara L. Fredrickson, in her book Positivity, identified ten common positive emotions: joy, gratitude, serenity, interest, hope, pride, amusement, inspiration, awe and love.  (Gratitude, by the way, is the most important emotion for building relationships. Fredrickson says the regular expression of sincere gratitude is key to long-lasting, happy marriages.  In addition, many top executives say the fastest way to climb the corporate ladder is with gratitude. )
 
Ok – back to songwriting.   How many of these positive emotions do you get from being creative? I get all of them. So, let’s tie it all together.  We write a bit everyday, we create these positive emotions which creates a happy environment for our cells and “nasty” genes stay silent and hidden away. The more we write, the more we create receptors for positive emotions, creating a chemical dependency for them.  So, our brains have to keep coming up with creative ideas to feed the receptors.  The result? We live, long, healthy, rewarding and fruitful lives. We choose the setting for our lyrics to express emotions.  We choose the setting for our genes to either express or be silent.  I need to wallow in joy, gratitude, serenity, interest, hope, pride, amusement, inspiration, awe and love.  Sounds like more songwriting to me!
 
Ok, now here’s my assignment:

 
Passion Rodeo

Box 1
a woman arrives at a rodeo dance by herself
she's "bubbly", well-dressed
she's lonely and she's here to pick-up a "winning" cowboy

Box 2
cowboys are drinking and getting rowdy
she turns heads on the dance floor because she's a knockout!
she's the kind of woman they're looking for tonight - no commitments and a real good time

Box 3
she knows she's lived a loose life with too many one-night stands
she's like these cowboys who can't seem to stay away from the rodeo, even though it's just a matter of time before one event busts them up forever or kills them
she knows this lifestyle is bad for her but like the cowboys, she's attracted to risk

 
Rodeo
perfect: romeo, hello, show, flow, follow
additive: ghost, float, hope, rope, toast, boast, lone, close, roam, colt, control, tone, overload, lone

tumbleweed
perfect: need
family: meet, breeze, believe, weak, meak, sleep, need, treat, please, ease, knees, tease
subtractive: free, plea

rustler
subtractive: rust,bust, thrust, buster
"er" rhymes: rider, roper, laughter, flirter, tinder, cinder, glimmer, glitter, warmer, ginger, winter, after
additive: whirl, twirl,turn

hazard

perfect: hard, card
family: mart, heart, cart, dart
"er" rhymes as above for subtractive/assonance
"d" consonace rhymes: friend, red, head, led, dead, wayward

passion
perfect: apprehension, suspicion, tension, attention, mention, run, imagination
family: rhythm, symptom, tedium
subtractive: pass, lass
subtractive+additive: past, last

best
perfect: fest, crest, chest, guest
subtractive+family:lonliness, emptiness, mess, openness, closedness
family: dressed, blessed, guessed

  

 
Passion Rodeo

VS. 1.
She’s bouncin’ in like Texas tumbleweed
Bright eyes, champagne woman
She doesn’t really trust the city
The air is grey and the trees are weak


CHORUS
She’s come to win her one of the best
Of the Passion Rodeo
Lookin’ to lose a little loneliness
At this Passion, Passion Rodeo


VS. 2.
Riders and rustlers and limping bronc busters
Downing shooters with serious impatience
Reptilian eyes paint her on the dance floor
She’s that sugar plum they’re all looking for


CHORUS
VS.3.

She’s not too proud of the life she’s led
She doesn’t want to die in a cheap hotel
She takes too many chances,  she knows it well but
Like these cowboys, she’s got a taste for hazard
CHORUS

©2013

 

Thursday, 28 March 2013

Week 4 Stressed and Unstressed Syllables


In the 4th week, we were asked to take our 3rd week’s assignment (stable verse to unstable chorus) and analyze it based on the stressed and unstressed syllables of everyday speech. Then we had to set it to music or speak it over a rhythm loop provided, ensuring the important stressed words are placed most often on the stressed beats of the bar. The video lectures only analyzed 4/4 time with respect to stress beats.

I did my own music.  Although technically my song is in 6/8 time, I analyzed every 2 bars of 6/8 as 1 bar of 4/4 because I did not want to confuse my evaluators with a compound rhythm.  Evaluations in this course have been inconsistent and occasionally frustrating.  With 65,000 course participants world-wide, there are many with no music experience, no songwriting experience and some with little or no English!  I decided to give my evaluators as much help as possible.

Below is the verse/chorus analyzed using   / for stressed syllables and     for unstressed.   I included the beat number of the bar under the lyrics so that the evaluator can see most of the important words come on stress beats 1 and 3, in 4/4 time, just like we learned in the lectures.
 
Here's the coundcloud link.
http://snd.sc/ZmgBdj

 

Verse 2 (stable)

 ​  -      /        -     /     -    /    -      /
She likes the singing  silver  sound


        1     2       3      4   1     2  3      4

-      -      /             -      -     /     -     /    -      /
Of  the spoon when he stirs his coffee round
             1        2                3   4      1    2    3       4

-        /          /        /         -      /     -      -       /
He drinks dark roast with honey and cream
       1           2     3      4        1       2          3        4

 -        -        /    -           /                 -    -  -      /
And she’s almost      sure          this is a dream
              
    1      2 34   1 234123      4           1  2  3 4 1 2 3 4

 

 Chorus  (unstable)

-      -       /    -    -      /      -  -    /   -  -
He has candle-lit  eyes of experience
             1            2   3   4         1            234

-       -     /         -        /         /     -  /  -
But his eyes, they don’t say forever
        
      1     2         3         4       1      2

 -        /          -         -    /    -
But when they're together
        
3                        4

 /        -       -     /     -    -    /
Somehow he senses she lives
1              2      3         4    1 2 3 4 1 2

-       /       -       /     -      /   -
She lives in   present tenses
     
   3         4               1       2   3 4 1234 1234

 

 

Thursday, 21 March 2013

Week 3 Creating Stability and Instability Using Rhyme

This week we were asked to create stability and instability, primarily using rhyme and subject matter.  We had to write a stable verse to an unstable chorus. 

The Assignment


I got a gem on the way here ... still needs work.  I have a rough demo of the song at
The bolded section represents the assignment.
She Lives In Present Tenses
Verse 1
The hour is late and the dinner done
Cappuccino dusted with cinnamon
Romance spun from gypsy violins
And she wonders if he’ll ask her home with him

Verse 2 (stable)
She likes the singing silver sound
Of the spoon when he stirs his coffee round
He drinks dark roast with honey and cream
And she’s almost sure this is a dream


Chorus 1 (unstable)
He has candle-lit eyes of experience
But his eyes, they don’t say forever
But when they're together
Somehow he senses she lives
She lives in present tenses

Verse 3
Midnight walk along a river
All consumed by kisses and quivers
She feels so wonderful
When he tells her
He tells her she’s beautiful

Chorus 2
He has moon-lit eyes of experience
But his eyes, they don’t say forever
But when they're together
Somehow he senses she lives
She lives in present tenses

Comments on rhyming

I love rhyme.  I'm so happy when I'm rhyming - within a line, end of line and most especially across lines. For me, rhyme cannot sound forced. It has to roll by easy or I scrap it. This could be why my discography is so small, given the years I've been doing this!
About 20 years ago, I did 2 advanced songwriting weekend workshops through SAC - one with Gary Fjellgaard and one with Roy Forbes.  Roy was at both workshops, so he got to know my writing fairly well.  He made a comment which I took as neither a criticism nor a compliment but merely an observation.  She said he would recognize one of my songs on the radio no matter who covered it, because of how I rhymed.  He said I had a unique penchant to extend a rhyme, and to use consonants at the beginning of the word to create a rhyme feel. It was wonderful to have someone notice what I was doing!

In this assignment,  in the 1st verse, I'm playing with the short "u" sound ... a bit in  hour .. then done, uccino, amon, spun, wonders ...  Then I got into the "h" sound in the last line .. he'll, her, home, him.

An earlier draft of the above chorus went

It's the restlessness that she likes best
In eyes that don’t say forever

I still really like that extended "es" rhyme but "restlessness"  just doesn't sing well and I ran out of time to come up with something better than what I have.

In the 2nd verse, I got into illiteration with the"s" sound  throughout ... the hard "c" in coffee/cream ... the "d" in drinks/dark  ...and of course my favourite,  the  rhyme across lines with roast/almost.  I think of that as my signature rhyme and I try to do it at least once in every song.


Ok, I know I'm a bit twisted.   I'm 51 yrs old and I really have no more I feel I need to say to the world. In my younger years I wrote songs from my own emotional response to what was happening in my life.  Now, I just like to play with the sounds of words, melodies and chords, and I will make up any story to fit with the feel of the sounds I want.

Rhyming is my most favourite thing to do.  Anyone else feel like me?


Wednesday, 13 March 2013

Week 2: Creating Stability and Instability Through Line Length

This week we were asked to write a verse creating instability followed by a chorus creating stability, using line lengths.

Inspired by North Easton's commitment, I did write a song this week,  but it's not winning any awards!  However, I did come up with a few lines and melody fragments I might use elsewhere.

Michael Holland's week 1 blog set me off on this assignment. He wrote about Sinatra and the song "Polkadots and Moonbeams" by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johny Burke.  I've always admired this writing ... something about the way they put a pug-nosed girl at the centre of a beautiful love song.  I also liked the way they put conversation into a song (eg. I felt a bump and heard an "oh, beg your pardon"). Years ago, I took this song as a model and tried to write a new, longer lyric based on the same rhythmic structure, but I was unable to put music to it because I kept hearing the original song.

I pulled it out of my "dead" file, changed the verse line lengths as per the exercise, and added a chorus (the original didn't have one). Total re-write, really.

My verse ideas ...  guy frequents a diner because he is attracted to the waitress but hasn't yet worked up the courage to ask her out. Why? Because he is so much older than she is.  He's looking for a long-term relationship. She likes him and and wonders if he'll ever ask her out. Lots of uncertainty there, suitable for instability. Here is the uncertainty of new love.

For the stable chorus  I chose the "Certainty of Long Love" - the stability that comes in a relationship that has weathered time.  I had some fun using Pat's comments on what a stable chorus should do as analogies in  my lyric.  I also experimented with use of rhyme to add to the instability/stability, using perfect end phrase rhymes for the chorus and imperfect rhymes for the verses.

Here's what I came up with, the bolded sections being the actual assignment submission.


Certainty of Long Love

VS.1 (stable)

She hands a menu to a lone evening diner

He makes a choice and as he closes the wine list
Looks in her eyes, does she know how he wants her?
Uncertainty, that new love brings

 VS. 2 (unstable)

Shaking she pours, he feels a splash on his coat sleeve
Blushing she smiles, and sighs “I’m so sorry”
Perhaps tonight he’ll ask her to join him


CH. 1 (stable, with title highlighting)

Oh there’s nothing like the joy of a love that’s tested time
Like an old familiar melody that rings in perfect rhyme
No guessing or confusion
No blinding of illusion
Like a grounding chord in solid four
It gives us what we’re longing for, the certainty of long love


VS.3 (unstable)

Behind the bar she comes and leans on my shoulder
She says, “He’s handsome, but oh – so much older
What does he see when he’s looking at me?”

VS. 4 (stable)

He stayed 'til closing and he helped with her jacket
Her name and number on a card in his pocket
Uncertainty turning to certainty

The certainty long love brings



CH.2 (stable, with title highlighting)

Oh there’s nothing like the joy of a love that’s tested time
Like an old familiar melody that rings in perfect rhyme
No guessing or confusion
No blinding of illusion
Like a grounding chord in solid four
It gives us what we’re longing for, the certainty of long love
Like a grounding chord in solid four
It gives us what we’re longing for, the certainty of long love











Wednesday, 6 March 2013

Week 1 First Assignment

I Had Fun!

What Title ...
I chose the Two Story House. I liked the idea of 2 stories associated with a house.   I didn't try to write the complete song ... I'll leave that for another day. 

I often write from a title, so I didn't have too much trouble with this exercise.  I'm stronger on words than music.  When it comes to writing melody, I struggle, which is why I co-write on the music.

My first attempt had such a sad ending - the guy's wife left him and the bank foreclosed and took the house ... I had to re-write it to keep the family together, and have him sell the house instead.




Comments on Pat and the Course ...
I love Pat's storytelling approach.  We all do because we're songwriters are we're suckers for a good story.

The deadline pressure is necessary and I'm grateful for it.  It's in our nature, as creative people, to  procrastinate.

Being able to go back and make a change AFTER submitting the assignment, now that's sheer genius on Pat's part.  Don't we all get that really great idea the day after we "finish" something?

Seeing the note from Pat on the coursera site re: the "point of view" quiz was very cool.  It make me realize that he is still there, monitoring. He didn't just do the videos and leave us alone.  There must be hundreds or thousands doing this course right now and he can't talk to us individually, but he is trying to keep the personal connection.

Coursera's technical stewardship is excellent and I will definitely consider more courses through them.

It doesn't seem to matter how many times I've gone over this material, each time I sit down to read a new book or take a course it all becomes fresh again and there are new insights gained.


Comments on SAC's Facebook Platform ....
I find the facebook group to be far even more useful than the actual songwriting course.  This is an excellent way for SAC to add value to what it gives members for their membership fee, especially members who do not live in an urban center and cannot attend the workshops.
 
The blogging is a good way to deal with the comments of so many people.  Details get lost on facebook with such a large group. It would be helpful if SAC created a "resources" page that we could all add links to, for example, the page with all the songs and lyrics.

Most of my time this week was spent reading your websites and listening to your work. You've given me lots of ideas!  I've got you all bookmarked and I hope to go back to your sites when the buzz of the course dies down, and get to know you all much better.








 


Friday, 1 March 2013

Week 1 Overview of Songwriting Activity

To answer the questions of where I am on my songwriting journey and what do I hope to achieve from the Berklee course:
  • been a part-time singer-songwriter for 25 yrs
  • 2 commercial releases
  • CBC play and some commercial radio
  • won several international songwriting contests
  • lots of performing over the years, Western Canada and Ontario
  • writes acoustic guitar-centered folk music, with jazz and classical inspirations
  • am taking most of a year off beginning in June to re-energize and devote myself to art, so am looking for songwriting collaborations to broaden the styles in my catalog
  • also doing creative writing -  just finished a lyric ballad, a short story all told in rhyme, which is about 4000 words and was a blast to write - plan to put music behind it and record me reading it as a self-published an audio book

Here's a link to a youtube


Here's a link to the lyric and sound clip of the song that won some awards

 http://larkspurmusic.com/rubber-galoshes-lyric.shtml


 Here's my website where you can hear song clips and read lyrics.