Songwriting Strategies Read online

  On to the Facets

  In this chapter, we’ve introduced the three main components of the 360° songwriting model, as depicted by the songwriter’s compass: the four songwriting facets, the World of content, and structure or form.

  Each of these components is essential to achieving the full power of the 360° approach. By treating the four facets as peer aspects, we gain independence and flexibility in ways we can work with different material for songs. By working with the World separately from the facets, we gain expressiveness—an ability to connect every element of the song directly to content, emotion, and narrative. Working with structure as a separate component, we gain the ability to express structure in the material of each facet, to shift those structures in revision, and to combine structures in innovative and even “contrapuntal” ways.

  We’ll now begin our tour of the four facets. Your self-profiling at the end of the “Song Seeds” chapter may have left you with a clear sense for one facet as your “go to” or “comfort zone” facet—and perhaps one as the scariest for you to tackle. I suggest, though, that you work through the facet chapters in the sequence given. Each chapter progressively introduces concepts and techniques which are then built on in subsequent chapters. So, on to the facets! By the time you’re done, you’ll know better where your “True North” lies—but you’ll have visited some new territory along the way.

  CHAPTER 3

  Rhythm

  Many great songs are defined and made memorable by their rhythmic aspects: a jagged-edged riff in a rock anthem; a compelling, hypnotic beat driving a contemporary pop track; or the complex, master-drummer cadences of skilled rappers in hip-hop. Each of us has favorite songs where the rhythm was an essential part of what grabbed us. My personal list would include the 1982 hip-hop classic “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Prince’s “When Doves Cry,” the Knack’s “My Sharona,” and John Lennon’s surrealistic chanting in “Come Together.”

  Even in songs that aren’t rhythmically driven overall, as in the work of the great Motown writers or early Beatles classics, we hear a definiteness and assuredness in the rhythmic phrasing of every line, and an alignment of phrasing across lines in the song. Sometimes, it’s only in writing or revising that we come to appreciate the impact of even slight rhythmic alterations in making a song work. A hook line vague and unconvincing in one rhythmic setting may suddenly come alive—become memorable and believable—with a minute shift in rhythmic phrasing. The rhythmic magic may lie in the harmony or accompaniment as well. Two rhythmic variations turn a stock I IV I V chord progression into the anthemic, chordal motif tolling throughout Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’.”

  The Challenge of Rhythm in Songwriting

  Despite how vital and integral the element of rhythm is in songwriting, it often receives less attention than lyric, melody, or harmony. As you begin working with the four facets of the songwriter’s compass, you may find one facet you’re most familiar with and think about most readily—your “comfort zone” facet. Or you may discover a “shadow facet”—the facet that’s least comfortable for you to work with and bring to conscious awareness. For me, and for many other writers, that shadow facet is rhythm.

  Why would this be the case? Few songwriters are trained directly in percussion. Many songwriters can work ably with specific rhythmic idioms that characterize a given style or genre they know well, but would struggle to develop novel rhythmic ideas. For many performing songwriters, rhythm may be most active as an element of performance, used almost like dynamics, rather than built compositionally into the “bones” of the song.

  Yet, there are deeper reasons for our difficulties in working with rhythm—reasons that lie in the relationship of rhythm to the other songwriting facets. In the context of a song, we encounter rhythmic elements intimately intertwined with other elements. Some rhythmic elements are embedded in the very “landscape” in which we compose, perform, and hear the song. We encounter these rhythmic elements directly, but not in a form easy to shift at will, especially as we’re writing the song. In core compositional elements of the song, on the other hand, rhythmic aspects are primarily expressed indirectly, through other elements: lyric syllables, melodic pitches, chord changes. Here rhythms are difficult to shift, not because they’re defined by the whole groove of the song, but because they’re tied to the specific phrase.

  Working with Rhythm

  We face a variety of challenges in developing the skills to work independently with the rhythmic facet in songwriting:

  Working arhythmically with lyrics, melody, and chords. It’s fairly easy to sing a wordless melody, to sing a melody without playing chords, or to speak lyrics without singing pitches. That allows us to experiment, sketching different lyrics or chords to that melody, or different melodies for a lyric line. But we can’t easily speak words (and hear them as song lyrics), or sing a melody, or play chords, without speaking, singing, or playing them in some rhythm. Song seed material in each facet tends to arrive already infused with rhythmic impulses. These may or may not be the best rhythmic designs for the song to be. Yet, we often lack the skills to vary the rhythmic settings as we work with the material later.

  Isolating rhythmic seed ideas. Conversely, it’s very challenging to work with rhythmic phrases and patterns separately from their embodiment in some combination of lyric, melodic, or harmonic material. We almost always experience and work with rhythmic patterns embedded in accompaniment grooves, spoken or sung lyrics, melodic or chordal phrases. Thus, we rarely start from a song seed captured in purely rhythmic form. This limits the expressiveness and complexity of the rhythmic ideas we can work with effectively, and our ability to interweave independent rhythmic patterns in the various facets.

  Dimensions of Rhythm in the Song

  We’ll consider three distinct levels at which rhythm interacts with the song. Though the boundaries between these levels can be fluid with respect to any specific rhythm elements or effects, the distinctions are helpful in understanding how we work as songwriters in different ways with rhythmic material at each level:

  1.The temporal framework. Certain global rhythmic aspects create an overall rhythmic “landscape” that potentially influences every element of the song. These include feel (strict to loose), pulse, time signature, and tempo. Arrangers, producers, performers, and band members are accustomed to establishing this landscape, and know how to shift it for a different feel or vibe when required. But when songwriters write songs, they already feel this temporal framework—and this intuitive rhythmic ground strongly influences and constrains compositional choices and phrasing in every facet and every part of the song. To work effectively with rhythm, songwriters need to be aware of the effects of elements of the temporal framework, and need the skills to experiment with and vary these parameters while writing the song.

  2.Accompaniment rhythm. Within the context of the temporal framework, specific rhythmic patterns are built into the song accompaniment, as part of the overall groove, an ostinato rhythm or beat, or a production track. Rhythmic aspects of accompaniment textures may be stated by specific “rhythm instruments” like drums and percussion, as well as by chordal accompaniment such as particular strums on guitar, keyboard vamps, etc. A single pattern with minor variations may be repeated to form a groove. Distinctive rhythmic riffs and grooves mark songs stylistically as particular dance forms or genres.

  Like the temporal framework, creating a specific accompaniment rhythm is a large part of arrangement, production, and performance. Yet the accompaniment patterns we use in writing the song shape the rhythmic phrases we find and their effects for the listener. Accompaniment rhythm can also be even more integral in songs built around rhythmic riffs, or instrumental riffs with strong rhythmic components.

  3.The rhythmic phrase. A rhythmic phrase is a series of rhythmic events occurring in multiple facets within the metrical framework of beats and phrases—the stream of time. The simplest way to think of the rhythmic phr
ase is in terms of lyrics: where each syllable lands in the metric stream of time. We’ll explore various steps in moving lyric lines to fully realized rhythmic lyrics in the “Lyrics” chapter. But melodic contour also creates rhythmic events, not always locked to lyric rhythm, as we’ll explore in the “Melody” chapter. Finally, harmonic rhythm—where chords change—can also function as part of the overall rhythmic phrase, as we’ll explore in the “Harmony” chapter. (In contrast, rhythmic accents on harmonic instruments, such as strums of the guitar, are primarily part of accompaniment rhythm. In some musical situations, though, even these rhythmic effects can become, effectively, part of rhythmic phrasing.)

  We work with rhythmic phrases in interaction with the temporal framework and accompaniment levels. Shifting elements of the framework or accompaniment can shape the phrases we compose. At the same time, aligning all rhythmic phrases, expressed in each facet, with a common temporal and accompaniment framework helps ensure the unity and integrity of the song.

  These respective challenges lay out the roadmap for the material we will cover in the sections that follow. First, we’ll explore ways to capture rhythmic ideas in a more isolated form, separate from material in the other facets. Then we will explore techniques for working with the various elements of the temporal framework, accompaniment rhythm, and the rhythmic phrase in terms of “dry rhythms.” This foundation will be essential to discuss interactions of rhythm with the other facets, in subsequent chapters.

  Rhythmic Song Seeds

  We’ll call a rhythmic idea, captured without associated pitch or lyric infor-mation, a “dry rhythm” or rhythmic seed (though we can compose such “seeds” directly rather than catching them via the serendipitous “seed-catching” techniques). Rhythmic seeds might ultimately be embodied in accompaniment rhythm or rhythmic phrasing, or might contain aspects of both layers. In addition, rhythmic seeds might wind up shaping lyric, melodic, or chordal rhythm, or the interactions of all these in the overall rhythmic phrase.

  Rhythmic seeds can be derived from a number of sources:

  Rhythms from environmental sounds. We can pull rhythmic ideas and patterns directly out of the realm of sensory experience: water drips, radiators rattling, rain falling on the roof, windshield wipers slapping.

  Rhythms extracted from other seed material. When you catch a melodic or lyric song seed, you may realize that the truly interesting thing about it is the rhythm; the specific melody or lyric is “filler.” It can be great practice then to try to capture and notate that seed in purely rhythmic form.

  Other music. You can also catch fresh rhythmic ideas by extracting a distinctive rhythmic component from particular spots in existing songs. If you recognize a rhythmically compelling motif, try isolating and transcribing just the rhythm of the phrase, separating it from lyric, melody, and harmony. See if you can identify qualities that create intrinsic interest in the rhythmic phrase alone. You can use this “borrowed” or “lifted” rhythmic idea in your own work by modifying it and casting it into different lyric, melodic, and harmonic settings.

  Rhythmic seed “catalogues.” Last but not least, the world of rhythmic theory and percussion offers countless “rhythmic repertoires” to work with as rhythmic source material. Think of these resources as rhythmic seed catalogues.

  Exercise 3.1. Compose a “Dry” Rhythmic Phrase

  You can develop your rhythmic ear by composing rhythmic material directly. Here, it’s helpful to work with a simplified, stripped-down form of rhythm, excluding parameters of dynamics and articulation: a series of percussive events with little or no definite pitch or extended duration. Focus on the moment of attack for each beat. Minimize attention, at first, to dynamics, varying pitch, durations, or textural effects (rubbing vs. clapping, shuffling vs. stomping). This helps you isolate idealized or “dry” rhythmic patterns and phrases, not bound to lyric or melody. Of course, any real drum part is not just a sequence of abstract rhythmic hits. It has timbre, attack and sustain, dynamics that differentiate rhythmic hits, etc. But the stripped-down version lets us begin to discern distinctive or memorable qualities of particular rhythms, as they’ll eventually interact with other elements of the song (as opposed to the music as a whole).

  Develop a single rhythmic phrase intended to “take a lyric”—a lyric rhythm sans lyric. The phrase should be about the length of a lyric line—that is, two to four measures. To express the rhythms, use any of the following:

  Mental imaging. Try to hear the rhythm internally. At first, this will be hard to do without reinforcing the rhythm with some bodily gesture, even a minute one like clicking your teeth. (Careful of those dentist bills!) As you work with the other techniques below, keep coming back to this silent internally heard rhythm as a reference point.

  Hand claps, finger taps, foot stomps. Use your body to create rhythms via “hits,” “taps,” “claps,” or “stomps.” But notice: as you rub palms or slide feet, you begin to play not just with duration (intervals between hits), but duration vs. silence, dynamics, pitch, and timbre in the sounds of each rhythmic event. These contrasts begin to suggest lyric qualities. Sustained vs. shortened rhythmic beats suggest longer, more open vowels, nasal, or fricative vs. percussive (plosive) consonants. Similarly, differing dynamic levels in various hits begin to suggest melodic aspects.

  Singing or speaking on a monotone pitch, use vocalized nonsense syllables (“doo-doot dooh… doot duh doodle doo…”). As you vary these syllables, you start to bring in elements such as sustain and dynamics, which again hint at lyrical or melodic aspects.

  Play rhythms on a percussion instrument, or using percussive effects on a tonal instrument.

  Notating Rhythms: Woodblocks and Bagpipes

  There are two complementary approaches to notating “dry rhythms”—

  rhythmic patterns stripped of lyrical or melodic associations, and not utilizing dynamics or timbral contrast. These approaches are supported by two contrasting styles of rhythmic notation, each involving a simplification or “temporal fiction” about the rhythmic materials involved:

  Timeless hits—“the rest is silence.” Think of this approach as rhythm played on a woodblock. Here, you choose a single duration value for a rhythmic “hit”—e.g., an eighth note. No hit has duration longer than this value. Any duration is expressed as a hit followed by a rest or silence, until the next rhythmic event. You can include “triplets,” though, that move faster than the basic duration value. This style includes, in essence, only attacks. In lyric associations, it tends to privilege consonants.

  Cuts in the stream of time. In the other approach to rhythmic notation, you pretend there’s no such thing as silence. Think of it as rhythm played on a bagpipe—a constant drone. Imagine the phrase as a sustained stream momentarily or instantaneously “cut” by rhythmic events. Each rhythmic event is notated with the full value of the duration, sustained until the next hit, with no rests. (This is, if you like, the “restless” way to notate rhythm.) This style of notation, in terms of lyric associations, will tend to privilege vowel sounds.

  These two notation styles are shown in figure 3.1 for the same rhythmic seed idea.

  

  FIG. 3.1. Two Styles of Rhythmic Notation

  When you hear a rhythmic pattern as a song seed, it usually embeds variations between these extremes. Even an abstracted “dry rhythm” contains lyric associations; before you’ve written lyrics, you’ll hear lyric-like suggestions or tendencies in the rhythm. Shorter rhythmic values pull toward percussive consonants and short, closed vowel sounds. Longer durations invite fricative, sibilant, and nasal consonants, and long and open vowels. By attending to these aspects, you start to intuit a template for lyric choices from the rhythm.

  Exercise 3.2. Write Interlocking Accompaniment and Vocal Rhythms

  This progressive set of exercises takes you to the “rhythmic gym” in terms of work with rhythmic patterns for songwriting. This first series is a warm-up, highlighting connections of different kinds
of lyric sounds to rhythm patterns (a look forward to the sonic aspects of lyrics we’ll examine in detail in the “Lyrics” chapter).

  Practice transforming a given rhythmic seed into both styles of notation—woodblock and bagpipe—in strict form. Try setting from each version to a lyric that feels natural with that rhythmic emphasis.

  Mix the notation styles: play with different combinations of sustained vs. percussive durations for each rhythmic event in the pattern. Again, find a lyric that matches the pattern: you’ll find increased freedom and flexibility in setting lyrics to the pattern.

  Try going the other way. Generate a lyric matching to the overall shape of the rhythmic phrase: the right number of syllables with the right stresses. Set the lyric to a mixed version of the rhythmic pattern, finding the right varying durations for each syllable’s rhythmic event.

  Now we’ll apply the two notation styles in tandem, as an aid to discovering differing qualities of accompaniment rhythm and vocal rhythm.

  Compose two rhythmic patterns, in the woodblock and bagpipe style, that interlock as accompaniment and vocal rhythms respectively. (You can use the same approach to write interlocking vocal lines, but the desired textures are somewhat different.)

  Try “hocketing” the rhythms: that is, avoid having the two rhythmic patterns coincide on any given beat. Figure 3.2 shows an example generated with this hocketing technique.