by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website:
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Whether you call it “having a tin ear” or “being tone deaf”, many musicians feel the great frustration of not being able to accurately label the sounds they’re hearing. It’s a sophisticated activity when you think about it: we’re essentially listening to the air vibrate, and then identifying what that was. But if those kind of listening skills are in short supply, is there any hope for you?
I teach aural skills at university, and I’ve changed my view on this over the years. While there is a window of opportunity that is wide open in childhood, slowly closing as we age, I believe that adult musicians can make great strides in training their ear, and I’ve seen it happen.
A big step toward improving your ear is to learn a bit of basic music theory. Even if it’s just the nuts and bolts of being able to name notes on a musical staff, and learning how to write out some simple scales, this knowledge will get you going in the right direction. It’s part of basic music literacy.
Beyond that, I strongly believe that transcribing music will strengthen your aural skills more than any other musical activity. Here’s what I get my own students to do: I give them sound files of different pieces: solos, duets, trios, and so on. I give them a month per song to write down what they’re hearing. I encourage them to sit at a piano, or with their guitar, and find the notes they hear. Most students find this frustrating at first, but then become surprised by how much they are learning.
This kind of transcription exercise is a bit like learning a language by speaking it. At first, you feel that you’re getting no where, and then – you realize that you’re getting better and better.
I like transcription exercises more than simple “identify the interval” or “identify the chord” exercises, because it presents real music in a musical context.
The older you are, the slower progress can be, but you mustn’t give up. I have seen people of all ages improve with these kinds of transcription exercises. If you are in your late teens or early twenties, the window of opportunity is definitely closing, but it is not closed, and you will be surprised by how much progress you can make. There are lots of sites that can play intervals and chords for you, and tell you if you’re getting close.
Singing is also a great ear trainer, especially singing that requires you to match other singers, like in a choir. And singing in choir is great because you can couple your singing training with your ability to sing what you are seeing printed on the music in front of you.
It is normal for ear training to be a long, slow process, even at the best of times. So be patient, and you will see improvement.
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Gary Ewer has written six songwriting e-books designed to get you writing the songs you’ve always known you could write. Read about those e-books here.
Structure is everything in songwriting; without structure, you’ve got a song that listeners just won’t understand and can’t get into. It’s why we talk so much about the form of a song. An easily discernible form makes it more likely that listeners will remember a song. Because song forms aren’t usually unique (often, some variation on the verse-chorus-bridge format), it’s the method, or formula, you use that will make your song distinctive or not.
Every songwriter goes through a rough patch, when writing the next tune seems all but impossible. Despite our best efforts, it happens. And even though you may do the things most people – including me – will offer as solutions (setting a regular time for writing, writing fragments instead of full songs, etc.), the creative part of your brain can and will let you down occasionally. At those times, you should back away from trying to write, and find ways to stimulate your other senses.
When I adjudicate performers at festivals, I love pointing out that good music is often more about what’s about to happen than what is currently happening. And when something great is happening, performers need to be thinking about what they can do to build on that, create a sense of forward motion and expectation. As a songwriter, you must do the same thing, and the bridge is a wonderful way to take musical energy to a new level and pull the listener along with you.
It’s not unusual for songwriters to get the chorus of their new song working before any other section. After all, it’s the hooky part that often coalesces before the other sections become apparent. But once you’ve got that great hook, how do you work backwards through a song, ensuring that it pulls the listener forward?
When we write music, we often find ourselves fixated on the melody, chords and lyrics. But it’s the controlling of musical energy in Regina Spektor’s second single from her album “Far” that captivates and keeps listeners focussed and hooked. Add to that the way verse ideas are balanced with contrasting elements in the refrain and instrumental break, and “Eet” is a song that succeeds on many levels.
Part of my job at Dalhousie University is teaching an entry-level music theory class. Many of the students who take it are non-music Arts students, many of whom are songwriters, taking it as an elective. And so if you don’t want to take my word for it, you might consider theirs: most of the students tell me that learning music theory has opened their minds to new concepts and ways of thinking. But there are still songwriters out there who are skeptical of the whole thing, and think that studying theory stunts musical creativity.
. If we did, we probably wouldn’t suffer from writer’s block as much as we often do. But practicing songwriting skills on a daily basis is vital if we want to improve our craft. To improve your lyric-writing skills, try this rewording exercise.
Someone recently drew my attention to a great article that Suzanne Vega wrote several months ago for the New York Times, called “
There is a certain amount of predictability in chord progressions that work well. It shouldn’t surprise us, however, that “predictability” is a word that won’t sit well with most songwriters. For most, that word conjurs up other words, such as “boring”, “humdrum” and “uninteresting.” But the truth is that chords need a certain amount of predictability. Without at least some predictability, songs don’t click with the listener. And that makes strong progressions a crucial part of good songs.