The Songsculptor Method Secret Songwriter Tips and Techniques By Award Winning Songwriter and Music Educator Richard Melvin Brown Chapters One, Two, Three and Four of this eBook and Course deal with writing lyrics that are MUSIC Friendly. Even though your lyrics may look and read absolutely wonderful on paper, does not mean they will necessarily sound good when interpreted by a vocalist as a song composition in melody form. Find out what you can do to make them Music Friendly. Chapters Five and Six deal with composing an appropriate and ear pleasing melody and chord structure to your lyrics, quickly and easily, without having had years of formal training in Music Theory and/or Composition. The remaining Chapters, Appendixes and Excerpts deal with General Songwriting Information, and Useful Facts pertaining to the Business of Music and Songwriting. Contents Include: OVERTURE: An Introduction to Marketable Songwriting Chapter One: LET'S START WITH THE SONG'S STRUCTURE You have to start somewhere, and this is a great place to begin. It's kind of like laying the foundation of a house, but much easier to build, and a whole lot more fun. Chapter Two: HOOKLINE AND SINKER "The Hook, The Hook" Yes, the hook is everything, well almost everything. It's totally meant to bend the ear, but a hook is something that should not be feared. Chapter Three: FINDING YOUR HOOK It's easier than you think Life is full of hooks, Just look around, Listen, and release your creative juices. Chapter Four: FINDING YOUR SINKER The rest of the lyrics Creativity, Play on Words, Tricks of the Trade To rhyme or not to rhyme, Should you or Shouldn't you, Depends on the flow from deep inside your pen. Songsculptor.com If you're a lyricist only and need a Musical Collaborator we can help Chapter Five: MUSIC Cheerful earful, catchy tune, agreeable sound, pleasing melody, cordial composition, delightful ditty, raunchy number, cool tones. Chord Progressions, the meat and potatoes The Nashville Number System > Wow, is this ever easy. Music is just a bundle of numbers which translate into a cluster of sound. Variations on a Theme, and more easy ways to compose. Chapter Six: AREN'T COMPUTERS WONDERFUL Playing, Composing and Recording Your OWN Music, With Your Personal Computer. It's Easy and Fun with today's incredible music/software programs that even the most inexperienced can soon comprehend. Chapter Seven: COPYRIGHT PROTECTION (Safe Songwriting) Copyrighting your material is much easier than most people tend to think. All you ever need to know about protecting your invaluable creative works. Chapter Eight: MORE IMPORTANT THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW IN SUMMARY Don't make the mistakes of the Un-informed. Chapter Nine: THE TOP TEN (Final Words Of Wisdom) The 10 MOST Important things you need to know. Happy Songwriting Chapter Ten: A WORD ABOUT COLLABORATION Translation > working together in Harmony Sometimes two heads ARE better than one 23 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS THE SECRET Is there really a SECRET to writing a GREAT Song ? Appendix 1: Over 75 SONGWRITING ORGANIZATIONS Most of them are FREE to join, and packed full of useful information and invaluable contacts. We've got the big national ones and scores of local organizations listed. If there's a Songwriting organization in your neighborhood you can find it here. Appendix 2: PERFORMING RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS You need these guys to get paid for your songs, and > Best Of All < Most are FREE (or charge very little) to join. Get the information on all the Performing Rights Organizations in the world right here. Appendix 3: MUSIC INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS IN SEARCH OF MATERIAL Address’s, Phone Numbers, E-mail address’s, and Web Sites of: PUBLISHERS, PRODUCERS, RECORD COMPANYS, MANAGER/AGENTS etc. A much larger list of Music Publishers is included in Appendix 7 Appendix 4: SONGWRITING CONTESTS Address’s, Phone Numbers, E-mail address’s, and Web Sites: Appendix 5: WEBSITES OF INTEREST Website address's related to Songwriting, Lyric Writing, General Music, Digital Music and MP3 Appendix 6: Songwriting Associations with links to their websites, See if there's one in your area Appendix 7: Over 675 Music Publishers many of which are in search of fresh new material. Address's, phone numbers, and many include e-mail address's and links to their websites. THE FINAL REFRAIN A Note from the Author: I have received a great deal of enjoyment putting together this songwriting book and course, and through my many years as a songwriter, record producer and studio musician I have learned some valuable lessons from the school of hard knocks. As in every creative endeavor each of us takes a little different approach. The methods I suggest in this book (many of which are > tried and true, and other's of my own preference) have worked very well for me, and it has been my pleasure to be able to share some of the useful knowledge that I have learned while pursuing my own dreams, and making a living at what is the best profession in the world. SONGWRITING. One of the things that I love to do now is help new songwriters and lyricists sharpen their skills, and get their material recorded. If you're a lyricist only, or a lyricist that has "a tune in your head for your words" > but knows nothing about music, please read the section of this book titled SONGSCULPTOR. I hope you will benefit greatly from studying this songwriting book, and may you write the world's next big smash hit. Happy Songwriting. Thanks and Good Luck. Richard Brown OVERTURE: An Introduction to Marketable Songwriting There are some proven methods for writing marketable songs, and with a little bit of effort almost everyone with some creative juices flowing between their ears can come up with some great song ideas and turn those ideas into some pretty good songs. Obviously a good song is made up of 2 basic ingredients. Words and Music Some writers will write the words first and then compose a suitable chord progression and melody to compliment their lyrical ideas. Lyricists will often write a song lyric and then hand it over to a musical composer to compose some appropriate music to it, and turn it into a song. ● If you are a lyricist please read the section of this book just before the Music Section in Chapter 5. It is titled Songsculptor Musical Partner To Lyricists, Poets, Wordsmiths and Storytellers, Together We Write The Songs". Other writers (especially seasoned musicians) will compose the music first, and then either write the words to the already composed melody, or make a tape of their (music only composition) and give it to a lyricist to find the right words to go with their musical ideas. Although I have written many songs with both the words and music, I quite often collaborate with lyricists such as yourself to create good songs. The reason I do this is very simple. I am a much better (music) writer than a lyricist. This is not to say I haven't written some good lyrics, it only means that I am the kind of lyric writer that needs to be inspired to come up with a great story. When I find that I just can't think of anything to say, I try to find a good lyricist to give me a hand. So, don't be afraid of collaboration, most of the time, two heads are better than one. This principle also works in reverse for lyricists who have a limited amount of musical knowledge. If you find yourself with a dynamite lyric but just can’t seem to find the right melody and chord progression to compliment your great lyric then by all means turn your ideas over to a seasoned composer who can help transform your inspiration into a well written and meaningful song. Although there are no absolute rules for writing a great song, there are certain formulas and guidelines that seem to help enormously in creating songs that are pleasing to the majority of people. A commercial song is a song that has wide appeal to the masses. Pop Music, Country, and Rock and Roll are styles of music that are very popular to huge numbers of the population. Although there are exceptions to the rules in songwriting, most popular songs are very simple in structure. A song that comes to mind that seemed to break all the rules of formula writing is Jimmy Web's (MacCarther Park). It is truly a wonderful song, but it definitely does not fit into the mainstream of popular songwriting. To begin with the song is about 7 minutes long. Most pop songs are about 3 minutes in length. Some songs, especially ballads can go as long as 4 minutes, but that is pushing it. Most radio programmers do not want to play songs longer than about 3, or 3 and a half minutes in length. The song MacCarther Park also has a very complex chord progression and melody, not to mention lyrical content that is definitely out of the norm. I think you get the picture, although there are certain formulas that work very well in writing popular songs, that doesn't mean you can't break the rules if you choose to. For beginner and amateur songwriters I think it is a wise decision to keep to the rules and keep your writing as simple as possible, without compromising your creativity. If you were to read one of the books that list the top songs of the year, from away back when until the present time, you would find that the majority of the hit songs use popular and proven song structures, have only 3 or 4 chords in their chord progressions and the lyrical content is also not exceptionally complicated, but simply directed at arousing emotions in the listener.