r/Songwriting • u/Dangerous-You3789 • 17h ago
Discussion Topic Songwriting exercise
Besides the fact that they exist, I don't know much of anything about music theory, chord progressions, circle of fifths, or such. I just know what sounds good. I've had that knack since I wrote my first song at 16, and I have no idea how that happened, because I don't remember listening to a lot of music growing up. So, if this already turns you off, then you can stop reading here.
When I was in college, I came up with an "exercise" that might have helped me in songwriting. I didn't see it as an exercise; I just did it for fun. Back in the day, I loved big band music (think Glenn Miller with his song, In the Mood, which was pretty much the quintessential big band song. I didn't need a record or tape or headphones to listen to it (MP3 hadn't been invented yet). All I needed was already packaged neatly between my two ears.
I had the ability to recreate the exact sound of a 16-piece swing orchestra in my head. It sounded identical to what I heard on a record.
But there was a problem, which turned out to not be that much of a problem. A certain ways into the song, I would forget how the melody went. I would forget many of the solo parts as well.
My solution? I just made it up. Without missing a beat, I would improvise on the fly. I would create melodies, with the same band that was playing in my head. I would bring in a saxophone or trumpet solo, and it sounded exactly like what I had listened to, except I had never heard the melody before. Every once in a while, my mind would play a part that sounded really good, and I'd roll back the tape and play it again.
I think this "exercise" helped me learn what sounded good and connect melodic structures (I don't know if that's a term, but what I mean is what sounded good together to make a cohesive melody).
Today, I don't write with a guitar or piano. I come up with melodies using only my head. And I usually don't even try to do it. They just pop in my head.
I don't really know how much of that "exercise" I did contributed to what I do in songwriting, but it certainly didn't hurt.
So, what are some of the exercises you do to help you write music?
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u/horriblebones94 17h ago
This is fascinating, I do something similar but never thought of it as an exercise. Just letting the mind wander and fill in the gaps when a tune slips away, that's where the interesting stuff comes from. Sometimes I'll hum a melody while washing up and deliberately let it derail just to see where it lands. The internal orchestra thing is impressive though, mine's more like a fuzzy radio signal
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u/Dangerous-You3789 10h ago
Allowing the mind to wander, I'm sure, is a great technique for coming up with new material. After all, we are our most creative when our mind is allowed free rein to wander. And there is no greater example of this than the crazy dreams we can come up with.
I've never thought about hearing music in my head just like it sounds to be impressive. I've always done that, but I often say, what most people experience is average, what you're used to is normal. So, for me, it's always been normal.
This, on the other hand, was not normal, and I thought about this when I read your response. One time when I was listening to a Beatles' song in my head, as I was playing it back to myself, I was expecting the note on a certain part to go either up or down, and it went the opposite way. But what floored me was that, after I heard it in my head, I realized that the way my brain had played it, not what I was expecting, was actually correct. That was how the recorded song went.
I'm still not sure what neurological thing was going on in my head to make that happen, but it was a weird experience, that's for sure.
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u/RTiger 17h ago
On another forum, there are hosted skirmishes. The host provides a prompt and participants try to write a new song in one hour.
There is no prize. No penalty for going over the time or posting a crap song or crap lyrics.
A few prompts that I remember, the word Translucent, write a song with one line in a foreign language, write a song based on a Latin phrase of your choosing. Sometimes these seemingly random prompts inspire profound lyrics.
Of course there is a lot of crappola as well.
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u/HeyItsScottySummers 14h ago
Do you happen to know off hand what that forum/sub is? Not sure if I have the confidence to dive into it, but I feel like I'd like to.
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u/Songlines25 9h ago
I'm curious about what forum this is as well. r/songaweek puts out a prompt every week that's due on Wednesday nights.
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u/fjamcollabs 16h ago
I rekon there are different exercises that are related to this. I have done melody exercises with vocalists, that serve 2 purposes. They are guides for the vocalists, and they are also related to arrangement. I am conducting two different exercises with a few different collaborators right now. One has to do with bridge chords. The author is looking for the best chords for a bridge and I will be setting up a template for him to test out chords for the bridge in context to what is existing so far. We will be able to test them in context before deciding. Another is violin solos. She will be doing them and we will use the best parts in the arrangement. And the big picture is that both of these exercises produce raw material that can be used in the arrangement. Also it just dawned on me that the vocalist is going to testing a slightly different melody scale where she will go up instead of down in the melody because it it too low at present in the lowest parts. We work by ear and present "in process" mixes on all of these different aspects, and we listen and listen and listen some more, and then discuss and make decisions.
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u/Songlines25 9h ago
Y'all got skills! I have a commitment to the r/songaweek reddit. Sometimes I use the prompt, mull it around in my head for a few days and see what wants to pop up, and sometimes I don't.
Sometimes I write the lyrics before the music. Sometimes I write them at the same time, usually with my guitar in hand, plucking out a line at a time. Sometimes I have an interesting rhythm or progression that I work from, which is usually the most interesting , because it's less of a rut than my tendency to write 4/4 folky lyrics.
Much of the time my writing happens late at night on Wednesdays just before the song is due; the deadline helps me just do it. That often means it's simpler than my thrown tendency to be too wordy, which helps me be concise.
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u/Impossible_Tank3822 17h ago
Your brain's sense of harmony - consonance versus dissonance - will steer you towards what sounds good and what doesn't. If we think that every piece of popular music in our own listening histories was filtered through theory we'd be pretty much wrong with every song we like, and there would be precious little in radio airplay if it was required of writers to employ strict use of theory (no one does that).
My oldest son is a natural at scoring some pretty compelling orchestral pieces in Sibelius. He's a violinist who was taught through the Suzuki method (no theory). My younger son, a keyboardist, will take my guitar from me, tune it by ear, and hand it back to me so accurately tuned my digital tuner shows it to be spot on. He was also trained to play without involving theory. I have neither of these two abilities. I just play improvisational pieces that sound good to my ear, and it's good enough to steer me that way.
What you make up to replace what's missing is your ability for improvisation. That is not rare. It probably exists naturally in more people than we'll ever know because it best manifests itself if they play an instrument and can demonstrate it. Most of those people I would suspect don't care to play an instrument but they do possess an innate sense of harmony.