How To Enhance Your Songwriting :The Elements of Emotional and Confident Music

Figrin D'an & The Modal Nodes

There comes a time in any serious musician’s life when you stop bashing on your instrument and you start thinking about what exactly it is that you are doing. You want to write a powerful song, everyone does; so what makes a song powerful?

Music has a magical quality that is completely unique; It makes us feel. Some songs are happy, some are sad, but more complex emotions like humor, anticipation and even danger are all easily conveyed if you know how to do it. I’m sure you all know that a lot of music is written to illicit specific emotions but it’s not only what you play, it’s how you play it.

What Message Do You Want To Send?

The first thing you need to do is decide what kind song you want to write. What emotions are you trying to convey? Let’s say you want to write an uplifting song. You will probably want to use a major key with a moderate to fast paced tempo and play it with confidence. There are a number of ways to accomplish this. All You Need IsLove by The Beatles is a good example, or listen to Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17 Finale.

These songs incorporate major scales and chords for a dramatic and positive emotional response form the listener. Notice that certain chords are emphasized. For example, In All You Need Is Love, The chorus is very strong, and the instrumentation is a lot more intense. Also notice that the music walks down the major scale in a very frantic way, slightly decreasing in intensity before the chorus crashes in with big, confident strokes backed by a full orchestra in full force. Very dramatic indeed.

On the other hand, if you want a more somber or reflective tone, you will most likely use a minor key at a slower pace. This tends to have a very emotional and pensive feeling. One of my favorite examples of this is Strange Weather by Tom Waits. It’s a simple tune in a 3/4 time signature. Its drags along and is interlaced with Tom’s signature gravely vocals, with a soulful sax and some clever use of horns, clarinets and trombones to add to the melancholy atmosphere.

It’s All In The Approach

The intensity, frequency, and loudness of your approach also affect the song. For instance, a waltz works because the loudness of the first beat accentuates the relative weakness of beats two and three. When this 1-2-3 pattern is repeated in this way, it gives the music that lilting quality that gives the waltz its particular and danceable characteristic.

Not To Touch The Earth by The Doors is a perfect example of the use of semitones (notes that are directly next to one another) to achieve a frantic, anticipating or nervous feel. By repeating the two semitones D and Eb with a frantic tempo, you get the sense that something dangerous is coming. This is accentuated by Jim Morrison’s mysterious lyrics in a terrific example of how the meaning of the song is enhanced by the lyrics and the atmosphere provided by the music itself.

You will want to note that each instrument has its own timbre or tone that gives it a unique quality. Oboes and baritone saxophones tend to have a sad quality while flutes and ukulele’s tend to have a brighter and happier timbre. When these instruments are used to support certain characteristics of the music, it lends to the overall emotional impact of the music as well.

Know When To Break The Rules

Of course, these rules are not strict. A minor key can be played at a quick tempo and be celebratory. I like to cite Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes, more commonly known as the Star Wars Cantina Band. The song form the bar scene called Cantina Band is in the key of Dm, but uses a ragtime feel and a fast tempo to give the feeling of a celebration. It moves through the keys of C major and F major for the lifts and give the piece complexity and a genuine levity that most everyone enjoys.

Leonard Cohen, in turn, can make any song somber and reflective. Hallelujah is in C major, but in the hands of Mr. Cohen, it’s downright depressing for his low, smooth vocals over a slow tempo that meanders through the major scale and gives it a very haunting feel.

All of this goes to show that clever use of keys, scales, tempos and modes can greatly enhance your sound and the dynamics of your musical performance and take you well beyond the 3 chord blues or punk rock song. If you’re not doing it now, try experimenting a little with these techniques. Pick your favorite song. Isolate the parts that excite you the most, or have the most impact and pick it apart. What are they doing and how are they attaining that effect? Chances are they are using some of these techniques in their songwriting.

Break On Through

If you feel like you’re in a musical rut, try exploring some of these musical concepts and see if you can create something new and exciting that may re-energize your songwriting process. At the very least, these ideas may help you to write a more compelling piece for your group and might even influence your next album. If it does, make sure to thank me in your liner notes!

Ref.

How Music Works by John Powel

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/sound/timbre.html