Contemporary Songwriting Techniques

KS55 KS John Kelleher is Head of Music at Baylis Court Arts College, a Musical Futures Champion Teacher and a member of TeachTalk: Music.

Contemporary Songwriting Techniques by John Kelleher

Introduction Contemporary Songwriting Techniques (Unit 34) from the BTEC Level 3 in music is a brilliant unit for drawing out the creativity of your pupils whilst also encouraging them to broaden their musical horizons. The grading criteria essentially encourages students to research a variety of musical styles, write their own songs in a range of styles and then put their work together in a portfolio. The requirement for a portfolio of songs is a big jump from the expectations of GCSE music, where students only have to compose two pieces of music in as many years. As a result, students need to generate a lot more material than they are used to and may need more support from their teacher, in an environment where they feel safe to share their ideas and receive honest feedback. Achieving this can be an important step along the way to developing the skill of selecting and rejecting material that will result in a portfolio featuring songs of a consistent standard rather than the (far easier to achieve) portfolio of one great song and a few fillers.

In my school, we deliver three BTEC units a year. Two units are delivered over one term with three lessons a week. The third unit runs alongside them and takes two terms with two lessons a week. This gives us some time for resubmissions and allows for one of the units to be explored in a little more detail.

The ideas below are intended to help you create such an environment and provide pupils with a practical approach to generating lots of material quickly. I usually deliver this unit over two terms with two lessons a week dedicated to it.

Silencing the internal critic We all know what it’s like to want to create something but be paralysed by an internal voice saying ‘Really? You think that’s good enough? Try again.’ The only time that the critic seems to disappear for long enough to get something done is when a deadline is looming over our heads, resulting in frenetic working until something is produced that may or may not be our best work. With songwriting, this can be even more of a problem: music can be so personal and we are frightened that others might somehow see into our souls. The internal critic suddenly ups the game and becomes and internal

Each song needs to be recorded with a sensible filename and saved in a safe place. Students will need access to these recordings later in the unit (see ‘Refinement’). Mobile apps such as SoundCloud or AudioBoo are great for this purpose.

1

censor whispering ‘Do you really want people to know that’s how you feel?’

A song every week To get students used to producing and sharing material regularly, I like to create a weekly concert during lesson time where everyone has to perform a new song they’ve written. Notice that I require everyone to do this and, yes, that includes the teacher. No excuses are accepted and the vocal has to be live (backing tracks are okay). I spread this out over an entire term and it leaves students with roughly a dozen songs to choose from – more than enough to build a portfolio.

Music Teacher May 2013

To ensure that pupils write songs in a variety of styles (Grading Criteria 34.4PMD), I structure this weekly event with some songwriting ‘commissions’, which ensures that they write something outside of their comfort zone. A typical plan for this concert series would look like this:

Week

Style

1

Freestyle

2

Freestyle

3

Christmas Song

4

Freestyle

5

Urban Music (must include a rap)

6

Freestyle

7

32 Bar

8

Freestyle

9

Blues

10

Freestyle

11

Charity Song

12

Freestyle

Commissions Throwing in the commissions doesn’t just help to ensure your pupils have a chance of hitting Grading Criteria 34.4PMD, it also allows you to tackle 34.1PMD. In order to write songs in these styles, students will need to be familiar with them. This gives you the opportunity to deliver workshops centred around specific songwriters and analysing their songs. Exploring Christmas songs could give you the opportunity to look at Bob Geldof, Urban Music could look at N-Dubz and 32 Bar would be a great chance to look at Cole Porter. A good commission will give pupils the following information: „„ Deadline - stating the date when the song must be performed „„ Scenario - a vocational scenario for the composition of this song „„ Suggested listening - artists and songs that embody the songwriting style „„ Musical features - some key musical features that are typical of the style „„ Resources - reminders of the material covered in your workshops This combination of commissions and strict, weekly deadlines will ensure that all of your students have something that can be handed in as a portfolio.

Exploring the context Grading Criteria 34.1PMD asks students to describe, explain and analyse the way that songwriters construct songs. It’s not hard to think of ways to teach and assess this but it can be pretty tricky to find a way that still feels as if it’s being delivered in a vocational context. A solution that has worked well for me is to get students to keep a songwriter’s diary, which requires them to contextualise their songwriting against that of established songwriters.

Music Teacher May 2013

2

Each week, students create a diary (or blog) entry that outlines the style that their song fits in and identifies some of the key features of this style. A basic writing frame for this might look something like: „„ Introduction - identify the style of the song that you’re writing „„ Historical context - when was this style most popular? „„ Structural features - what structure does this style typically use? „„ Melodic features - which melodic features are most common in this style? „„ Harmonic features - how are the chord progressions constructed? „„ Lyrical conventions - what themes are typically explored in the lyrics? Encouraging the creation of this diary entry when the writing process starts for each song will allow students to have a secure understanding of the style that they are working in and give them useful notes for the final presentation of their work. It is especially helpful during the ‘free’ style songs as each pupil is likely to be writing in their own choice of style, thus creating a lot of student-generated resources that everyone can benefit from later on.

The portfolio Presentation The final portfolio will, effectively, inform how you assess the entire unit and the format chosen for its presentation can really help to embed the whole unit within a vocational context. I like to encourage students to submit their work in a form that actually gives them a useful launchpad if they ever choose to seek a career in songwriting. Creating a profile page on ReverbNation, SoundCloud or BandCamp is a great way of doing this as is creating a website using a free website builder such as Weebly or Google Sites. It can also provide students with a real sense of satisfaction knowing that they have created a space for their own musical identity. My personal preference is to create a website (due to the flexibility that it provides) but any site allowing you to present both audio and text will suffice. This portfolio should pull together a selection of the students’ best work from both their songwriting and their diary entries. I tell students to select their five best songs and take the diary entries that correspond to each style. Their website should then be laid out in the following manner:

Website Home page Biography

Audio player with all five songs

Song 1

Song 2

Song 3

Song 4

Song 5

Audio player with song

Audio player with song

Audio player with song

Audio player with song

Audio player with song

Lyrics

Lyrics

Lyrics

Lyrics

Lyrics

Chord progression

Chord progression

Chord progression

Chord progression

Chord progression

Diary entry

Diary entry

Diary entry

Diary entry

Diary entry

This is a really handy layout for the assessor and internal verifier because each song is clearly presented on its own page, with a breakdown of lyrics and chord progression so that you can quickly spot any particularly creative moments. Having the diary entry on each song page also highlights the style that the students was working in, which helps the assessor to be confident that the work was completed in a range of styles and genres. Similar results can be created with other profile based services. Depending on your school’s social media policy, FaceBook’s Pages service would allow for a very effective portfolio submission.

3

The home page also serves a handy purpose. The ‘biography’ is really just to put the task into a vocational context but by having all five songs in one place, you can click through each one and get a feel for the bigger picture of the work. As mentioned above, this layout is really practical but there’s nothing stopping you from using profile based services such as SoundCloud, ReverbNation or BandCamp. Here is an example of a pupil who has presented her work using ReverbNation. Using an external blogging service, she’s been able to present her diary entries within the page while ReverbNation’s lyrics feature has also been used to good effect.

Music Teacher May 2013

Refinement The music Of course, it is unlikely that all five songs will be of a high enough standard from the first draft and this is where the refinement process comes in. During the weekly concerts, you and the students should keep a ‘friendly feedback’ sheet. Mine just uses four cells in a table:

Music

Lyrics

I loved your... I wish your... Each student then has a collection of action points for all of their songs, which gives them a basis on which to start refining their work for inclusion in the final portfolio. It is also a nice AfL strategy, allowing you to chart out generic areas of development for each pupil in order to improve their songwriting and is far more useful than applying the holistic grading criteria of distinction, merit or pass to individual pieces of work. Combine this approach with one-on-one tutorials with the teacher and the students should have all they need to develop their song to the appropriate standard. The diary entries At this stage, students will need to ensure that their diary entries are very much focused on analysing the construction of various songs. Ensuring that each diary entry makes links to the other entries is a first step in this as it allows for comparison of how different styles use the elements of music. It also helps to focus on how each songwriter has created contrast in their work, identifying changes in dynamics, timbre and texture or highlighting unusual harmonic devices is a great way in. A rock piece might use arpeggiated acoustic guitars contrasted with distorted electric guitar power chords to create contrast, whereas an urban music piece may use singing in the choruses and rapping in the verses. Highlighting these different methods of creating contrast gets to the nuts and bolts of how songwriters construct songs and gives shape to pupils’ work.

If the writing frame suggested in ‘Exploring the context’ is used, pupils will have a strong starting point for identifying different methods of creating contrast.

The assignment brief I suggest covering all four grading criteria with one assignment brief as this allows the assessment to take place using the final portfolio. It also helps you cut down on paperwork. Witness statements and observation records can help to inform 32.2PMD and 32.3PMD but the real meat of this unit is still contained in the portfolio.

Vocational context Every BTEC assignment needs a vocational context and this, to me, is the real strength of the qualification. It is tempting to tie this unit into a scenario where the candidate is a member of a band but I feel that the real spirit of the unit is in recognising the value of songwriting in itself, rather than as part of a performing career. As a result, I use the following vocational context:

Your work as a songwriter has attracted the attention of a local agent and she would like to promote your work to publishing companies. In order to do this, you have been asked to create a professional looking portfolio with demo recordings and blog entries about your songwriting. Your agent has asked you to create an online portfolio that can be a website (perhaps using Weebly) or a profile based service (perhaps using ReverbNation) to create your portfolio, which should host five songs that you have recorded and a blog entry for each. You need to upload at least five songs where you have composed the lyrics and melodies yourself. For each song, you need a blog entry that looks at the techniques used by successful songwriters in similar styles and genres. Your agent is particularly keen to see that you can write in a range of styles, so this should be a priority when selecting your five songs.

Music Teacher May 2013

4

Task list Anyone who has written an assignment for BTEC will know that Edexcel loves task lists so pupils have a clear understanding of one way to meet the grading criteria. Following the outline I’ve given above should ensure that everyone in your class can meet the needs of the unit but it certainly doesn’t hurt to break it down for them. I use this table in my assignment brief:

Task List 1

Compose the lyrics and melody for at least five songs

34.2PMD 34.3PMD

2

Create a website that includes a brief biography

N/A

3

Record all five songs and bounce to mp3

N/A

4

Upload all five recordings to separate pages of your website

34.4PMD

5

Write a blog entry for each song that describes, explains and analyses how different songwriters construct songs.

34.1PMD

Ensure that each blog entry looks at a different style.

6

Publish your website and write the URL on your assignment submission form

N/A

General tips for teaching songwriting The fantastic BBC series Secrets of the Pop Song revealed that Guy Chambers looks for the title of a song before he starts to write. In the first episode, he finds the title World War Three by listening to the radio.

The title Although I’m a big believer that much of the best artistic works comes from the spontaneous, I have to concede that the classroom isn’t always the best environment for finding that certain something that really drives you to write a song. As a result, I insist that students always have a title before they write a single note or lyric. This gives the song shape and direction from the off and it’s much easier to find a title than it is to find that mysterious thing called inspiration.

The four chord song Many of the songs in the charts at the moment just take four chords and repeat them again and again. The different sections are created by changing the melody that is used on top of the chord progression. This can be a good way in for students who are struggling to make a start with a song - it seems easier to deal with writing one chord progression than writing three (verse, chorus, middle 8). Sometimes, however, it can become tricky to write the second melody and this is where some simple tricks can help to boost productivity. „„ Change the inversion of the chords „„ Change the rhythmic feel of the chords „„ Double or half the harmonic pace of the chords „„ Aim to write a call and response melody

5

Music Teacher May 2013

The four chord trick Another way of very quickly writing the chord progression for a song is to try the four chord trick. Limit students to using chords I, IV, V and vi and get them to put these chords into a four bar progression starting on the tonic.

I

IV

vi

V

To create a new section, simply swap the position of chords I and vi.

vi

IV

I

V

Then you just have to decide which chord progression will be your verse and which will be your chorus.

The money note For every ten songs that get written in my classroom, I can be pretty certain that eight of them will have a monotone (or near enough) melody for one of the sections. The trick is to help students find a method of creating variety in that melody and I always like to talk about the ‘money note’. In other words, the note that would make people want to actually buy that record. The easiest way to create a ‘money note’ is to just pick one word from the lyrics and sing it dramatically higher than the rest (think Genesis and I Can’t Dance). Quite often, changing this one note will lead to the student wanting to make other small changes that lead to a much more interestingly shaped melody.

Descending bass Students who can’t play piano or guitar can find songwriting more difficult but that doesn’t have to be the case. Writing a simple bass riff and composing a melody on top of that is a perfectly legitimate way to write a song. Often, the easiest bass lines to write are descending bass patters. Get your students to learn how to play The Rhythm of Life, Wad in the Water, For No One or Feeling Good. Then give them the task of writing their own descending bass, encouraging them to focus on rhythm so as to give the riff a more distinctive feel rather than being a clone of one of the songs they’ve already learnt.

Lyric palettes A lyric palette is really just a mind map that links your title to other ideas that stem from it. Allow students to freely come up with as many associations as they can and to then draw associations to those associations! Very quickly, they will have drawn up a lyric palette to give them a starting point each time they run out of ideas.

Chord palettes By the time students are in Year 12, many of them will be capable of identifying chords within a key and constructing the triads of those chords. That said, there’s a considerable number of candidates who will not be confident in this process and it can really help them out to have a simple process to figure out the basic chords in their chosen key. I call these chord palettes and facilitate it using a simple handout that looks something like this...

Music Teacher May 2013

6

A list of major scales The inconsistencies between flat and sharp keys in this table are just there to highlight that keys can have different names with the same notes in.

Tonic

ii

iii

iv

v

vi

vii

C

D

E

F

G

A

B

Db

Eb

F

Gb

Ab

Bb

C

D

E

F#

G

A

B

C#

Eb

F

G

Ab

Bb

C

D

E

F#

G#

A

B

C#

D#

F

G

A

Bb

C

D

E

F#

G#

A#

B

C#

D#

E#

G

A

B

C

D

E

F#

Ab

Bb

C

Db

Eb

F

G

A

B

C#

D

E

F#

G#

Bb

C

D

Eb

F

G

A

B

C#

D#

E

F#

G#

A#

This table identifies all of the notes in a major key to facilitate in the chord construction exercise that follows. Chord construction

I

ii

iii

IV

V

vi

vii

Chord name

Root 3rd 5th

Students use the table above to help them construct chords in the key that they have chosen. They start by writing in the chord names of the key that they have chosen and do this by referring to the major scale table and using the upper/lower case roman numerals to identify if chords are major or minor. The fact that chord seven is diminished is just something that they have to learn here (although there’s nothing to stop you from putting this on your handout). The first step of filling in the table would look something like this

Chord name

I

ii

iii

IV

V

vi

vii

A

Bm

C#m

D

E

F#m

G#dim

Root 3rd 5th

7

Music Teacher May 2013

Constructing chords I, ii and iii then becomes a very straightforward affair of finding the root, missing a column, putting in the third, missing a column and putting in the fifth. The following should highlight the method

I

ii

iii

IV

V

vi

vii

Chord name

A

Bm

C#m

D

E

F#m

G#dim

Root

A

3rd

C#

5th

E

I

ii

iii

IV

V

vi

vii

Chord name

A

Bm

C#m

D

E

F#m

G#dim

Root

A

B

3rd

C#

D

5th

E

F#

I

ii

iii

IV

V

vi

vii

Chord name

A

Bm

C#m

D

E

F#m

G#dim

Root

A

B

C#

3rd

C#

D

E

5th

E

F#

G#

Music Teacher May 2013

8

Chords IV, V, vi and vii require a little more explanation. You need to ensure that pupils understand that going past vii involves going back to I. This gives you an opportunity to explain the concept behind added and extended chords if you feel that your group is ready for this. In the following examples, the yellow boxes identify when notes have been taken by going past the seventh degree of the scale

I

ii

iii

IV

V

vi

vii

Chord name

A

Bm

C#m

D

E

F#m

G#dim

Root

A

B

C#

D

3rd

C#

D

E

F#

5th

E

F#

G#

A

I

ii

iii

IV

V

vi

vii

Chord name

A

Bm

C#m

D

E

F#m

G#dim

Root

A

B

C#

D

E

3rd

C#

D

E

F#

G#

5th

E

F#

G#

A

B

I

ii

iii

IV

V

vi

vii

Chord name

A

Bm

C#m

D

E

F#m

G#dim

Root

A

B

C#

D

E

F#

3rd

C#

D

E

F#

G#

A

5th

E

F#

G#

A

B

C#

I

ii

iii

IV

V

vi

vii

Chord name

A

Bm

C#m

D

E

F#m

G#dim

Root

A

B

C#

D

E

F#

G#

3rd

C#

D

E

F#

G#

A

B

5th

E

F#

G#

A

B

C#

D

This also provides an opportunity to speak to pupils about inversions. It’s worth highlighting the following: „„ Constructing chords I, ii and iii involves looking at them in root inversion „„ Constructing chords IV and V involves looking at them in first inversion „„ Constructing chords vi and vii involves looking at them in second inversion Looking at chord construction in this way can really help pupils to understand why chords are formed the way they are and get their heads around the use of inversions to simplify playing on keyboard instruments.

9

Music Teacher May 2013

This process is a great way of starting an analysis activity. Students start by identifying the key that the piece is in and then construct the appropriate chord palette for that key. Very quickly, they can then identify when unexpected chords have been used by the songwriter and they can look at what chords could have been chosen as alternatives. This is a very quick method to get into the ‘mindset’ of a songwriter and compose a song in a similar style.

List songs Sometimes songs are built up using a simple list of things that point towards the title lyric. Each line of the verse is simply another item in the list with a little explanation around it. After a certain number of list items,

This chord formation exercise can be easily adapted for non-major keys by giving your students a list of minor keys, modes or any other scale that you want them to work from. Doing so allows you to further explore the relationship between scale construction and chords formation.

the tension that this technique creates is resolved by delivering the title lyrics, which puts the list into context. Since the payoff of this lyric writing technique comes from the title, it is often used in 32 bar songs rather than a typical verse-chorus scenario.

Get Here by Oleta Adams is a great example of a list song.

Playing with words A lot of lyrics will try to play on the double entendre of the words or phrases that they contain and, so, you find yourself with lyrics that are, effectively, puns. A simple line like ‘I act so cool that I look real hot’ is easily created by playing on the double entendre of two words that happen to have opposite meanings in one of their interpretations. Getting students to list a series of opposites and try to create lyrics based on that list is a quick way of promoting some wordplay.

Music Teacher May 2013

10