Music For Kiddos Podcast
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We are starting a songwriting series on the Music For Kiddos Podcast and on the blog. On the first installment of the series, we are taking a look at the "nitty gritty" of songwriting and talking about song form.
Not a songwriter? That's ok. This series is going to be really relevant to you as well. Songwriting is tied in to how one uses music with kids. You almost can't separate the two.
Why? I think because of this element of flexibility, improvisation, songwriting, implementation of music; when all of that comes together, it gives you more tools for your toolbox when you're working with kids.
A little bit of my background
I studied songwriting in college at Berklee College of Music and what I was utterly astounded by was how much the songwriting curriculum at Berklee was tied around things like song form. So, if I remember correctly, my Songwriting 101 and Songwriting 102 classes were all about song form. You wouldn't think that you could talk about it and go that in depth with it, right?! It was fascinating as we explored different song forms.
You might be thinking, “What is the purpose of that? What is the purpose of spending so much time learning about song form?” We’ll get to that in a little bit.
Songwriting takes practice.
The more you practice, the better you get at it. The more you practice, the faster you get at it, to some extent— sometimes songs just take a really long time. But generally, the more you practice songwriting, the less you get stuck, the more you can expand on your ideas and use these various tools to improve and expand your songs.
Song form is one of those things that helps in so many ways, not only helps you actually writing and completing a song that makes sense. Understanding song form, and the purpose of an A section, a B section, a bridge, etc. also helps when you're going for implementation with kids.
Before we dive in, a disclaimer
I’ve Googled this topic before and there are different definitions. There's no central definition for the various song forms and other things that we will be discussing further along. So, just a caveat that, if you Google some of the terms I will be discussing here, you might get a different definition for different things. And that's fine because there's no just one definition for it.
My intention here is to tell you how I view it and how I use it.
The different pieces of a song
First things first: when writing a song, you can do whatever you want. That's what I love about song writing. There are no rules.
This information is just helpful if you get stuck, etc., but I truly, genuinely believe that there are no rules. The only kind of rule that I think is somewhat important is the idea of symmetry. Music exists in twos, fours, eights, and sixteens; so this symmetry in song form just helps people's brains to grasp it (similar to the difference between a catchy song and a song that you can't quite remember). This symmetry and repetition that exists in songs is the thing that helps our brains.
Similarly, you are probably going to have more of a benefit for a child remembering a song and being able to interact with you, engage, and participate in a song if it has some kind of symmetry.
There are some reasons why you may not want to do symmetry. Every so often I will write a song where there's an extra measure in there. One of my favorite songwriters does this as well. This extra measure throws you off a little bit and it brings your attention back to it. But generally speaking, you want symmetrical music, symmetrical song forms, and symmetrical measures.
Parts of a song
The introduction: That's how your song begins. now.
Songs streamed on the radio used to have a legitimate introduction. Streaming has made it so that introductions are basically almost non-existent. Introductions have changed drastically and now they're no more than about 10 seconds. With a kid, you may need to give them a little bit of a longer introduction so that they can get their body feeling the beat and feeling the rhythm.
The ending: I'm a little embarrassed to admit how fascinating I find endings. The ending of a song is the period on the end of the sentence and there are many possibilities. Are you going to have a solid foundation kind of ending on the tonic? Or, if it's a song where the lyrics are have a little bit of like mystery in there or sadness, maybe it doesn't end in a very secure sounding way. Maybe it ends in an open-ended way. So I love endings for that reason.
The chorus: The chorus is often super symmetrical, often four or eight lines and it often repeats things a lot. It often has your “driving home” message that is generally super solid musically, meaning, it feels like a destination. It feels like your key message.
It's often rooted around the tonic, the overwhelming key of the song. It's really rooted in this solid foundation and it feels sturdy.
The pre-chorus: The pre-chorus sets up or prepares the verse and it often builds anticipation. It sometimes amps up the energy and ants amps up the anticipation for the chorus and it makes it all the more powerful.
The verse: If the chorus is your key message that is often repeated again and again, your verse is more like the story. The verses are more of a commentary on a general story.
The bridge: What about conflict? The verses are the story, but conflict, doubt or a feeling of uncertainty often exists in the bridge. The bridge is usually in the last two thirds of a song and there's this feeling of uncertainty, of sadness and doubt in the bridge which then leads to the chorus, which can be more optimistic or confident sounding.
The refrain line: The refrain line is a really important line that repeats at the end of a verse; often at the end of a story.
In Summary
There's just no such thing as one way to write a song…
…and there’s not a specific formula, but it's really interesting and fascinating to think of songs in this way.
On episode 54 of the Music For Kiddos Podcast, I go over my 3 favorite song forms. Want to listen to the episode? Find it below!
Listen to this episode of the Music For Kiddos Podcast!
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