The Sound Connector #7in7Challenge Presented by Songsalive! - Day 2: Ben Trickey & Silence7/18/2017 Ben Trickey is a consummate DIY songwriter who blends roughworn poetry with unique arrangements. His latest record, Choke and Croon, is no exception and has been hailed for its inventiveness and craft. Last September we spoke to Ben and he shared a little about his album and the importance of silence:
Silence is definitely something I consciously use in my music. I'm really interested in ideas of restraint and frailty. There's a certain power to it. I feel like the lyrics are touching on the same ground, so by literally poking sonic holes in the compositions you can make something that pushes and pulls with the mood. I think of silence as an instrument and everyone playing the band should respect and let that instrument have its parts too. And Ben’s not the only songwriter who loves silence. Whitney Houston’s aerobatic at the emotional climax & key change of “I will always love you”, or James Brown’s pauses in the second half of the chorus for “I Feel Good”, and “Good Lovin’” by The Young Rascals are exemplary of useful silence. And the list goes on: “Monkey Wrench” by The Foo Fighters, “Hello Goodbye” by The Beatles, “Rosalita” by Bruce Springsteen . . . For today’s challenge write a song that uses silence to increase its tension. Maybe you will use it as a substitute for the 5th before your chorus. Or perhaps you’ll use it in your bridge. Maybe you need silence before a killer outro. Whatever you choose make sure you share it with us.
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What do contemporary songwriters like Katy Perry, Death Cab for Cutie, Chris Brown, and Green Day all have in common? They all have hit songs that rely on choruses or hooks characterized as the “millennial whoop”.
Patrick Meztgar defined “the millennial whoop” as “a sequence of notes that alternates between the fifth and third notes of a major scale, typically starting on the fifth. The rhythm is usually straight 8th-notes, but it may start on the downbeat or on the upbeat in different songs. A singer usually belts these notes with an “Oh” phoneme, often in a “Wa-oh-wa-oh” pattern.” In short this means that they have a musical phrase that uses the 5th and the 3rd as a melodic hook. So if you’re in the key of C then your millennial whoop will alternate between the E and G notes of the C chord (C-E-G). Or if you’re playing a song in E the whoop would consist of B and G# (E-G#-B). If you unsure about your interval notes, you can use this guitar note chart to help you find the appropriate notes for your whoop. Of course music, and pop music especially, goes through trends. While millennial musicians are not the first to use these intervals, pop music is certainly experiencing a moment where this technique is becoming popular. In the same way that synthesized drums were popular in the 80s or the use of flangers in the late 90s. However, there are countless examples of songs back to Beethoven that rely on the alternating of the 5th and the 3rd. Today we’d like to challenge you to write a song that uses the millennial whoop. You can find information here. Good luck! Hit Songs Deconstructed Mastery Workshop: Writing, Producing and Thinking with a Hit Song Mentality6/30/2017 Receive a 20% discount (Discount code: Songsalive20), visit https://masteryworkshop0717.eventbrite.com/?aff=Songsalive20
Take a deep dive into the inner-workings of today's hit songs, with a special focus on Max Martin! Using the Hit Songs Deconstructed methodology, you will gain insight into the songwriting and production techniques being utilized in the songs that land in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100:
This workshop will help you further develop your critical listening skills and attain a deeper understanding of the trends and songwriting techniques relative to today’s hits. Start writing, producing and thinking with a hit song mentality today! Register for this live, online, interactive workshop. Choose from one of these two tracks:
To learn more and receive a 20% discount (Discount code: Songsalive20), visit https://masteryworkshop0717.eventbrite.com/?aff=Songsalive20. Beginning 7/17/17, Songsalive! invites you to participate in a seven-day songwriting challenge. A seven-day songwriting challenge is an excellent way to supercharge your songwriting skills, and provide you with to engage with our wider community. Plus you’ll get to showcase those songwriting skills you’ve been working on.
Each day of the seven-day challenge will feature a prompt to help you get your creative wheels turning. These prompts are merely considered suggestions. Feel free to write about anything you’d like on each day. All we care about is that you write a new song every day. We can’t wait to hear your songs! Share them with us on our Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr page. We welcome all levels of talent and genres to the challenge. Songsalive! is a fully Incorporated Non-Profit Company - 501)c)3 Public Benefit Educational Charity; and California State and USA Federal Tax Non Exempt Status. Songsalive! www.songsalive.org These prompts were developed in conjunction with the songwriting blog, The Sound Connector. The Sound Connector is an online songwriting blog that promotes community, craft, and dialogues about songwriting; learn more at thesoundconnector.com. New Partner Added to Songsalive! Partner Directory: Song Forms for Songwriters by James Linderman4/17/2017 A new workbook has just been published that offers 100 song form templates to create new songs from. The workbook includes all of the support material a songwriter will require to easily understand how to use these templates quickly and effectively. Instructional videos as well as Skype sessions are also available to get the most out of using this essential resource. To see some free sample pages from Song Forms for Songwriters and to get more information about this workbook, please visit www.jameslinderman.com Songsalive! Pro Members, click here for a $15 off on Song Forms for Songwriters by James Linderman. Join Songsalive! to take advantage of this offer |
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May 2019
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