SONG WRITING by Irlanto Pratama

Songwriting



For a lot of musicians, songwriting is something that is more often
done instinctively rather than not. Different ideas from the music
around them and their own inspiration encourage musicians to write
their own songs. There are lots of different method of songwriting
introduced by different people out there. But most of them shares
similar aim as to why a songwriter writes a song, that is to be heard
by lots of people (or further became a hit song).

Many people discussed the importance of musical background when
writing a song. Though one doesn't have to be the
know-everything-about-music person to be a successful songwriter, but
any amount of musical knowledge will surely help. As to my own
experience, I find that the more musical knowledge that I have really
helps me to do more in the creative process of building a new song
(i.e., developing the chord progression and the melody of the song).

When writing a song, the title of the song has a very important role.
It gives people the idea of what the song is about. It will also help
the songwriter when developing the lyrics. One can start writing the
lyrics by writing every word and feeling that comes into mind when
thinking about the title. These words then can became the foundation
of the lyrics. It can give the genuine impression to the listener.

For myself, writing lyrics is something that I feel is hard to do. I
often stuck when writing lyrics, where most of the time I don't know
how to put my feelings into words (or the right words) and sometimes I
was too much focusing on getting the good rhyme. I have yet to put the
suggestions in these articles into practice, but hopefully it would
enable me to write lyrics more easily.



Written by Irlanto Pratama (2012-09-25)



References:

Poyser, Debbie. (1999). 20 Tips on Songwriting. In Sound on Sound.
Retrieved Sept 25, 2012, from
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan99/articles/20tips.458.htm.



Frederick, Robin. (n.d.). Notes on Songwriting. In How to Write a
Song. Retrieved Sept 25, 2012, from
http://www.robinfrederick.com/write.html.



Hirschhorn, Joel. (2001). Music Training: Is It A Must. The Complete
Idiot's Guide to Songwriting (pp. 3-12). Indianapolis, IN: Pearson
Education.