How to Write GREAT MELODIES in Under 25 Minutes
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- čas přidán 4. 06. 2024
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00:00 Introduction
00:21 Step 1
02:49 Step 2
04:44 Step 3
09:03 Step 4
12:27 Step 5
13:53 Step 6
17:19 Step 7
ABOUT KEPPIE
Hi I'm Keppie! I'm a professional songwriter, and songwriting teacher. I've been teaching song and lyric writing for over 10 years now for some of the best contemporary music colleges in the world- Berklee Online, the Sydney Conservatorium of Music's Open Academy, as well as for the Australian College of the Arts. At other times, I've taught for the Australian Institute of Music, as well as the LA School of Songwriting.
My goal is to help people write better songs! My experience in the classroom, with thousands of students at this point (many going on to find careers and success in music), is that your songwriting, like all things, can get better with meaningful, deliberate practice. My intention is to share the skills, knowledge, information, and ideas that I've gathered with anyone who wants to improve their songwriting.
Keppie's music is here:
www.keppiecouttsmusic.com/music
ABOUT BENNY
Hi I'm Benny. My passion for music and creativity stretches across multiple disciplines and art-forms. I am a founding member and songwriter / lap-slide guitarist for one of Australia's best and most bearded country-bluegrass-folk bands, THE GREEN MOHAIR SUITS. To date the Mohairs have released 4 full-length albums and tour both nationally and overseas.
I am also the Founder and Head Producer of SILAMOR STUDIOS, a boutique studio specialising in Composition for Film, TV and Interactive Media. I write extensively across various instrumental and lyric-based genres and has been commissioned for major projects by Adobe, Cathay Pacific and Audible. I currently release original songs under the name SILAMOR.
I am also passionate about education and have taught song and lyric writing as well as film composition for JMC Academy, Collarts and the Australian Institute of Music. I design and regularly facilitate workshops on creative process and innovation.
Links to Bennny's music are here:
The Green Mohair Suits
open.spotify.com/artist/7M3Zf...
SILAMOR
open.spotify.com/artist/5HOpa...
www.silamor.com/music
Work Flow Audio: / @workflowaudio-studymu...
#howtowriteasong
#howtowritesongs
#songwriting
#songwritingforbeginners
#writesongs
#melody
#billieeilish
#writeasong - Hudba
My song writing class in college was a joke. There are so many tools and methods and tricks to songwriting that you guys are sharing that I never heard of. Really appreciate you sharing the knowledge and without all the shameless plugs for paid content. You guys are so genuine, it is refreshing. Fair play!
Your comment is giving hope to us who haven't gone to college to study music but are here and learning from this channel.
AGREED!!!
No one likes having paid content plugged to us, but we also have to remember that creating digital content like this also isn't free or even cheap necessarily; creators have every right to try to push people toward paid resources, and shouldn't be expected to provide free labour and get nothing in return.
This comment isn't aimed at you specifically, it's an issue across the board of digital content creation: many people in general don't understand or appreciate how much time and effort goes into producing even short pieces of content.
A few plugs for paid content or Watching some ads is the least we can do in return for getting great resources or entertainment for free.
i can't imagine a musician at any level that wouldn't benefit from your videos. clear and supportive for beginners, a pro level check list for more experienced songwriters.
Hey, I'm a subscriber of your channel!
I like the idea of limiting oneself in order to keep creativity going. It works for me all the time when alone with my guitar or even when in the DAW and writing songs. You can spend so long looking for plugins or layering stuff that you never get the sketches done. Thank you for another great lesson.
Kippy and Benny,
I don’t know if anyone tells you often enough, but you guys are amazing, and solo. Not only with your knowledge and wonderful teaching skills, but you absolutely inspire and motivate songwriters all over the world. Thank you for your wonderful work.
This channel actually helped me to start sitting down and trying out writing songs. Keep doing what you doing. You are blessed
Same for me! I’m almost done with my first ever song thanks to them
Been writing for going on 17 years.... we all run into writers block and thank god i found this for a new acoustic adventure.
This was the best layman explanation I could find.
I was writing a new song but was stuck at a certain point.
I took a break and was watching this video.
You gave me a hand with your wonderful tricks,I managed to finish the piece.
You guys are great 👍✌️
Funny I always thought I was crazy to say words that don’t make sense but I guess that’s how you do it!! Thanks for this
You two are such tremendous teachers! Thank you.
Step 7 requires caution especially, as writing too many unique melodies in one song without adequate repetition can make it harder for the melody to be memorable. The overwhelming majority of timeless songs have no more than 3 unique motifs unless it's a longer multipart movement type song (Bohemian Rhapsody or You Never Give Me Your Money)
What a fantastic video! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Great content from you two, as always! Thanks a ton
You guys are fabulous! ❤
Thank you for sharing this creative process! 😊
Another amazing video. You are really an inspiration! Thank you so much!
Crystal clear. Thanks!! I keep seeing fragments of these ideas, but that was transcendently clear / practical / useable
Thanks for another fantastic video. I've been trying to get better at writing melodies so I will definitely use these techniques. Well done!
My college songwriting class was basically music notation-had nothing to do with generating musical ideas-I’m so glad for your videos -thanks!
You guys are a perfect combination. Your expertise and enthusiasm is appreciated beyond words.
Outstanding guys! Btw your 14 Day challenge has pulled me out of a month long slump. Thanks for the hard work y’all put into your content.
I needed this. This is where I have my biggest challenge.
thank you so much! this was so intuitive to understand. please continue the good work for the benefit of all of us.
Thank you for more helpful advice. Well crafted video and great interaction between two friends.
Never heard the term "Toplining" but that's a great concept to brainstorm melodies while allowing a lyrical idea to impose itself into the song.
Some good advice in there. I think the one big thing that wasn't addressed in the video is targetting chord tones in your melody. Especially the last note of a phrase hitting a chord tone is the most practical thing you can do. You can play a load of chromatic nonsense but if you end on a chord tone, it somehow legitimises everything that came before it.
👍
@@thelasttrumpet2915chord tone of the underlying or the next?
Subscribed. I've been watching a lot of your videos but this one is fantastic 👏. Thankyou
I’m taking away so much from this! Most informative video I’ve seen in a long time! thank you guys 🩵
what an amazing video! i really appreciate showing the sheet music when singing 🙌🏽
THANK YOU! This was so helpful! Not only the tips that you identified, but watching you go through the process was MOST valuable. I particularly like the way Keppie will sing the melodie feelings out the words as she did. It was as if she was feeling for the words hidden in the melodic phrasees. This was very useful in so many ways. I really do love learning from you both.
i loved it...very well explained! I loved the melodic timing part!
Great video! Thank you!!
Thank you so much for this super helpful approach to creating melodies!
Awesome video guys, keep up the good work!
Super lesson! Very helpful! Thank you!
Fantastic lesson, I'll definitely try these tips!
Just an astounding wealth of information. And, I love your teaching style... simple but effective examples, clearly described. I'm trying to incorporate these lessons into my guitar soloing ideas. But, it also helps me listen to and understand songs that I like.
You guys are Amazing! You just make it so simple ❤😊
Fabulous videos. I am really loving all of these wonderful ideas. Thank you, guys
hands down the most helpful advice i’ve heard! a lot of these concepts i sorta knew intuitively, but actually hearing their explanations gives me more confidence when using them!
Fantastic video. Melodies are my challenge and this was great!
Amazing video guys, thanks.
I've watched a LOT of videos about how to write a heckin' melody... This one is probably the only one that gave me everything I needed. Thank u both for the gold quality content ❤️
Amazing tutorial, thank you!❤
So fun to watch you crank out great melodic ideas. Worth emphasizing is your sense of rhythm. You touched on this but really with or without guitar in hand your rhythmic play is a joy to watch and hear. Just go back and listen to y our chorus, you’re grooving. Well done.
Song writing has always been an interest to me. Many times tried it, failed, got discouraged, thought I wasn’t meant for it or I didn’t have that “gift.” But you’re channel has given me hope. You’ve given the best straight forward lessons and because of these videos I will try it again.
Fab well done! Bravo!❤
Listening to you made me smile!
Enjoyed this so much, thank you 💗
Yes! These lessons are valuable. Thank you!
Very great lesson. Thanks for sharing 🙏
you guys rock! thank you, excellent teachers, cheers
After a hiatus of a couple of months, my band and I appreciate your input. TYSM for that valuable content! :)
Great practical info guys!
True songwriters at work. Truly amazing to watch and learn from you (plural)!
Wow guys , I’ll never think of songs the same after this, ever time I hear music now it won’t be just the song alone but all the ups and downs , steps and variations in patterns in Melodie’s etc , loving your videos ,this is awesome , from a very beginner novice musically minded person ,you guys have opened my mind in a very new way and I love it. 🙏
you guys are the best. thanks for sharing
Would love more examples of creating simple melodies, thank you for your teaching❤
Wow. I just found you guys. Thank you so much for doing this🎉
I really appreciate the straightforwardness of your videos. I stopped songwriting for so long and am trying to get back to it. Since watching your videos, my songwriting has improved by steps and leaps. LOL
YOU ARE AN AMAZING TEACHER!
Thank you. I only wish I found your site sooner!!🙂
BOOM!! this is gold!!
Love you two! U guys are amazing thanks
I love this channel!
Another great lesson. 👍👋🏼
Great video guys.
Thanks!
a solid list! A couple other useful ones(I'm also a trained composer/songwriting professor so I like to nerd out about this stuff too)
-keep your total range between an octave to an octave and a fifth.
If you listen to most great melodies, ones that are intended to be sung by humans, usually the total range is around an octave and a third. This is the general sweet spot that guarantees that most people who sing your song won't struggle with either the highest notes or lowest.
Beyond that, a lot of amazing melodies get up to as big as an octave and a half. Star Wars, "Belle" from beauty and the beast to name two out of an infinite number, are exactly an octave and a half. The Star Spangled Banner is also exactly an octave and a half. If you notice with those songs, most singers either strain a bit with the lowest notes(oh -oh SAY) or the highest (RED GLARE). that is not to say an octave and a half is bad. Most of my melodies are an octave and a half. It's just something to keep in mind that this is really the upper limit for most humans. So if you want most humans to sing your song, shoot for an octave and a third, and expand to an octave and a half when you have a really good reason. :)
When it comes to one octave melodies, this tends to be the test of a true melody writing veteran. Keeping a melody inside of one octave while keeping it fresh, gripping, and irresistible is no small feat. However, it can be done. Killing Me Softly, one of the finest songs of the 20th century, is exactly 1 octave. Notice how it doesn't SEEM like one octave. It seems much more expansive, and that comes down to the fact that it's written well. Killing me Softly is a great demonstration of what can be accomplished inside of 1 octave when you really know how to write. To a lesser extent, "Happy Birthday" is also one octave exactly. Don't sneeze at it though. it's a solid tune!
-don't stop with scales. Follow the changes!
the advice in the video describes picking a scale and a key as raw material. This is a good start, but the next step from there is analyzing your chord changes and setting up your chord scales. A chord scale is the whole and half steps available to you over each chord. Most of the time, if the song is in 1 key, the chord scales are all the same. C major over the C chord, D dorian over the 2, etc. you know the drill. However, you'd be surprised how quickly this diverges the moment you start introducing anything blues related, because the 1 chord is mixolydian, the 4 chord is mixolydian, the 5 chord is mixolydian, the 6 chord gets turned dominant and a good chord scale there is D harmonic minor(getting a little advanced but you see my point).
Anyway, when you plan accordingly, you can actually achieve what's called "implied harmony" in your melody. In "killing me softly," the "killing me softly with his song", the phrase "killing me softly" travels up an F minor arpeggio starting on C. We get C C C C F Ab ending on "with." The chord is F minor and the melody outlines the chord there. In the "Duck Tales" theme, "life is like a hu-ri-cane" the opening notes are D F# A, then climbing up to a C natural. D mixolydian. Singing the changes! Outlining and implying a D7 chord! This is an entire world of possibilities.
-Varying phrase length.
This one is not talked about often enough IMO. In this era of chord loops and "top lining," a vast majority of songs written today use almost all 2 bar phrases. 2 bar phrase, 2 bar phrase, 2 bar phrase, song after song, album after album. The 2 bar phrase is a bread and butter phrase length, but it's so crucial to be aware of phrase length and vary phrase length. It's a stellar tool to create momentum and electricity as you develop a section. Classic example is somewhere over the rainbow. "somewhere over the rainbow" 2 bar phrase. "way up high" two bar phrase "birds fly over the rainbow why oh why can't I?" 4 BAR PHRASE! In that example, that 4 bar phrase creates drive. it pierces through the 2 bar threshold into a brave new land. It adds a feeling of being on a rollercoaster. You'd be astonished at how many experienced songwriters completely overlook phrase length! it's a very powerful tool.
This was a bit much. But good, helpful!
Very helpful insight, thank you!
I’m a lyricist writer that’s always struggled the tune is in my head but you guys have made this so easy to understand how to understand a melody I really have struggled THANKYOU
Could you also tell me where the pdf is please ❤
Very Informative and useful
Nice video. Pleasant presentation. ❤❤❤
really good guys!!!!!👍
THANK YOU. REALLY.
one of my favorite melody tips is to take an original idea & sequence it over chord changes, for example: a set of 4x quarter notes that move 1-4-3-5 over a [CMaj - GMaj - am - FMaj] progression would be the melodic notes of [C-F-E-G] - [G-C-B-D] - [A-D-C-E] - [F-B-A-C]
I also like syncopation, along with bringing in the melody a bit later or early. like you guys mention, it introduces a "swing" or "head bop", rather than hearing stuff always hit on-beat or "where its supposed to".
also, as far as leaps are concerned, i like to take general "tendencies" of notes & resolve them up or down by an octave, rather than by step. so where [7] wants to step up to [8], sometimes i like to resolve it down, by leap to [1]. so the notes are technically the same, but an octave apart, provides a bit of an unexpected sound.
you guys kill it with every video, thank you very much for the insights & examples. A+
another great lesson! If melodic phrasing ideas are coming first, I guess this could have a big impact on lyrics?
many thanks!! :)
Play school for music. Really well crafted channel.
Wish i could i could hit the ‘like’ button again after re-watching! Lol …thx!…. Again!
I'm geeking over this and I'm not even a musician.
Thank you!
This is awesome
this video is golden
Oh my lord those strings are so OLD hahah
Great video as always! Really appreciate what you're doing.
Hey, could you make a video about using key changes in a song, when they fit and how to build up to them??
To me the lyrics always determine my entry point. The attitude is crucial. The word attitude actually means angle of approach. The syllabic structure also guides you adding so it sounds either natural (or not, depending on the desired effect).
Steps , SKIPS and Leaps ...pls lets keep this in mind .
It will be quite unfair to see skips as leaps ... especially as regards to prosody.
Thanks for sharing your gifts of music . Nice video
WOW! this channel is genius
At the beginning of this year, I decided that I was going to be a 'songwriter'...lol...well, it's be nine months and I still haven't written a complete song or anything that I would consider anything more than a 'good idea' for a song. I'm big on research, so I've been spending a lot of time reading and watching videos. Pat Pattison has a real cerebral approach, which has been very helpful, but your website has probably been the most beneficial on my quest. You and yours have not only broken down the process, but demonstrate it. I've learned a lot and I no longer feel like I'm in front of a brick wall.
So I'm planning to have a song written by the time I'm seventy-five...I'm seventy-four now. Great videos.
I have been writing songs for 40 years, I have lots of friends who write songs ... no one writes melodies this way. It's like how an A.I. would be programmed to write melodies.
I appreciate that they came up with a method but no one write songs this way.
Amazing content
Simple and great
Thank you
EXCELLENT EXCELLENT YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thank you like love
Great video, thanks a lot. have you done a video of how to add lyrics to a melody? I feel like that is another challenge that we songwriters face. Like I find myself composing a great melody but then the lyrics that I add to it are cliche and boring!
Look at any of the uncountable "theme and variations" pieces from classical music for ideas on how to riff on a theme.
you guys are now my new parents. no big deal.
how can we apply this method to situations where the lyrics are written first and the melody after? i know in the last section, you mentioned worrying about the lyrics later. for me, lyric writing is the root and the chords and notes and musical backing typically come after for me. it might as well just be poetry with no melody until i add it. sometimes words have natural rhythms that work with their syllables. and I'd like to know how can we apply this to a somewhat already formed syllable backing?
So, that’s how Richard Wagner composed Tristan and Isolde?
Genius...
Well, I have some questions. Songwriting is something I just got involved in.
So, in this video you suggest starting with a random melody. However, I haven't understood, how am I supposed to express certain feelings like this? How do I write melodies that tell the story I wish to tell?
Also, don't I need a song map when I begin with melody first? Are song maps helpful only for the lyrics-first method?
also interesting are the number of notes that appear in verse and chorus:. In my experience verse in four lines between 26 and 40 notes (average rather 31) and a refrain average 24 notes. The chorus tends to have longer notes than in verse where more syllables need to be accommodated for the story. Does my observation share with your experience as a songwriter?
I love your channel i jammed to an idea of a progression you proposed if I ever post it Ill ref you but I get no views so who the heck cares LOL
Before the Internet, I immersed myself in the sings of Lennon and a
McCartney. Learn from the best ,right?
Just dooin copy songs I learned formulas, i.e.
Intro, verse, 2 nd verse , chorus, solo, 3rd verse , chorus , outtro. And thats just one kinda recipe.