Author: Peter Wentworth

The itch on writing a song and turning it into a hit is hauntingly magical. But writing a song is not as simple like getting a piece of paper and jotting down all lyrical and poetic ideas that came to mind. Although the little notebook of ideas will come in handy when the time comes, aspiring songwriters still need an ample amount of creativity, talent and patience before a song reaches its completion.

However, many aspiring songwriters spend more time thinking about writing a song than actually writing it. In fact, getting started is the most difficult part as well as it is the most important. So, spending an hour or two during a specific time of day and committing to write a certain number of songs per week are good ways to start. But before the first verse sees print, a songwriter must remember the following.

Familiarity with the contemporary song structure

Just like many hit songs, a conversational and intimate verse keep the listeners interested while an emotionally intensified chorus reaches the listeners making them connect and relate to the experiences in the songs. To understand how the structure works, it is best to choose one hit song and determine which part of the lyrics belong to the verse, chorus and bridge. Study how the song affects a listener and what specific parts of the lyrics make him relate to it.

Write the title and the lyrics

When the necessary pre-writing exercises are done, it is time to write the title and the lyrics. But the songwriter must first come to terms with this old argument on what should come first, lyrics, title or melody. Some songwriters already formed a habit in writing the lyrics first before the title. They followed their intuition in drafting the verse, pre-chorus, chorus and bridge yet this works best for the experienced writers. Newbies or aspiring songwriters, on the other hand, are highly encouraged to stick to the formula first and that means going after the title since:

Title is a treasure chest of ideas and inspiration. It is also what the listeners will remember and it will describe what the song is all about. Also, just like an effective newspaper headlines, a good song title also uses action words, short phrases or images. So, after writing a compelling title, it is time to write the lyrics and remember to:

• (a) list down all related words and phrases that relate to the title; it will keep the lyrics focused; and
• (b) provide plenty of information that the listeners will crave to listen.

To do this, make the story in the lyrics progress or make it move forward by posing answers to questions that might arise from the title.

It is also important to note that even though a good lyric follow a conversational moving forward type of story-telling, it doesn’t necessarily follow a linear approach and it also doesn’t need to look like a poem with rhymes and meters.

Writing melodies

Writing the melodies is the next step and this requires basic skills in guitar playing or keyboards. However, not all songwriters knew how to play an instrument or two so if this is the case, collaborate with a musician who can help with the melodies. Many songwriters go for collaboration and many great musicians also play songs composed by a lyricist.

However, if a songwriter also knows how to strum a chord or two, he will complete the lyrics using a chord progression. But it is important to note that:

• Songwriters may use the same chord pattern over and over and still may use the same chord progression in the other parts of the song structure even though it should have a chord variation to achieve the emotional impact it needs.
• Repetition and variation are components of memorable melodies but too much repetition on the other hand is downright uninteresting and least to say boring.
• Lack of variedness in chord progression may alter the natural rhythm and pitch of the lyrics. The lyrics and melodies must complement each other and not that the other one is more important than the other. So, a more natural sounding lyric aided with a heart-pounding or an emotionally intensified melody should work together harmoniously.
• If the lyric writing and melody composition became a tedious task, take a breather and leave it for awhile. This will give the songwriter enough time to see his lyrics and melody in a new light.
• Songwriter must beware of plagiarism. Lyrics and melodies are copyrighted and it is only permissible to use existing hit songs to study the melody and lyric composition but not in any way copy it for reproduction.

Some musicians are performers but not all performers are musicians. It is simple and straightforward. Yet for a musician who wants to deliver a memorable performance, he must learn how to engage an audience when performing. By following these tips, any amateur performers will look like a pro on stage.

Practice, practice and practice

How often the audience will have a notion that performers sound better in the album than they do in a live performance? Making a great first impression will help a performer boost his career but if it is otherwise, a bad performance will spread like a wildfire ruining the chances for another performance. So, spending enough time for practice simply makes a performance truly engaging and memorable.

Dress accordingly

Musical greats and divas know how to package themselves and part of it is learning how to dress accordingly. Say for a classical musician, going on stage dressed in a tight leather pants and black see through top complete with metal studs does not complement the type of music he will be performing. The audience will be flabbergasted and lest to say confused since typically, or as tradition goes, classical musicians wear formal clothes

The discovery of ancient musical instruments including other artifacts some 35,000 years back proved that culture and arts is evolving. In fact, scientists and researchers suggest that its development is one of the reasons why ancestors of the modern humans survived while its contemporary, Neanderthals, became extinct.

This discovery also proved that ancient humans used everyday items as musical instruments. The ancient flutes were made of bird bones or mammoth ivories, the drums were made from animal skin, and the rattlers and shakers from pebbles, stones and sticks. Perhaps anything that could make and produce sound was used. Thus, it is not surprising that modern men nowadays also use everyday items to make musical instrument.

Everyday items used as musical instruments spark creativity

Even at a young age, men are taught on how to make arts and crafts. Teachers will show bright-eyed toddlers on how to make xylophone from empty glass bottles. The bottles are filled with water at different levels thereby creating varying notes. Or the teacher will show how to make maracas from empty plastic drink bottles filled with dried beans or pebbles.

Tambourines can also be assembled from some cut out tin cans that are hold together with a wire, while the lid of tin cans can be used as cymbals. A child further discovers other materials that can produce sound like the crushing of dried leaves, striking of stones and so on. It will spark his creativity and it will motivate him to further dream and create. But aside from this, studies also show that arts and crafts yield other benefits such as:

• boosts a child’s problem solving skills
• enhances and further stimulates brain activity
• improves self-esteem
• develop and improve concentration span
• teaches patience and determination

While a child’s mental function and motor skills are also improved through:

development of fine motor skills

improves hand and eye coordination

helps distinguish movement patterns

distinction of shape and color

improves spatial perception

increases motivation

stimulates senses

serves as an outlet for emotion like anger or frustration

Arts and crafts spark a child’s creativity and he carries this until adulthood. Thus, it will not be surprising to know that there are several modern artists who turn low-budgeted or recycled everyday items into a work of art.

Artists use everyday items as musical instruments

One of the many artists who make use of low-budgeted and recycled materials to construct musical instruments is Ernie Althoff. For over 30 years, he constructs kinetic musical instruments or sound sculptures from salvaged items like old and broken electric fans and old turntables. He also uses materials originally used for industrial purposes, household objects, and repurposed devices.

Just like the ancient men who use natural materials for his creation, Althoff uses the same

For centuries of music and its significance in the development of different and varied cultures all over the world, humans have developed distinctive musical instruments which are played and made use to produce music and accompany the personal capabilities of humans in producing sounds and pitches.

One of the most unusual and remarkable musical instruments is the musical saw. As a musical instrument, it is able to produce musical tones. The blade is flexed and stroked with a cello bow or rapped with a hammer. Amazing, isn’t it? Also called a singing saw, the musical saw is a musical instrument that has been fabricated from a hand saw. It gives off a delicate and somewhat ghostly tone, comparable to a woman’s clear singing voice. Under the Hornbostel-Sachs musical instrument classification, the musical or singing saw is categorized as a friction idiophone with direct friction that produces the sound.

It is actually considered an original musical instrument of the mid nineteenth century in the United States, which obtained fame and recognition on vaudeville stages and different music halls and records. Back in the 1900’s, there were more or less ten companies in the US to produce and manufacture these types of musical instruments. Either made of the ordinary steel type or gold plated tour de forces which cost hundreds of dollars, probably for collectors and professional musical saw players. Through the years, and the rise of the cost of metals, manufacturers have found it hard to produce these types and instruments as well as sell them in the market. As the twenty first century began, there were only three companies who continued in manufacturing musical saws.

Musical saws are also manufactured in Sweden. They manufacture the Stradivarius and different sized saws accordingly. With the decline of the number of manufacturers of musical saws all over the world, these types of instruments are considered unconventional and are very valuable in terms of price and significance in the history of music. Therefore, the use of musical saws have become very popular, may they be used for international hard rock or Appalachian country music. In fact, in Felton, California, an International Saw Competition is held every August. While in New York City, also in the United States, an International Musical Saw Festival is held every summer. In Israel, there is also an International Musical Saw Festival every year. There are different efforts in different places all over the globe to make musical saws a part of the highly regarded musical instruments, and in line with such, a Guinness World Record for the largest musical saw ensemble was launched at the annual New York City Musical Saw Festival on July 18, 2009. It was composed of fifty three musical saw players.

The use of musical instruments is not limited to these festivals particularly for the instrument. There are world-renowned musical saw players, such as Jack Robinson during the first half of the 20th century, Charles Hindmarsh, also called The Yorkshire Musical Player, Janeen Rae Heller who played the musical saw in four TV show appearances such as The Tracey Ullman Show, Quantum Leap and Home Improvement, among many others.

There are also popular musicians and musical bands all over the world that use musical saws as either their primary or one of their musical instruments during their performances. Sarah McLachlan, although she does not play the saw herself, used the instrument in one of her famous songs (Last Dance) which she personally composed. The Indie-rock and The Black Heart Procession bands use the musical saw in many of their songs and performances.

The musical saw has also been used in different popular and established movies and films such as the Delicatessen, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Station Agent, Team Fortress 2, and even in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets!

All in all, despite its exceptionality and scarceness in terms of the scope of its market, the musical saw has never lost its veneration from the music and multimedia industry, and is an endless contribution to music and culture as a whole.

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Listening to folk music will take you on a fabulous journey through nostalgia, politics, revolution, nationalism, protests, romance and overcoming human strife. Whether you are new to folk music or already a fan, there are certain fundamental albums that you should think about adding to your collection.

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