From the course: Introduction to Songwriting
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The fundamentals of songwriting
From the course: Introduction to Songwriting
The fundamentals of songwriting
- [Instructor] Let's look at the fundamental elements of a song. These are melody, lyrics, rhythm, and harmony. As a reference, we can take the song Happy Birthday. The melody of a song is the individual notes that are played and or sung in a particular order and timing. It's the uniqueness of a song's melody that first and foremost distinguishes one song from another. To that point, when I sing, (hums Happy Birthday) you know immediately what song it is, even without hearing the lyric. But let's talk about lyrics too. The lyrics are quite simply the words that are sung over a song's melody. For example, ♫ Happy Birthday to you. Lyrics are related to poetry, in the sense that they often rhyme and have an inherent rhythm to them, but the words in a lyric have to not only tell a story or convey an emotion or both, they also have to sing well, and just as importantly, sound good being sung. Next is the rhythm of a song. As it pertains to songwriting, rhythm can be everything from the…
Contents
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What is songwriting?4m 50s
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Skills needed to be a songwriter3m 43s
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The fundamentals of songwriting3m 54s
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Music theory and notation2m 58s
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Copyrighting and publishing3m 58s
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Recording, record labels, and promotion3m 54s
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Music law2m 39s
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Jobs in songwriting3m 48s
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