The Fine Art of Songwriting Syllabus

 

MASTERCLASS

SONG STRUCTURE I

  • Three Steps Toward Mastery
  • Organic & Mechanic Method
  • Song Form Ladder

SONG STRUCTURE II

  • Organic Form 
  • Walking Light
  • Frost's Ice-Cube
  • Title Placement Creates Form
  • Recommended Exercises

SONG STRUCTURE III

  • Rhetorical Scheme: Anaphora, Epistrophe, Epanalepsis
  • Recommended Exercises

SONG STRUCTURE IV

  • AABA Form
  • History
  • Recommended Exercises

SONG STRUCTURE V

  • Verse/Chorus Form
  • History
  • Form Follows Function
  • Opening Verses
  • Begin With The Chorus
  • Pre-Chorus
  • 1/2 Second Verse
  • Post-Chorus
  • Recommended Exercises

SONG STRUCTURE VI

  • Verse/Chorus Form Cont.
  • Formal & Informal Approach
  • Same Choruses-Same Message
  • Re-Visioning The Chorus & The Refrain
  • Different Choruses
  • Recommended Exercises

SONG STRUCTURE VII

  • Writing The Big Chorus
  • Delayed Gratification & The Power Of One
  • Diatonic Chord (Triad) Function
  • "Didn't We Dance" Song Example

SONG STRUCTURE VIII

  • Writing The Big Chorus Cont.
  • 57-1 Cadence
  • 57sus4
  • Root-Position 1 Chord Resolution
  • "I'll Be Coming Home" Inversions
  • Arranging & Production Elements
  • Modulation

SONG STRUCTURE IX

  • Writing The Big Chorus Cont.
  • Weakening The 1 Chord
  • Incomplete 1 Chords
  • Added Chords
  • 1 Chord Inversion
  • Weakening The 57
  • Recommended Assignment

SONG STRUCTURE X

  • Writing The Big Chorus Cont.
  • Disclosure Of Meaning
  • Big Chorus Melody
  • Recommended Exercises

SONG STRUCTURE XI

  • The Big Chorus Cont.
  • "Breathe" Analysis
  • Recommended Exercises

SONG STRUCTURE XII

  • The Bridge
  • Where To Begin? Where To End?
  • As Major Sections 
  • The Bacharach Bridge-"Make It Easy On Yourself"
  • Expectation, Surprise & Inevitability
  • Recommended Exercises

SONG STRUCTURE XIII

  • The Tag
  • Curls Above The Crown
  •  Necessary and Urgent? 
  • Restating The Title
  • Adding New Information
  • As Extended Section
  • Recommended Exercises

SONG STRUCTURE XIV

  • Unconventional Strucures I
  • Self-Similarity
  • State Re-Instate
  • Country Bridge

SONG STRUCTURE XV

  • Unconventional Structures II
  • Examples
  • Complexity Leads To Simplicity
  • Nonce Form
  • Recommended Exercises 

SONG STRUCTURE XVI

  • Emotional-Narrative Line
  • Form As Extension Of Content
  • Frost's Ice-cube Analogy
  • Form Supports Emotion
  • I Miss That Man
  • Soundtrack To The Scene

SONG STRUCTURE XVII

  • Intro, Turnaround, Instrumental, Solo, Outro
  • Recommended Exercises 

SONG CHARTS

SONG IDEAS & TITLES I

  • Objective & Subjective POV  
  • Two basic types of ideas & titles  
  • Where do they come from?  
  • Song Outline  
  • Hook Book 

SONG IDEAS & TITLES II

  • Titles of Ambiguity  
  • Figurative & Literal Meaning  
  • Titles of Alliteration  
  • Titles that place us somewhere specific 

SONG IDEAS & TITLES III 

  • Title Tumbling
  • Replacing Pronouns
  • Using the Opposite
  • Emphasizing Each Word in the Title
  • The Triggering Town
  • Regionalism
  • Recommended Exercises

PROCESS I

  • Adam's Curse
  • Limitations are liberating
  • Limitation leads to economy
  • What rhymes with Stuff?
  • Rhyming other words in the title
  • Perfect Framing Rhyme
  • Exposition Method
  • Recommended Exercises

PROCESS II

  • Strongest Points of Contact
  • Write with an eye on the next section
  •  Be an actor

PROCESS III

  • Conjunctions 
  • Expectation, Surprise & Inevitability 
  • Filling in the Empty Space 
  • One-Corner Style Painting

PROCESS IV

  • Helpful Tips
  • Thoughts on Rewriting
  • For the Lyricist Only

THE CRAFT OF LYRIC WRITING I

  • Expectation, Surprise, & Inevitability
  • Prosody defined
  • 3 Foundational Principles
  • Rhyme
  • Similarity of Sound
  • 15 Degrees of Vowel Sounds
  • Single & Multi-Syllable Words
  • Ellipses
  • Getting Lost on Purpose
  • The Moment You Surprise Yourself

THE CRAFT OF LYRIC WRITING II

  • Limitation & Economy
  • Review
  • Begin With the End in Mind
  • Intentional Perfect Rhyme
  • No Rhyme
  • Suggest the Passage of Time
  • Dovetailing
  • Synecdoche
  •  Recommended Exercises 

THE CRAFT OF LYRIC WRITING III

  • Verisimilitude I (Like the Truth)
  • Details You Can Trust
  • Particulars Reveal Universals
  • Intensifiers
  • Details-weaker to stronger
  • Details-smaller to larger
  • Description-Show Not Tell
  • Adding a Vivid Detail
  • Too Much Imagery
  • Too Many Characters
  • Recommended Exercises

THE CRAFT OF LYRIC WRITING IV

  • Verisimilitude II
  • Literal-vs-Figurative Language
  • Functional-vs-Decorative Similes & Metaphors
  • Recommended Exercises
  • Implied Metaphors
  • Objective Correlatives
  • Recommended Exercises
  • Understatement
  • Hyperbole

THE CRAFT OF LYRIC WRITING V

  • Verisimilitude III
  • Tone
  • Rhyme Type
  • Missetting
  • Recommended Exercises
  • Dive Deeper

 THE CRAFT OF LYRIC WRITING VI

  • Verisimilitude IV
  • Sound & Sense
  • Onomatopoeia

 THE CRAFT OF LYRIC WRITING VII

  •  Final Tips
  • Write the Title
  •  Opening Lines
  • Contrasting a Great line with a Mediocre Line
  •  Say it Again, Only Different
  •  Unintended Ambiguities
  •  (POV) Pull It Personal
  •  Happy Accidents

 THE CRAFT OF MELODY WRITING

  •  Lyric as Limitation
  •  Principles of Effective Melody Writing
  •  Intentional Melody Writing
  •  Harmony-Driven Melody Writing
  •  Rhythm is Revolution
  •  Unnatural Phrase Length
  •  (Rule) of Two's
  •  Melodic Rhythmic Prosody
  •  Changing Meter
  •  Melodic Rhythmic Rhyme
  •  Bookended Melody

 

GUITAR METHOD & MUSIC THEORY
 

  • Intro
     
  • 5 Keys & Capo
  • AGD Diatonic Root-Position Triads
  • Wheels
  • 5 Keys & Capo Quiz
  • AGD Diatonic Root-Position Triads Quiz
  • AGD Diatonic Triads 1st Inversion
  • Wheels
     
  • AGD Diatonic Triads 2nd Inversion
  • Wheels
  • AGD Diatonic Triads 1st Inversion Quiz
     
  • AGD Diatonic Triads 2nd Inversion Quiz
  • Wheels-Diatonic Triads Root-Position, 1st & 2nd Inversion
     
  • Diatonic Chord (Triads) Function
  • Resolution Tendencies to 1 Chord
  • Baseball Diamond Analogy
     
  • Principles Of Deep Practice
  • Left Hand Technique
     
  • AGD b7 Chords (145)
     
  • Diatonic Chord (Triads) Function Quiz
  • Wheels-AGD b7 Chords 145​​​
    ​​
  • AGD​​ b7 Chords (145) 1st & 2nd Inversion
  • Wheels
  • Deep Practice-Right Hand Technique
     
  • AGD Diatonic M7 & m7 Chords
  • Wheels
  • Wheels-NNS: Diatonic Triads, Inversions, 17, 47, 57, Inversions, 1M7, 4M7, 2-7, 3-7, 6-7
  • Wheels-(AGD-above)
     
  • add9, sus4
  • Wheels
  • 16, 46, 2-6
  • Wheels
     
  • Diminished Triads
  • Diminished Seventh Chords
  • Wheels
     
  • Chord Substitution by Function
     
  • 5 Keys & Capo (EC)
  • Wheels
     
  • Diatonic Triads 1st & 2nd Inversion (E)
  • Diatonic Triads 1st & 2nd Inversion (C) 
  • Wheels-Diatonic Triads Root Position, 1st & 2nd Inversion (E)
  • Wheels-Diatonic Triads Root Position, 1st & 2nd Inversion (C)
     
  • (EC) New Diatonic b7 chords
  • (EC) Root Position, 1st & 2nd Inversion Quiz 

 

  • (EC) Diatonic b7 Chord Wheels
  • Diatonic b7 Chords 1st & 2nd Inversion
  • Diatonic b7 Chords 1st & 2nd Inversion Wheels
     
  • (E) (New) Diatonic M7, m7 chords
  • (C) (New) Diatonic M7, m7 chords
  • Wheels (EC) (New) Diatonic M7, m7 chords
  • (EC) (New) 1add9, 4add9
     
  • (C) (New) 1sus4, 17sus4
  • (E) (New) 5sus4, 57sus4  
     
  • Wheels (EC) (NEW) 1add9, 4add9, 1sus4, 17sus4, 5sus4, 57sus4
  • (EC) (New) 16, 46, 2-6
  • Wheels (New) (EC) 16, 46, 2-6
     
  • (EC) 07 Chords Ascending & Descending
  • Wheels (EC) 07 Chords Ascending & Descending
     
  • Non-Diatonic 7th Chords
  • Non-Diatonic 7th Chords (AGDEC) 1
  • Non-Diatonic 7th Chords (AGDEC) 2
  • Wheels-Non-Diatonic 7th Chords (AGDEC)
     
  • "Split Chords" (AGD)
  • Wheels
  • "Split Chords" (EC)
     
  •  Modulation I
  • 57-1 Cadence
  • Pivot Chord
  • Non-Diatonic Modulation (27, 37, 67, 77)
  • Chord Progression Examples
     
  • Modulation II
  • Modulation Map
  • Song Examples
     
  • Modulation III
  • Song Examples
     
  • Modulation IV
  • Song Examples

 

 SONG BREAKDOWN

  • Same Old New Year
  • Opposites As A Rhetorical Scheme
     
  • Second Wind
  • Sound & Sense
  • Rhythmic Prosody
  • Functional-vs-Decorative Metaphor
  • Harmonic Prosody
     
  • In My Town 
  • Description Is Revelation
     
  • Closer To Home
  • Figurative & Literal Meanings
  • Objective Correlatives
  • Particulars Reveal Universals
     
  • The Last Best Place
  • Refrain
  • Bernie Taupin
     
  • Too Many Pockets
  • The Pareto Principle
  • Always Everywhere Lyric
     
  • Let It Rain
  • The Story
  • Video Link
  • Eadd9 Chord
     
  • I Remember Loving You
  • Modified AABA Form
  • Originality Within Convention
  • Where Do You Start?
     
  • She Must Be Beautiful
     
  • Mary, Christmas
  • The Art of the Comma
  • The Art of the Pause
  • Crazy Girl
  • Understatement

 

                                                                                                   STEVE'S PEEVE'S

  •  Writing in the Classic American Songbook Style
  •  Career Advice from a Samurai
  •  Writing Fast
  • Chord Inversions Make for Interesting Bass Lines
  •  Creating an Empty Space
  •  Expectation, Surprise & Inevitability
  •  The Emotional-Narrative Line
  •  BMI? ASCAP? SESAC?
  •  Paying to Cowrite
  • That Mysterious Second Wind Chord
  •  Deep Practice & Right Hand Technique
  •  Chords as Adjectives
  • Don't Let the Truth Get in the Way of a Good Song
  •  Learning Other People's Songs
  •  If It's Not Hell Yeah! It's No!
  •  Teaching Songwriting