Preparing for Song Writing.

I am planning to study Song Writing for my music diploma and I have 20 weeks until I start the course. So what can I do in preparation? Song Writing and Composing are about creating moods and musical pictures for people to listen to and respond to the moods and pictures created. Very much in the same way that the more words that you have in vocabulary and an understanding on how to use them gives you the ability to tell really good stories that accurately convey what you want to say so it is true of music. So I have set myself the task of creating my own dictionary of music.

I play the guitar, bass and also use the keyboard for composing so I will have a section for each. Within the sections I will have sub sections for chords, scales and arpeggios and how each of them make me feel. I have set 8 feeling parameters with which to classify them. I will then have a fourth main section where I will have the 8 parameters with all the versions of chords and scales that work for that section all put together. With this information I will be able to create any one of the feeling/ emotional moods by using the musical vocabulary that I have put together. I will also be able to combine 2 or more feelings/ emotions by the choice of vocabulary from each section.

There are a number of other things to take into consideration like instrumentation and timbre, tempo, rhythm and dynamics, period and cultural styles but I think that may well be another diary.

For now I have already started and I am looking forward to discovering a musical world beyond what I already now. Watch this space. Enjoy.