Lyrical composition

This is an introduction to Lyrical composition.

Prosody

All the elements should work together to support the message that you wish to convey. What are those things that make up the everything?

1. Line length
2. Rhyme scheme
3. Chords
4. Harmonic rhythm
5. Melody

All of these work together the way that a film score works to help along a narrative. The major concept is Stable versus Unstable. What's your idea, what do you intend to say? If you feel stable (positive) you will support the idea with nuances. If you feel unstable (tension) about the concept, then you will want to create an unstable vibe.

The personal tonic; Harmonic Function

People whine and tease on minor thirds, they use "a" and "the" on their tonic. To emphasize positively, or ask questions we use a fifth. We threaten on a dominant below the tonic. The preacher, auctioneer use the fourth (subdominant) because it's really going somewhere and unstable. We express surprise and warning on the seventh degree of our scale.

Odds and Evens

To reinforce an idea, a stable setting may be used, and to leave unresolved or suspenseful, an uneven or unstable setting may be used.

1. An even number of refrains creates a stable vibe. An uneven number of refrains creates an unstable vibe.
2. Four stress syllables is balanced and complete, i.e. stable. Three stress syllables is unbalanced.
3. An ABAB or AABB symmetrical rhyme scheme is stable, while ABBA is unstable.
4. Similarly the repetition of rhyme words can be unstable (uneven) and stable (even).
5. Alternately a consonant rhyme can be unstable while a perfect rhyme can be stable.
6. An end on a tonic chord is stable, an end on a fourth or seventh is unstable.

The number of lines, length of lines, rhythms of lines, rhyme scheme, rhyme types, and chords/melody/harmony can all be used to support and enhance what you're saying. An unstable structure and a stable structure will give different results. Even a collision between one set of structural ideas and another can make an unstable vibe.

Rhyme

Rhyme moves emotion. With a rhyme scheme one can make you feel happy and stable or one can subvert your expectation and make you feel inconstant. Remember we're working to avoid cliche. Also, beware the weak stress: "see" versus "lonely". Use a dictionary and look for the long stress mark and use that.

The emotional spectrum of rhymes

Perfect rhyme (identical vowel sounds, identical consonants after the vowel if any, rhyming syllable begins differently): Fully Resolved

Family rhyme (identical vowel sounds, consonants after the vowel are phonetically related if any): Strongly Resolved

• Plosives Partner sounds

1. p, t, k Unvoiced
2. b, d, g Voiced

• Fricatives Partner sounds

1. f, th, s, sh, ch Unvoiced
2. v, TH, z, zh, j Voiced

• Nasals Partner sounds

1. m, n, ng Voiced

A perfect rhyme scheme that doesn't work...

Fire, transpire, desire, conspire...for a song about a heartbreak.

An imperfect rhyme scheme that does work...

Fire, blood, fear, bland...for a song about heartbreak.

For Rap

Rhyme columns, placing rhymes in lines. Think about rhyme placements as though they were harmonic rhythm, they become the flow. Simple lyrics can be very moving, while uninteresting, which has the listener attentive to the bassline.

Metaphor

A metaphor is a collision of two things that are seemingly unrelated and now we've got all these textures. "Falling in love" and "Las Vegas", all number of things happen in Las Vegas, but what we're going to write about is "Falling in love"...e.g "He made my skin feel like I was winning", "her smile was like a light show"