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| WORKSHOPS + Anatomy of a Song + The Art of Writing  + A Note on Workshops + Songwriting Exercises + Develop Your Songwriting Skills |
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SONGWRITING EXERCISES by Tom Prasada-Rao - tprworld.com From my songwriting class at the Young Writer's Workshops at the University of Virginia. Each one of these exercises has helped produce songs for my students. the 20 minute song This is a fabulous thing to do first thing, first day. I've found this to be empowering for students who've never written before. With a group of 5 or more, agree to time your exercise, agree that it will be stupid, agree to write the lyrics first, agree that you'll put down instruments for a while. Pick two topics that have virtually nothing to do with each other, brainstorm on those topics writing down everything that comes to mind, figure out how these two topics intersect. Write a first line, then the second through fourth, pick a first line for the second verse, by now someone will have thought of the idea for the chorus - don't dwell on anything, write a stupid bridge. Get out your guitar or piano, use a simple blues form or folk song form or country or rap, anything that excites your students. write a melody, run it through a couple of times, and if you have the access, record it real quickly This exercise helps with meter, with rhyme, with editing, with introducing melodic development, with harmony and rhythm - but try it out first with a group of contemporaries before you try it out with your students. finding your space This is useful to get everyone comfortable singing in front of each other, needs to be lead by someone comfortable with coaxing, someone who is persistent, and OK inside their own skin - usually my assistants, not me! With a group of 8 or more, go outside if possible (our favorite place is the graveyard). First try 3 different groups, all the groups stand in one circle, one group starts with clapping a rhythm, another group adds a different rhythm stomping or a mouth noise, the final group picks a word with a note, and sings it. Do this for several minutes, modifying the rhythms and notes, trying to incorporate what you see and hear around you. If this works, the students won't want to stop, it will be so much fun, and some students will get song ideas out of it. To make sure this works, try it out with a group of teachers first. try it out with percussion instruments (don't make them too loud). pop goes the weasel Write new music to the lyrics of a pop song not adding any words but deleting or arranging them however you want, then write new lyrics to the new music. dreamweaver Make a note to yourself to remember your dreams, write them down when you wake, make a collage of pictures from old magazines that describe your dreams, then write a song from the collage. therapy time Envision someone in your life with whom you have an unresolved conflict - picture him or her in your brain, what are they wearing, what are their hands doing, what would they say to you - write the song with that person's voice, from that persons' point of view. outside the box Pick a partner to writer with. Write the first line of a verse try to trick up your partner, or to write in a style that you wouldn't normally. Then hand it to the person beside you to finish the next three lines, they then write the first line to the next verse and hand it back to you. napkin literature This is an exercise I got from my buddy Michael McNevin. We usually do this on napkins at pizza joints. Write two lines that don't even need to be in meter or rhyme, fold the paper between the first and second lines (hiding the first) hand it to the person next to you who writes two more lines, then hides all but the last line again, then hand it to the next person. liberace This exercise is useful once the students in the class get to know each other. Pick someone else in the class, you don't have to tell. Find a quiet spot and write a song in their style, with their idioms and syntax, this is one of the most fun exercises to watch. baby you can drive my car I stole this exercise from the poetry teacher at Young Writers'. Go out to the parking lot and pick a car. Brainstorm about what you imagine the driver is wearing, what station they're listening to, where they're going, what they're thinking. Write the song. Carys' song "Yellow" came from this very exercise. Adapted From "The Observation Deck" by Naomi Epel This is a really cool packet of cards with ideas for writing: www.observationdeck.com 1) Get a newspaper and go through the personals, obits, classifieds, tabloids, existing headlines. Write your own story. 2) Go to a bookstore or library. Look on the shelves at book or movie titels. Jot down the titles that stir your imagination. Pick up a few books and study the opening lines. You can't copyright titles. Write your story. 3) Address a song to someone you know, as if you're trying to explain something. 4) Show, don't tell. Get specific, you are a painter. Which objects do you include, which ones do you accentuate, which ones do you leave out? Edit. 5) Pretend you are an object - a cup, a shoe, a book, a pen. Give it a voice using the words "I Am." Personify. Write. 6) Write the letter or the email, you've been avoiding writing - as a song. 7) Find the need. Kurt Vonnegut says "make your character want something right away." Set up the premise of your song as soon as you can. What are your needs and how are they reflected in the needs of your character? If there's no connection, then it might be a tough one to write. 8) Start on page three - eliminate words, a day to write and a week to revise. Edit. 9) Find the right name. Sometimes your characters don't work because they don't have the right name. Give a new name to your protagonist even if you don't use it in the song. Write. 10) Start with "if". Make a list. Open a drawer. Squint (look closer). Locate the fear. Find the desire. Eavesdrop. Re-arrange. Write your song. Lifted from "The Songwriter's Idea Book" by Sheila Davis If you just need one book for ideas, this is the one: www.writersbookcase.com/product.asp?PID=28 1) A Color Title - "Yellow Submarine" "Lady in Red" 2) A City, State, or Foreign Place - "Moonlight in Vermont" "New York State of Mind" 3) Day, Month or Number - "Sunday Kind of Love" " Pieces of April" "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" "3 Times a Lady" 4) A Female Name - "Suzzanne," "Sweet Caroline" 5) Top 10 Words - "HEART", "NIGHT', "IF" 6) A book title - "The Language of Letting Go" (by my buddy Michael Bowers) 7) An antonym title - "I Got it Bad and That Ain't Good" 8) Idiom, Axiom, or Paragram - idiom "Save the Best for Last" axiom "Easy Come, Easy Go" paragram (new twist) "Friends in Low Places" 9) Make up a word - "Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious" 10) Start with "AND" and write, write, write, write, write, write, take a break, write, write, write, write ...
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