My most recent lyrical process breakthrough came when I started planning the "journey" of a song. Whether that's the plot or the emotions involved, each section of a song needs to serve a purpose. When I feel I made my point about a section or ran out of things to say, that's my cue that it's time to move to the next phase. (This is also useful on the composition side.) For example, in one of the songs I've applied this to, character A is trying to convince character B to join them in a fun, new activity. So I laid out "Request then denial, persuasion then resistance, playing hardball then acceptance, enjoyment and buying into it, making it personal, explaining the rules, and full participation." When the characters achieved the goal of one part, it was time to move to the next I've also used this for solo songs, such as by going, "Stating the problem, sinking into doubt, sudden resolve, redefining the problem, enforcing earlier resolve, new doubts, shake it off and double down, determine and defend a new resolution." Hope that helps someone like it's been helping me!
I’ve been working on writing a musical with two buddies of mine. My one friend is an extremely skilled composer and has done out orchestra for many musicals in the past, so he is in charge of the score arrangements and such. My other friend is an amazing actor and has seen countless musicals on broadway and local community theaters, so he is in charge of the book writing snd stuff. I being adept in both aspects, (I play piano, sing, act, the whole nine yards) have been given the task of writing lyrics for the songs, as well as revising the music and the dialogue of the script. I’m not extremely familiar with many aspects of lyric writing, and haven’t found many good tools or guides on how to start and a process and such, so I was wondering if you had any advice or tips as to writing original and creative lyrics?
How exciting! I love that you're writing with your buddies - that's the best way to do it. I'd start by learning the essentials of lyric writing for musical theatre (how rhyme, scansion, character development, and story movement all work in song). I've done quite a few videos on lyric writing over the years, which might be helpful! The Stephen Sondheim books (Finishing the Hat and Look I Made a Hat) are brilliant insights into the process, but it's not a real how-to. Otherwise, getting some coaching or instruction is probably the fastest route to take as you simply dive in and start doing it!
I’m a script and prose writer who’s trying to work on a musical with no music experience. I’ve done theater but that’s a vastly different subject than composition of music. I’ll be needing a composer but I currently can’t afford one and am making progress on writing while I’m saving up. Would you say I should halt writing lyrics until I get a composer (because I’m working across multiple songs and I don’t know how practical it would be to do this for that many songs) or just make the first drafts like this and work on later drafts with a composer?
My suggestion is to find a composer who wants to collaborate with you asap. This wouldn't be someone you're paying, this would be someone who is an integral part of the writing process - part of the team. But yes, I'd say find a composer now!
So, I have my basic plot and story for my “musical” but I’m really struggling to make songs that sound how I want them to. I really love the sound from “Freaky Friday” and “Dear Evan Hansen”; that kinda rock band with strings and piano, but I don’t know how to actually produce that kinda sound. If you had any tips on how to create a sound like the above mentioned musicals that would be awesome and greatly appreciated! I’m getting lots of inspiration from your videos, so thank you for posting!
Thanks for asking this and for your lovely words as well! Honestly, I wouldn't worry too much about creating a fully produced sound early on - that's something that usually comes lates in the process once the songs are truly working and set. Orchestrators and arrangers are also usually the ones to do this work, though there are plenty of composers out there who prefer to orchestrate their own material. When writing a first pass of the music, it might be best to focus on melody, hook, musical feel, and how the crafty helps tell the story. Does that make sense? All that being said, I do know a couple people who only write music in a fully produced way, so that is an option as well. If you want to have that conversation, I'm happy to do so!
Thanks for your reply! Yes, that does make sense. I think I’ll try and work on the melody and hooks, and worry about orchestration later. Thanks again!
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My most recent lyrical process breakthrough came when I started planning the "journey" of a song. Whether that's the plot or the emotions involved, each section of a song needs to serve a purpose. When I feel I made my point about a section or ran out of things to say, that's my cue that it's time to move to the next phase. (This is also useful on the composition side.)
For example, in one of the songs I've applied this to, character A is trying to convince character B to join them in a fun, new activity. So I laid out "Request then denial, persuasion then resistance, playing hardball then acceptance, enjoyment and buying into it, making it personal, explaining the rules, and full participation." When the characters achieved the goal of one part, it was time to move to the next
I've also used this for solo songs, such as by going, "Stating the problem, sinking into doubt, sudden resolve, redefining the problem, enforcing earlier resolve, new doubts, shake it off and double down, determine and defend a new resolution."
Hope that helps someone like it's been helping me!
Thanks for sharing your process!
This was so incredibly reassuring, I'm not doing it wrong! (Mostly because there isn't a wrong way :) ) Thank you!
Precisely! You're making art - there's no wrong way 😀
I’ve been working on writing a musical with two buddies of mine. My one friend is an extremely skilled composer and has done out orchestra for many musicals in the past, so he is in charge of the score arrangements and such. My other friend is an amazing actor and has seen countless musicals on broadway and local community theaters, so he is in charge of the book writing snd stuff. I being adept in both aspects, (I play piano, sing, act, the whole nine yards) have been given the task of writing lyrics for the songs, as well as revising the music and the dialogue of the script. I’m not extremely familiar with many aspects of lyric writing, and haven’t found many good tools or guides on how to start and a process and such, so I was wondering if you had any advice or tips as to writing original and creative lyrics?
How exciting! I love that you're writing with your buddies - that's the best way to do it. I'd start by learning the essentials of lyric writing for musical theatre (how rhyme, scansion, character development, and story movement all work in song). I've done quite a few videos on lyric writing over the years, which might be helpful! The Stephen Sondheim books (Finishing the Hat and Look I Made a Hat) are brilliant insights into the process, but it's not a real how-to. Otherwise, getting some coaching or instruction is probably the fastest route to take as you simply dive in and start doing it!
Thank you so much!! I appreciate all the helpful resources and advice. I’ll lyk how it goes!
@@user-uc1nv2hg6q My pleasure!
I’m a script and prose writer who’s trying to work on a musical with no music experience. I’ve done theater but that’s a vastly different subject than composition of music. I’ll be needing a composer but I currently can’t afford one and am making progress on writing while I’m saving up. Would you say I should halt writing lyrics until I get a composer (because I’m working across multiple songs and I don’t know how practical it would be to do this for that many songs) or just make the first drafts like this and work on later drafts with a composer?
My suggestion is to find a composer who wants to collaborate with you asap. This wouldn't be someone you're paying, this would be someone who is an integral part of the writing process - part of the team. But yes, I'd say find a composer now!
So, I have my basic plot and story for my “musical” but I’m really struggling to make songs that sound how I want them to. I really love the sound from “Freaky Friday” and “Dear Evan Hansen”; that kinda rock band with strings and piano, but I don’t know how to actually produce that kinda sound. If you had any tips on how to create a sound like the above mentioned musicals that would be awesome and greatly appreciated! I’m getting lots of inspiration from your videos, so thank you for posting!
Thanks for asking this and for your lovely words as well! Honestly, I wouldn't worry too much about creating a fully produced sound early on - that's something that usually comes lates in the process once the songs are truly working and set. Orchestrators and arrangers are also usually the ones to do this work, though there are plenty of composers out there who prefer to orchestrate their own material. When writing a first pass of the music, it might be best to focus on melody, hook, musical feel, and how the crafty helps tell the story. Does that make sense? All that being said, I do know a couple people who only write music in a fully produced way, so that is an option as well. If you want to have that conversation, I'm happy to do so!
Thanks for your reply! Yes, that does make sense. I think I’ll try and work on the melody and hooks, and worry about orchestration later. Thanks again!
@@chetillinghast09 Happy to help out!