Song-writing investigation
Section 1 - Benjamin frances leftwich
Section 2 - Primary evidence
Section 3 - Secondary evidence
Section 4 - Research on "outer" songwriters
Section 5 - Summary
Section 2 - Primary evidence
Section 3 - Secondary evidence
Section 4 - Research on "outer" songwriters
Section 5 - Summary
Studying Ben Frances Leftwich
For my first section I am studying my all time favourite songwriter. His Name is Benjamin Frances Leftwich. He grew up around music from a young age. In his youth he was inspired my some of the all time great songwriters. Nick Drake- Elliot Smith - Bob Dylan - Arcade fire. He listed those four artists as his biggest influences. I myself love Elliot Smith. I can hear his influence in his music. I can hear it in the vocal lines, how he begins a lot of his phrases on the of beat. I can also hear in in the intervals he uses in his melody's He has clearly been inspired to use these intervals by people before him. This information about his songwriting was taken from a interview on youtube called - Benjamin Francis Leftwich Interview at Secret Garden Party 2011.
I have looked at some of Ben Frances Leftwich's music and I have taken apart some of his songs to see what it is in his writing style that makes him so unique.
Leftwich's writing style captures the audiences attention very cleverly. He uses a lot of metaphors in his music When you listen to the words there are often some deeper meanings. He is very clever in the way that he dose that. His songs are very personal and have story behind them but they are not always obvious. I have taken one of my favorite little phrases from a song that he wrote called Picture to show this. I have highlighted one of my favorite metaphors below. In this metaphor the ocean is representing being out of your depth and then the land is representing finding your feet. So this senescent is saying we wont know what were doing to begin with but soon we will figure it out. I found that out from - www.songfacts.com
If you are afraid don't be, I have the whole thing planned
We'll start in the ocean, baby, and when we find the land
We will be thankful to all of our friends
That they didn't leave us as we got to the end
You can see here that he is telling a story, and painting a picture in your mind using the oceans and the land. However the meaning behind this is actually about a relationship. Benjamin Frances Leftwich started writing songs at the age of 10 years old.
I have looked at some of Ben Frances Leftwich's music and I have taken apart some of his songs to see what it is in his writing style that makes him so unique.
Leftwich's writing style captures the audiences attention very cleverly. He uses a lot of metaphors in his music When you listen to the words there are often some deeper meanings. He is very clever in the way that he dose that. His songs are very personal and have story behind them but they are not always obvious. I have taken one of my favorite little phrases from a song that he wrote called Picture to show this. I have highlighted one of my favorite metaphors below. In this metaphor the ocean is representing being out of your depth and then the land is representing finding your feet. So this senescent is saying we wont know what were doing to begin with but soon we will figure it out. I found that out from - www.songfacts.com
If you are afraid don't be, I have the whole thing planned
We'll start in the ocean, baby, and when we find the land
We will be thankful to all of our friends
That they didn't leave us as we got to the end
You can see here that he is telling a story, and painting a picture in your mind using the oceans and the land. However the meaning behind this is actually about a relationship. Benjamin Frances Leftwich started writing songs at the age of 10 years old.
Primary evidence
For my primary evidence I have been asking some songwriters that I know questions about how they write there songs and what kind of subjects they write there songs about.
I have found in my primary evidence that when I asked songwriters what they usually write first, ether the lyrics of the melody's that it is about half and half. One one had James who almost always wrote the words first and then put melody's to the words but on the other had we had James Laurence who usually wrote the outer way round. He would always do the melody's first. And then write words that fit to the melody's. I myself usually right the melody first but I have found now that writing the lyrics first can also be a very effective way of writing. So to summerise, i have learned from this research that about 50% of songwriters write the melody's first and the outer half's write the lyrics first.
Here is a quote I found from a interview about what he writes about -
"Anything that happens that really makes me think; makes me think enough to put it into a song. It can be very different things. Obviously a lot of the songs were written when I was still a teenager growing up, so there's definitely a teenage vibe on some of this album. There probably won't be in the future, now that I'm that bit older. But yeah, it's sort of normal, growing up, teenage guy things really. And also, I read a lot so I try put some stories into songs and then reference different things. So yeah, when I write a song it just sort of comes, if that makes sense? There's no sort of- what's the easiest way I can put it- there's no magic tricks or anything…"
I have also found from talking to a older songwriter that it can sometimes take years to write a song. I have had verses and choruses sitting around for years, and then suddenly you write something that fits perfectly and you can finish the song. He told me that it is important not to rush song writing. It can be better if you let it happen more naturally.
I have found in my primary evidence that when I asked songwriters what they usually write first, ether the lyrics of the melody's that it is about half and half. One one had James who almost always wrote the words first and then put melody's to the words but on the other had we had James Laurence who usually wrote the outer way round. He would always do the melody's first. And then write words that fit to the melody's. I myself usually right the melody first but I have found now that writing the lyrics first can also be a very effective way of writing. So to summerise, i have learned from this research that about 50% of songwriters write the melody's first and the outer half's write the lyrics first.
Here is a quote I found from a interview about what he writes about -
"Anything that happens that really makes me think; makes me think enough to put it into a song. It can be very different things. Obviously a lot of the songs were written when I was still a teenager growing up, so there's definitely a teenage vibe on some of this album. There probably won't be in the future, now that I'm that bit older. But yeah, it's sort of normal, growing up, teenage guy things really. And also, I read a lot so I try put some stories into songs and then reference different things. So yeah, when I write a song it just sort of comes, if that makes sense? There's no sort of- what's the easiest way I can put it- there's no magic tricks or anything…"
I have also found from talking to a older songwriter that it can sometimes take years to write a song. I have had verses and choruses sitting around for years, and then suddenly you write something that fits perfectly and you can finish the song. He told me that it is important not to rush song writing. It can be better if you let it happen more naturally.
Secondary research
From all of the second research I have done using the internet I have learned so much about how people write songs and what some people this is a easier way of tackling the task of writing a song. I have found various different step to step guides of the internet and i have found that generally speaking, songwriters like to get a idea of what the dong is going to be about and a idea of the title of the song before they crack on writing chord sequences and melody onto of that (found on www.ultimateguitar.com). Comparing some of the different ways of writing songs i have found on the web is easy because every body follows the exactly same steps pretty much. The only diffidence is the order that they do them in. It all depends on what comes naturally to the musician on the occasion. If they found themselves writing loads of words, then they are hardly going to stop and write the melody's if they are on a role. So to summerise i have learned that there is no write or wrong order to making songs. All of the different sections will come together in the end.
You can be inspired in any way by anything in any place anywhere. There are so many ways that songs have been constructed and written. I have discovered that some ways of writing songs are more common than outers. For example writing a hook and making a pop song around it.
I have also learned a lot from videos on youtube (www.youtube.com)about how best to structure a song in the writing process. One interesting fact that stuck out to me was that generally speaking when a established pop artist releases a song into the charts, the more times the chorus (or the hook) repeats itself the the more successful the song is. This of cores will only work for generic pop songs. The kind of pop songs that are in the charts nowadays that are basically nursery rhymes for adults. Baring that in mind and looking back on my research from - www.ultimateguitar.com - about writing a rock song, and comparing it with the information i have learned from YouTube i can see that they are both saying the same thing but they are saying it in a different way.
As another part of my primary research from www.ultimateguitar.com I have also had a look at what it is that makes a rock song as well as what it is that makes a pop song. I have read a few columns on the internet and i have found that rock songs are more often built up around riffs instead of chord sequences. This means that very often people write the riffs firs and then they write the rest of the song around that. So because of this, it is not at all uncommon to find the song structure and all the sections will be written before the lyrics have even began to have been written. This is the total opposite to another style of writing music that I looked at as a part of my secondary evidence, folk music from www.ultimateguitar.com. Most folk songs are basses around story. So as the song goes on the lyrics tell the story and the main message of the story will be repeated in the chorus. Folk music and rock song have been blended together into a genre called folk folk. The same blog that taught me about writing folk music and rock music suggest that in folk rock the lyrics are still the thing that comes first.
You can be inspired in any way by anything in any place anywhere. There are so many ways that songs have been constructed and written. I have discovered that some ways of writing songs are more common than outers. For example writing a hook and making a pop song around it.
I have also learned a lot from videos on youtube (www.youtube.com)about how best to structure a song in the writing process. One interesting fact that stuck out to me was that generally speaking when a established pop artist releases a song into the charts, the more times the chorus (or the hook) repeats itself the the more successful the song is. This of cores will only work for generic pop songs. The kind of pop songs that are in the charts nowadays that are basically nursery rhymes for adults. Baring that in mind and looking back on my research from - www.ultimateguitar.com - about writing a rock song, and comparing it with the information i have learned from YouTube i can see that they are both saying the same thing but they are saying it in a different way.
As another part of my primary research from www.ultimateguitar.com I have also had a look at what it is that makes a rock song as well as what it is that makes a pop song. I have read a few columns on the internet and i have found that rock songs are more often built up around riffs instead of chord sequences. This means that very often people write the riffs firs and then they write the rest of the song around that. So because of this, it is not at all uncommon to find the song structure and all the sections will be written before the lyrics have even began to have been written. This is the total opposite to another style of writing music that I looked at as a part of my secondary evidence, folk music from www.ultimateguitar.com. Most folk songs are basses around story. So as the song goes on the lyrics tell the story and the main message of the story will be repeated in the chorus. Folk music and rock song have been blended together into a genre called folk folk. The same blog that taught me about writing folk music and rock music suggest that in folk rock the lyrics are still the thing that comes first.
Outer songwriters
I have had a look at some outer very successfully songwriters to see what it is that makes them tick, and how they choose to write there music. Interestingly, all of the song writers that I looked said the same general thing about the method that they use to write music. That method was that there is no method!
I have taken the time to look into a song writer who inspired one of my favourite song writers, Benjamin Frances Leftwitch. He is the songwriter that I wrote about in the first part of this section. One of his biggest inspirations that he mentioned in a interview that I watch earlier on in this unit when I was gathering evidence and looking for research was a very famous singer song writer who tragically took his own like (so we are lead to believe) at the age of 34, called Elliot smith. Elliot smith shared the same belief about writing songs as the vast majority of musicians iv read up and the vast majority of musicians that I have interviewed. Elliot smith believed that songs came from the heart and soal, and that music is not to be rushed, that it has to happen naturally otherwise it will be meaningless.
I have taken the time to look into a song writer who inspired one of my favourite song writers, Benjamin Frances Leftwitch. He is the songwriter that I wrote about in the first part of this section. One of his biggest inspirations that he mentioned in a interview that I watch earlier on in this unit when I was gathering evidence and looking for research was a very famous singer song writer who tragically took his own like (so we are lead to believe) at the age of 34, called Elliot smith. Elliot smith shared the same belief about writing songs as the vast majority of musicians iv read up and the vast majority of musicians that I have interviewed. Elliot smith believed that songs came from the heart and soal, and that music is not to be rushed, that it has to happen naturally otherwise it will be meaningless.
Another song writer that I have decided would be a good person to look at is Emeli Sandé. The reason for this is that she has got a very different style of writing music. Not only that, she has also been seriously successful in getting people to connect with this style of music. She has had lots of number one songs and her career is still going strong as she plays and sings and writes all of her own music.
Even though Emeli Sandé sings and writes in a totally different genre to all of the outer songwriters that I has analysed and studied so far in this unit. She dose share a lot of things in the way she writes music. Although here are a lot of things that are very different, like for example the lyrical content has such a wide variety from the metaphorical and uplifting lyrics that Emeli Sandé writes to the down beat depressing lyrics that Elliot Smith wrote in some of his later years.
Emeli Sandé says that she is not just inspired by music and outer musicians, but also by every thing that she is surrounded by. Things like: life, people, art, and everything else! She, much like nearly all of the outer songwriters that I have talked about so far, also dose not have any method to how she writes her songs. She goes for the lyrics first sometimes and on outer times she goes for chord sequences and even in one interview, she talked about how she wrote a sing that stemmed from her humming a tune.
Comparing all my songwriters that I have studied
I have looked at a lot of songwriters and I am very surprised in what i found. They all believe in a surprisingly similar method of writing music. Doing what feels right and not rushing it. None of them follow any particular rules when writing a song because it changes from with song to song. If you'll look at Emeli Sandé for example and compare her to Elliot smith. Even though they are playing music in a different genre and selling there music to totally different crowds of people they both belve in the same way of writing songs. And they bot get inspired by every day things so that they can write songs that every day people can connect with and every day people will understand.
Even though Emeli Sandé sings and writes in a totally different genre to all of the outer songwriters that I has analysed and studied so far in this unit. She dose share a lot of things in the way she writes music. Although here are a lot of things that are very different, like for example the lyrical content has such a wide variety from the metaphorical and uplifting lyrics that Emeli Sandé writes to the down beat depressing lyrics that Elliot Smith wrote in some of his later years.
Emeli Sandé says that she is not just inspired by music and outer musicians, but also by every thing that she is surrounded by. Things like: life, people, art, and everything else! She, much like nearly all of the outer songwriters that I have talked about so far, also dose not have any method to how she writes her songs. She goes for the lyrics first sometimes and on outer times she goes for chord sequences and even in one interview, she talked about how she wrote a sing that stemmed from her humming a tune.
Comparing all my songwriters that I have studied
I have looked at a lot of songwriters and I am very surprised in what i found. They all believe in a surprisingly similar method of writing music. Doing what feels right and not rushing it. None of them follow any particular rules when writing a song because it changes from with song to song. If you'll look at Emeli Sandé for example and compare her to Elliot smith. Even though they are playing music in a different genre and selling there music to totally different crowds of people they both belve in the same way of writing songs. And they bot get inspired by every day things so that they can write songs that every day people can connect with and every day people will understand.
Summery
In summery, I have learned a huge amount about how some very successfully songwriters write there music. Funnily enough all of the successful songwriters that I have studied use the same song wring formula as all of the upcoming songwriters who I messaged with questions. The formula being, of cores, that there is no formula! There is no write or wrong answer to writing a song, there can't be a song that was written wrong. However that can be songs that have been written in more recognizable ways, that have catchy hooks that get stuck in peoples head. There is no surprise that the songs with the catchy choruses tend to be the more successful songs. But that is not to say that it is required if you want to write a successful song because that would not be true.
Having said all that some people do believe that there is a formula for writing that a lot of pop songwriters use. A lot of songwriters who write songs that write music amazed at the charts follow very similar structures. A lot of them use a - verse - chorus - verse - bridge - chorus - structure. Or a variation of this, that might include having some of the choruses doubled or moving the bridge somewhere When writing a conpempry song they aim to write them around 3 minutes soo that there is more chance of it going on the radio.
Having said all that some people do believe that there is a formula for writing that a lot of pop songwriters use. A lot of songwriters who write songs that write music amazed at the charts follow very similar structures. A lot of them use a - verse - chorus - verse - bridge - chorus - structure. Or a variation of this, that might include having some of the choruses doubled or moving the bridge somewhere When writing a conpempry song they aim to write them around 3 minutes soo that there is more chance of it going on the radio.
4 Be able to produce and present results of an investigation Presentation techniques: eg written, verbal, seminar, audio, video, IT, website, blog, demonstration, performance (or a combination of any of these); appropriateness of form(s) to subject Comprehension: accuracy; understanding; comparison; conclusion; evaluation; critical discussion Reference to research: eg bibliography, URL, title, author, artist, composer, playwright, manufacturer, organisation, individual.