Melodic Phrases and Lyric Phrases: Another Aspect of Preserving the Natural Shape of the Language

[lambgtr7]

at like 2:15 i thought she was crying haha good stuff though

[RobRokken]

This guy really is amazing. I honestly just picked out about a million of these "instances" in my songs. Emphasizing the wrong words etc. Really, Looking at it, I'm very shocked that I've never caught it. I really want more info on this guy!!

[getimo]

Love the lyrics.

[novanine9]

I've got his book; Writing Better Lyrics. Good stuff

[joshyboy152]

Next norah jones?

[ParisNMusic]

Beautiful, beautiful song and advice.

Paris

[1888junkteam]

excellent work!

[FTWyousuck]

leave behind a trail to paint your picture in the sky/ they'll never take away your dream to fly ??

right there, the artist only has ONE picture to paint, instead of multiple accomplishments.

i have a clever lyric

leave behind some trails to reveal your pictures in the sky/

they'll never confiscate your dreams, so fly

this way you get away from cliche phrasing and the lyrics issue more belief to the listeners.

as you can see, there's more ambition and expectation established :)

[Teenagefreedomfightr]

Although I think all of these concepts are very important one thing many scholars make the mistake of doing is giving up musical freedom for strict structure. They are really just general guidelines that can easily be broken. Famous writers such as Dylan and Lennon were well known for breaking intentionally going outside orthodoxy. That isn't to say in general these rules aren't useful.

[jgariano3]

Cool to hear someone teaching these concepts. He's so right!

[NinjaMonkeyJoey]

Beautiful change :D

[dmiraie]

this is good advice, but it's also stuff that any aspiring musician should ALREADY KNOW INTUITIVELY. if you yourself can't pick up on these things by this point, you really stand little chance in the music industry... and those painfully painfully cliched lyrics (darkness, light, flying, broken wings)... plz, if u can't be more creative, team up with somebody who can. no disrespect, but in a world where everybody wants to be a rockstar, only the strongest and smartest survive.

[spidrmage]

i know lots of bands who break his songwriting rules and still somehow have careers. in popular music too

[kickcableguyinnuts]

yeah because the charts arent dominated by stuff like that and havent been since the major boom of great songwriters we've hit since the 70s that just seems endless.

[StevenBradleyScott]

@dmiraie Some vocalists can sell those kinds of lyrics, though most of us aren't lucky enough. Do you include yourself in the strongest and smartest? I think you've completely missed the point of this video.

[donottawaguitar]

thanks

[Vittoria10538]

Genius advice. I agreed with him about the difference between the melodic and the lyric phrases, but I figured a re-write was the only solution. Then, he changed "of" to "all" and boom, done.

Oh, and I'm really glad that she was on the hotseat and not me! :-)

[jumpatme1234]

I think its too much thinking about what to sing .when you cry you don't think about it or when you feel joy you don't think all day about it , just let it come out man.

[mikegibbowr]

Enjoyed this... as a songwriter, i feel it was Very Well Done... looking forward to checking out more of this sites material... Mike Gibbowr

[acer993]

Man i wish this guy was my teacher!!

[cribbiesteve]

Brilliant, would be a great producer, if he's not already.

[volandvasoliono]

that man is a genius

[MrLesWhite]

This guy is awesome!!

[carstenneugebauer]

great lesson, a real wealth of invaluable information which is very hard to come across, other than having the real pros generously hand it over to you. all aspiring songwriters should take this lesson to heart and incorporate it into their process of polishing their songs. it can really make all the difference, both for your performance and in return for the audience. thanks to the great guys at berklee for sharing this in the free domain, much appreciated.

[nurikara]

thank you carstenneugebauer for putting it so deftly,

cant thank you people in charge of these Berklee vids enough,

you sure make the world a better place.

[nurikara]

cooll, small changes go a long way!

before: very hot girl ,draggy song

after: very hot girl,less draggy song

[pathrose79]

she's good...and cute too =)

[audiosyncracy]

At first I didn't think that the changes really made a difference, because they kept working on sections at a time, but when it was all put together at the end it was like night and day. The changes made the song so much better.

[akoijam]

I'm a fan of Allison Rapetti now!! :)

Cant find her myspace .. really want to listen to a good recording of "amelia" .. links anyone??

[spidrmage]

that's what i said!! i think i found her on twitter but she's never on.

Allison, hook us up!!

[rmediainc]

awesome... great lessons and a beautiful song...

[dave777blaster]

Berkley is where it's at

[donveill]

beautiful voice and nice playing

[andreagiuseppe]

so simple but so genius

[NinjaKent]

cool, small changes go a long way

[pirenne]

yeeeeeeeeeah, right?

[EpiDot52]

Wow. Well done Pat. Really made the song considerably better. Very good song actually.

[OceanAndSilence]

pat's got it going on

been to a few workshops with the man

[Pickininvt]

It's amazing how such suttle changes in phrasing can completely transform the delivery of a song!

Thanks for this great post!

[dompascarella]

Is she crying at 2:10 ?

[cagethug]

id bet, but im not sure

[biodegradabl]

Wow these are the important things I would have not even thought about!

[BryanRason]

pat man.....you have a crazy great ideas

your the man

bryan

[hilato]

if this professor is that good what is he doing teaching he could be making millions just producing better lyrics, to all the pop garbage music there out there.

[akoijam]

very informative.. great tips

[twstdelf]

Such small changes, such large effect. Excellent, thanks for posting! :)

[remedyz0802]

very useful information! this is very important, and will help my songwriting

[sexdrugsnmaximilian]

Couldn't agree with you more!

[SonnyKraack]

who is she??

Sounds really great.