by Mark Simos
Find a first, intuitive syllabic rhythm for the line. Speak the line conversationally, but as if you mean it. “Speak-sing” if you like, but avoid binding to a specific melody or letting melody distract from the rhythmic emphasis. Now, slightly slow down the spoken version; speak it with more deliberate emphasis, feeling the weight each syllable seeks. Transcribe that pattern and make sure you’ve accounted for each syllable.
Generate several (at least three) alternative syllabic rhythmic settings for the line. Multisyllable words will constrain you by in-built linguistic stress to a specific rhythmic setting for those words. Single-syllable words allow you more freedom to play with stresses to shift meaning. Try some settings that make only subtle shifts in rhythm (introducing just one change), others that are more radically different. Test each alternative. Avoid the temptation to intentionally mis-set words. The purpose of the exercise is to find many well-set alternatives for a line, and explore their nuances of meaning.
Multisyllable words may also introduce secondary stresses. Other than these, you might start by avoiding extensive use of secondary stress markings in your experiments. These often confuse writers who are first learning about how to work with stress patterns and syllabic rhythm.
Select the syllabic rhythm that best suits the line as you want to use it. Notice the decisions you’ve made in that setting and why it works best for you. That will give you extra information about how to develop the line further in the context of the song.
The skill of experimenting with alternate syllabic rhythms is essential, whether casting from idea to lyric, framing from lyric to idea, or setting between lyric and musical elements. Casting from idea into lyric, the theme is determined. Playing with alternative rhythmic settings helps you choose the setting that best matches the desired meaning and emotion, and can shed new light on alternate shades of meaning. Experimentation with stress placement can also be critical for alternate framing, especially of lyric seeds driven by sound.
Heightened ability to work independently with syllabic rhythm also
enables us to use a lyric line as a rhythmic template, to find our way to new lyric
material. Setting from lyrics to lyrics by sound (specifically, by syllablic
rhythm) is illustrated in the following exercise, complementary to the preceding
exercise 4.1.
Exercise 4.2. Pivot: Lyric Line → Syllabic Setting → New Line
Work from a lyric line to a syllabic rhythm pattern, then back to a new lyric line, using just the syllabic rhythm pattern as a template. You’re not trying to match the lines, either thematically or in terms of rhyme or sonic matching. The line doesn’t need to make sense, either!
There’s a serenade in my mind
Strike the very courage you feel
Falling unforeseen to your end
These examples show additional ways you can work with patterns involving secondary stresses. We’ve matched the secondary stress of history into different positions of two multisyllable words (serenade and unforeseen) with a different stress pattern ( // ‿ / ). In the second line, we’ve matched the secondary stress by emphasis to a subsidiary word (very).
Syllabic Rhythm to Lyric Rhythm
When a lyric is set to rhythm, syllabic rhythm is mapped to a more specific lyric rhythm: placing each syllable on a specific beat of a specific duration in a musical context. We start with a dry lyric: without a melodic setting but with syllabic rhythm determined. Our job is to place each syllable in a specific spot in the metrical context (repeating measures in a given time signature) of a musical phrase.
We’ve seen that a given lyric line can be set to multiple possible syllabic rhythms. In turn, there are alternatives for setting syllabic rhythm to lyric rhythm. Some settings may feel forced relative to the meaning of the line, but there should be multiple settings that respect the natural rhythms and cadences of the language. Working only instinctively, we’re likely to try just a few of these, and to pass over settings that shift the meaning of the line in intriguing ways. Through push-and-pull encounters with musical elements, we discover or decide what we really intend our lyrics to say. This is important to clarify, since music is far from a neutral medium for carrying lyrics. Once set into the texture of the song, a lyric line is shadowed and buffeted by myriad musical effects that either reinforce or obscure meaning and emotion. With precise attention to syllabic rhythm, and then lyric rhythm, we increase the chances of our words coming through believably as musically set lyrics. In this regard, even the humble secondary stress plays a critical role, linking purely rhythmic and more contoured melodic settings for the lyric.
Some ways of varying lyric rhythm respond to possible shifts at the level of the temporal framework and overall arrangement of the song.
Set the line as a whole at a different tempo or pace. For example, as the tempo slows, you can add more anticipations and syncopations to the rhythm to “activate” the line.
Extend the rhythmic setting to different phrase lengths (number of beats, number of measures).
Set the lyric line in different time signatures (4/4, 3/4, 6/8). For an extra challenge, try working with an odd-meter time signature such as 7/8 or 5/4. Sometimes adding or extending the breath or pause at the line end effectively creates an irregular measure, odd-bar phrase, or compound time signature.
Other changes can be made holding the basic phrase structure and temporal framework constant:
Change rhythmic proportions within the line, either minimizing or exaggerating the stress contrasts with durations of greater or lesser contrast. The extreme form of minimizing stress contrasts via duration is a line where syllables are set to notes of all equal durations. In this case, only skilled metric placement in musical context will preserve natural stress-patterns. Mis-settings are frequent with this texture. Still, it can work well over a constant repeating rhythm ostinato or riff.
Vary where the lyric line begins relative to the downbeat of the measure or phrase: on an upbeat, directly on the downbeat, or a delayed-entry (or back-heavy) setting.
Spotlight particular words or phrases using elongation (hold a syllable for a longer duration), pauses or rests after a syllable, or repetition of lyric fragments.
We’ll show an example of setting from syllabic to lyric rhythm later, in the “Melody” chapter.
Anatomy of a Syllable
We’ve now bridged from syllabic stress to specific lyric rhythms. Beyond rhythmic aspects of syllabic stress, sonic formants of syllables form a “sound color” aspect of lyric language. As we will see, sonic characteristics of specific vowels and consonants have implications for rhythm, as well as connections to melody.
Sound Color Aspects
Exploring this aspect requires us to dive inside the “atom” of the syllable to find the “particles” of specific sound elements: a spectrum of sounds roughly classified into two tribes (with occasional inter-marriages and raiding parties):
vowels: sustained, pitch-carrying sounds of language differentiated by where and how we form the tones
consonants: relatively discrete sounds with characteristic qualities of attack and release
At this level, we can truly talk about the “music”—not just the rhythm—of the lyrics. It’s a complex repertoire of sounds to draw from. The element of pitch resolves, in diatonic and tonal music, into a relatively small group of discrete tones (seven to twelve, with some blues bends and microtonal quavers thrown in). The sense aspect of lyrics—the vocabulary available to us for song lyrics—is practically infinite. The sonic palette of lyric language lies between these extremes. It’s a richer palette than tones, yet with a structural aspect we can quickly lose sight of when focusing on meaning and the outer-world sense reference of words.
When combining only a few different sonic values, patterns created by lyric sounds tend to be more rhythmic in effect. In close proximity and especially within an individual line, rhythmic spotlights are created by sonic connections such as assonanc
e (agreement of vowel sounds) and consonance (agreement of consonant sounds, including alliteration as a word-boundary sensitive special case). These rhythmic spotlights form a secondary rhythmic texture in the lyric, overlaying the ground rhythm of levelled syllabic stresses.
As the number of distinct tone colors increase, we get more contour-like effects. Unlike melodic or pitch contours, these are “color” or timbral contours: vowel contours, consonant contours, or composites of both elements. If syllabic stress connects lyrics most strongly to the facet of rhythm, sonic contours might be considered the “melodic” aspect of lyrics.
Additional Rhythmic Aspects
There are also rhythmic implications of lyric sounds that go beyond the metric stress patterns already considered as part of syllabic rhythm. Skilled songwriters know how to choose vowel and consonant sounds that sing well in varied rhythmic contexts. Songwriters need to understand these attributes, as do vocalists, producers, engineers, and arrangers. Some of this knowledge is intuitive to strong vocalists. Other songwriters acquire it through the painful experience of writing unsingable lines.
At whatever pace the lyric rhythm is moving, spoken language and its intensified form in sung lyrics involves interplay of quicker and slower, longer and shorter syllables. Here are a few tendencies (not hard and fast rules) to keep in mind.
Longer vs. shorter durations seem to invite different word sounds. Roughly, vowels seek longer durations, consonants shorter durations. The more strongly rhythmic the pattern, the more associated word-sounds will favor consonants over vowels.
Within the palette of consonant sounds, unvoiced consonants (such as “k” or “t”) tend to move more quickly than voiced consonants (like “g” and “d,” spoken with an accompanying glottal hum or “grunt”). Unvoiced consonants are “drier,” more percussive in effect, while voiced consonants are slower and softer. Compare “tuck” vs. “tug.” The “k” sound, an unvoiced plosive, is stronger in dynamics and can be delivered vocally more rapidly than its voiced partner sound, the hard “g.” Similarly, compare:
Enough is enough; death is my judge.
Give me your love; breathe in the beige.
The first line uses primarily unvoiced consonants, the second uses the associated voiced “partner” sounds: “v” for “f,” soft “th” for hard “th,” soft “j” for hard “j.” You should feel the first line singing more quickly than the second.
Different consonant families are associated with varying rhythmic durations: ° Plosives (k, p, ‿ unvoiced; j, g, b, d voiced) move most quickly
° Fricatives (f, sh, s unvoiced; v, zh, z voiced) move more slowly
° Nasals (m, n, ng), along with l and r, move the most slowly
° Letters y and w are borderline, sharing some attributes of vowels and some of consonants.
Consonant clusters: The more adjacent consonants in a syllable, the slower it will sing and the more time the singer needs to clearly enunciate the words. So, “sock” will sing faster than “socked” or “sparked.”
Vowels also have differences in intensity and velocity. Shorter vowels sing more quickly than longer vowels, closed vowels more quickly than open: “I bet you can’t see me” vs. “I beat you unfairly.”
Closely related to consonant clusters at the start or end of syllables, junctures between syllables (connections between consonants at the end of a syllable and those at the start of the next) also affect how well they will sing. Junctures can affect flow and tempo through awkward combinations. The lyric “cruel family” will sing slower than “cruel time” because the fricative “f” is slower than the plosive “t” sound. When vowels adjoin (like “way out”), the tempo is generally faster. The singer may need to use a glottal to put a distinguishing “edge” on the second vowel sound. This is more necessary the more similar the vowel sounds are.
Junctures involving the same consonant or vowel sound may allow for eliding of syllables, speeding the pace. However, you can pay a price in comprehensibility: e.g., “dark crystal” sounds like “darkrystal.” To avoid this, the singer must enunciate by placing a pause between the two sounds, or a glottal in the case of similar vowels. This robs time, counting almost as much as (or perhaps more than) an additional consonant (or in extreme cases, an additional syllable).
Sense/Sound Lyric Strategies
We’ve now looked in detail at strategies for taking a lyric line that began with speech or conversational rhythm, and mapping it first to a definite syllabic rhythm, then to a specific lyric rhythm. We’ll now consider strategies focusing on lyric material itself, including both sense-to-sound and sound-to-sense techniques, and techniques for generating new lyric material from existing lyrics. We’ll employ these techniques in the final strategy described, moving from rhythm to lyric.
The essence of a sense-to-sound lyric strategy is simple: figure out what you’re trying to say, then how to say it. An equally powerful strategy is sound to sense: figure out the sound of what you want to say, then let this lead you to what you want to say. Each of these strategies can be effective in a range of situations, and each has potential limitations and risks. In project-driven songwriting, where theme or subject matter is a given or very constrained, working sense to sound makes sense. In inspiration-based writing, with no predetermined subject that you must write about, moving from sound to sense may be a sound strategy.
Lyric Sense to Sound: Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing is a more disciplined version of an informal technique used all the time in songwriting. The idea is simple: Get the sense first, and then work toward the sound. First, write the line that says exactly what you mean to say. Don’t try to get the sound of the words right in this first step; don’t worry about rhyme, rhythm, line length, or even clever language and metaphor. Then you can gradually transform the “bald statement” version into a line that sounds and sings better. Referring back to our old woman on the bus from the Seeds chapter:
An old woman on the bus carrying
too many shopping bags— original concept seed
Old woman on the bus /
Too many bags in her hand—four-stress / five-stress couplet
Old woman on the bus /
Too many bags in her hand—two three-stress lines
This technique works (when it does) in part by momentarily relaxing and releasing your mental pressure to find “lyrical” words. It’s a great way to develop the knack of saying things in a simple and straightforward way.
Co-writers practice a simple version of this technique with the “What I’m really saying is…” trick. One writer paraphrases what’s intended to be conveyed by the problem line, speaking in ordinary conversational language. The other writer acts as scribe and captures a specific line or turn of phrase the speaking writer might not have thought to include in the song. A related paraphrasing strategy is the “Write the Letter” technique, part of the folklore of Nashville songwriters. Instead of writing lyrics directly, you write a letter from the singer (in the world of the song) to the “sung-to.” Writing the letter gives you permission to use direct, emotional language. This technique works particularly well in direct-address, situational songs, with a clear emotional declaration involved.
Paraphrasing techniques can help generate lyric material couched in ordinary, everyday language. It’s not necessarily a great way of discovering surprising metaphors rather than clichés, or poetic language in general. Occasionally, some lines might make it directly into the song, often in the chorus or bridge—sections supporting a sudden, direct statement of emotions. But the primary value of the technique is as a process step, clarifying or reminding yourself what you’re really trying to say. This requires keeping clear that the first paraphrase line is not the final lyric.
Once you have your paraphrase line and it says what you want it to say, transform it as many ways as you can—grammatically, rhythmically, with synonyms—until you find a way that sounds right. You can do small successive transformations—change t
he line, then change the change, etc.—or go back to the original, trying different possibilities. Roll around a lyric phrase until it has the right rhythm, vowel and consonant quality, or placement in the musical phrase. Don’t settle until it sounds right.
Lyric Sound to Sense
In paraphrasing, you reach for the sense while not trying to get the sound of the lyrics right in the first pass. To work skillfully with lyrics by sound requires precisely the opposite skill: an ability to untether your rational mind and be led by sounds, without worrying about what the line means. Lyric “by sound” techniques are particularly useful when working from music. But we use the same skills when generating new lyrics in response to existing lines. Thus, you can develop and practice lyric-by-sound techniques working with lyrical material alone; such isolation practice will give you more confidence to find compelling word-sounds when working from and to music.
Lorem Ipsum: Dummies for Dummies
Filler material (as discussed in the “Song Seeds” chapter) is stock or cliché material, weaker than the seed it accompanies. Unless we work with it carefully, it gets mixed in with the seed material, making the whole fragment harder to work with. In later development of the song, however, intermediary prototype or placeholder material can be an essential tool. Dummy material is provisional material you generate intentionally to help build out structure. Unlike filler, you know it’s provisional as you generate it. Often, dummy lines are intentionally silly and off the cuff, to help reinforce their temporary status. But that’s not why they’re called “dummy” lines. I believe the word “dummy” used in this context is a borrowing from the printing world. Printers and typesetters use nonsense Latin phrases like the ubiquitous “lorem ipsum” for visual mock-ups of page layout before final text is ready.