Week 4

Date: 26th August

In class today we were informed about “developing ideas, details and action” 1. This was brought to us through discussing how we get through writer’s block while considering “concepts of using details” with our lyrics 2. In more detail about developing details our lecture told us to think of an idea this could be a:

Colour

• “Yellow Submarine” by The Beatles 3.
• Orange Coloured Sky by Nat King Cole 4.

 City, State and Place this could be anything even fiction an example is

• “Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd 5.
• Party In The USA by Miley Cyrus 6.

Day Month or Number

• “22  by Taylor Swift 7 .  
• “Back to December” by Taylor Swift 8.
• “25” Adele Adkins Album 9.  

During class, we learnt about Detail and action this concept has a wide range of possibilities this concept truly means thinking/imagining an image then thinking of descriptive words that give of an emotion eg. love, heartache, joy, pain.

An example I came up with using the random process was I got two words and used them to write lyrics these were “Stand and Grovel’ the lyrics were

Stand up for what is right

We will win in this fight

No one should grovel for what is right 

This is our time to shine bright

That concluded the lesson.

References

1 Robyn Habel, “Lyrics Part 2: Developing ideas, Detail and Action” (lecture presented at the course Song Writing and Performance 1B, Elder Conservatorium, University of Adelaide, August 26^th , 2019).

2  Robyn Habel, “Lyrics Part 2: Developing ideas, Detail and Action ” (lecture presented at the course Song Writing and Performance 1B, Elder Conservatorium, University of Adelaide, August 26^th , 2019).

3 McCartney, J. L. a. P., 1966. Yelloe Submarine. [Sound Recording] (Parlophone Capitol).

4 Stein, M. D. a. W., 1950. Orange Colored Sky. [Sound Recording].

5 Ronnie Van Zant, G. R. a. E. K., 1974. Sweet Home Alabama. [Sound Recording] (MCA).

6 Jessie J, C. K. a. D. L., 2009. [Sound Recording] (Hollywood).

7 Taylor Swift, S. a. M. M., 2013. 22. [Sound Recording] (Big Machine).

8 Swift, T., 2010. Back to December. [Sound Recording] (Big Machine).

9 Adkins, A., 2015. 25. [Sound Recording] (XL Columbia ).

Week 3

Date: 12^th August

Our lesson was focused on motive also known as motif and how they are applied to song writing. In songs motive help the listener remember the song it shows how catchy the song is as it is repetitive. The most common forms of motives are “exact repetition, Rhythmic retention. sequence, inversion, Rhythmic displacement, Intervallic augmentation, Intervallic diminution and transposition” 1.

During our lesson, we had a task to break into a small group and develop multiple motives from what we have learnt and discussed in class. This was our outcome

For our practical part of the lesson we were asked to bring either a pedal or an ostinato. My song was “ice ice baby” by Vanilla Ice. This song has an ostinato and that concluded the lesson 2 .

References

1 Robyn Habel, “Melody Part 1: Motif Development” (lecture presented at the course Song Writing and Performance 1B, Elder Conservatorium, University of Adelaide, August 12^th , 2019).

2 Ice, V., 1990. Ice Ice Baby. [Sound Recording] (SBK Records).

Week 2 Semester 2

Date: 5^th August

During our lesson, today we focused on “Line Progressions, Pedal point, Ostinato and Chord Colours. In today’s lesson I learnt so much, because I didn’t know what a pedal point was and now I do, plus there are 4 main chord families include “Major ,Minor Dominant and power chord”1 .  Our lesson was very informative which was great.

During our practical part of the lesson we showed and discussed lyric metre and lyric modes. The song I found that had different lyric modes was the song “Senorita” by Shawn Mendes and Camilla Cabeles 2 . This song starts with the chorus which is in first person then goes to the first verse in third person repeats the chorus leads to the second verse in second person and the outro was in first person. This song showed all the lyric modes. 

Video

Photos of lyrics from website genius.com 3

References

1 Robyn Habel, “Harmony Part 1: Line Progressions, Pedals, Ostinato” (lecture presented at the course Song Writing and Performance 1B, Elder Conservatorium, University of Adelaide, August 5^th , 2019).

2 Cbello, S. M. a. C., 2019. Senorita. [Sound Recording] (Island ).

3 Genius , 2019. Señorita. [Online]
Available at: https://genius.com/Shawn-mendes-and-camila-cabello-senorita-lyrics
[Accessed 2019].

Week 1 Semester 2

Date: 29^th July

During our first class of semester two we focused on “Prosody , Metre and lyric modes” concept 1 . We discussed the definition of the topics plus ideas we should consider when creating a song an example of this is if you are creating a sad song you would use a minor key like “Jar of Hearts” by Christina Perri 2 . Perri used C minor to create an emotional solemn song so that the listen feels every emotion she is expressing in the song. Major keys would usually be used for a positive song.  Today I learnt a lot of interesting things because prior to this lesson I didn’t know that the lyrical structure of a song is so important when creating a song.

At the end of our lesson we were asked to bring lyrics from another composer and show how what modes are in the song.

Video

Reference

1 Robyn Habel, Lyrics: Part 1 “Prosody, Metre and Lyric Modes” (lecture presented at the course Song Writing and Performance 1B, Elder Conservatorium, University of Adelaide, July 29^th , 2019).

2 Perri, C., 2009. Jar of Hearts. [Sound Recording] (Atlantic).

Week 7 -Rehearsal Log ( Actually Week 11 in the uni calendar)

Date: 5^th June Wednesday

In rehearsal today all members were in the Madly building ground floor. In the rehearsal Derek was an enormous help. He said that my song needed a bass to help fill in lower sound of my song. He also established that my song goes from soft to loud very quickly he said to Jack (the drummer) to fill in that sound with some drums Derek said to Jack “ you are like the clock ticking just waiting until the big bell goes off”. For the rest of the rehearsal we worked on Kaneishas song until rehearsal ended.

Week 3- Rehearsal Log ( Actually Week 7 In the Uni Calendar)

Date: 7^th May Tuesday

In our rehearsal in the Schulz building all members were present, today we worked on my song. We found out that my song was in

• A minor
• 4/4 time
• Key change ONLY in bridge to A major

Prior to this rehearsal my song had many different time signatures throughout the song, however after working on the song I made little changes so that the song stayed in 4/4 time. For the rest of the rehearsal we worked on Kaneishas (lyrics) Michaels( backing melody) and Joaquins (lyrics) song. Plus, we worked on Jack’s song.  He performed what he had of his song so we knew what he wanted the song to be like plus how the band sounded, that concluded the rehearsal.

Week 1 of rehearsal log ( Actually week 6 in uni calendar )

Date:  April 30^th Tuesday

For our first rehearsal at 11am in the Schulz building, all 5 members were present. We established that some group member’s song was still in the writing process. We discussed what all members needed help with e.g.:

• Lyrics
• Melody
• Instruments

That concluded the rehearsal.

Week 12 Blog

Date 10^th June

During our last class for songwriting and performance, we looked at songs that have changed the world in any way. This could include culturally or society. We discussed “how and why” these songs have changed or impacted the world 1. Robyn showed the class a range of songs this included:

-“Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday 2.

-“Like Rolling Stone” by Bob Dylan 3.

– “Smell like Teen Spirit” by and Nirvana 4

A song I came up with that I thought changed the world culturally was “Dear Mr. President “ by Pink realized in 2006, 5. The reason I chose this song was that pink wrote and performed about things that needed to change in the world and how the president of the united states of American could change. Pink was brave to do this but she is a strong and powerful woman who saw a need that needed to change and spoke up and she did this with a song. The class discussed different songs until the class concluded.

References

1 Robyn Habel, “Active Listening 1 ” (lecture presented at the course Song Writing and Performance 1A, Elder Conservatorium, University of Adelaide, June 10^th , 2019).

2 Meeropol, A., 1939. Strange Fruit. [Sound Recording] (Billie Holiday).

3 Dylan, B., 1965. Like A Rolling Stone. [Sound Recording] (Bob Dylan).

4 Kurt Cobain, D. G. a. K. N., 1991. Smells Like Teen Spirit. [Sound Recording] (Nirvana).

5 Pink, 2006. Dear Mr President. [Sound Recording] (Pink).

Week 11 Blog

Date 3^rd June 19

In class, today we were taught about “melodic phrasing in detail; length, rhythmic content, placement, and balance” 1. Each section was shown with examples to show what melodic phrasing was in cooperated in songs. Robyn showed us examples of:

Length- “I want you back” by The Jackson Five 2.

Rhythm – “Smells like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana 3.

Placement-” Close to you “Burt Bacharach 4.

Before this lesson, I didn’t know about melodic phrasing and now I do. I feel I have a better understanding about this and will use this knowledge to help create new songs.

For our practical part of the lesson, students found a song that used minor keys in a harmony, plus analyze the “Roman numerals and chord types” 5. An example of this is “Stand by me” by Oasis 5. This concluded the lesson.

References

1Robyn Habel, “Melody Part 2” (lecture presented at the course Song Writing and Performance 1A, Elder Conservatorium, University of Adelaide, June 3, 2019).

2 Gordy, B., Perren, F., Mizell, A. & Richards, D., 1969. I Want You Back. [Sound Recording] ( The Jackson 5).

3 Kurt Cobain, D. G. a. K. N., 1991. Smells Like Teen Spirit. [Sound Recording] (Nirvana).

4 Bacharach, B. & David, H., 1970. Close To You. [Sound Recording] (Burt Bacharach).

5 Gallagher, N., 1997. Stand by me. [Sound Recording] (Oasis).

Week 10 -Blog

Date 27^th May

During our class, we discussed “minor key in areas of harmony”1. We looked at diatonic chords which included 7^th as well. We then reviewed chord progressions in minor as we have already mention chord progressions in major keys. To end the class we looked at secondary dominants chords and how they are incorporated in famous songs such as “Stand by me” by Oasis 2.

Video

In our discussion topic today we had to write either a “Metaphor, Simile or a Symbolism” 3. An example I came up with is “your like an avocado your soft but your heart is a stone” this is a simile.

References

1 Robyn Habel, “Harmony Part 2” (lecture presented at the course Song Writing and Performance 1A, Elder Conservatorium, University of Adelaide, May 27, 2019).

2 Gallagher, N., 1997. Stand by me. [Sound Recording] (Oasis).

3 Robyn Habel, “Harmony Part 2” (lecture presented at the course Song Writing and Performance 1A, Elder Conservatorium, University of Adelaide, May 27, 2019).