SONG WRITING TIPS / RHYMES

TO RHYME OR NOT TO RHYME

While understanding rhyming schemes is important, that's just a small part of using the rhyme with integrity in a song. You can buy a hundred books on rhymes and learn all there is to know about rhymes, however that does not make you a songwriter. Learning to use rhymes in songs properly is learned through writing songs. Most commonly write many songs before they get it. Your song should not sound like a nursery rhyme; neither should it be rhyme-less.

As a new writer it is difficult at best to know if you've hit the mark or not. Even seasoned professionals miss the mark with their rhyme schemes. One of the quickest ways to turn off a publisher, and never get your songs heard by them again is to have a childlike rhyming song, or a screwed up rhyme scheme. I know from years of experience listening to hundreds of songs as a publisher. File thirteen became a popular hangout for these fellows. Don't make that mistake. You may not get another chance.

So what do I do? Find a pro to critique your songs before you send them to anyone. If you do not know one, join a professional association like AMP, and let experienced professionals guide you in the right direction. It may cost you a small amount in the beginning but could bring huge rewards in the end.

Rhyme will help to make the lyrics of your song easy to remember and to keep your listeners paying attention to your song.

When a listener recognizes a rhyming pattern in a song, they develop a sense of anticipation - they want to hear the rhyme completed, and they feel a sense of satisfaction once they hear the complete rhyme.

Although rhyme can make a song more pleasurable to listen to, you should never allow rhyme to take priority over the ideas and emotions that you mean to convey through your song. Your song's lyrics - regardless whether or not they rhyme - should reflect the character of the singer, the circumstances of the plot and the emotional tone of the song.

Never force a rhyme if it will detract from the overall message of the song.

You can use a rhyming dictionary to get ideas for rhymes. However, when you write your song, make sure that the rhymes that you use are original. Avoid overdone, cliché rhymes, like stars and mars.

Types of Rhymes

Here are some types of rhymes that you can use to make your song catchy and more memorable.

Perfect Rhyme

In a perfect rhyme, also known as a true rhyme, the stressed vowel and the consonants or syllables that follow them sound exactly the same in both words.

Examples of perfect rhymes include:

hat, rat

night, fight

rider, cider

money, sunny

Masculine Rhyme

A masculine rhyme is a rhyme in which only the last syllable of both words rhyme.

heat, meat shout, without

and

anger, hunger

are examples of masculine rhymes.

Feminine Rhyme

A feminine rhyme consists of two two-syllable words in which both syllables rhyme. The stress in these words falls on the second to last syllable.

Lover, discover

is an example of a feminine rhyme.

Triple Rhyme

In a triple rhyme, the last three syllables of both words rhyme.

Vanity, sanity

and

embraceable, replaceable

are triple rhymes.

Slant Rhyme

A slant rhyme consists of two words that give the impression of a rhyme, but do not rhyme exactly.

Slant rhymes are also known as imperfect rhymes, near rhymes, false rhymes or off rhymes.

A slant rhyme can consist of two words that share the same vowel -such as hand and stance - or two words with the same final consonant - such as dirt and heart.

Rhyme Placement

Rhyming words are usually placed at the ends of lines in songs.

Some commonly used rhyme schemes for a four-line section of song are:

ABAB - The words at the end of the line one and line three rhyme with each other, while the second and fourth lines end with words that rhyme with each other.

ABCB - Lines two and four end with words that rhyme with each other.

AABB - The first and second lines end with words that rhyme with each other, and the words at the end of line three and line four rhyme with each other.

AABA - Lines one, two and four end with words that rhyme with each other, while line three does not.

AAAA - All four lines end with words that rhyme with one another.

A rhyme can appear in the middle of a line. It is then known as an internal rhyme.

Internal rhymes are common in rap music

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A MUST KNOW FOR ALL SONG WRITERS

DOES A SONG NEED A HOOK

If you have plans to pursue a career as a song writer you must understand the importance and theory of a hook. Below, I will explain the basics on how the chorus of a song are tied together.  While this is not exhaustive it will surely get you off to a good start.

It is vitally important if you plan on being a professional writer for you to understand how to write to the hook. If you think you will be inspired each time you sit down to write a song; I will sell you the Holy Grail real cheap. Stay tuned in an upcoming blog I will share one of the secrets of the pros that will send you on your way. Good writing!!!!!!!

The chorus and the hook are the most important elements in a good song. They are the heart of the song and form the basis for the rest of the song. They are what the listener will remember after hearing your song.

The hook provides the main idea that the songwriter wants to convey to the listener, while the chorus summarizes the song.  Once you have written the hook and the chorus, you will be able to write verses that build on the ideas and emotions that you wish to convey.

Chorus

The chorus reinforces the main point and the general mood of the song by means of repetition and high energy level. The chorus has the highest energy level of all the parts of the song - it is the loudest, highest-pitched and most emotional part of the song.

Be careful that your chorus is not too vague or too drawn out.

Although the song's title does not have to be included in the chorus, including the title in the chorus can help you to write the chorus. The title can be the basis for the lyrics of the chorus.

Hook

The hook is the phrase in a song that tells the listener what the song is all about.

It is the most memorable part of the song - the part that gets "stuck in your head" and that people will find themselves singing or humming.

If you are listening to a song for the first time, it won't take you very long to recognize the hook.

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Radio and the digital revolution

WHERE IS RADIO GOING?

Here's what radio thinks. 

If this week’s National Association of Broadcasters Show is any indication, by 2020 “broadcasting” is a term that will be foreign to anyone under 40. Based on the show’s programming this year, as well as the general vibe that multiplatform delivery is the future, it seems that pretty soon no one will be concerned about how content is distributed — just if it’s good or not.

To repeat for emphasis:  "pretty soon no one will be concerned about how content is distributed — just if it’s good or not.”

Ok. Now what do you think? I'm trying an experiment on this blog. We in the business all have our visionary expectations of where we believe radio is going, or not going. Of course there are some good facts out there that enable us to make educational guesses, however they are just that, educational guesses. 

We invite you to become part of our extensive research to view the future of radio. We would love to post your opinions. Make a comment and we will do our best to include yours in our follow up blog.

Below I will give you some of the industry's guesses.

1. there will be no am - fm radio in a matter of a few years.

2. Only national radio

3. Internet radio will rule 


4. the world will come to an end


BLA BLA BLA!!!!!!!


Don't think for one minute that radio does not have their panties in a wad over the digital revolution. This is a scary time for the investors; the holding companies; the mom and pop shops etc... They are all scrambling to try to figure out this muck in the mud they're all apparently stuck in. if you would like to learn more, here is a link to an extensive research article written by some insiders http://futureofradioonline.com/Get some milk and cookies this could take a while.


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SUNDAY MORNING CHRISTIAN ARTIST TESTIMONIES

Nate Philips' Testimony
I was born in Glenwood Springs, CO on April 5th, 1981. I lived in a little mountain town called Carbondale for 10 years until my family moved to Aurora, CO in 1991. I spent my middle school years trying to fit in get in good with the “cool” kids. By the end of 8th grade, I was in with a cool group of guys that enjoyed music and having a good time(partying). Several of the guys in the group and I decided to start a band to “party and get chicks.” By God’s grace, He allowed me to stay free from a lot of pain by messing up with girls, but I started partying. At first, it was a casual, social, weekend-party experience. Our behavior continued and grew in strength for 2 years. By the end of my sophomore year of high school I was heavily involved in drugs--smoking marijuana everyday, several times a day to “get through the day.” I was drinking a lot, and experimenting with other drugs as well. I was pretty irritable and unhappy. I knew what I was involved with wasn’t God’s best for my life, but I was in a powerful downward spiral that I wasn’t able to beat. My wakeup call from the Lord came on July 3rd, 1997. I woke up that morning in an uncontrollable seizure that lasted almost 10 minutes. I was in a daze as I heard my mom in a panic on the phone with 911. Within a few minutes the ambulance took me to the emergency room for testing and follow up. After sitting in the emergency room all day, the doctor came in with the news, “you have a small, quarter-size tumor growing on your brain.” In shock we discussed the process of removing the tumor. We decided to operate as soon as possible, and scheduled a surgery for 5 days later. Although the surgery had a relatively small percentage for disaster, the five days prior to surgery gave me time to think about life--”what if I die?” I started questioning my life. What had I been living for, who is God to me, where would I go if I died in a couple days. I realized God wasn’t promising me tomorrow, and that He’s in control. On July 8th, the doctors removed the tumor in an 8 hour surgery. The surgery went good, and the rest of the summer I was in recovery mode--bed and rest. I spent more time thinking about life and God, and in the fall I started going to youth group. In youth group, I met us with all the guys in Foolish Things, and started learning more and more about God. On a fall retreat with the youth group, I asked God to forgive me for my sinful life, and I made Jesus Christ the Lord of my life.                                     Click on join and become a part of the AMP TEAM

Do not read this totally stupid

REALLY

One can’t really know about music without being obsessed with meaningless trivia. When I’m not too busy gracing NASA with my brilliant engineering innovations or educating the gravel-brained web-rabble with my refreshingly biting and funny-because-they’re-true satirical columns, I’m usually either listening to or reading about music. Sometimes I even do both at once, if I’m feeling particularly frisky. My mind is like a steel trap lined with buzzing joke-nodes, so I’m always catching information and remembering it and stuff. I figured it’s time to share a little bit of the music knowledge I’ve picked up over the years with my readers, since I’m basically the only connection a lot of people have to the world of knowing stuff.

 The band ZZ Top is named after the largest available size of top hats. Size ZZ top hats are made to fit hydro cephalic children in order to make them look more comical and less tragic. The band’s beards are representative of their Islamic faith.

 The Beatles have failed to die in their contractually agreed-upon order, leaving their heirs with the burden of costly contract lawsuits. Ringo was supposed to die first, no later than 1998. He was to be followed by Paul, then George, then John. After John Lennon’s murder, Yoko Ono filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Ringo; she claimed that Ringo had John killed in order to breach the contract, allowing Ringo to live past 1998 semi-legally. The suit was settled out of court, a move which Ono’s lawyer James Gould called “tantamount to an admission of guilt.”

 Hip hop producer Just Blaze is not a person. Just Blaze is a supercomputer created by IBM to test whether machines could create fresher beats than humans. Gary Kasparov went head-to-head with the machine in 1999, but the computer’s production efforts were deemed superior.

 From 1973 to 1978, soul icon Marvin Gaye played Grimace, the phallic purple bell creature in McDonalds commercials. He was courted for the role because advertising executives believed he would lend the character a “lusty swagger.” He was dismissed after audiences complained of the creature’s strange sexual menace.

 Weezer is named in honor of Rivers Cuomo’s father, who is in an iron lung.

 In 1994, NWA rapper Ice Cube bashfully admitted that he had been unaware of the meaning of the word “nigga” when he was in the group. “I just thought it was a funny word,” he told Esquire magazine. “I thought Eazy made it up.”

 When played backward, the Creed song “My Sacrifice” reveals the message “I Amish, I heave Samsonite for you.” This alludes to Scott Stapp’s Amish upbringing and his former job as a baggage handler for United Airlines. Need proof? Click here for a sample.

 Jon Bon Jovi is deaf.

 Before finding fame as a musician, Neil Young recorded television laugh tracks. Most of the laughter heard on the third season of The Dick Van Dyke Show is Young’s. He overdubbed his laughter, sometimes as many as two hundred times, to create the effect of an audience laughing.

 Justin Timberlake has an honorary doctorate in English Literature from Rutgers University. It was awarded in the wake of his literary and musical success with “Cry Me a River,” an adaptation/deconstruction of the John Keats poem “Ode to a Nightingale.”

 David Bowie has a bit part in The Godfather Part II. He plays the infant Fredo Corleone in the sequences that depict Vito Corleone’s beginnings in New York.

 Guns ‘N’ Roses cancelled their reunion tour in 2002 due to a pregnancy scare involving lead singer Axl Rose. “Men can’t get pregnant,” said Rose, months later. “I wish somebody would have told me that.”

 Investigators assigned to the Notorious B.I.G.’s murder case concluded that, contrary to reports of his violent slaying, he actually died in the process of trying to cultivate an immunity to rat poison. He got the idea from “The Princess Bride.”

 Tori Amos, like all girls, has a weakness for sweets and wants a man to protect her.

 Every member of the independent rock band Pavement is, to this day, a virgin. While most of the band members just haven’t had the opportunity to lose their virginity, singer Stephen Malkmus and bassist Mark Ibold are celibate by choice. Malkmus claims that he is “just waiting for the right person to come along.” Other virginal pop stars include Zakk Wylde, Lou Barlow, Michael Jackson, Morrissey, Master P, David Crosby, and Willie Nelson.

 The late Johnny Cash was reportedly quite surprised with the success of his cover of the Nine Inch Nails ballad “Hurt.” “I recorded the song as a joke,” he told Spin magazine.

 In 2003, Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees wandered into the Nevada desert and hasn’t been seen since. Careful observers might notice the colorful “Where’s Barry” signs posted on telephone poles throughout the state. Gibb is feared dead, but his friends and family hold out hope that he’s “stayin’ alive” out there.

 Joe Walsh (famed for her guitar work in The James Gang and The Eagles as well as her solo career) was a woman. She often performed wearing a fake mustache in order to sustain the illusion of maleness, since she feared that she would not be taken seriously if people knew she were female. She turned male in 1992, after being exposed to magic spores.

 Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers was arrested in 1996 on the charge that he violently raped a sixteen-year-old fan. The charges were dropped days later, after the victim “walked it off.

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