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Chicken composer or egg lyricist?

Michael Davies

12 years ago - Michael Davies


With Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers did it first. When it came to Oscar Hammerstein, he usually waited until afterwards. WS Gilbert made sure he had everything nailed down before Sir Arthur Sullivan even got a look in.

So which is the right way to do it – words or music first?

Find out the early approaches of the How Not to Write a Musical team in the latest blog post: www.mrgdavies.com/blog-how-not-to-write-a-musical.html

And sign up for Twitter updates @mrgdavies using the hashtag #hntwam


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Henry Lawrence

11 years, 11 months ago - Henry Lawrence

Chicken and egg? Neither!
The key concept is the essence of the song. Without that you end up either with poetry with irritating music grafted top, or some good music with a indifferent lyric.

A song must have a good tune.
A tune can be described as 'good' if a listener hears it for the first time, forgets it, and then remembers it about an hour later.

Good lyrics are, for most people, a bonus. For me, good lyrics are essential.

Go to www.soundcloud.com, navigate to 'Comrade Sir Henry' and listen to some songs that were written using the above ideas. 'Spot for you' grew backwards out of the last two lines, and 'Nine by Four' used the strong underlying melody as a base.

All the best
Henry



Response from 11 years, 11 months ago - Henry Lawrence SHOW