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3 Ways to Make Your Music Matter

June 1, 2007 | Author: Joel Falconer | Filed under: Lyrics & Songwriting, Music

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One crucial element of grok rock is about making music that communicates important ideas–ideas whose time have come, as Victor Hugo would have said. In my experience, most people are tired of the same old dribble pouring out of the radio–love songs from the pop artists and drugs and guns from the rappers. How do you communicate something more important, and how do you get that message into the skulls of the desensitized?

1. Always include a melodic hook

While the hook melody doesn’t make music with substance on its own, it’s the doorway that gets a listener interested in the song, so that they sit up and pay attention. I recommend you write lyrics first so that you can concentrate on the mood you want the music to reflect; you might need a deep, grinding guitar playing power chords or a grungy bass for those angry, spiteful songs, or some blues-scale lead for an upbeat rock song.

The most important thing is to spend plenty of time coming up with the hook and not jumping on the first thing that comes your way; it it’s not catchy to your own ear, it won’t be catchy for anyone else. With Tunebacks, this is hard to achieve because you need the whole song written and recorded in an hour or less.

2. Write lyrics with a personal touch

Don’t pontificate and preach, or summarize a series of events without emotional attachment. You need to connect to your listener by making your topic personal. One Midnight.Haulkerton song about global warming has a line, “People asking why, little children cry.” Compare that to “The world is getting pretty warm.”

The line I mentioned doesn’t specifically refer to the listener, but it brings an intensely human aspect to a topic that many regard as scientific: they don’t think about the ramifications on their own lives.

3. Write about something with substance

This is the third and most important rule. Everyone is sick of love songs. Everyone is nauseated by rap about guns and prostitutes. People want to listen to music that matters, that at least has some semblance of art. Write with substance! Tackle a real issue and drive it home to your listeners. Make your emotional investment clear and, remembering the second rule, make it personal for your listeners.

When you write your lyrics, ask yourself if they’re going to matter next year, or if they even matter now. Is there something you can achieve with this song?

If there’s no goal, no achievement at the end, your song won’t matter. It won’t stand the test of time. Do you write songs that could still be relevant ten years from now?

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This entry was posted on Friday, June 1st, 2007 and is filed under Lyrics & Songwriting, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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1 person has left a comment

number 3 really hits home for me. I think there is way to much music out there with no meaning behind it what so ever. it is really displeasing but forces me to seek out the worthy artists. thanks for the article and keep up the good work

jason wrote on March 26, 2008 - 1:29 pm | Visit Link

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Alfadir's Piercing is the blog of Australian grok rock band Midnight.Haulkerton, bringing you free songs, tips and guides for songwriters, musicians and band leaders, and Midnight.Haulkerton news.

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