Learning To Translate Lyrics To Melodies

StevensCat

New member
I been writing lyrics for a while now and just begun with music production so I wonder if you know any good resources to understand more deeply how you can translate lyrics to melodies?

Thanks in advance.

/Frank
 
Well there are many techniques, and of course plain old developing the talent by constant practice and doing... However specific techniques can help us to get started and to stay focused sometimes.

A simple idea is to start with a phrase (the first lyric line, or possibly the hook/chorus), and figure out the rhythm of that phrase. For instance “StevensCat, is so cool” could be interpreted rhythmically as 1+2, 3+4 (“one and two, three and four,” or two beamed 8th notes, a quarter note, then another set of beamed 8ths and a quarter). Then play with the rhythm for a while in your mind or on a keyboard, and see if some rhythmic pattern suggests melody notes to go with it.

Here is another great songwriting trick that I learned from bassist and singer Rodney Appleby, who in turn presented it to me as the brainchild of guitarist Tony Scozzaro. I therefore call it the “Scozzaro Method.” It’s a little more involved than the first.

Look at the grid below. The top line represents the “musical alphabet” (Notes A-G); the rest of the English alphabet is filled in underneath.


A B C D E F G




H I J K L M N


O P Q R S T U


V W X Y Z




The phrase “StevensCat is so cool” (using the coding from the grid above) comes out to the string of musical letters “E F E A E G E—C A F—B E—E A—C A A E.” Those can become melody notes. They can be chord changes. A has to be some kind of A (major, minor, flat, sharp, augmented, diminished, etc.). The string can be shortened by combining repetitive notes=E-F-A-G-C-B. Then create a melody and/or chord changes out of them. In your case, try to fit your lyric line to the notes in-question. Ultimately it’s a song starter, and at some point your creativity takes over. But you could encode an entire phrase, hook, or a girlfriend/wife/favorite horse’s name into music using the template above.


GJ
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the info. I appreciate.... hope it will help me too.
Well there are many techniques, and of course plain old developing the talent by constant practice and doing... However specific techniques can help us to get started and to stay focused sometimes.

A simple idea is to start with a phrase (the first lyric line, or possibly the hook/chorus), and figure out the rhythm of that phrase. For instance “StevensCat, is so cool” could be interpreted rhythmically as 1+2, 3+4 (“one and two, three and four,” or two beamed 8th notes, a quarter note, then another set of beamed 8ths and a quarter). Then play with the rhythm for a while in your mind or on a keyboard, and see if some rhythmic pattern suggests melody notes to go with it.

Here is another great songwriting trick that I learned from bassist and singer Rodney Appleby, who in turn presented it to me as the brainchild of guitarist Tony Scozzaro. I therefore call it the “Scozzaro Method.” It’s a little more involved than the first.

Look at the grid below. The top line represents the “musical alphabet” (Notes A-G); the rest of the English alphabet is filled in underneath.


A B C D E F G




H I J K L M N


O P Q R S T U


V W X Y Z




The phrase “StevensCat is so cool” (using the coding from the grid above) comes out to the string of musical letters “E F E A E G E—C A F—B E—E A—C A A E.” Those can become melody notes. They can be chord changes. A has to be some kind of A (major, minor, flat, sharp, augmented, diminished, etc.). The string can be shortened by combining repetitive notes=E-F-A-G-C-B. Then create a melody and/or chord changes out of them. In your case, try to fit your lyric line to the notes in-question. Ultimately it’s a song starter, and at some point your creativity takes over. But you could encode an entire phrase, hook, or a girlfriend/wife/favorite horse’s name into music using the template above.


GJ
 
Can you sing your lyrics on key? I suggest first making sure you can sing what you write before you transfer them into melody. Your voice is an instrument. You don't need to be a great singer you just need to know what notes your hitting when you sing. Ableton has a tuner and if you plug in your mic you can see what notes you are hitting when you sing.
 
How much music theory do you know? If you're new and have a piano an easy thing to do would be to write the melody in A minor or C major. That way you could use all the white keys and then later try out the corresponding chords by using the circle of fifths.
 
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