July 2021 Exercises

 

EXERCISES:

 

  • (Source – Jimmy Kachulis, Berklee Songwriting Professor)
    • Pick a popular holiday song and write down a few words that stand out to you. Next, start listing rhymes to the words that you selected. Then, build your own lyrics around these rhymes. For example, take the song “Silver Bells.” You can start by listing rhymes to the word “bell”: spell, dwell, yell, sell, smell. Then rearrange and add on to create a verse or chorus. 
    • Write down phrases that stand out to you in a holiday song. One phrase from a traditional holiday song could be a focal point in your original song. Take the line, “It’s Christmas time in the city,” from “Silver Bells.” This one phrase could become the chorus to your song.
    • Take the chord progression from a traditional holiday song. Change the tempo to give it a new feel or write a new melody. 
    • Incorporate major 7ths which invoke a “wistful” feeling. 
    • Borrow the chord progressions from non-holiday songs like John Lennon’s “Imagine,” Jim Croce’s “Photographs and Memories,” or Simon and Garfunkel’s “Old Friends.” All three use major 7ths.
 
  • Write outside your genre. Push your goals a little further by writing completely out of your comfort song. Who knows?! This may be one of your favorite (and most pitchable) songs yet because it isn’t as close to your heart as your own genre song babies. Sometimes when we write for others and in other genres, it clears up our writer’s block in our own genre.
 
  • Research your favorite songs and see how the songwriters came up with the idea for their melody. When we listen to who inspires us, sometimes we gain new ideas from their former creations. Having similar habits will show up in your own music.