how to write RELATABLE music
Summary
TLDRThe video script offers three key insights for making music more relatable: write for one person to create a personal connection, be specific in your lyrics to resonate deeply with a niche, and balance memorable hooks with less memorable verses to encourage repeated listening. It emphasizes the importance of authenticity and specificity in storytelling, using personal experiences to convey broader truths. The script concludes with a song example and a promotional offer for a songwriting course.
Takeaways
- 🎵 Write for One Person: Focus on creating music for a specific individual who encourages and excites you about your creativity.
- 🤝 Communicate Through Music: Use your music to have a 'meta-musical' conversation, showing a part of yourself that is not commonly seen.
- 🔍 Be Specific: Aim to be relatable to a few through specificity rather than being vaguely relatable to many.
- 📣 Speak From Experience: Share personal stories and experiences to make your music more impactful and emotionally clear.
- 🎼 Specificity in Lyrics: Use specific details in your lyrics to express broader truths and evoke emotions, like the example from Sufjan Stevens' song.
- 🎶 Balance Memorability: Understand that not all parts of a song need to be catchy; a mix of memorable and less memorable parts can enhance the overall experience.
- 📚 Verse-Chorus Structure: Utilize the verse-chorus form where verses can be varied and less memorable, while choruses are designed to be catchy.
- 🔄 Versatility in Songwriting: Incorporate changes in verses to keep the audience engaged, while maintaining a memorable and 'hooky' chorus.
- 🐾 Personalize Your Music: Write songs with personal and specific details, as demonstrated in the short song written for the speaker's wife.
- 🎁 Offer Value: Provide a course for those interested in learning more about songwriting, with a special discount for a limited time.
Q & A
What is the main theme of the video script provided?
-The main theme of the script is offering advice on how to make music more relatable to others by focusing on writing for one person, being specific in the content, and balancing memorable and less memorable parts in the music.
What is the first piece of advice given for making music relatable?
-The first piece of advice is to write for one person, having a specific person in mind who encourages and is excited about your creativity, to create a meta-musical conversation with them.
Why is it suggested to write for one person rather than trying to please everyone?
-Writing for one person helps to avoid the difficulty of predicting what many people will think and allows the music to feel more communicative and connected, while still being specific to the creator.
What is the second piece of advice for making music relatable?
-The second piece of advice is to be specific, suggesting that it's better to be very relatable to a few people with niche tastes and experiences than to be just sort of relatable to many.
Why is specificity important in making music relatable?
-Specificity helps people feel more connected to the music because it allows for the expression of broader truths through personal stories and experiences, making the music more impactful.
Can you provide an example of how specificity can make music more relatable from the script?
-An example given is the story about the for-profit immigrant detention center in Lumpin, Georgia, which is specific and allows the creator to express a broader truth about the dehumanizing nature of immigration policies.
What is the third piece of advice for making music relatable?
-The third piece of advice is to let the audience forget, suggesting that not all parts of the music need to be catchy or memorable, and that a balance of memorable and less memorable parts can make the music more engaging.
Why is it suggested to have parts of the music that are hard to remember?
-Having parts that are hard to remember, such as verses with varied lyrics and melodic embellishments, can make listeners come back to the music to discover more, enhancing the overall experience.
What is the purpose of the chorus in music according to the script?
-The chorus is meant to be memorable on the first listen and serves to make the listener remember that the song exists after they've heard it.
Can you provide an example of a song with a memorable chorus from the script?
-The script includes a short song written for the creator's wife with a memorable chorus that emphasizes the promise of love and the best things imagined coming to life.
What is the final call to action for those interested in learning more about songwriting from the script?
-The final call to action is to check out the course 'Getting Songs Done' at Ben L Music School, which is offered at a 25% discount for the spring.
Outlines
🎼 Writing Music for a Singular Audience
The speaker emphasizes the importance of writing music with a specific person in mind, rather than trying to please a broad audience. This approach encourages a more personal and communicative connection with the music. The writer should envision someone who supports and is excited about their creativity, aiming to surprise this person with aspects of themselves that are not commonly shared. This method leads to music that feels both personal and connected, with the potential to resonate deeply with the listener.
🔍 The Power of Specificity in Music
The paragraph discusses the value of being highly specific in songwriting to create a strong connection with the audience. It suggests that being relatable to a few is more impactful than being vaguely relatable to many. The speaker uses examples to illustrate how specificity can convey broader truths and evoke stronger emotions. They also reference a song by Sufjan Stevens to highlight how a particular detail can make a song emotionally resonant. The speaker encourages songwriters to share personal stories and experiences to make their music more meaningful and memorable.
🎶 Balancing Memorable and Forgettable in Music Composition
The final paragraph explores the idea of balancing memorable and less memorable elements in music to create a lasting impression. The speaker argues against making every part of a song overly catchy, as this can detract from the overall impact. They explain how the verse-chorus structure naturally incorporates this balance, with verses being more varied and less predictable, while choruses are designed to be memorable. The speaker shares a personal song as an example, which includes specific, changing verses and a catchy chorus, demonstrating how this balance can make a song both unique and memorable.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Relatable
💡Specific
💡Audience
💡Creativity
💡Meta Musical Conversation
💡Niche
💡Memorable
💡Songwriting
💡Hooky
💡Chorus
💡Versus
Highlights
Write music for one specific person to create a personal and communicative connection.
Focus on surprising that one person with aspects of yourself they don't often see.
Being very relatable to a few can be more impactful than being somewhat relatable to many.
Specificity in music can help express broader truths and create a stronger connection with the audience.
Sharing personal stories can make a stance more relatable and emotionally resonant.
Details in lyrics, like the Cardinal hitting the window, can highlight emotions and make a story more vivid.
Balancing hard-to-remember parts with catchy hooks can enhance a song's memorability and replay value.
The verse-chorus form is a classic structure that uses variation to keep listeners engaged.
Verses with unique details and changing lyrics can make a song more interesting and less predictable.
A memorable chorus can anchor a song in the listener's memory, encouraging repeated listens.
The importance of creating music that is both personal and universally relatable.
The role of specificity in making music that stands out and resonates with a niche audience.
The power of storytelling in music to convey personal experiences and emotions.
How to use specific details in lyrics to enhance the emotional impact of a song.
The strategic use of memorable hooks and less memorable verses to create a balanced song structure.
The example of a personal song written for the speaker's wife, illustrating the use of specific details.
The advice on not making every part of a song equally memorable to create a dynamic listening experience.
The promotion of a songwriting course called 'Getting Songs Done' with a 25% discount for the spring.
The final note encouraging listeners to learn more about songwriting with the provided course.
Transcripts
I'm a normal guy and here are my three
top opinions on how to make your music
more relatable to other people number
one write for one person number two be
specific and number three let your
audience forget part one write for one
person as you write music it's normal to
think about what other people are going
to think about your music but if you do
this too much it can be really hard to
make any decisions at all because it's
hard to predict what other people are
going to think so instead I suggest just
think about what one person is going to
think about your music and have this be
a specific person in your head someone
who encourages you someone who is
excited about your creativity and it's
not so much about making music that they
will like it's more about surprising
them having sort of a meta musical
conversation with them through your work
show them a part of yourself they don't
often see as a result your music will
feel communicative it'll feel connected
but it will also be specific to you part
two be specific I believe it is better
to be very relatable to a few people
than it is to be just sort of relatable
to many people and the more specific
your music is to your own Niche tastes
and experiences the more people will
feel connected to it for example if you
say we must stand together against
Injustice everyone will agree with that
but no one cares that you said it you
sound like a corporation or a robot but
if you say
the United States has a duty to support
people seeking asylum in this country
and our immigration policies are
dehumanizing to migrants well now you're
getting more specific people will have
actual opinions about what you say but
it's still an impersonal stance it
doesn't really connect with anyone but
if I tell you the story of why I will
never wear a necktie again and how it's
because there's this for-profit
immigrant Detention Center hidden in the
middle of nowhere in lumpin Georgia
where over a thousand migrants are kept
as prisoners and in it there's a waiting
room where family members of the inmates
sit and wait to talk to them through
glass on an old shitty phone after
driving for days to get there the room
is miserable the guards at the front
desk eyes are permanently rolled back in
preemptive annoyance at any question you
ask and on the wall there is a framed
picture of three smiling white men in
suit and ties the warden and his son
beaming proud of the hell over which
they rule and I do not want to look like
them that's something I've lived and
seen and in the specificity I am better
able to express broader Truth by the way
a good lyrical example of this is in
sufan Steven's song Casmir palasi day
when he sings in the morning when you
finally go and the nurse runs in with
her head hung low and the Cardinal hits
the window the part about the Cardinal
hitting the window is a detail that is
super specific to the story but feels
emotionally clear it highlights the pain
and confusion of the moment how would
you even think to make up a detail like
that part three let your audience forget
it can be tempting to try to make your
music super hooky and catchy all the
time but just because something is stuck
in someone's head doesn't mean they want
it to be stuck there music is often a
balance of parts that are hard to
remember followed by parts that are easy
to remember think about Verse Chorus
forms the verses are usually more varied
with different lyrics and melodic
embellishments things that you aren't
meant to memorize and they're not
supposed to get stuck in your head on
the first listen whereas the chorus is
often supposed to be memorable on the
first listen well why not make
everything so memorable on the first
listen well it's often the chorus and
the repetitive parts that make you
remember that a song exists after you've
heard it but it's the verses and the
variants in the bridge that make you
keep coming back so here's a short song
I wrote for my wife with very specific
details about how we got our doggy in
the snow with verses that change each
time quite a bit and are hard to
remember and a really hookie
chorus put the seats down in our van a
bed laid out for you and shopping bags
who knows what shape you'll be in
who knows what hell has shaped you in
the blizzard this time we take our time
driving slow so we don't miss the chance
to see a dream through of living for
something other than ourselves
don't give up shining your
life the best things you imagine and are
coming to life I promise you our love
our love for you when never die the
chaos in your
home is
fing dying alone in agony on the side of
the highway desecrated her body and
mangled in my tires something smells
wrong
under the car but you don't need to know
anymore
don't give up shining your
light the best things you
imagine are coming to life I promise you
our love our love for you will never die
the chaos in your home
it's
fting if you'd like to learn more about
songwriting with me check out my course
getting songs done it's 25% off for the
spring it's at Ben lmusic school.com I
hope you have a wonderful time till next
time
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