A lot of song writers professional or just beginners would tend to overlook one of the very essential part of song writing. Phrasing, what is it? How is it done? These are the questions I use to ask my self when I was just young in the Music Industry. Phrasing by music fundamental refers to a short segment or passage that consists of four measures or forming a small or large part of a unit. Meaning just a 4/4 measure or considered as one bar. But in song writing, phrasing can be defined as a sequence of words intended to have a meaning.
Let me give you a good tip on how to do it easily, the best example I can give will be the Beatles song “Let It Be“.
Example:
When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom
Let it be
Look closely at this verse. You will see four lines (separate). The first line looks a phrase but it is not a complete thought and the second line when added to it will complete the whole thought or phrase. Looking also in the musicality of the song, the first line isn’t complete also and if you are familiar with the song the melody goes with the two lines to complete the whole phrase. And the lines three and four when added completes another phrase.
And as we move further in the song you will see that the phrasing repeats its pattern and the first two lines will always form one phrase. Only the lyrics and its content changes but the phrasing remains the same.
Now let me breakdown everything.
When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom
Let it be
And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom
Let it be
The blue sections (first two lines) are the of the same musical phrase and the red sections also are of the same phrase.
Tip 1: Repeat your musical phrases. But do not overdo it. The reason is if there is not much of a phrase in one song, you tend to lose you listeners and the song will be dull or boring and no sense of direction.
Tip 2: Phrasing will make your song easy to remember and alive. So use alternate phrasing. here is a good example of what I am talking about.
Phrase 1
Phrase 2
Phrase 1
Phrase 2
Tip 3: Avoid using too short or too long lyrics. Just make sure that your phrase will always go with the measure of your music. 4/4, 3/4 or 2/4
Tip 4: Use the same chord pattern when doing phrasing. Based on my experience as a musician, I always do observe the musical side of song writing and all of the songs I am studying will always use the same chord patterns in their phrasing. This helps the listeners and even band members to appreciate the song and enjoy the song.
Writing a song will always be fun as long as we continue to enjoy what we are doing. I am not a song writer my self but a musician and yet, I am learning it step by step. One of the key factors of good song writing is by always learning the basics and asking the people who are good in writing. Who knows maybe I will write a new song someday.
To get hundreds of more songwriting tips we highly recommend Robin Fredericks book Shortcuts To Hit Songwriting
