In Part 4, we’ll look at some more advanced (yet sometimes quite
simple) songwriting concepts, focusing on areas that are often
overlooked.
How can sudden dynamic changes affect your music in a positive way?
Contrary to what most of us would like to believe, people almost never
listen deeply to music. Think about it, when was the last time you, a
musician (or aspiring musician at least), sat down in a chair and
listened to 30 minutes of music while doing NOTHING ELSE, and THOUGHT
about NOTHING ELSE? Listening to music while driving your car does not
count. Listening to music while cleaning a room or doing any other
activity does not count. I mean sitting motionless in a chair, shutting
off the rest of the world, focusing exclusively on listening without
thinking about anything else for 30 minutes. At least 99% of all people
have never done this in their entire lives, not even once! If you (a
musician and songwriter!) have not done this, you know almost everyone
you want to hear your music will never do this when they listen to your
songs. Even if you ask your best friend or family member to listen to
your newest song and make them promise to focus only on the music, most
people cannot truly do it without their mind wondering at least a
little. As soon as they hear the music they are focused, then they hear
something that reminds them of something else, then they may start to
think about you, what you are all about, thinking about your skills,
then later they may think about how they reply to you when you will ask
them of their opinion, so they spend the last 2 minutes trying to
formulate a positive response, etc. All of this is on a good day, most
people will get too distracted and their mind will wander off to other
things anyway, even though they may not be intending to do so. – This
is human nature and very common in America for sure..
What a dismal thought!! We songwriters and musicians invest years
into writing music that matters to us while most listeners don’t focus
on these songs for more than a couple of minutes. So what does that
mean to us songwriters? What can we do about it? What one musical
element would you guess would generally be most effective in holding
the attention of listeners longer? What is it that may keep them
focused on the music and not on other things? All musical elements can
contribute to holding the listeners attention to a certain extent, but
one particular element is extremely effective when used
well…..Dynamics.
Think about sitting at home watching TV. When a series of
commercials comes on, what do most people do? They ignore these
commercials, they think about other things, get up and go to the
kitchen, get something to eat, use the restroom, etc. Now imagine you
have gotten up and went to your kitchen while the commercials are
playing on your TV. What would happen if a 60 second commercial came on
but was totally silent for 60 seconds? After a few seconds, you would
notice in the background that there is no sound coming from the TV. Do
you ignore this drastic DYNAMIC change? NO. In fact, it’s almost
impossible to ignore it. The dynamic change is so noticeable that it
will actually bother people until they have figured out what has
happened. Questions go through the mind like, “What happened to my TV?
Is it broken? Did someone turn it off? Is the TV station having
technical problems?” You go back into the living room and look at the
TV screen to see what is going on. Then you see the TV is working and
someone is whispering the commercial message to you softly. At this
point, do you walk away and return to the kitchen? Probably not, most
people will stand there and pay close attention to the remainder of
that commercial. We intentionally ignore most of what hear and see
(this is our brain’s way of filtering out unnecessary stimuli, so we
can focus only on those things we perceive as important or relevant.
This prevents us from experiencing information overload. Try this: The
next time you are talking to someone else and you sense that person is
not listening to you because they are thinking about other things,
simply stop talking. The silence will get their attention immediately,
they will stop thinking about other things and focus all of their
attention on you!…interesting… Now play your guitar for a friend and as
soon as you sense your listener may be losing attention, stop playing.
They will instantly bring their mind back into focus and pay attention
to your music…MAGIC!!!!
The musical equivalent in songwriting is to insert silence (rests)
into the music. Of course the way to most effectively use silence in
your songs will vary from situation to situation. Often times a 2/4
measure of silence before an important section of the song will work
very well.
- Don’t overuse silence. Be careful not to insert
moments of silence in all your songs or in multiple places within the
same song - doing so will diminish the effect.
- Don’t force silence into a song if it doesn’t feel
natural in the music – doing so will make the song sound forced,
awkward and unnatural. (Of course if you are going for an awkward
unnatural feel sound then go ahead and try it.)
In addition to the use of silence, dynamic changes also can create a
similar effect on the listener. Using contrasting dynamic levels
(softer and louder in volume) can keep the music interesting and regain
the listener’s undivided attention. In fact, many listeners actually
anticipate these changes (and silences) when they hear the song again.
Dynamic transitions such as crescendos (gradually becoming louder) and
decrescendos (gradually becoming softer) indicate some sort of
transition in the music, as a general rule transitions help the
listener to consciously focus their attention back to the music.
Most people (both songwriters and listeners) aren’t consciously
aware of these concepts of attention and the musical elements that
influence them…but now you are.
Resource Box:
Tom Hess is a professional touring guitarist and recording artist. He teaches
guitar players around the world via electric
guitar lessons online, Visit http://www.tomhess.net
to get free guitar playing
tips, assessments, surveys, mini courses and more.