Song Critique Services

Feedback Is Critical To Growing

If you want to write better songs, consider a songwriting group you can join locally, online forums, as well as a song critique service.

Why a service in addition to your peers? Professionals staff legitimate services. These are individuals who have had success in the industry. It doesn't mean you should incorporate everything they say - ultimately, it's your song and in the end decisions are yours.

Keep in mind, these services won't write a song for you, so make sure you send a song which is pretty well grounded in the basics of songwriting to get the most from the critique. That's where local groups and online forums come in. Most can help you get the basics down.

If you're not sure you've got a sound structure and the basics of song craft, review the basics of Song Parts first.

What To Know When Using A Song Feedback Service

• Make sure you have the proper elements (MP3, matching lyric sheet) before you start the ball rolling. There's nothing worse than paying for everything then realizing you have the wrong format or lyrics.


• Don't expect a critique service to fix your song. They are not co-writers. They are providing insight into how a song might progress, lyrics you might try, or put a big red circle around a stagnant melody line.


• Be open to the ideas and thoughts you get back. You should have the expectation of doing some additional work when the feedback returns in an effort to create the best song possible.


• What you should expect is some time spent on your song if you've made a solid effort at writing it. You should never get back something from a critique service which simply says they didn't like it - not really a helpful service in my book!


• Choose someone you feel you can trust. This is a key component since you'll need to decide if their thoughts help your song. If you don't trust the feedback, it's unlikely you'll make changes to the song. Alternatively, if you trust the source, you're more likely to be open to some changes you may not accept from others.


• I also like the critique service to have a face or at worst, an anonymous face I know comes back to real people, like NSAI's evaluation service. I know it's a person critiquing my songs who has industry experience.

In addition to NSAI's evaluation service for members, I've used Kim Copeland's critique services under her company Kim Copeland Productions. Once critiqued, if you decide to create a demo with Kim, she'll apply the critique price to the demo session - pretty nice.

• Kim is an independent producer, songwriter, performer, and talent manager located in Nashville. She's done a number of rounds at the Blue Bird Cafe over the years and has an excellent reputation in Nashville - and as a bonus she's a good person.


• Another bonus with using Kim's services is her ability as an independent producer to hear how a song might demo. This will save you time and money as you approach the demo phase of your songs.


• The cost is minimal ($41.60 all in) for the level of feedback you'll receive. She's also very timely and will often give you some line substitution ideas in addition to suggesting that the line need to change.

Poetic Meter & Rhythm: Keys to Writing Great Songs

William Carlos Williams once said, "measure is all." Ezra Pound insisted in 1915 that "rhythm must have meaning." A line, any line, whether in a poem or a song, is a unit of measured time. How we use those finite increments are the key to memorable songs.

To bring emotion to words on a page, or in our case, lyrics in a song, there must be poetic meter. Often, the melody line, production of a song, and the chord progression hide the fact that flat, uninspired meter lurks within the verses themselves.

I think Paula Cole is one of the best pop songwriters to come around since the likes of Paul Simon and Dylan. She has the gift of being extremely literal when describing a scene, but the way she does it uses the rhythm of the language to evoke very strong, very empathetic emotions in her songs. Let's look at one of her best, "Bethlehem."

From "Bethlehem"

Pulling on the apron strings looking up.
Standing on the chair to be grown up.
I feel so little, I need my pillow.
I hate time, I hate the clock,
I want to be a dog, I want to be a rock.

Notice how she uses couplets (two rhyming lines in a row) to move the first first quickly through the telling. She uses meter, or the rhythm of the lines, to contrast the first two lines, which seem long and flowing, with the remaining three in the verse, which almost seem chopped into eight small pieces.

Say the verse out loud. Even without the music, you can hear how your voice stresses the words in certain places:

"PULLing on the Apron strings LOOKing UP. Four stresses. Now do the same on the second line - stresses in the same place? Pretty much? That's meter!

Now say the final three lines out loud. They don't match the first two: "I FEEL so LITtle, I NEED my PILlow" sounds like more stresses closer together, and "I HATE TIME" sounds like three stresses in a row, "I HATE THE CLOCK" sounds like four stresses in a row as well.

She's used a completely different meter, or rhythm, in the last three lines of the first verse, with each couplet (two lines in a row that rhyme) to quietly change the intensity of the song - simply by using the stresses within the words. That's poetic meter - and the strength of language in a song.

By understanding meter, or the rhythm of the language, she has created a contrast between the sublime "Pulling on the apron strings looking up. Standing on a chair to be grown up," and the gradual climb to the harshness of being a child: "I feel so little, I need my pillow. I hate time, I hate the clock. I want to be a dog, I want to be a rock."

Paula Cole is a master of meter and language. She has managed to use meter to deliver a song about the hardships of growing up without sounding harsh, while still creating a strong emotion within the song. There is no mystery surrounding what the song is about. However, you'll never find the line "her life was hard," or "it was hard growing up." Because she understands language so well - she never has to be so blatant - that is a great songwriter!

Free Songwriting Worksheets for Guitarists

Tom Slatter has a great free eBook on his blog "Songwright." Just sign up and you'll receive four handy worksheets:

• Chord Diary - to help you track the strange ones you come up with and logging the ones that have been working well for you
  
• Lyric Brainstormer - which can help get you started or provide some new approaches
• Chord Progression Chart - gives you a baseline for writing songs on the guitar
• Song Analysis Guide - to help you study the songs you hear and understand why they work the way they do (using the guide on a current Top 10 song will be in an upcoming post)

Tom's blog is also full of tips for the songwriter and is updated regularly. It's worth a visit.

Point of View (POV): Third Person

Third person is probably the most distance the speaker/singer can have from the action. The speaker/singer is simply the storyteller, guiding the audience through the narrative, but neither are a part of it - they're both looking at a third person.

The pronouns include:
Singular - he, she, it, him, her, his hers
Plural - they, them, their, theirs

Benefits of third person is that often, either gender can perform the song. One caution - don't use third person to avoid a second person/direct address narrative. We've all been in conversations when we've used "he or she" to describe ourselves, in an attempt to avoid being the direct object of scrutiny.

It's an easy trap in songwriting. Be sure to try all points of view in your lyrics, ensuring you use the best for the song.

Point of View (POV): Direct Address

Also called second person, direct address is about a direct conversation between the "I" and some second person or "you." The pronouns associated with second person or direct address are:

Singular: you, your, yours
Plural: you, your yours

You'll often hear a combination of the pronouns I and you in a direct address song, so don't let the I's fool you - imagine the scene - does it sound like someone else is present? The benefit of using direct address is the immediate immersion of the listener into a situation. The situation needs to hold enough drama to engage the listener, and the singer has to make sure the emotion of speaking to someone comes through during the performance.

Direct address is a complicated POV to use. It has pitfalls that can quickly make a song confusing. A great example of second person done well is "Vehicle" by Ides of March (written by Jim Peterik).

VERSE
Hey well, I'm a friendly stranger in a black Sedan
Won't you hop inside my car?
I got pictures, got candy, I'm a lovable man
And I can take you to the nearest star

CHORUS
I'm your vehicle, baby
I'll take you anywhere you wanna go
I'm your vehicle, woman
By now I'm sure you know
That I love ya (love ya)
I need ya (need ya)
I want ya, got to have you, child
Great God in heaven, you know I love you

Watch Jim Peterik sing it himself:

More Jim Peterik:

• Song Start: Vehicle

Point of View (POV): First Person

This post has moved to SongChops.com: http://songchops.com/2009/01/first-person-point-of-view/

Songwriting Tools

In Pat Pattison's book "Writing Better Lyrics" you'll find a great chapter called Learning to Say No: Building Worksheets. Mr. Pattison is one of the best songwriting teachers out there, so having this book in your library is a must.

The chapter mentioned focuses on how to use a process to (1) get your lyric idea focused enough to find some expressive imagery, (2) create a list of words that express your idea in a way that develops a consistency throughout the song and helps you develop "power positions" using the right words within the song, and (3) find rhymes and words you would have never thought to use if you were just staring at a blank sheet of paper.

I use the worksheets to get started. The first few times it takes some time because you're learning how to use the tool - no one's completely comfortable when they learn to drive a stick shift, but if you stick with it (sorry for the bad pun), it becomes part of what you do when driving. Same thing here.

If you would like a worksheet template, please send me an email at: lyrist101@gmail.com

You can find a link to Mr. Pattison's book, along with several other useful books under Songwriting Tools to the right of postings.

iPhone Apps for Songwriters

This Post Has Moved:

SongChops.com "Songwriting Apps For iPhone"

The Good & Bad of iPhone Apps for Songwriters

Below are some iPhone Apps I've purchased and/or downloaded and a quick review.

- Four Track by Sonoma Wire Works ($9.99): Expensive, and don't really need that much functionality on an iPhone if you're serious and have a digital recorder already. GigBaby! might be a better first step or "for getting things down" at .99 cents.

- iTalk Recorder from Griffin Technology (Free): Works great for getting down basic ideas. No real need

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