What If Melody Came First?

[IKONE]

hi there,

From time to time i find heart-touching vocal melodies which instantly dies when i put lyrics on it. The lyrics seem to reduce the variations of the melody. Its very hard when music came first.

If i just sing over it, it works pretty well. But the lines which come out make me think "what? huh?". But the more i define a meaning with words and the more i limit the song to a certain structure the less the song is taking me away. To describe the melody: i would say it sounds like its a state above the clouds , somewhere heaven(?). Its a flow which i cant repeat everytime in the same way. I even have to change stresses sometimes. Only just to come back to the original.

P.S.: The thoughts about the meaning of songs are so many that its hard to decide which words to take - it nearly changes from day to day. And i cant throw them together cos i guess noone would understand it.

You know what i mean? *Sigh, i am feeling kinda unable to put these emotions in words.

Any help is appreciated.

thanks

Andre

[Just1L]

And that is the trick. Getting everything to work as a cohesive unit. I actually start with the music and the lyrics come out of that based on the melody and overall feel of the music. I will say that sometimes it takes a while to find the right words to say but they do always come eventually. I've had a song almost finished just waiting for a line or two to make it complete.

I have trouble doing just the opposite as you described. Not always but I find it to be harder to match the emotions of my lyrics to music instead of vice-versa. I guess the main thing in this case is to really zero in on what you want the meaning of the song to be. Like you said though if it's changing from day to day it is going to be hard to come up with lyrics you're happy with.

Edited January 30, 2013 by just1l

[Lisa Gates]

I almost have that same problem...I write the lyrics with a rythm and there is always a faint tune in the back of my head but the lyrics take over and tune fades away. I loose it! I wish I knew how to hold on to the tune but the fact I don't play guitar or piano is probably the main cause.

If your emotions are changing the lyrics everday, maybe you are writing a new song everyday?

Maybe, try looking at it as if you're just writing lyrics and stop trying to make it match your melody. Let the melody sit and one day, month or year there will be an "ah ha" moment when it all comes together.

just my two cents...

All the best,

Lisa

[Rudi]

I cant offer much in the way of advice.

In my experience, the worst thing to do is to use force.

Preserve the melody by writing or recording it. Then leave it alone. Put it from your mind.

Either your mind will work on it subconciously and produce something, or you can revisit it afresh later, hopefully with a wider perspective.

good luck

[IKONE]

just1l:

thank you. it seems like i am not alone with this. Before i came to this board i always had melody first, so i tried it the other way around. It can help a lot when i just write/brainstorm about whats on my mind or what can be imagined. But there is this certain point where the structure, words & lines seems to be press-fit each section of a song. I think this would work if i write for someone else but not for my own.

Lisa

thanks lisa, but i m so impatient ... @write lyric first: Ya, this "faint" tune i also noticed when i wrote on a few lyrics. Its funny 'cos when i tried to sing it i was totally off-key and when i read it for a while i heard it again .. started again but still wrong key. Hehehe, i found out that when i hum the rhythmn-chords instead singing i was in key, well anyway. @changing lyric everyday: its more like a few ideas during the day .. and a few misleading "ah ha" effects .. next day i re-roll everything til i come up with other unsatifying ideas. The songs i am talking about is just 4 days old.

Rudi

totally, agree. Forcing it - is the killer. I always "try" to relax. But sometimes i am so impatient that i record the melody/song and listen excessively to it or think to hard about a "special" meaning (biggest killer ever).

---------

Today, i took my headfones at work. During the whole day i listened to the song - i really dont know how often in a row but its a 8:20 minute raw recording. So the melody is branded inside my head now. I still can hear it ... this is how i worked before... And on this evening when i was humming the song to my son 'cos he couldnt fall asleep - i felt whats the song is about - i even heard some lines for it. Next thing i will do is to write a raw writing without melody and rhythmic in mind . Err.... i guess it will take some time til the song stopps playing in my head. ...

Then, after that i will have a session with both raw elements. I will see.

Thank you all for you input, it was/is very helpful .

kind regards

Andre

[SergeOfArniVillage]

Careful! Don't try to limit yourself to only having a melody come first, and adding harmonies later. Melodies that could seem rather bland and uninspired when hummed, can become magical when paired with particular harmonies.

For example:

Imagine this piece's melody all by itself. Pretty lousy, right? Nope. Rachmaninoff's unique pairing of intertwined voicing and harmonies, paired with this largely chromatic melody, amount to a surreal, luscious experience that gives goosebumps.

The same goes for sung music as well; don't confine yourself to the obvious melodies that appear only by themselves, without accompaniment. When you find a melody, and find that certain lyrics don't quite gel, it's ok to change the melody. Experiment, and see if you can find something that works as a whole with everything else.

[IKONE]

thanks for your post. Thats a great stunning piece, serge. Inspiring! Sounds a bit like Twelve-tone technique? But the accompanion sounds stunning to it. Is how relative keys working? Hmm. i am not sooo deep into music theory; so forgive if i wrote something thats just wrong. But i get your point. For the most time i've got a melody(singing) with accompaniment which sounds very atmospheric (full) but without it the singing sounds on certain parts kinda "lousy" or flat.

kind regards

Andre