Estimated reading time 3 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Frustrated that you can’t get the mood of your music and lyrics to match? Do you have problems getting the syllables of your lyrics to work with your music? If you answered, “yes,” you have problems with prosody in your songwriting. Read more to answer the question, “How do I get the music and lyrics to match together in my songwriting?”
This article uses musical and poetical terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the post.
How Do I Get the Music and Lyrics to Match Together in My Songwriting: Matching the Mood
How do I get the music and lyrics to match together in the mood of my song? When writing lyrics to music, you must watch your prosody. What is prosody? The word prosody has two meanings.
First, the mood of your lyrics should fit the mood of the music. The only time you might want a mismatch between the mood of your music and lyrics is when you want to create irony.
Sarah McLaughlin’s All I Want to Do is Have Some Fun has upbeat music. However, the lyrics paint a glum picture of a couple of alcoholics sitting in a bar.
The mismatch in music and lyrics highlights the dichotomy between what the protagonist wants versus what she has. She wants fun, but she’s stuck in a bar getting drunk.
You have two ways to get the mood of your music and lyrics to match together. You can start with the music and then write the lyrics to the music. If you start with the music, you’ll generally have catchier music, and you can write the mood of the lyrics to fit the music.
Or you can start with the lyrics and write the music to the lyrics. Usually, this will yield more subtle and nuanced lyrics even though the music may be a little less catchy. However, starting with the lyrics you can fit the mood of the music to fit the lyrics. So, it can work either way.
Do you do better at fitting the music to the lyrics or vice versa? Figure out where your strength lies and go with that.
Learn about writing music and lyrics:
Video: All I Want to Do is Have Some Fun
How Do I Get the Music and Lyrics to Match Together in My Songwriting: Matching Metrical and Lyrical Stress
How do I get the music and lyrics to match together in both metrical and lyrical stress? This brings us to the second meaning of the word prosody. You must have the stress of your words line up with the stress in the music.
If it doesn’t, you’ll mis-accent the syllables in your words. This will make your lyrics sound funny or odd. Also, it can make it harder for your audience to hear the words correctly, which in turn will obscure the meaning of your lyrics.
You can use an online dictionary to check how the words in your song should be stressed. That’ll help you figure out problem areas in your lyrics.
For a more detailed discussion of prosody:
Concluding Thoughts to “How Do I Get the Music and Lyrics to Match Together in My Songwriting?”
This gives you some ideas for how to get the music and lyrics to match together in your songwriting. Try taking some of your favorite songs and go through the lyrics with a dictionary, marking out how the words get stressed. Also, on some songs try writing the lyrics first, while on other songs try writing the music first to see which works best for you. Have fun writing!
© 2023 Geoffrey Keith
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