“I actually think that if listeners are into a song they want it to go on forever. “If you're not advertising it's not an issue. De Chirico's station plays longer tunes as warranted. Rock radio listeners tend to enjoy more instrumentals, and college stations are not bound by the constraints of advertising, making programming somewhat simpler and more accommodating to music. “You have to play a seven-minute song at the beginning of a block or not at all, but you can slot in a two-minute song basically wherever.”Īs they are wont to do, rock and college radio rarely conform to this standard. “The great advantage of shorter songs to DJs is that they give you greater flexibility when looking to fill a specific amount of time between commercial breaks,” Barthel explains. These leaner versions are usually achieved by trimming or removing extraneous instrumentals and vocals, which make more time for programming necessities like advertisements, news reports and DJ banter. “If you listen to songs on the albums they tend to be way different than they are on the radio. (It’s not spam – just useful information, and you can quit any time.But what about now, when people can create songs of any length, thanks to digital technology? “I don't think that producers are necessarily telling artists to make punchy, short songs,” says Millie De Chirico, radio adviser at college station SCAD Atlanta radio. Couple this with a bit of swing in the drums to simulate a “lazy drummer” type of vibe, and you get something that is catchy.Īlso, before I forget, I should let you know that you can get my infrequently-published newsletter delivered to your inbox – just click here. That being said, here are some ideas I have about the BPM.Īround the 90 BPM mark, music starts to have a “groove” to it. Techno and electronica can be among the fastest as can be metal. Ambient music can be slow while pop music can be moderate to fast. The beats per minute (BPM) of a song can vary depending on the material you are trying to convey. Keep in mind that several forms of music such as ambient, drone, and tape-loop music do not fit this length criteria or song structure. I can give them that “more” in another, similar song or a continuation (think “part 2” or “reprise”) of the same one, later as a separate tune. The short song leaves the listener wanting more sometimes, and that is not such a bad thing. Shorter songs have fewer complications to them. This allows me to produce more songs in a shorter period of time. I tried long ones of 7 minutes or more when I was starting out, and now I like to keep my songs shorter. Too long is anything over 5 minutes, generally. In music theory, a phrase is generally just a grouping of bars. My experience says that people do not seem to like songs that are too long. In this format, a bar is 4 beats, and a musical phrase is usually a multiple of 2 or 4 bars. Start with only one instrument like a guitar or keyboard. Lyrics – more in the verses and less in the choruses.Īdd one element at a time.Pitch – sing higher in chorus and lower in the verses. Dynamics and arrangement – make choruses louder by putting in new instruments, or make verses softer by taking out an instrument.Note that big and small here do not refer to length. To make your chorus big, don’t make it bigger, make what comes before it smaller. Note that you only have to write three (3) main segments: Verse, Chorus, Bridge Intro-Verse-(Pre)-Chorus-Verse-(Pre)-Chorus-Verse-Bridge-Chorus Verse, Verse, Chorus – Verse, Chorus – Bridge is what it translates to in music language.įriedemann Findeisen in his excellent book, “The Addiction Formula” and online tutorials, outlines the structure of modern songs as follows: Consider the letters in the following representing segments of a song.īBBBC-BBBC-BBC-BC-D pattern worked on rats to keep their interest.īBC-BC-D is the last part of this that is indicative of modern music arrangement. Last updated: 28-November-2020 Parts of a Song – What WorksĪccording to Derek Thompson in his excellent book, “Hit Makers”, to keep interest in a song, it follows a specific pattern that works. Song structure consists of repeated sections of verse (melody) and chorus (different melody) interwoven, but what exactly is it?
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