Customer Reviews

Melody in Songwriting: Tools and Techniques for Writing Hit Songs (Berklee Guide)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Jack Perricone is a great admirer (and practitioner!) of the pop song, and in this book he outlines successful strategies for songwriters to get back IN the groove, or to break OUT of their writing "ruts". Granted, this material may seem rather "heady" at times, and less intuitive than we like to think creativity is, but when you need a jumpstart to get back on track, you'll be glad to have this assortment of options at hand. Although this book is nominally about Melody only, the author includes all other song components as they interact, and provides a fresh perspective and analysis on how and why certain songs reach us and connect with the public. There's as much respect shown toward rock and blues songs as more traditional pop, and a lot of very valuable stuff for writers of ALL styles of songs.

This is a good book, well written , and clearly laid out. It offers the reader a methodical approach to writing better melodies by showing you that good melodies are the result of contrast, balance and fluidity. It also covers harmony and its relationship with melody giving examples from popular songs. The book is a refreshing change as it does exactly what it says on the cover; it looks at melody within song writing, and approaches it as a serious subject to be studied and learned. If like myself you get slightly lost every now and then, read the chapter through, go back and read it again, its really worth it because once this stuff begins to sink in, you go away and see what he's talking about as soon as you turn on the radio or listen to your favourite music. I say a refreshing change because it differs from other song writing books that I have recently purchased with titles such as "How To Write That Hit!" etc which seem to spend about 3 pages telling you how to write songs then divide the rest of the book between telling you how to "Pitch that song in the market" or patronising the reader with little cute stories about how they wrote their half a hit that came out 200 years ago "Oh and then Bruce, as in Springsteen, called up asking how the song was coming along, it was all so hilarious". We don't want cute stories , we want guide lines to the craft of writing beautiful songs. Lastly, in this book, Perricone does not attempt to suggest that technique is more important than inspiration, indeed he says that both work hand in hand, each one necessitating the other. As an aspiring young song writer myself I have often heard this debate between those that believe in the dreaded technique, and those that believe in inspiration alone. The argument on the one hand goes, the decline of the modern pop song is due to the fact that writers no longer learn their craft, long gone are the golden years of song writing (Berlin, Porter, Rogers and Hart etc.). On the other hand, I've heard lots of song writers (none of whom ever got a publishing deal!) saying "you dont need to learn technique, inspiration is what I use". often said with a kind of religious conviction. The example people in this camp always wheel out is the fact that, yes neither Lennon nor McMartney read or wrote music. What these people seem to fail to comprehend is that both Lennon and McCartney were almost musical scholars when it came to the popular songs of their time, analysing, dissecting and pinching sections of these songs. Anyone who's ever read "Revolution in the Head" by Ian Mcdonald (a fantastic book!) will tell you so. My own point of view is consistent with that of Perricone. Having read his book I feel that the knowledge of a little technique has only propelled and projected my creativity and to me at-least it seems preposterous that song writers should think that they need not learn a little craft. Try and become a painter or a carpenter with out a little technique. Now after years of heart ache, not knowing how to develop that little melody in my head and putting the guitar down after five minutes to make a cup of coffee, with a little know how, I am writing better songs. At least my girlfriend thinks so!!! Go and create people! We need good songs to wrap up our memories. Best wishes, jack.

This terrific book examines what might be called a "theory of melody" as applied to songwriting, although many of the principles Perricone demonstrates come straight out of classical composition and could be applied to melody in many contexts
other than popular song.

The author wisely divides the work into two large areas he calls
"Melody: Its Components" and "Melody-Harmony Relationships". Separating the horizontal and vertical aspects of melody is an effective learning tool, though such a line would likely never be drawn in the intuitive act of composing.

The Components part of the book deals with the behavior of tones and the contruction of melody: the influence of rhythm on phrases, devices to develop and contrast motives
and the expansion of this basic material into larger sections is covered.

The second part of the book introduces the harmonic element, placing the melodic invention of the first part into its traditional context. Unless you're planning to write Gregorian chant or solo voice Appalachian ballads, your melodies interact
with, and are to a certain extent a function of, the underlying harmony. Tension tones, and the influence of target and bass tones are explored. Gradually the integration of harmony and melody unfolds and a set of tools are demonstrated for creating
both chord progressions and corresponding melody. Indeed, much of this material is as applicable to jazz improvisation and composition as it is to songwriting.

The author assumes you're familiar with musical notation and the harmony illustrations are keyboard-oriented, so if you're a guitarist you'll have to adapt the chord symbols to your own voicings.

The harmonic vocabulary covers a broad range of musical styles and should be familiar to rock/pop musicians as well as those interested in jazz/show tunes. There are a number of references to well-known songs, but in contrast to Jimmy Kochulis' books, Perricone relies somewhat less on examples and possibly
more on the individual's own initiative. He assumes you've got the listening background and experience and have confidence beyond the phase of literal imitation (a phase that's nothing to be ashamed of and has been the starting point for most composers throughout history).

There's a tremendous amount of useful material here for those willing to work at it. This is not a "write a hit song in 21 days"-type of book. It's a serious composition text that will reward serious study.

This is an excellent intermediate level book on the theoretical aspects of melody in vocal music. The book does an excellent job of covering the theoretical reasons that make a good melody work. It also explains how to marry words and melody together to stress the meaning of the lyrics and their rhyming structures.

My only complaint is the often overly technical way that the author presents the material. The book reads a lot like a textbook for the Berklee School of Music (the publisher of this book, and a school that I attended). I highly recommend that anyone considering this book have an intermediate background in music theory and the ability to read music. About a half of the book is dedicated to musical examples notated in standard music notation. And the author assumes that the reader understands basic to intermediate music theory and harmony. I would also have liked the book to have come with a very basic cd of recordings of all the examples in the book. That would be a lot more efficient then having to play them yourself. And listening allows for an easier aural analysis of a concept than playing it, and listening at the same time, does.

That said, if you have the background required, this is an excellent book on its stated subject.

It took some time to get into this book. It is pretty complicated. I think I was looking for answers when I wasn't even sure what the question was when I first picked it up and so the book seemed very abstract. But after about 6 or 7 times referencing the book trying to solve various problems I finally started to see what it was getting at. Since then I have found it particularly helpful. I really covers a lot. You definitely will start to listen to the radio, CDs. etc with all of the ideas/techiniques in mind. Not an easy read, but well worth it if you are willing to put in the required effort.

I bought this book from amazon. where this book is used in the songwriting couses. I produce electronic music, trip hop, chillout and the like, so I thought that this book might help me understand the inner workings of melody in a song. This book is very comprehensive and contains a lot of concepts and composition techniques which I suppose would help in improvising as well. It gives you material to work on by the given exercises which definitely stimulate your thinking mind. This is a large book but not very thick(its a good thing) and the printing format is very attractive. After covering some of the essential lessons I could definitely feel that I was listening to songs and composing in a very technical way. This book changes the way you think and hear music at its very least.
With a bit of inspiration you could write a very sophisticated piece of music.I feel that all this theory will make a better musician if this book is taken seriously enough and worked through. A must for any songwriter or theory student.

I am reading this book for the 5th time. You need to understand some basic music theory and sight reading before hitting this book. But if you are looking for a book to give you a revolution in creation, and blow you open to seemingly endless new possibilities with your songwriting, DO NOT miss this book. Get this book and "the craft of lyric writing by Sheila Davis." and then study some stuff on grooves like maybe "The songwriters workshop harmony" by jimmy kachulis. (then you have hit the three main parts of a song; rhythm, melody and lyrics.)

Realize that melody in songwriting is written by the chair of the songwriting department at berklee school of music in boston. If you didn't know, that is the most recognized contemporary music school in the world. (research it, if this is new knowledge to you) They don't put out fluff and obvious information. It is useful, critical and complete, and prepares you to navigate inspiration when it hits.

This book has changed how I write music in many many ways.

I got this book about 5 years ago shortly after it was released. It was the first book specifically dedicated to melody writing that I'd ever read but since then I've read a number of others (including Berklee Press' own Songwriter's Workshop: Melody). I must say, "Melody in Songwriting" is still the best book on the subject that I've seen!

It covers an awful lot of ground and goes into greater depth and detail than many other books on the subject of songwriting. In fact, this is a valuable resource for composers in any style of music, not only songwriters. Granted, beginners will likely feel a little intimidated at first, but I say, 'just reread it again', what you'll learn is more than worth the effort.

Melody in Songwriting includes about half-a-dozen well known songs as examples plus a greater number of unknown but insightful examples. This brings up the books' one weakness, which is that no CD of the examples is included so in order to hear and fully appreciate the given examples you'll need above average music reading and keyboarding skills. Perhaps Berklee Press will consider releasing a CD addendum to this excellent book.

Bottom line; if you read this book and do the exercises, you'll be able to write a reasonably good melody every time you sit down, even without inspiration. Add inspiration and you just may write a great melody.

For years I've been disappointed by songwriting books that seem to be dumbed-down "touchy-feely" affairs short on real musical ideas and musical composition/harmony books that seem more geared to academic study than actually writing music. I give "Melody in Songwriting" 5 stars because it provides simple, effective tools for understanding and creating melodies and songs. And don't let the "hit songs" in the title put you off -- the material in this book is useful for writing melodies and songs in any musical genre.

Some people believe that composition is a gift, a talent rather than practice. Melody in Songwriting proves that talent is not enough without practice and constant self-development. It teaches you to combine both your inner creative and your hard work. The techniques explained become creative tools to write your music. There are also some tunes extremely well analyzed with great info. It demonstrates the logical development inside the great hits. It is a must have book to improve your songwriting skills.