Customer Reviews

Successful Lyric Writing: A Step-By-Step Course & Workbook

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Successful Lyric Writing" is in workbook format, and inherently weaker than Davis' classic "The Craft of Lyric Writing" (see review).

The problem with "Workbook" is the exercises, which are the heart of the book and what distinguish it from "Craft". In most every case, Davis either 1) gives the reader/student a scenario about which to write a few lines or 2) asks the student to fill in the blank of a lyric she's already written. Unfortunately, most of Davis' scenarios and exercise verses are unbearably cheesy. From this reader's point of view at least, it's hard to finish writing a lyric you can't bear to read. Thus the exercises are more discouraging than helpful, and it's tough for the reader/student to feel like he's actually learned something.

Which is not to say that I disagree with Davis' basic argument that the fundamentals of the craft are undervalued and understudied. Davis correctly argues that inspiration, naively presumed by amateurs to be 90% of songwriting, is in fact only 5%.

And yet that 5% is vital. All persons need to feel the occasional sense of accomplishment to continue their pursuit of learning. This workbook robs students of much of their chance to feel that sense of accomplishment. Therefore "Workbook" will more likely help untalented writers to become mediocre than it will help talented ones to be great.

Still, "Workbook" is not without merit. The section on "Writing With The Whole Brain" is excellent. Also, the charting exercises accompanying that chapter are great for finding titles and for seeing idea connections that one might not grasp in a linear exploration. This section alone gives "Workbook" an extra star, though one wonders why the section hasn't been included in a fresh addition of "Craft".

It's unlikely that any talented, honest, aspiring songwriter will be hurt by this book. But with the notable exception of the "Whole Brain" section, he's unlikely to be helped much, either. Get "Craft" and read it cover to cover as many times as feasible. Borrow a friend's copy of "Workbook".

Through the years I have come across some music theory books that briefly and in a few pages illustrate how to write lyrics for songs. I finally found what I was looking for in this comprehensive book 'Successful Lyric Writing'. This is a structured course covering the subject in detail. I am now learning to identify with various true to life situations, either directly or indirectly involved and thus express these feelings in song. Sheila Davis' work has brought to the forefront my creativity on the subject, for which I believe we all have. To me, this book is a tool which I constantly use in my quest to be one with the music.

Tony Oliveira - South Africa

In this book, Sheila Davis has designed a course of study that beautifully introduces the concepts of songwriting in an understandable and helpful order. Being a teacher, I value any book that offers students a chance to build skills through practical exercises.

Davis's exercises allow the student to explore concepts in whatever song style in which they write.

What I like best about this workbook is the section on "The Whole Brain." Once students have mastered the craft of lyric writing, Davis focuses on means of finding inspiration and beginning the writing process.

This book was a tremendous help to me and my fellow students as we began our journey into the world of songwriting. Thank you, Sheila Davis!

I do not know Sheila Davis, nor have I ever even met her, but I have been using her book for years in the university night school course I teach. This book, and her book, "The Craft of Lyric Writing," are easily the premier books in the field. She's the first one to offer a textbook approach to lyric writing, to really put into words what goes on, subconsciously, when one writes a lyric, the how to's, the do's, and the don'ts. If there was a "Grammy" for song "book" writing, she would win it, hands down.

Ms. Davis's other book, "The Craft of Lyric Writing", was recommended to me. Looking in the library this one was the next book over, (oh, great fortune!) so I took both out. I have just ordered both for purchase because, as a composer of some experience who has now made the leap of trying lyric writing (and anyone that thinks it's easy is kidding himself) I cannot imagine my library without them.

Her step-by-step suggestions, professional and well-considered insights, and many examples demonstrating things like writers' consistent viewpoint, simplicity/clarity, etc. (or lack thereof) have already resulted in a successful rewrite of a tune that was driving me bonkers.

Finally, for what it's worth, I'm not only not a 'book person' when learning something, but have no use for 'success formulas' and can smell snake oil a mile away---and this sure aint either.

Thank you, Dr. Sheila. You've made me a better songwriter.

Sheila Davis has done an incredible job of clarifying what makes a great song and how to write it. It is not so much a book on creativity as a book on understanding the nuts and bolts of making your ideas into strong lyrics. She deals in detail with the elements of rhyme, Voice, viewpiont, time frame, setting. She has several challenging exercises that really get you thinking about options for your lyrics. She also delves in to using the whole brain and helping you unleash ideas. This book is not about getting published or the business of writing, it is about the principles that apply to all lyrics, regardless of style. I highly recommend this!

Successful Lyric Writing is the best lyric writing manual/workbook I've ever used. I've owned a copy for years and purchased this for a nephew who wishes to hone his craft.
Sheila Davis, in my opinion, does the best job explaining through lessons and exercises what actually makes a good song. From the different song forms to choosing the voice of the song (1st, 2nd, 3rd person) the author speaks in easy to understand language. I highly recommend this book for anyone wishing to try their hand at songwriting.

Sheila Davis' book The Craft of Lyric Writing really missed the mark. The book adopted a purely passive teaching approach. Excellent content, but no involvement by me, the student. Kind of like going to a piano lesson and listening to the teacher talk and play the whole time. So, this book attempts to address that deficiency. It's OK, but it seems that the publisher left the whole matter up to Sheila, who is clearly not an experienced interactive book writer. The modern interactive book learning style that I've experienced so many times is not something the authors create themselves. This is obviously an attempt by Davis to address the deficiency of her first book, but it misses the mark. The exercises are shallow, infrequent, and leave me wanting some more experiential reinforcement.

If you've read anything by Sheila Davis its no secret she's an excellent communicator that knows the craft of songwriting. So its no surprise she's produced a songwriting course workbook that shares her insights into the nuances of lyric writing in a way that should help songwriters develop consistency, add richness and depth, and bring clarity to their lyrics.

The practical workbook style provides both numerous theories, concepts, and principles for popular songwriting forms, and plenty of exercises to help you immediately apply yourself. And although I'm not the type inclined to work through the exercises using someone else's material, I did find the lyric analysis of student songs helpful in identifying pitfalls and weaknesses, and in providing ideas on how to correct them.

I also found the" whole brain" section interesting and helpful as regards understanding what type of writer I am. And I often employ the recommended right-brain clustering technique at the start of a new song to develop a word pallet that generally leads to stronger imagery and greater thematic consistency.

When I started writing songs, The Craft of Lyric Writing and Successful Lyric Writing were two of the first books I picked up. The former was helpful in gaining a solid overview of popular songwriting techniques, and the latter, for tweaking lyrics and correcting problems. One minor shortcoming I found with Successful Lyric Writing is that some of the examples and song references seemed a bit dated and out of touch. So much so that even Lennon/McCartney are overlooked.

New and intermediate level songwriters helped by the workbook format should benefit from this book.

If you only bought Sheila Davis' book on the Craft of Lyric Writing, do yourself a BIG favour and BUY THIS WORKBOOK! The new workbook gives you a chance to go through exercises for all the critical concepts that Davis teaches in her previous hard-cover book. If you are only thinking of buying this workbook, do yourself an even bigger favour and buy the hard-cover book as well. Both books are important to place in your library.