Sound – ‘Tis Such a Lovely Vibration – Don’t You Think?
Vibrations that travel through the air
I am in awe.
If I stand still I can measure them
if only within my soul
while holding my breath
a note to know.
From a fragrant distance
I can feel its humming presence
onomatopoeia put to the test
winging through the trees
past silence.
Impressions of sound
vibrations touching my skin
traveling waves
composed by lenders of sacred visions
where true wisdom
begins.
Such a gift is sound
broadcast from our lips
composed by artists
wind in trees
oceans roar
birds tending to their hungry fledglings
televisions from an open window
right next door
cars passing by
airplanes in the sky
opening my eyes
I hear
the world
as it goes by.
Music
luscious muse
floating through the air
and connecting to this day
inside our atmosphere.
All over my anticipating being
dreams
never that remote
frequencies enticed
made perfectly clear.
From Ballerinas
Cinderella embarks
from their tip toes on stage
rhythm embraced
with what dwells in the heart
thus a brilliant transcending
of a most glorious
holiest art.
My heart waltzes past the open door
sensations found
walking over pebbles on the road
feet causing a moving sound
my mood goes from lowly
into a highlight
appreciating
the simplest
of sounds.
Pencil to paper
scribbling down poetry
rounds.
People in places
I never will meet
writing in silence
for a word to speak.
A tiny utterance of noise
meeting pen to paper
describing inner thoughts
acoustics on play here
creating giant noises
in a tiny minds eye
from an anticipating
hearts sigh.
Sound, tis such a lovely vibration.
Don’t you think?
Lyric Writing Tips For Natural-Sounding Lyrics
These lyric writing tips are geared toward helping you write comfortable, natural-sounding lyrics. A contemporary lyric should sound conversational, and there should be no doubt as to what the song is about. Here are a few ways to get you started writing better lyrics.
1. Write the story in prose. Before you attempt to write in song form, write your idea as a short story. Include visual descriptions, things your characters might say, and even their names if you want. Don’t worry about rhyme or meter. The goal is to tell the story, to say exactly what you want to say. Stay on the subject you’ve chosen until you have a beginning, a middle and an ending. It doesn’t have to be very long. Remember your song only needs a couple of verses, a chorus, maybe a bridge. When you’re happy with what you have written it’s time to turn it into a lyric.
2. Write the lyric without rhyme. Begin writing your lyric, but don’t worry about making it rhyme just yet. Simply tell your story in lyric form. If you’re thinking too much about rhyming at this point, you may not say just what you want to say. You want to be able to write it with freedom. Once you have your verses planned out then you can start looking at how you might rhyme them. Use a rhyming dictionary to help you. You can also open your thesaurus to look for just the right synonyms.
And remember, you don’t HAVE to rhyme. Rhymes are very useful for helping to hold the lyric together, and to help us remember the words. And they can sound clever and cool. But be careful not to make it rhyme just because you think it should. Don’t risk twisting the meaning of your song just to force a rhyme.
3. Speak it out loud. Once you’ve finished your song give yourself a pat on the back! It doesn’t mean you’re finished but do it anyway. You deserve it. Now before you go any further, speak it out loud. How does it sound? Do people speak that way? How does it feel? Are there any parts that are awkward or uncomfortable? I’m not talking about subject matter. I’m talking about the natural flow of the words. You want it to sound as conversational as possible. Once it does, you know you’re onto something good!
Spice Up a Song With Sound Effects!
Most songs we write and record have instruments and/or vocals, but nothing else. Let’s face it, the most exotic sound on most of our recordings is a tambourine. This is not necessarily a Bad Thing. After all, “instruments and/or vocals” takes in a pretty wide range, from Gregorian Chant to Smooth R&B and everything in between! But every now and then, just for the sheer novelty value, you ought to consider using some kind of sound effects in one of your songs.
Some songs, like “Yellow Submarine” by the Beatles, are positively filled with scene-setting sound effects. Birds twitter throughout “Blackbird” by the same band. More recently, digital mixmeister Beck and others have combined “found sounds” and other effects with musical samples to create audio collages in their songs. Of course, this is a technique where a little bit can go a long way. There’s no need to overdo it!
As a songwriter, you can specify what sound effects will be heard when by adding notations like (alarm clock here) to your lyrics sheet, or at least having a firm idea of what specific effects will be used where as you write the song. In this case, the effects would be considered part of the song. Alternatively, you can wait until you have your Producer hat on and decide whether and where to add sound effects when you mix the song. Here, the effects would be considered part of the arrangement.
Name That Sound
There are three main sources for sound effects: (1) sound effects CDs or websites; (2) TV shows, DVD movies, etc.; (3) personal recordings.
With sound effects CDs or websites, you get pre-recorded sounds of all kinds, with many variations, labeled as to subject and duration. You need the sound of a car starting up and driving off? There were a dozen variations of this sound on one CD I found. Need birds, or crickets, or elephants? Again, labeled samples by the dozen can be found on sound effects CDs. And there are whole CDs of rainstorms, jungle sounds, etc., ready for use!
Sound effects CDs can be found by the score at your local library – mine, a medium-sized branch, has drawer after drawer full of the things! For me, this beats the websites, which can be awkward to use and usually make you pay for your samples. If you’re in a real hurry, maybe try online, but otherwise just head on down to the library!
Another really neat (and cheap) source of sound effects is to record a movie or TV show as you watch it and then lift some of the effects you hear (or dialog – talking is a sound effect too!) by copying them over onto a cassette or whatever you use to import outside audio into your studio.
Finally, one of my favorite sources of sound effects is to record my own. With portable, battery-operated recording devices like the Zoom H4 and others becoming available, it is a simple matter to get CD-quality recordings “on the fly” of anything from your very own rainstorm or your cute pet kitty to the crowd at a football game. A warning, though. Once you start thinking this way, it’s hard to stop. (I could record an oncoming train! I could record a volcano!)
There are sounds all around you. Why not try incorporating some of them into one of your songs? It works!