Music & Lyric team duos: How Are Songs Written?
Music & Lyric team duos: How Are Songs Written?
#0Music & Lyric team duos: How Are Songs Written?
Posted: 10/28/04 at 5:34pm
I imagine a song is written in many different ways.
A composer may write a little jingle, and a lyricist puts words to it - and they go on from there.
Or, a lyricist may write all the words, and then a composer puts music to it.
Or, a composer writes the music, and then a lyricist puts words to it.
I'm sure the effectiveness depends on each composer and lyricist individually, but my question is this:
I am currently writing a musical - my first attempt at a non-play. Not being a composer - do I write the lyrics, or wait until I meet with a composer and work with him/her on it together?
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
--Aristotle
#1re: Music & Lyric team duos: How Are Songs Written?
Posted: 10/28/04 at 5:55pm
First generally, the contract.
Oh, Sondheim you devil!
BSoBW2: I punched Sondheim in the face after I saw Wicked and said, "Why couldn't you write like that!?"
Updated On: 10/28/04 at 05:55 PM
#2re: Music & Lyric team duos: How Are Songs Written?
Posted: 10/28/04 at 6:00pmWhen I went to camp this summer, we worked with some lyricists and composers, because we were writing our own show. I could explain what they told me... if I knew where I had written it...
Broadway Matt
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/17/03
#3re: Music & Lyric team duos: How Are Songs Written?
Posted: 10/28/04 at 6:04pma friendship is like a garden, sum. you have to water it, you have to tend it, and you have to care about it. or you lose it. now get back to your piano!
"The last train out of any station will not be full of nice guys." - Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
"I wash my face, then drink beer, then I weep. Say a prayer and induce insincere self-abuse, till I'm fast asleep"- In Trousers
#4re: Music & Lyric team duos: How Are Songs Written?
Posted: 10/28/04 at 6:07pmOH MY GOD I THINK IT'S HAPPENED!
BSoBW2: I punched Sondheim in the face after I saw Wicked and said, "Why couldn't you write like that!?"
Broadway Matt
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/17/03
#5re: Music & Lyric team duos: How Are Songs Written?
Posted: 10/28/04 at 6:10pmhey, buddy you know where to find me. c/o Any Bank, USA!
"The last train out of any station will not be full of nice guys." - Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
"I wash my face, then drink beer, then I weep. Say a prayer and induce insincere self-abuse, till I'm fast asleep"- In Trousers
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#6re: Music & Lyric team duos: How Are Songs Written?
Posted: 10/28/04 at 6:13pm
My partner is a lyricist (ASCAP member) and he and his composing collaberator work with the music being composed and then the lyrics being written.
As a writer myself, as well as a mucisian, I prefer to have the music suggested by the rhythm and tone of the words already written.
Ultimately, I see it as a choice made by each individual writing team.
#7re: Music & Lyric team duos: How Are Songs Written?
Posted: 10/28/04 at 6:15pmmutter mutter mutter mutter Get the President there's a crazy man on my TV screen!
BSoBW2: I punched Sondheim in the face after I saw Wicked and said, "Why couldn't you write like that!?"
GovernorSlaton
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/14/04
#9re: Music & Lyric team duos: How Are Songs Written?
Posted: 10/28/04 at 6:16pmI could just quote that show for hours!
BSoBW2: I punched Sondheim in the face after I saw Wicked and said, "Why couldn't you write like that!?"
Broadway Matt
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/17/03
#10re: Music & Lyric team duos: How Are Songs Written?
Posted: 10/28/04 at 6:25pmI'm listening to Malcolm Gets' "Growing Up" as we speak
"The last train out of any station will not be full of nice guys." - Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
"I wash my face, then drink beer, then I weep. Say a prayer and induce insincere self-abuse, till I'm fast asleep"- In Trousers
PleaseChangeMe
Featured Actor Joined: 8/24/04
#11re: Music & Lyric team duos: How Are Songs Written?
Posted: 10/28/04 at 6:28pmI'm currently writing my own musical (more like an operetta), and it's almost complete. Since I'm writing the 'triple crown' (Book, music, and lyrics), I basically write a couple bars of music, or the complete chorus (except in this show, it has no direct flow of music, like Sweeney Todd for example), then after that, I write the lyrics. Also, sometimes I write the lyrics for the whole verse or next couple of verses before I write a note. If you have any questions, I might not be a professional composer, just PM me.
#12re: Music & Lyric team duos: How Are Songs Written?
Posted: 10/28/04 at 6:49pmI've yet to find a composer for mine, but, I've been working on the book first, then putting in where I think the songs would work. I think oding lyrics is better because you're not pressured by a melody to write a certain amount of lyrics in one verse. Just make sure you find someone who thinks of the show the same way you do.
"Sing the words, Patti!!!!" Stephen Sondheim to Patti LuPone.
#13re: Music & Lyric team duos: How Are Songs Written?
Posted: 10/28/04 at 8:18pm
Like many of the posters here, I too have written/am writing a show. I recommend reading Lehman Engel's "Making of a Musical" to anybody who hasn't. I was a member of the now-defunct local chapter of Engel's Theatre Writer's Workshop.
I'm on my fourth musical (one produced!), and the first three experiences were all the same:
In my anxiousness to get my ideas on paper, I went ahead without a composer, coompleting first the libretto, then fitting lyrics to the places I'd either fashioned for songs, or those that suggested themselves.
Once my work was done, my work usually began. For, when I added a collaborator to the mix (and the word COLLABORATOR is crucial here), I usually found my "precious darlings" and other tidbits I'd written cast aside, revamped or entirely rewritten. I used to mind this a lot, and had huge arguements about "the integrity of MY ART," but the truth I learned is that it's a
"CO-LABOR-ATION."
Since I learned this, and have had to adjust my subsequent work numerous times (and always to the improvement of the pieces), I now work this way: The libretto is mine. It's only going to be changed if I change it. The songs and song placement and the underscoring of dialogue are a collaboration. The dance music, the Overture/Entr'acte and the orchestrations are the composers.
At any point in the process, we are free to suggest ideas to the other, but with no expectations of having our gems used.
It has worked like a charm since.
Best of luck to you, and please check out my first show,
"Going to Pot: The Reefer Madness Musical" on Footlight.com
Videos