Vivaldi's Winter

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Songwriting is a balancing act between music and lyrics. Recently I was teaching one of my classes about Vivaldi's Winter from the Four Seasons. I was trying to articulate that the composer was able to paint a picture of Winter using only music. I then asked my students to think about why the song truly does paint a picture of winter.

Vivaldi's Winter

We talked about dissonance in the melody first. "Why would a song about Winter have intervals that create dissonance?" I said that it was because the cold of winter creates dissonance in us, as we try to brave the cold, bundle up and try to move from one warm area to the next. What about the steady four - four rhythms followed by violin flurries that last an unpredictable number of measures (actually most of them last 3 measures).

We decided that the unmeasured bursts would be the wind.The steady beats could be the sound of one of us trudging through the snow with each laborious footstep with violin flurries blowing the cold air down our throats making it hard to breathe. My favorite thought was the shivering violins in the song's most stable section. Really the most memorable part of the song. In songwriting that would be called prosody---musical sections that represent what is happening in the lyrics.

In my original band Freerider, we used a lot of prosody. We have a song called Ageless Veins, which is all about the Nashua River and some of its history. The introduction uses tapped harmonics on the guitar making a very dripping watery sound. Further in the song, the guitar solo has a whammy bar dive with delay and chorus on it which sounds like a dive to the bottom of a River. From there, the solo seems to flow very dramatically rising to climax. Like Vivaldi's Winter, "Ageless Veins" musically resembles the theme that drives the lyrics.

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The History of Rap and Hip Hop Music

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The origin of hip-hop can be traced back as far as the ancient tribes in Africa. Rap has been compared with the chants, drumbeats and foot-stomping African tribes performed before wars, the births of babies, and the deaths of kings and elders. Historians have reached further back than the accepted origins of hip-hop. It was born as we know it today in the Bronx, cradled and nurtured by the youth in the low-income areas of New York City.

The History of Rap and Hip Hop Music

Fast-forward from the tribes of Africa to the ghettos of Kingston, Jamaica in the late sixties. The impoverished of Kingston gathered together in groups to form DJ conglomerates. They spun roots and culture records and communicated with the audience over the music. At the time, the DJ's comments weren't as important as the quality of the sound system and its ability to get the crowd moving. Kool Herc grew up in this community before he moved to the Bronx.

During the late sixties, reggae wasn't popular with New Yorkers. As a DJ, Kool Herc spun rhythm and blues records to please his party crowd. But, he had to add his personal touch. During the breaks, Herc began to speak to his audience as he had learned to do in Jamaica. He called out, the audience responded, and then he pumped the volume back up on the record. This call and response technique was nothing new to this community who'd been reared in Baptist and Methodist churches where call and response was a technique used by the speakers to get the congregation involved. Historians compare it to the call and response performed by Jazz musicians and was very much a part of the culture of Jazz music during the renaissance in Harlem.

Herc's DJ style caught on. His party's grew in popularity. He began to buy multiple copies of the same albums. When he performed his duties as a DJ, he extended the breaks by using multiple copies of the same records. He chatted, as it is called in dance hall, with his audience for longer and longer periods.

Others copied Herc's style. Soon a friendly battle ensued between New York DJs. They all learned the technique of using break beats. Herc stepped up the game by giving shout-outs to people who were in attendance at the parties and coming up with his signature call and response. Other DJs responded by rhyming with their words when they spoke to the audience. More and more DJs used two and four line rhymes and anecdotes to get their audiences involved and hyped at these parties.

One day, Herc passed the microphone over to two of his friends. He took care of the turn table and allowed his buddies to keep the crowd hyped with chants, rhymes and anecdotes while he extended the breaks of different songs indefinitely. This was the birth of rap as we know it.

Hip-hop has evolved from the days of the basement showdowns to big business in the music industry. In the seventies and eighties, the pioneers and innovators of the rap record was the DJ. He was the guy who used his turntable to create fresh sounds with old records. Then, he became the guy who mixed these familiar breaks with synthesizers to produce completely new beats. Not much has changed in that aspect of hip-hop. The guy who creates the beat is still the heart of the track. Now, we call him the producer. Even though some DJs work as producers as well as DJs (quite a few start out as DJs before they become producers), today's title "DJ" doesn't carry the same connotative meaning it did in the eighties. Today's hip-hop producer performs the same tasks as the eighty's DJ.

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How to Write Rap Song Lyrics in 5 Steps

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With the strong emergence of hip-hop in today's music scene, a lot of people are interested in learning to rap and want to know how to write rap song lyrics. While there is no "exact" way, these 5 quick tips will definitely help you to write a better rap song.

How to Write Rap Song Lyrics in 5 Steps

1. Find a Beat to Inspire You. Ever wonder how the pros beginning writing a rap song? 9 times out of 10 they begin by looking for beats to inspire them. They are looking for something that touches them in way that inspires and motivates them to write lyrics to. Everyone has a different taste in music, so find a beat that YOU like and can write naturally to. Find something that instantly grabs you and relates to you. You can find beats easily on the internet. Just search Google and Soundclick and you will be sure to find a beat to write rap song lyrics to.

2. Choose a Main Topic. Once you find a beat that you want to use, begin thinking of a topic that goes nicely with the beat you chose. Remember to choose a topic that relates with both YOU and the beat. If you chose a sad, emotional-sounding beat, then pick a topic that is sad and emotional and that you relate with. If you pick a club style beat then choose a topic that is relevant to the club scene. Listen to your beat, ask yourself what kind of impact you would like your rap song lyrics to have on people, and decide on your main topic. Remember that how you write rap song lyrics will greatly depend on your topic.

3. Write Your Hook. A lot of rappers and producers alike find it best practice to begin a rap song by first writing the hook. Now that you have your beat and main topic selected, you have a great foundation to begin writing your hook lyrics to.

To explain how to write rap hooks, I've broken hook-writing down into a few steps that I have found to be very effective.

a.) Consider these things: Do you want the hook to be catchy? Do you want it to be deep and emotional? Do you want to sing it or rap it out?

b.) Listen to the hook part of your beat. Vibe with the beat and start freestyling some ideas. Even if your words aren't making sense, freestyle to the beat to establish some different flows. Experiment and figure out what you like.

c.) Now that you have some ideas flowing, begin writing lyrics down. Make a list of words that you might want to incorporate into the hook.

d.) Look at your word list as you listen to the beat and begin freestyling some new ideas with these words.

e.) Once you come up with some strong ideas, it may be a good idea to quickly record them to see which one sounds the best. Once you've decided, we can move on with the verses!

4. Begin Writing the Verses. Now that the hook is finished, you have everything laid out for the verses. So how do you write rap song verses?

a.) Start each verse off strong in order to develop a connection with the listener right away. A good way to do this is to begin with a controversial, funny, bold, or catchy opening line.

b.) Now that you've got the listeners attention, finish out your verses with content that is relevant to your topic. Rhyme more than just the last word in each sentence when you can. Try to use different flow structures throughout instead of just sticking to one the whole time.

c.) If you are having trouble or writer's block, write out a list of rhyming words that relate to your topic (use a dictionary and thesaurus if necessary) and refer to this list to spark ideas.

d.) Just as you started off strong, end the verse lyrics strong too! Make sure you transition into the hook smoothly and finish with a bang!

5. Practice! Perhaps the most underrated part of rapping...practice! It's one thing to know how to write rap song lyrics, but putting it into action is something else. Once you have your song written, practice it over and over until you know it by heart and can recite it perfectly with no flaws. Trust me this is important!

I hope you now know how to write rap song lyrics more efficiently and effectively. Apply what you've learned to your next rap song and I am sure you will notice a difference!

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How to Develop Rap Flow

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Flow is no great secret, despite what some may say. Singers have flow. Preachers have flow. With a little hard work, you can have flow.

How to Develop Rap Flow

It is, simply put, the vocal quality of your voice. I'd like to take the mystery out of flow in this article. Here's how to strengthen your flow:

MC's are essentially made up of two parts: flow and lyrics. In this exercise you only care about flow. Play a beat and freestyle over it, going as long as you can without stopping to breathe. Don't worry about rhyming; you can just as easily "doo whap" your way through the exercise. The focus should be on developing sounds that connect with each other and the beat.

Try rapping in different accents: English, French, Middle Eastern, whatever. You may laugh, but look at Slick Rick. Next time you freestyle with others, try to focus on lyrics. When you freestyle alone, focus on flow. When you are comfortable with both, try incorporating them together.

Lastly, you want to change your speed. Start off trying to rap as fast as possible, but with a constant beat (early Outkast albums are a lot like this). Then, slow it down and try and keep in time. Now, try to rhyme super fast for eight measures, then super slow for eight measures, then super fast for eight measures, and so on. By working out the extremes, you'll feel much more comfortable changing your speed while rapping, which will make you sound more original and polished.

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The Best Beat Programs for Music Production

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Are you looking for the best beat programs for creating music? Look no further!

The Best Beat Programs for Music Production

This article will show you the two most popular products on the market: DUB Turbo and Sonic Producer. They're by far the most popular and that's for one reason and one reason only... they are the best!

Dub Turbo is basically a software program that is a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), and features everything you need to make awesome rap beats, dance tunes, R&B tracks, you name it, you can create it with Dub Turbo!

Equipment in a studio would be way more expensive and you would get the same quality tracks produced.

This software program is for people looking for an easy and fast way to start making beats & music, without the worry of haivng to learn music theory, study production in expensive schools, or having to get a huge studio.

The software, however, is powerful enough to be used in conjunction with recording studio equipment! Many of the users are studio owners, and love taking beats from DUBturbo into their various other applications.

Sonic Producer is a really amazing new music sequencer that uses the latest cutting edge technology to create pro beats. Tracks can be exported to Mp3 with minimal effort. You can get access to music production tutorials which will help you get started creating beats straight away.

SonicProducer was designed for all ages. In fact, everyone should make beats! Not only is beat making an extremely fulfilling and exciting musical craft, but is easy to begin to do, and great fun to master! There is a reason why most people pursue learning beat making, it's the best musical activity.

Both programs use a 16 track sequencer, they both have awesome keyboard sets, drum machines and synth-sounds, so that you can make a variety of sounds. Beats per minute can be changed very easily and each of the 16 tracks has a volume control of its own.

Both programs are user friendly and you can literally make beats in a few minutes. It will take a bit longer the first few times but once you get the hang of things you will be creating beats in minutes. You get extensive video tutorials and training that will help you get started in both programs.

So what is the price of the two programs? They both go for about . Most other good quality software for producing music is more expensive. Some programs cost hundreds of dollars. But just because these two products are affordable (cheap is not the right word), you shouldn't think the quality is not as good as the more expensive ones. These two definitely give the most value for money!

There are some differences between the two programs. Firstly, the quality of the tracks that DUB Turbo produces is in a.WAV format. Sonic Producer, on the other hand, outputs to MP3. The difference is basically that the quality of.WAV is much better. It is actually broadcast quality which is what the pro's use.

Secondly, DUB Turbo is a stand alone application that can be downloaded and installed on your computer. What that means is you can only make beats if you have your computer with you. That's not a problem if you have a laptop. Sonic Producer is a website to make beats. So to access the software all you need is a computer with an internet connection. This is really great if you travel a lot and you don't have a laptop.

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Follow These Steps to Make Your Own Rap Beats That You Can Sell

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It's not rocket science learning to make your own rap beats that you can sell because the truth is all you have to be is enough of a rap fan to know what kind of beats will sell. There is a major difference between beats you may personally like for yourself and the type of beats that people are going to want to buy from you. If you know the difference between a good rap beat and a hot rap beat that gets played on the radio and in the clubs you understand that the beats that you make that are geared towards the radio and the clubs are going to be the beats that sell faster. That is not at all to say that underground beats won't sell because they probably will. It just means that you must cater your beats to the type of artist you want to sell them to and most of the rappers today want to make money off the music that they make and the rappers that are making the most money get played in the clubs and on the radio.

Follow These Steps to Make Your Own Rap Beats That You Can Sell

A hot rap beat has a few parts you should typically understand and I will show you a very inexpensive program that comes with the same sounds that you are hearing used by big time producers. The drums are crisp and they are already pre mixed to hit hard. They are usually offset by a long bass drum sound pounding behind them. The high hats typically roll every four to eight bars. There are most likely about three separate background melodies that are each using different instruments or sound effects.

Start off just by listening to your favorite song or track with a pen and a paper writing down exactly how many different sounds and separate melodies you hear throughout the beat. Think about which ones are just effects sprinkled around in the beat and which ones are actually playing a definite rhythm. Typically, if there is something just sprinkled around in a beat it is normally just an effect or several effects but the actual instrument sounds are normally playing a melody. Then you want to get a computer program like the ones used to create beats that you hear new rappers over like Drake and Soldier Boy, who create these huge songs that sell millions of records from simply off their personal computers. You can find a very low cost one that comes with the exact same sounds mixed properly that you would hear on the radio or in the clubs.

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Sell Beats Online - Easy and Affordable!

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ATTENTION HIP HOP, RAP, RNB and POP BEAT PRODUCERS!!

Sell Beats Online - Easy and Affordable!

There are a ton of producers out there that have a huge library of beats and no way to sell them. Sure, your have sold a few beats to friends in your local area, but you never really thought about selling them in huge quantities and possibly making a living with it. With the Internet this is now possible!

Imagine this...You just woke up, you grab your laptop and open up your email, and you see that PayPal advised you that someone just bought 3 beats in total for .48. Now imagine this happening on a daily basis, 3-4 times a day or possibly even more!

The key is to put your beats out there for everyone to hear! There are several online beat stores where you can do just that. However, you want a site that is cost-effective and already has a lot of traffic flow! I recommend "ROCBattle.com". This site allows you to battle your beats against other producers and sell beats online for only .95/month. Even if you sell 1 beat a month for , its a great way to start off, and technically your not spending any money for the experience! As a producer, it is important to understand that one needs feedback from other producers and artists, be it negative or positive feedback. Negative feedback is in fact better than positive feedback. Why, you ask? Negative feedback actually lets you see your flaws that you might have not noticed before, and in turn is giving you the opportunity to better yourself. With ROCBattle.com's battle system, it is easy to receive feedback from other members by simply battling your beats and viewing their vote responses. Remember, negative feedback is GOOD! You need to know what your doing wrong in order to improve! This does not only apply to music producers, this concept is important in all industries.

There are a ton of more beat selling websites out there, you can simply go to Google.com and type "SELL BEATS ONLINE" into the search bar and hundreds of beats selling websites will be shown.

Here are a few more sites where you can sell your beats: SoundClick.com, MyBeatShop.com, BeatSwagger.com

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