Daily Archives : March 5, 2016

Different time signatures for the same lyric

You’ll need to understand rhythmic notation for this post. if you’re not sure about this, check out this post on sixteenth notes…

http://davewallmusic.com/http:/davewallmusic.com/topics/songwriting/songwriting/page/7/

 

…and another on quarter notes and eighth notes.

 

How to make chord progressions a pro would love, Part 14: Rhythm

 

Take this line:

 

“I walked through the doorway and saw you standing there.”

 

I’ll set this line in 4/4, in 5/5, and in 3/4.

For all of these examples, I use triplets at the beginning of the bar for two reasons:

 

• they fits naturally with the words
• they have a sense of forward movement, supporting the idea of walking

 

The end of the bar changes in each example to illustrate how extending or compressing the length of the bar affects the lyric.

 

4/4

In 4/4, we get 4 eighth notes at the end of the bar. This feels plodding and unnatural, like you feel nothing. If you came through a door and saw someone standing there, you would have more of a reaction, whether you were surprised or not.

 

5/4

With 5/4, the eighth notes on “saw you” are extended to quarter notes. This is better. There’s a sense of hesitation, communicating surprise. But it still feels kind of stiff.

 

3/4

The sixteenth notes carrying the words “saw you standing” convey a sense of tension. It’s as if you’re so surprised that you stumble.

 

It could always be better

I’m not sold on any of these. I would need to tweak the rhythm in each one to get it to flow better. Triplets may not be the best idea. Introducing syncopation would probably help.

Endless choices…

The point is that by changing the length of the bar, you’re able to communicate in ways that you weren’t able to before. You get a chance to consider the lyrics and what the mean to you, and to your audience.