Preface to the new edition -- Preface --
... Acknowledgments -- First considerations -- Concept -- Which comes first, melody or lyrics? -- Collaboration -- Finding and working with a collaborator -- How much technical training do you need? -- Supplies -- Part 1: Lyrics -- 1: Construction and form -- How and why we label form -- How and why we label rhymes -- Verses and choruses -- Folk songs -- Spirituals -- Blues, classic and pop -- Operettas -- 1900-1920 -- 1920s -- 1930s and 1940s -- Musical theater since World War II -- Late forties -- Fifties -- Sixties -- Seventies -- Eighties -- Nineties -- Twenty-first century -- Rock -- Rock and roll -- Beatles and the revolution in form -- Rock -- Acid rock -- Hard rock -- Bubblegum -- Folk-rock -- Seventies -- Eighties -- Country -- Your style -- 2: Types of songs -- Starting with parodies -- Things to remember when writing parody -- Writing lyrics to songs in the public domain -- Things to remember when writing lyrics to songs in the public domain -- Writing a lyric to already existing music -- Translations -- Story songs -- Dos and don'ts for story songs -- Descriptive songs -- Situations songs -- Some situations for song -- List songs -- Tips on the list song -- Social message songs -- Birthday songs -- Foreign or pseudo-foreign songs -- Patriotic songs -- Holiday songs -- Gimmick songs -- Nonsense songs -- Suggestions for writing nonsense songs -- Punch-line songs -- Inspirational songs -- Gospel songs -- Love songs -- Unsuitable concepts -- 3: Rhyme --What makes rhyme? -- Paper rhymes -- Identical rhymes -- Regional rhymes -- Imperfect and false rhymes -- One-,two-, and three-rhymes -- Inner rhymes -- Non-rhymed lyrics -- Rhyme schemes -- Original rhyme schemes -- Words that will not rhyme -- 4: Word usage -- Simile and metaphor -- Alliteration -- Onomatopoeia -- Words that do not sing -- Connecting the words -- Inverted language -- Filling out or telescoping a lyric -- Matching accents and meaning -- Inappropriate speech -- Poets' handbooks and rhyming dictionaries -- Read More Part 2: Music -- 5: Melody -- Basics of notating a
... melody -- Staff -- Sharps, flats, and naturals -- Bar lines -- Time signature -- Time values -- Major scale -- Putting it all together -- Transposition -- Key signature -- In which key shall I write my song? -- Accidentals -- Intervals -- Motives -- How to turn the title into a musical motive -- Single-note motives -- Two-note motives -- Three-note motives -- Motives of four or more notes -- Where to take the motive -- How to freshen a worn motive -- Expanding the motive into a phrase -- Expanding the phrase into a period -- Range -- Tessitura -- Melisma -- Sequence -- Some rules for melody writing -- What your song should include -- A1 -- A -- Bridge or release -- A3 -- B and C -- Coda -- Interlude (trio) -- Extension -- Verse -- Fade -- 6: Chords -- Triads -- Major triads -- Minor triads -- Diminished triads -- Augmented triads -- Triad abbreviations -- Scale-tone triads -- Numerical relationship -- Seventh chords -- Dominant seventh -- Major seventh -- Minor seventh -- Altered chords -- Diminished seventh -- Scale-tone sevenths in series -- Altering scale-tone chords -- Inversions -- Added sixth chords -- Ninth chords -- Eleventh and thirteenth chords -- 7: Scales -- Major scale -- Relative minor and parallel minor scales -- Harmonic minor scale and melodic minor scale -- Scale-tone triads in minor and scale-tone sevenths in minor -- Other scales -- Modal scales -- Ethnic scales -- Color scales -- 8: Harmony -- Two-chord harmony -- Two-chord harmony in minor -- Three-chord harmony -- Three-chord harmony in minor -- Changing harmony for intensification -- Imperfect cadence -- II V I -- I VI II V -- Commercial bridge -- Bridges in the minor -- Bridges that modulate to foreign keys -- Circle of chords -- Diminished cliche -- Old-fashioned ending -- Bass lines -- Ascending -- Ascending through the augmented -- Descending -- Descending in minor -- Chord substitution -- Intensifying the chords -- Suspension -- Anticipation -- Scale-tone substitution -- Turnarounds -- Evasion -- Blues melody and harmony -- 9: Rhythm -- Beat -- Tempo -- Meter -- Rhythm -- How rhythm fills the music -- Syncopation -- Rhythms of popular music -- March -- Fox-trot -- Modified fox-trot -- Shuffle -- Boogie -- Ragtime -- Cakewalk -- Polka -- Alley cat -- Gavotte -- Minuet (menuet) -- Waltz -- Boston waltz -- Country waltz -- Jazz waltz -- Gospel waltz -- Charleston -- Jazz rhythms -- Jig (gigue) -- 9/8 -- 12/8 -- Country -- Disco -- Tango (habanera) -- Tango (Argentine) -- Bolero -- Merengue -- Cha-cha -- Conga -- Guaracha -- Rumba -- Beguine -- Mambo -- Samba -- Bossa nova -- Paso doble -- Reggae -- Bo Diddley -- Punk rock -- After the song is completed -- Getting a song on paper -- Lead sheets -- When preparing a lead sheet -- Three-stave arrangements -- Things to remember about three-stave arrangements -- Two-stave arrangements -- Things to remember about two-stave arrangements -- Arrangements for a group -- Professional copies -- Getting your song recorded -- Home demos -- Studio recording -- Copyright -- How to copyright a song -- Instructions for filling out copyright form PA -- What you cannot copyright -- How much can you quote? -- Language of the music industry -- Unions, agencies, and organizations -- Afterword -- Appendix -- Bluegrass -- Gangsta rap -- Heavy metal -- Hip-hop -- Hip-hop in the twenty-first century -- How to go about creating a hip-hop song -- Music-notation software -- Public domain songs -- Punk rock -- Rap -- Reggae -- Ska -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Permissions -- Index. Read More