Setting lyrics or music?

[reith]

In spare moments I've been working on a set of songs - 3 or perhaps 4. They are contemporary settings and recently I've considered how the "lyrics" should be set so that they integrate with the music - the world of lyrics that are poetic and semi-explicit or symbolist, and those of music are different and it seems that just setting words to music is hopefully a way of enhancing both. However, setting other artists' lyrics is in some way trading into their world and I'm not sure I should be doing that.

So I was searching out tactics that put the my own lyrics more on the same level with the music, each as "important" as the other, the voice - indeed, the timbral effects of the words effectively another instrument.

So in the first song I set the lyrics to music (as 'normal') but included relatively long music-only interludes between word phrases that control the affect of the piece more than the words. In the second, the voice is considerably more part of the harmony. In the third, I wrote the vocal line along with the music but wordless, and now coming up with words to fit. If there is a fourth, the words will be chosen by some aleatoric means (either individually or in phrases, possibly using a magnetic poetry set so there is some cohesion). Then again I might chop up an existing narrative text and score it so that the voice is effectively buried in the ensemble.

I doubt any of this is new.

Do any other members have means of dealing with integrating music with lyrics?

cheers,
reith

[stevel]

Originally Posted by reith

If there is a fourth, the words will be chosen by some aleatoric means (either individually or in phrases, possibly using a magnetic poetry set so there is some cohesion).

I have a magnetic poetry set too. I don't know that it provides any cohesion though - other than the fact you have a limited set of words. You could probably find other chance procedures that limit other collections of words similarly. Maybe you should just throw them at the refrigerator and see what sticks :-) !

Steve

[Stenir]

I may be wrong about this, but I think if you have a good lyric you shouldn't be "setting" it to the music. Unless you managed to plan ahead, you'd probably end up with the problem of either extending the music or cutting lyrics. In my opinion, never cut lyrics.

If you are wanting your lyrics to seem as part of the ensemble versus a soloist, try this suggestion. Write a melody that fits the lyrics, and score the piece as you normally would had there been no lyrics. When you go back to read the lyrics against the music, don't strictly follow the beat. I mean, certainly, every set of lyrics meant to fit in a 4m phrase, fit it as such and don't start the next line until that 5th measure.

I had a good example of it, but now I can't remember what. If I think of it, I'll post it.

[Boneman]

I have been given a set of lyrics and I would like to add music to them. Can anyone out there help? they are in a ballad style.

[reith]

Originally Posted by Boneman

I have been given a set of lyrics and I would like to add music to them. Can anyone out there help? they are in a ballad style.

One of your strengths is creating good melodies. Have you considered learning (at least some of) the words then relaxing and letting the melody suggest itself? Keep some m/s paper close by or sing/hum your efforts to a recorder and decipher them later.

[Boneman]

Thank you for saying I can write melodies! I just wish I could get them down on paper as you do!

I have to have my trusty PC. But I will take on board that I should learn the lyrics and see what happens from there.

[reith]

Any result?

I must say that trying to compose first and add words later (given the vein in which I'm working (which seems jugular at the moment)) is a right headache. One keeps imagining what words might fit and that has to be resisted absolutely. I will not quit!!

[ttw]

In setting given lyrics to music, it's often helpful to scan the lyrics to get an idea of their internal rhythm.

Lines with two-syllable feet tend to be either u/u/u... or /u/u/u. Normaly in duple time these will have the accented note on the accented syllable; in triple time (3/4 for example) one might use a half note for the accented syllable and a quarter note for the other.

Three-syllable lines tend to be /uu/uu/uu.. or uu/uu/uu/... or even u/uu/uu/....In duple time (2/4 for example), the accented (strong) syllable generally gets a quarter note and the two unaccented (weak) syllables get eights. In triple time (3/4), the strong syllable usually falls on the first beat of the measure. The pattern u/uu... tends to get an upbeat.

More irregular rhythms can get varying size notes. Sometimes a lyric will have things like /u/u/u mainly but some of the u's become uu's (w's?). One might use smaller note divisions to cover these.

Another thing that can be done is to put several against a syllable (melisma) which tends to make that syllable stand out. Of course, an entire piece can be melismatic.

On a larger scale, one tries to have the most accented notes (highest, longest, otherwise prominent, etc.) on syllables of either rhetorical importance or at least on a long vowel (having Italian lyrics help). "WOE is me" with a melisma on "woe" sounds better than "woe IS me" with a melisma on "is" generally (depending on what the significance of "is" is.)

There is also the choice of setting each "stanza" of the lyric to the same music (strophic) or use new music for each stanza (durchkomponiert). (Actually, I just wanted to use the word in other than a crossword puzzle.)