Saturday, March 8, 2014

Sometimes Smush Song Syllables

Sometimes you need to spread out syllables
in your song lyrics  so that you can enunciate well at the tempo.
But sometimes you need to smush syllables together.
Long time spaces between  syllables -- especially in  slow song --
might give the song listener a few moments to reach a
    wrong guess    about what the next word will be....
       and like in conversations,  we do often "fill in the blank" and
       ANTICIPATE (Guess)  what the next song WORD might be -- 
              with the extra clue that it probably rhymes! -- then we should
be sure to    make those syllables closer together in time.     

Since it's hard to explain the very important concept, here's an example
for a rather slow 4/4 time prayer song to God 
                             (Psalm 119 LLW 33 He - on my website DianaDeeOsborneSongs.com ):
Each syllable is a quarter note for a steady pace:
In - cline  my heart to Your Word. __
I'd   be    self- ish   with- out You. __

As the singer slowly shares the message of the last line,
the listener has time to "fill in the blanks" with some phrase like
I'd   be    self- ish  with  the  LORD   (rhymes with line 1).

Obviously that concept does not match what's in the Bible.
Easy quick fix:   Sing the words "selfish" and "without"
         as 1/8th notes  instead of steady quarter notes:
In - cline  my heart to Your Word. __
I'd   be  (self- ish) __ (with- out) __  You. __

That also gives an energy to the slow song... and
a  dramatic pause that emphasizes each key word.

Much joy to you in calculating strategies into the lyrics for your music!
©2014 DianaDee Osborne;  all rights reserved - BUT feel free to share with copyright info