Comments on: How Contemporary Songs Are Different; Part 2: Melody

By: Tony Conniff

Tony Conniff — Mon, 30 Jan 2017 03:45:44 +0000

In reply to Charity James.

Thanks for reading and writing, Charity!
Will check out the book.
Best wishes,
Tony

By: Tony Conniff

Tony Conniff — Mon, 30 Jan 2017 03:45:13 +0000

In reply to Daniel A Weiss.

Great points; thanks, Dan!
Best wishes,
Tony

By: Charity James

Charity James — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 22:13:46 +0000

Great breakdown, Tony! Interesting book on the phenom is The Song Machine. Talks about why everything sounds like a nursery rhyme or a high school cheer.
Cheers!

By: Daniel A Weiss

Daniel A Weiss — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 05:12:28 +0000

Hey Tony,

I think your observations are spot on, but I personally find this style of writing insufferably boring. I’m done listening 16 bars in. That repetition thing over the drum loop.., please lord, let this phase in pop music history end. I like Sheeran a lot, when he’s not doing that.

Some will say that I’ve turned into my father but would argue that,citing
the extreme popularity of the music from the Broadway show, Hamilton. Lin Manuel (and Alex Lacamoire in no small part) literately created a synthesis of rap and pop, incorporating compelling lyrics, ferocious grooves, and accessible but not simplistic chord patterns. I hope writers will find it and things like it inspiring. I feel strongly that the pop genre really needs to aim the bar higher and return to being more harmonically satisfying, beyond the clever rhymes and machine-played grooves.
And now I’ll duck!

Daniel

By: Tony Conniff

Tony Conniff — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:20:53 +0000

In reply to Ina May Wool.

Ina,
Great to hear from you; thanks for the encouraging words.
Best wishes,
Tony

By: Tony Conniff

Tony Conniff — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:20:14 +0000

In reply to Scott Forman.

Thank you, Scott, for reading and writing!
Best wishes,
Tony

By: Ina May Wool

Ina May Wool — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 17:22:32 +0000

Excellent series, Tony! Thanks for this.

By: Scott Forman

Scott Forman — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 16:03:44 +0000

Tony – you are right on the money with this. Its happening in Pop and also in Country. The groove chugs along with the same chords repeating
but the big difference in the verse and the chorus is the melodies and the phrasings. Ed Sheerans song only has a couple of production things that make it sound more like a chorus but essentially its the same groove all along.