Don't put music in a box.

I got asked the other day, “what is the proper way to compose a song?”

As I prepared to give them the most sophisticated, precise answer, I stopped myself.  This is what I told him.

“Honestly, there’s no rule.  The beautiful thing about music is that you can do a song with multiple breakdowns, a lot of choruses, extra verses, and if it is exactly what you felt then you did a good job.   Mainstream structure of  Intro, Verse, Chorus, Verse Chorus, Bridge, Chorus, Conclusion, is not a formula to music.  I can have a song with one chord and sing to you the most beautiful melody and have the same impact as a full structure song.  Do not put music in a box.” With that being said, I don’t think structured music is worse than “experimental” music. What I’m saying is that art is open to interpretation. I heard a song the other day that was 24 minutes long. Should you have structure? Maybe but it’s not a necessity to create.  

I believe we all want to have structure in our lives and the idea for western music and the way pop music is composed is not a bad thing, but I challenge it with my way of my way of thinking. The true essence of creativity is openness of your interpretation. So, although there can be a structure I believe music and art is limitless. If you are looking for more of a structured answer, I will go over that in the days to come.

Music can contain many variables like solos, bridges, verses… however there is no 1 way to make music.  In the next weeks I will be breaking down different songs and showing you what a bridge, pre-bridge, pre-chorus, etc are.

UNEAK