At times in your life - you come across extreme emotional moments.

Some of those times are happy, some sad and some - somewhere in-between. But the extreme quality of the time allows vast legions of individuals to have access to something that is unexplainable - that gives them *truth* to their words or creative activity.

Real Emotion.

Real emotion can allow you to create incredible pieces of poetry. Real emotion can lend something that is intensified beyond typical writing capability. It breathes life into the  creativity that did not exist without that emotion.

For example:

You are in a perfectly happy relationship and one day, as you come home from work your partner of many years decides to leave you without any warning.


Your head is spinning - your heart is breaking - your soul is crushed. You feel like the world is ending and there is no reason to go on living.

Some people feel incredibly depressed - some turn into automatons and stop experiencing life for a little while. Some people become bitter - in fact, there are so many capable emotions that can be ascribed to such  a situation - that this is the perfect example to use...

And even though there are a lot of situations that can cause REAL EMOTION - I am choosing to use this particular situation because almost everyone has experienced a loss  like this - and can identify with it - enough so that they can comprehend the intent of this exercise.

There are a few things that you can do to harness some of those emotions and allow them to flow onto the paper (or computer screen). I will discuss two ways to tap into those emotions and allow you to create something of value - that you can  use not only to write a good piece of poetry during a very bad situation - but also to allow you to experience the situation in a different way.

EXERCISES




Example:


Now WE are going to use our words (this list is my imaginary list - you have your own list of words, of course) to create a poem.. You will use each word or grouping of words to write this poem.

Start every line with the word "I" or "MINE" or "ME" or the word "YOU" or "YOURS"

I watched your drugs drift through your life making your laziness escalate into our days.

Your Laughter let me believe your lack of responsibility would turn into your changed ways.

Your kindness to Animals gave me breath as I held on to the way you make love to me.

My vision has cleared I see your lack of caring for others allowed you to abuse your spontaneity.

Your Sense of Adventure has led you off to some wanderlust beaten path

My simple counting, Your Lack of Feeling - has made me forget Love's Math

Now this, of course, is a VERY simple explanation - it wouldn't help you for me to write a perfect example down - and my poetry style may not be YOUR style - in fact - everyone has a different style of poetry.

But... This example gives you a way to make yourself write during those trying times - it gives you a creative outlet to tap into those heavy emotions and write something out.

It hurts to think of you walking away - showing me your back as you leave.
I hurt as I try to remember the color of your eyes looking down into  mine.
The pain drifts through me, around me, enveloping me.
Making it hard to breathe
As you continue walking
The coldness of your laughter
As you said Goodbye
Leaving
When
You  were needed most.
You never turned around
Never looked back
Into the distance
Like a speck
of dust
floating
gone...........

Now - these 2 exercises can be used with ANY REAL EMOTION.

You can write when you're very happy - you can write when you're very sad.... You can write at any time - you just have to start doing it.

So...

Take a moment - if you're not going through something that is extremely emotional - try to recall a moment when you WERE in the middle of a REAL EMOTIONAL moment.

Try using those memories to allow you to try these exercises.

AND ANY TIME you find yourself faced with REAL EMOTION - don't just let it seep past you... Use it... Allow it to help shape and create your poetry...

You might find it cathartic.

And then again - you might find that you've written an amazing piece.

NOT that those two exercise pieces are amazing - but at times, amazing poetry can come of REAL EMOTION.

Until next discussion, signing off!

Lyrics Express

ca·dence

(kād'ns)    n.   pl. ca·denc·es Balanced, rhythmic flow, as of poetry or oratory.

 AND

syl·la·ble

(sĭl'ə-bəl)    n.   A unit of spoken language consisting of a single uninterrupted sound formed by a vowel, diphthong, or syllabic consonant alone, or by any of these sounds preceded, followed, or surrounded by one or more consonants. One or more letters or phonetic symbols written or printed to approximate a spoken syllable. tr.v.   syl·la·bled, syl·la·bling, syl·la·bles To pronounce in syllables.

It's ok if you don't - I can show you really quickly --- and EVEN if you do think you know what a syllable is - keep reading - because it will refresh your memory - and it WILL help you out. TRUST ME.

Ready to learn? (Or refresh for you stubborn readers)

OK - so let's teach a little hand clapping trick...

Clap your hands to the beat of words to punctuate the syllable structure of the word:

• PARTY

How many syllables was that word?

• PAR - TY

2 syllables? Yes!!!! You got it!

Now let's get deeper into it:

• Trinity Rivers

How many syllables in those two words?

• TRIN - I - TY - RIV - ERS

How many did you count? 5 did you say? Well you pass this class so far. YAY!

See how easy that really was? Yup - uhm... what does that commercial say? So easy - even a ____ can do it?


The CADENCE of the SYLLABLES  in a spoken WORD or group of spoken WORDS is probably the MOST important structure for a singer/songwriter/poet to work with.


Because it determines how many words you can comfortably put into a measured beat section of your music - that's why silly.

OK - let's say you have a verse that you want to set to music.

The MUSIC has 20 beats (think METRONOME BEATS) in a section that you want that verse to fit in.

So you want to run either 2 lines of 10 beats or 4 lines of 5 beats - (who said "huh?" back there?)

Example:

You got me going
I'm under your spell
I feel nothing now
And it's just as well

We have a total of how many syllables in that verse? 
tap tap tap... go ahead, count them... I'm waiting... 

20. 
(4 lines of 5 syllable sets of words ---- RIGHT? - is that what you got?)


Because a lot of you are out there trying to RUSH or STRETCH your syllables - to where they do NOT sound clean, perfect, easy on the ear... They sound --- ahem.... rushed or stretched.

You can rush or stretch them "SOMETIMES" but you really don't want to be doing it ALL the time.

Like a DRUMMER - do you really want to hear a drummer miss a beat or rush a beat? Nope - ya don't... Trust me... I know.


You practice.

You pretend you're back in kindergarten every single day - and you walk around counting syllables in every word that you are saying... Maybe you tap your finger on your microphone as you sing...  Maybe you count in your head... Maybe you clap your hands over every beat - or tap a pencil on the desk - IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW you count them....

AND you spend a couple of days actually forcing yourself to count out the syllables - becoming aware of them. So that it's like second nature.

Becoming AWARE of them - allows you to become MORE NATURAL at producing the right stuff when you are writing your lyrics out.

And after a day or so of practicing counting syllables- try listening to just an empty BEAT TRACK - and  try singing to it. You will find a completely different EASE come over you as you can count the beats - and put the words into it syllable perfect... It takes practice - and sometimes changing words around a little to get it right - but YOU WILL get it right...



If I never write ANYTHING ever again - this is the MOST IMPORTANT piece of ADVICE you will ever get when it comes to writing lyrics for music or poetry...  


If you do this - I promise - you will find things fit easier together. You will find yourself blending beats and words together with more ease than you can imagine. You'll learn to match rhymes in with the WHOLE sentence behind it - making more sense of what you're saying.

Listeners will be able to understand you more clearly and people will be able to work with you more easily... Because they will be able to pick up on your beat and syllable structure - and they will be able to count on your next step and placement.

This is what the BIG BOYS and BIG GIRLS don't want you to know - because it will give them competition. Or - maybe they do it naturally - and THAT is what sets them apart from the rest of the pack.

Try it - what have you got to lose?

Lyrics Express is available to help assist you with writing your song lyrics, your poetry, any form of writing... If you need any help - just ask. I like helping people - and I'm good at what I do.

Today I'm going to talk about poetry.

Oooh - excuse me... pardon me... Ahem, can I get through... (I hear it in the background as some of the audience tries to escape.)

WAIT! ---screeeeeech---- YOU LIKE MUSIC DON'T YOU?




The audience stops, dead in their tracks... and resign themselves to sitting down and listening. Good... Open receptive minds learn a hella lot more.

Take a moment to realize that POETRY - is what ALL songs really are. Poetry of music and words blended together. If you dig RAP, HipHop, Country, Rock, Choir tunes... Then you've probably read poetry or sung it out loud...

AND... If you REALLY REALLY REALLY like music on the radio and you catch yourself singing the lyrics in the shower... sounding like a howling cat in heat.... Then YOU PROBABLY are singing Poetry.

How is this possible?

Simple.

But ONE of the MOST IMPORTANT things about Poetry - especially in Lyrics - is CADENCE and RHYMING....

While not every poem rhymes - every poem has some sort of cadence.

Poetry is putting words together. And they don't always have to rhyme. Poetry eeks something from either the writer or the reader. (In your shower case... the attempting singer that you are... ahem.... remember your neighbors CAN hear you... and it's probably eeking out their anger...)

Poetry is simply this: WORDS

Usually words that mean something. Sometimes the words don't mean a lot to everyone, and sometimes the words are chaotic or flowery. Sometimes the words will tell a story - and sometimes they are just words that sound pretty (or *COOL*) together.


In that simple example you have rhyming and cadence.

Rhyming is easy to explain - the sound of end of the word or whole words sounds similar or close to another word.

However CADENCE is a little  harder to explain simply.... Cadence is the beat of the lyric or poem using syllable beat - (you know - how many syllables are in a word...) But Cadence means so much more, too.

Here's Dictionary. com definition of CADENCE:

• rhythmic flow of a sequence of sounds or words: the cadence of language.
• (in free verse) a rhythmic pattern that is nonmetrically structured.
• the beat, rate, or measure of any rhythmic movement: The chorus line danced in rapid cadence.
• the flow or rhythm of events, esp. the pattern in which something is experienced: the frenetic cadence of modern life.
• a slight falling in pitch of the voice in speaking or reading, as at the end of a declarative sentence.
• the general modulation of the voice.
• Music. a sequence of notes or chords that indicates the momentary or complete end of a composition, section, phrase, etc.

You with me so far? I'm going to discuss SYLLABLE BEAT for Cadence. I'm going to give you 2 completely ORIGINAL and RANDOM lines to demonstrate the concept of SYLLABLE beat in cadence.

Hmmmm.... uhhh ok... Dynasty... the word DYNASTY has 3 syllables. You do know what syllables are - correct?


How many syllables was that? (just so you don't have to count on your fingers, it is 10)

So you have 10 syllables going on there. So now to make this into a CADENCE and RHYMING Poem - we need to make another line that rhymes and has the same cadence:

OK - so now we have 2 lines that are RHYME and CADENCE perfect (yes... now and down are rhyming words to some degree - but that's a deeper topic and I don't want to go there in this short blurb about poetry.)

And with those 2 lines we can continue on - or we can change things  up. We can choose to maintain the strict 10 syllable cadence - or we can change it around. HOWEVER, if you do change the cadence around - you need to match it, make it "fit" so to speak.

Play with it a bit - and see what you come up with... Try MAKING it syllable Cadence perfect, and then... try  on purpose, throwing the syllable cadence out... Then LISTEN to it. See if it sounds "right" to your ears.

Poetry - while it often does NOT have  rules - the ONLY rule that matters is that it makes sense to YOU. You the writer.

Your favorite singer who either wrote their own lyrics or had someone write them - had to use CADENCE and POSSIBLY RHYMING in order to create their song lyrics... So that it could match a beat or music composition. When you listen to other people's songs, you'll find that cadence plays a very big part of it.

A small trick in the music industry for people who find it hard to write cadence perfect poetry (lyrics) is to stretch the voice longer - or to sing things quicker. Keep that in mind when you listen to your next couple of songs... The people who "naturally" have cadence can "flow" better than those who have to stretch or shorten the words... Trust me on this... It's a little known secret.

So now you've learned something...

Go back to your shower.... Start singing and yes... start counting syllables on your fingers. You will be surprised at what you just learned. And you'll be shampooing your head while you start thinking that all this "POETRY" stuff ain't so bad - after all.


If you need any poetry written for you - Lyrics written - or articles Written - Lyrics Express has Services that can be obtained by using the  CONTACT link at the top.