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.