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What is a song and why is it so??

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rattley:
Greetings!!

What is a song?  Are there any real rules? How much music theory is involved, if any?    I ask because lately every song I hear I analyze it in my mind as to its structure.  Could that song be done well on an arranger?  And.....could I do it?


So many songs try to fit into such similar patterns..........

Intro - Variations 1 thru 4 - Ending

The variations start out with minimal accompaniment and progress adding more accompaniment and perhaps volumes as the song plays.  When did we start using this type of template for song creation and why?   


A long time ago when arrangers only had 2 variations most of the songs I remember playing sounded so repetitive you knew it was done on an arranger.  When 4 variations came into play it made things sound much more realistic, but only to a point.  Does the song make the style?  Or, does the style make the song?  When I start repeating variations in a song I try to be aware and make changes to the accompaniment to not be as repetitive. Removing  or changing a voice or two makes the style sound less busy.  What do you do to keep from sounding repetitive?  What tricks can you share??  -charley

DrakeM:
Hi Charley

I thought I knew the answer but I looked it up on the internet (and I was correct in my thinking).

Song:
A brief composition written or adapted for singing.
The act or art of singing.

But I bet you want to know how to make an instrumental tune interesting.

I can only suggest that you check for popular instrumental covers on YouTube and build your style as close to what you hear a successful person has done with the song. Try to copy a pro sound and if you fall a bit short, it will still sound pretty good to most people.  ;)

Drake

BogdanH:
hi charley

--- Quote from: rattley on March 12, 2024, 02:22:11 AM ---What is a song?  Are there any real rules? How much music theory is involved, if any?    I ask because lately every song I hear I analyze it in my mind as to its structure.  Could that song be done well on an arranger?  And.....could I do it?
--- End quote ---
I think certain things in music are difficult to explain because it has to do with human perception, mood, cultural environment, how much sense for music someone has, our age, etc. -and that is what defines the rules.
Similar as you, when I hear some song/music that I like (that catch my interest, so to speak), I start to analyze it in my head and try to find out how to transfer it into arranger.
Can I do it? If I really like the song, then I usually can ...or I will learn how to do it during creation. But as I found out, that's not the right question.. right question is: will I be able to play that song?
The thing is, we only have two hands and many times that's not enough to imitate several musicians: playing on splitted keybed, changing chords, changing voices, executing pads at the right time, ...not to mention, that we can't afford mistakes if variations consists of several bars.
I also realized that not every song is suited for playing on arranger. Many songs are great mainly because of singers voice and the way how (s)he sing it. And no matter how perfect style we make, we will not able to present that with arranger. I've created quite a few such styles and in the middle of the process I realized that it will sound... boring -and I deleted it.


--- Quote ---The variations start out with minimal accompaniment and progress adding more accompaniment and perhaps volumes as the song plays.  When did we start using this type of template for song creation and why?   

--- End quote ---
It's because preset styles are made that way. They serve for demonstration only -they're not song specific. Not everyone is able or interested to make custom styles and so they just use what's there -it becomes kinda boring over the time, though.


--- Quote ---...When 4 variations came into play it made things sound much more realistic, but only to a point.

--- End quote ---
Here comes my wish that I expressed a while ago: we need more than only four variations! -your conclusion confirm that my wish has it's place.


--- Quote ---...What do you do to keep from sounding repetitive?

--- End quote ---
Well, I don't play gigs for audience (except few youtube videos) and so I can only share my thoughts on how to avoid repetitions:
Each song must have distinctly different rhythm pattern in style. That doesn't necessary mean that every style must be totally different in it's core. Many times it's enough if we only change bass and/or padding pattern, to make song sounding quite differently. What I'm saying is, a style must sound interesting enough if we use three (max four) channels only. For example, drums, bass and (guitar, piano, etc.) padding.
Most songs can be performed with a style that has only length of one bar in all variations... which sounds very boring if we use such styles for all our songs.

Just sharing my thoughts,
Bogdan

mikf:
When you ask what is a song, I think you are really asking what makes a good song. And the answer is that it can be anything. It can be the melody, the harmony ( what people refer to as the chord progression), the  rhythm, the arrangement, the lyrics, or some combination of all of them.
Sometimes songs stand up well against very simple, fairly repetitive or unobtrusive accompaniment, but more often than not when making a great recording the total arrangement is important to enhancing the full experience.
Frankly, it’s silly to think a style - no matter how good or how many variations- can substitute for a great overall, free flowing, arrangement. Styles are meant to provide a decent substitute for live playing, and when well, chosen work well for that. And in some cases custom styles can be quite close. But they can never compete with work of a talented arranger.
I find though that you can make quite good arrangements on the arranger keyboard by using a basic style to set the foundation, then adding in multi tracks to complete the arrangement.
If you are wondering though if someone could use styles to inspire an original composition, then I believe people do that all the time. How good it is though, depends on their talent level,
Mike

DerekA:
If you need more than  4 variations, the workaround is to use 2 styles and use the registration bank to switch the styles at the right point. Then use more than one registration bank if you need to, named so that pressing Reg+ brings the second one up.

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