Songwriter

A songwriter is someone who writes, in part or in full, the lyrics to songs, the musical composition or melody to songs, or both. That is to say, a songwriter is a lyricist, a composer, or both. The word 'songwriter' is however more commonly used to describe one who writes popular songs than to describe a writer of art songs.

Parameters a songwriter has to keep in mind when writing a new song

Song Genre and instrumentation

One of the basic things a songwriter has to decide is the genre of the song that he is writing. This will decide the instruments that will be used while composing the melody of the song and also the style in which these instruments will be played. For example, if it's a rock song, it will have to feature an electric guitar, a bass guitar and drums and percussion as the main instruments. If it's a pop song, it could have all the rock instruments but also pianos, synthesizers, saxophones etc. A rock song in contrast, would never have its music played by pianos and banjos.

Related Topics:
Genre - Instruments - Rock - Electric guitar - Bass guitar - Drums - Percussion - Pop - Pianos - Synthesizers - Saxophones - Banjos

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Vocal range and key

When a songwriter writes a song for a specific singer, he has to keep in mind the vocal range and the key of the singer. This is because all singers have a certain vocal range and would be unable to sing a song which was outside of that range. In addition, every singer usually has a key in which his voice sounds the best or he finds the key the easiest and most comfortable to sing in. Therefore, if a song was written in this key it would be much easier for him to perform it. A singer may find it physically impossible to sing a song whose melody was outside his vocal range. And he might find a song very difficult to sing whose key was not one in which his voice is the strongest.

Related Topics:
Vocal range - Key

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Length of the song

Most songs destined for radio play have to be kept to a time limit of between 3 to 4 minutes. Any song longer than that may not be played by a radio station at all. One of the reasons for this is that if a listener did not like the song a radio station was playing and the song did not end quickly, the listener can easily change the station. By keeping down the song lengths to around 3 to 3.5 minutes, a radio station minimizes the chance of this happening.

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