<ul><li>Stores use sights, smells, sounds, and other stimuli in combination to produce particular atmospheres</li><li>In some cases, the place itself is more influential than the product itself in the purchase decision</li><li>For example, to create an upscale atmosphere, a manager might choose classical music, subdued colors, elegant perfumes, cool temperatures, sparsely displayed merchandise, and low lighting</li></ul>

Stores Are Using Music to Make You Spend More

<ul><li>Music on top of noise is just more noise.</li><li>Shoppers tend to spend less time in the store when the music is loud, and more when it is soft.</li><li>There was no statistically significant difference in the amount of money customers spent in each of these scenarios.</li><li>Music volume only affected the amount of time people spent in stores, not sales volume. So if you manage a store with limited floorspace, or run a restaurant with limited seating, the strategic use of loud(er) music might help you better manage your customer flow.</li></ul>

The Ideal Volume

<ul><li>The tempo of a store’s background music can influence both the pace of customer traffic flow and sales volume.</li><li>Fast (uptempo) music makes people move more quickly through a store, and they end up buying less.</li><li>Slow (downtempo), on the other hand, leads to slower shoppers, which in turn leads to shoppers having more time to discover and interact with more products.</li></ul>

The Tempo

<ul><li>You can fine-tune the background music of a store by paying attention to the modes of the songs you're playing.</li><li>The best tempo/mode combination for boosting sales at a supermarket: Downtempo and minor.</li><li>People buy more when there are slow sad songs playing in the background.</li></ul>

Play Slow And Sad Songs!

<ul><li>Music is not simply a generic sonic mass, but a complex chemistry of controllable elements.</li><li>What works in one store might not work in another.</li><li>The genre of music you play might end up trumping all of the quantifiable characteristics of your store's ambience.</li></ul>

The Music Genre

<ul><li>Retail soundscapes consist of more than just music.</li><li>Stores engage in audio atmospherics which go beyond songs.</li><li>White noise is perhaps the most well-known variety of this non-musical background sound.</li><li>In office settings, the sound of people talking can be heard as well.</li><li>Natural sounds like birdsong and wind can be just as effective as white noise.</li></ul>

White Noise

Come on feel the noise. Girls rock your boys. We’ll get wild, wild, wild. Wild, wild, wild!

When it comes to satisfying customer eardrums, WWB works best: Wind, water, and birdsong.Natural sounds can be just as effective as (if not more effective than) traditional options for providing ambient noise.

The End Note

The self-proclaimed wine connoisseur swaggers into the wine shop, his Italian shoes shuffling across the pristine marble floors. The ceilings are vaulted. The displays are large, immaculately clean…

Understand yourself and those around you.

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Psychology

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Marketing & Sales

music

Music

“Headphones also made the music more personal for me; it was suddenly coming from inside my head, not out there in the world."

A small minority of scientists argue that music only serves hedonic purposes – a byproduct of language and is only a pastime for us to feel pleasure. That would mean that if you eliminated all music from the world, life would just go on as if nothing happened.The majority side of scientists believes that music played a key role in our evolution and has paved the way for our human ancestors to develop speech.Music and speaking are quite similar, so it’s possible that by practicing singing and making sounds, our ancestors could have developed the skills needed to later articulate words.

Music and Evolution

How much you like a song depends mostly on how well you can predict what comes next. Great musicians play with your brain and expectations in the way that they get you to expect something, and then surprise you, before taking you back to comfortable terrain.A great song surprises you, but not too much. It balances the familiar with the unknown and therefore creates the perfect mix of comfort and excitement.

Music Is All About Expectations

While many areas of the brain light up simultaneously during music, such as your subcortical structures, auditory cortices, the hippocampus, and others, something unique happens the very first time you hear any song: a certain set of neurons fires together, and a unique, abstract, generalized imprint is created.This can then be called upon any future time you hear this song or a part of it. That’s why when studies looked at the brain waves of people when they listened to songs and compared them to when they were just imagining the song in their head, the patterns were indistinguishable.

Each Song You Hear Leaves An Imprint In Your Brain

Neuroanatomically, music is being processed in parallel by many different regions.<ul><li> If we listen to Bach, our hair cells in the cochlea parse the incoming sound into its different frequency bands.</li><li> Then, electrical signals are sent to the primary auditory cortex to inform it about which frequencies are present in the signal. </li><li>Simultaneously, regions in the temporal lobe, including the superior temporal sulcus and the superior temporal gyrus, assist in distinguishing the different timbres. </li><li>We can then label some of those timbres by retrieving the memories of similar sounds that we’ve heard before,<warningtag> using the hippocampus.</warningtag></li></ul>

Musical Activity Is Widely Distributed Across The Brain

There are 2competing theories. <ul><li>The constructivist theory argues that the brain stores relational information about objects and ideas, rather than explicit information about them. Thus, upon retrieval, we have to construct a memory representation out of these relations (e.g. pitch relations of a melody). </li><li>The competing theory is known as the record-keeping theory - most of our experiences are preserved accurately and with near-perfect fidelity. </li></ul>Ample evidence exists for both, which eventually led researchers to develop a new theory that is capable of incorporating both of its predecessors.

How We Store Musical Memories In Our Brain

“The common neural mechanisms that underlie perception of music and memory for music help to explain how it is that songs get stuck in our heads. Scientists call these ear worms, from the German Ohrwurm, or simply the stuck song syndrome.”

“Music may be the activity that prepared our pre-human ancestors for speech communication and for the very cognitive, representational flexibility necessary to become humans.”

“For the artist, the goal of the painting or musical composition is not to convey literal truth, but an aspect of a universal truth that if successful, will continue to move and to touch people even as contexts, societies and cultures change. For the scientist, the goal of a theory is to convey "truth for now"--to replace an old truth, while accepting that someday this theory, too, will ve replaced by a new "truth," because that is the way science advances.”

Our brains have mirror neurons, which are neurons that fire both when performing an action and when observing someone else performing that action.Scientists have tested this as a theory and proved that, for example, when people listened to or watched someone eat an apple, their own neurons in the mouth movement area were activated. This is the brain’s way to train and prepare the organism to make movements that it has not made before.

Mirror Neurons

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Books

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Science & Nature

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Health

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Productivity

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Time Management

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Personal Development

Music and Productivity

In this groundbreaking union of art and science, rocker-turned-neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin explores the connection between music—its performance, its composition, how we listen to it, why we enjoy it—and the human brain. Taking on prominent thinkers who argue that music is nothing more than an evolutionary accident, Levitin poses that music is fundamental to our species, perhaps even more so than language. Drawing on the latest research and on musical examples ranging from Mozart to Duke Ellington to Van Halen, he reveals: • How composers produce some of the most pleasurable effects of listening to music by exploiting the way our brains make sense of the world • Why we are so emotionally attached to the music we listened to as teenagers, whether it was Fleetwood Mac, U2, or Dr. Dre • That practice, rather than talent, is the driving force behind musical expertise • How those insidious little jingles (called earworms) get stuck in our head A Los Angeles Times Book Award finalist, This Is Your Brain on Music will attract readers of Oliver Sacks and David Byrne, as it is an unprecedented, eye-opening investigation into an obsession at the heart of human nature.

In this groundbreaking union of art and science, rocker-turned-neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin explores the connection between music—its performance, its composition, how we listen to it, why we enjoy it—and the human brain. Taking on prominent thinkers who argue that music is nothing more than an evolutionary accident, Levitin poses that music is fundamental to our species, perhaps even more so than language. Drawing on the latest research and on musical examples ranging from Mozart to Duke Ellington to Van Halen, he reveals: • How composers produce some of the most pleasurable effects of listening to music by exploiting the way our brains make sense of the world • Why we are so emotionally attached to the music we listened to as teenagers, whether it was Fleetwood Mac, U2, or Dr. Dre • That practice, rather than talent, is the driving force behind musical expertise • How those insidious little jingles (called earworms) get stuck in our head A Los Angeles Times Book Award finalist, This Is Your Brain on Music will attract readers of Oliver Sacks and David Byrne, as it is an unprecedented, eye-opening investigation into an obsession at the heart of human nature.

Daniel J. Levitin

This Is Your Brain on Music

Those listening sessions are likely making me less productive. You’re having so much more fun that you feel more productive.

The Illusion of Productivity When Listening to Music

Listen to music for 10 to 15 minutes before you start working.<ul><li>Listening to tunes you enjoy can put you in a better mood and relax you. Your brain releases the neurotransmitter dopamine, which gives you a “warm feeling of pleasure.” </li><li>You may also get a hit of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which elevates your mood and can make it easier to focus.</li></ul>

The Best Way to Listen to Music for Productivity

Unfortunately, listening to music also takes up some of your attentional capacity, meaning that if you listened to it while working, you’d have fewer resources left to direct toward the task at hand.The exception is when you’re performing tasks that are repetitive or monotonous, such as when you’re working on an assembly line or driving for long periods of time.

Music And Attentional Capacity

A Neuroscientist Explains Why You Should Stop Listening to Music While You Work

<ul><li>Music therapy is increasingly used to help patients cope with stress and promote healing.</li><li>Andrew Rossetti, a licensed music therapist in New York, uses guitar music and visualization exercises to help calm patients undergoing medical treatments.</li><li>The healing power of music - lauded by philosophers from Aristotle and Pythagoras to Pete Seeger - is now being validated by medical research.</li></ul>

Music Heals

<ul><li>Dr. Rossetti has seen increases in acute anxiety since the onset of the pandemic, making musical interventions even more impactful</li><li>Mount Sinai has expanded its music therapy program to include work with the medical staff, many of whom are suffering from post-traumatic stress from months of dealing with Covid.</li></ul>

Music Therapy

<ul><li>A growing body of research suggests that music played in a therapeutic setting has measurable medical benefits. </li><li>It can also help people deal with longstanding phobias</li><li>Music has also been used successfully to support recovery after surgery.</li><li>Some hospitals have introduced pre-recorded programs that patients can listen to with headphones.</li></ul>

Music To Quell Fear And Pain

Psychedelic Drugs: As studies explore the therapeutic value of substances like MDMA, veterans are becoming unlikely advocates for their decriminalizationVirtual Reality: A treatment using new technology to immerse patients in a simulation of a memory could help them overcome trauma.

Overcoming Trauma

Music therapy is increasingly used to help patients cope with stress and promote healing.

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Mental Health

The Healing Power of Music

If you’ve ever moved to a beat, joined in a chorus or felt your heart quicken to the lyrics of a song, you’ve felt the power of music. That power runs deep in the human experience, and the urge to dive fully into the sounds, to make those sounds and share them, is strong.Most of us had musical experiences as children, whether it was singing during religious services, taking lessons that our parents supervised, or attending music clubs in school. But playing music as an adult is different. We have pressing obligations, no supervising parents and fewer opportunities thrust upon us.

Our Relationship With Music

Those who have the desire to play often fear that they waited too long, that learning music as an adult is just too hard. But it’s never too late. People of all ages have chosen music and are prospering with it. As adults, we have learned how to learn, we value what music has to offer, and we have the patience to watch our abilities and joys compound with time. We might not learn to play as quickly as a teenager would, but we can play with feeling and nuance, and deeply appreciate those we play with.

Never Too Late

Music brings us joy. But what else can it do? It can relax us, offer us solace, and give us a creative outlet. It can deepen our emotional experience, <a href="https://makingmusicmag.com/improve-your-hearing-and-your-musicianship/">sharpen</a> our hearing, and produce <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/116/9/3793">changes</a> in our nervous systems that create a natural high. We’re able to enjoy tapping our feet to a beat because music fires up our neural systems through <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0128839">entrainment</a> – the synchronisation of one’s own rhythms to an external musical rhythm.

The Benefits of Music

Whether you approach music as a child would a playground, as a mathematician would a proof, as a painter would a canvas, or as an athlete would spring training, you can find satisfaction in your pursuit. This Guide will help you take the first steps as you choose an instrument, learn how to practise, find ways to play with others, and develop techniques to keep moving forward.Who knows where music might take you? Like all of us, you have music in your genes and in your head. Now you just need to take the next step toward music and follow the path where it leads you.

You Can Find Your Own Way to Make Music

Finding an instrument that feels right is your first step. Whether or not you’ve played one in the past, this is a good time to consider what suits you now.One approach is to follow your feelings. What instruments move you? Which ones draw you in when you’re listening to music?  Open your eyes and ears to the instruments you encounter and see if one moves you more than the others.

Choose an Instrument

Do your hands, lungs or ears constrain your options? Does your wallet? For many, getting quick results, measured in months rather than years, matters most. In the acoustic world, some instruments yield pleasing results in less time: the ukulele, the drum, the dulcimer, the autoharp, the harmonica. Electric instruments (such as the electric guitar) can be easier on the hands.Electronic instruments, such as synthesisers and drum machines, offer versatility and a quicker means of getting sounds from your head out into the world.

The Instrument Which Is Easier To Get And Use

Consider who you might be playing with, and what role you want to take on. Do you see yourself in an orchestra, a jazz band, a folk duo, a rock group, or a choir? Do you want to shine in the limelight, taking solos and basking in that glow, or do you want to support others in the group? Instruments lend themselves to some roles and genres more than others. Often people think of an instrument as a standalone object. But they really should think of it as part of an ensemble.

Your Role In The Music

A singer's body is their instrument, intimate and unique. Your voice will change with time, and how it changes is partly up to you. With the help of a voice teacher, choir director or experienced friend, you can find your voice and develop it. Then you can explore how best to share it. Many people begin with singing, and then learn an instrument to accompany their voices. Others play an instrument and realise they can learn to sing along with it.

What Singers Do

Talk to amateur and professional musicians. Read music blogs. Visit a music store. Listen to live music. Attend a music jam, where you can see how people at different skill levels play informally and improvise together. Experience instruments in different settings to open your eyes to new possibilities. And if you try one instrument and it doesn’t suit you, don’t give up. Consider it an adventure that can guide you to the next instrument, the one you’ll come to love best.

Expand And Explore

You could learn to play one chord or scale, learn the lyrics to one song, or get started on one technique. A medium-term goal might be achieved in months. You could take private or group lessons, develop calluses and muscles to extend your practice time, learn to sing in tune, expand your repertoire, or explore a new musical genre. A long-term goal is measured in years. You might aim to play comfortably with others, learn to read music or play by ear, form a band, perform in public, or record your music.

Set Goals for Yourself

As with other goals we pursue, our musical ambitions can change as we mature. A 20-year-old might hope to make a career with music or to hit it big. A 40-year-old with work deadlines and kitchen duty might be pleased to carve out a few hours a week to play. And a 70-year-old might find that learning new skills and deepening friendships is the richest reward. Your goals can change as you progress with music, too.

Our Rewards And Ambitions Change As We Age

Do you prefer the privacy of learning in a quiet corner, with no one else listening? Do you like the structure of a class with assignments and deadlines? Do you like the freedom of YouTube instruction? Do you like working with a teacher one on one, and if so, what sort of teacher helps you prosper – someone who’s gently supportive or someone who prods? Someone who is a pro at their instrument or someone who is a mentor and peer? Experiment and see what feels right for you.

Find out How You Learn Best – and What Will Keep You Going

Online teachers are now readily accessible for those who face obstacles to working with someone in person. And year-long subscriptions to mass video lessons, audio files and other materials offer a wealth of targeted information and individual feedback from working musicians.If you have self-discipline and can stay motivated without structure or deadlines, YouTube videos can take you far. You could spend a lifetime exploring online resources for singing, writing songs, playing instruments, and synthesising music.

Go Deep In The Online World

After a few weeks of practising how to hold your hands and arms or how to sing a line, you may ask yourself: ‘Isn’t there more to music than this?’ But you’re just like a toddler taking her first steps, not realising that one day those legs will take her anywhere she wants to go.So pace yourself. Plan to practise as much as you realistically can, whether it’s 15 minutes each evening or several short sessions in a day. Work your way up to longer practices, which will be easier when you’ve developed calluses or muscle strength, and can work on a wider variety of skills.

Get the Most Out Of Your Practice

There are many learning resources focused on how to practise. Here are a few basics to get you going:<ul><li>include warm-ups to prepare you mentally and physically;</li><li>learn scales, which lay the foundation for understanding how to play a melody line or improvise;</li><li>play slowly while learning a piece to help you play it cleanly;</li><li>focus on sections that give you trouble rather than playing an entire piece repeatedly;</li><li>practise in shorter and more frequent sessions for best results; and</li><li>incorporate mental practice into your routine (here’s why and how).</li></ul>

Learning Tips

When we’re new to an instrument and fumbling to make satisfying sounds, it’s more comfortable to make them in private. But some teachers argue that playing with others early is the key to learning and to sticking with it. Why? Because you’ll learn what you need to work on, experience moments of connection that keep you going, meet people who can help you, as well as get inspired and avoid the rut that can come from exclusively playing by yourself.

Find Others To Play With

Music stores and centres commonly offer group classes that focus on different instruments and genres. Community orchestras often cultivate newcomers. Many churches, synagogues and other places of worship bring their congregants together with music and welcome members to sing, chant or play instruments during services. You can find local jams in both rural and urban areas through online platforms like Meetup, and it’s easy to play quietly at the beginning as you learn how to play by ear.

Resources for Finding Others Abound

Camps offer different genres, levels and learning styles, whether the focus is on jazz, folk, roots, bluegrass, orchestra, rock, singing, songwriting or other subjects. But no matter which camp you attend, you’ll be offered camaraderie, meals, late-night jams, concerts, inspiring teachers who might be the best in their genre, and a big boost of musical adrenaline.

Joining A Music Camp

It’s never too late to play an instrument or learn to sing. Take the leap from listener to maker in the way that suits you

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Learning & Education

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Entertainment

How to start making music | Psyche Guides

"So wake me up when it's all over, when I'm wiser and I'm older, all this time I was finding myself and I, didn't know I was lost."Wake Me Up

Tim Bergling, "Avicii" 1989-2018. He was just ten years older than me. People shouldn't die this young.

"Hey brother, there's an endless road to rediscover."Hey Brother

Avicii was an inspiration. I wouldn't be listening to EDM if it weren't for him.

"It's not too late, it's not too late, I see the hope in your heart."Broken Arrows

I wish I could've gone to one of your shows. Meeting you would've been awesome. You may be gone, but your music lasts forever, and I'll never stop listening to it.

"Oh, sometimes, I get a good feeling."Levels

Avicii's music makes me feel better. It gives me a good feeling.

"I'm gonna tear this city down without you, I'm going Bonnie & Clyde without you."Without You

The world has to go on without you, and so do I. It was such an honor to remix one of your songs. And I've got a feeling your songs will be making appearances in my mash-ups for years to come.

"...Thursday waiting for love, waiting for love. Thank the stars it's Friday..."Waiting For Love

Last night, 4/19, I randomly got the song "Waiting for Love" in my head. Then today, 4/20, I find out the creator of that song has died at age 28. Life is crazy.

Avicii's songs easily number among my favorites of all time. There's something about his music that's just joyful, whether you listen to EDM or not. We lost a titan of the music world today, and I will always remember you.

"One day you'll leave this world behind, so live a life you will remember."The Nights

Yesterday marked the 4-year anniversary of the death of Tim Bergling, more widely known as Avicii, a producer, songwriter and DJ and a pioneer in the Electronic Dance Music industry. These are some of my thoughts I posted on Instagram that day back in 2018, four years ago.

motivationandinspiration

Motivation & Inspiration

AVICII FOREVER: In Memoriam

Music often feels like it is part of our subconscious. It is constantly playing in the background, at the coffee shop, in the elevator, and working from home. In 2017, Nielsen estimated that Americans spend over 32 hours a week on average listening to music. It's then not a surprise that we remember music and can easily recall lyrics and melodies.

Why we can recall music 

Many of us can hear music in our minds, named musical or auditory imagery. It can happen voluntarily, such as thinking about a song, or it can happen involuntarily - when the song pops into your mind without you trying to recall any music, called an earworm. About 90% of people have an earworm once a week and a third of people have an earworm once a day. Those who engage with music more often experience more earworms.

Earworms

<ul><li>One reason why music has become so intertwined with how we express and comfort ourselves is because listening to music releases dopamine in the brain.</li><li>Music awakens our memory. When we can identify pieces of music, we can bring back memories associated with the music.</li><li>Music can also have an emotional impact. Even if you identify a short piece of music, you have a musical imagery experience that triggers the memory of the whole piece of music and its associated memories. </li></ul>

Music represents who we are, how we feel, and what we remember

Psychologists say it's no surprise that we have such a strong memory for music and can easily recall lyrics and melodies, even if we haven’t heard them in years.

Why We Remember Music and Forget Everything Else

Even if we want to hear music all day, it is important to know the effects that has.

How to protect your ears with an Iphone?

No more than 5 hours each day at 80 dB.No more than 2 hours per day at 85 dB.No more than 30 minutes per day at 90 dB.No more than 15 minutes per day at 95 dB.No more than 3-5 minutes each day at 100 dB.

Required rates

There's also an additional 'Reduce Loud Sounds' feature under the 'Headphone Safety' menu that iPhone users can enable. Once the toggle is switched on, they can drag the slider and filter out any sound that is over their chosen decibel level threshold.

Solution propsed by the article 

I read this article about protecting ears with a new update from IOs system.Hope it can help you.

Loud audio levels can cause hearing damage and iPhone's 'Headphone Notifications' reminds users to turn down the volume when appropriate.

Protect Your Hearing By Enabling Headphone Notifications On iPhone

Music. Vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion. 68% of adults aged between 18 and 34 years old reported listening to music every day, and the majority of their older peers also enjoyed music with the same regularity. music is to feed our souls, but sometimes, short pieces of music can stuck in our ears or our heads, repeating itself over and over until you wish to tear your ears out. It’s Called an Earworm . But why? how do songs get stuck to your head, and more importantly… How do we get rid of them?

Let's Begin

Earworm, Sticky song syndrome, or most commonly Involuntary Musical Imagery (INMI). At best, it means that the song is catchy. At worst, it means replaying over and over until you get annoyed of that song. The word “Earworm” is a calque from the german word “Ohrwurm” which means the exact same thing.Over 90% of people are plagued by earworms once a week, and 23% experience them several times a day, most of them are either singers or music producers. Live music is more likely to stay in your head than recorded music, because it includes some visual elements that could help you remember the song

Earworm…???

again whenever you encounter these elements again.When we listen to a song, it triggers a part of the brain called The auditory cortex, which makes the listener automatically fills the rest of the song, and to have that song in their mind they had to scratch that part of the brain so the song repeats itself over and over, here… earworm occurs.Researcher Vicky Williamson says that our brains could also be triggered by experiences that trigger the memory of a song, it’s called the involuntary memory,

Why do we have Earworms?

such as seeing a word that reminds one of the song, hearing a few notes from the song, or feeling an emotion one associates with the song, all these may lead you to remember the song but in a way that shocks our brains so it gets stuck in our heads for a period of time.

Musicologist Dr. Alison Pawley and psychologist Dr. Daniel Mullensiefen out at the University of London have done researches on what makes a song catchy, their conclusion was that there are four traits that make a song catchy:<ol><li>Longer and detailed musical phrases . The breath a vocalist takes as they sing a line is crucial to creating a sing-along-able tune. The longer a vocal in one breath, the more likely we are to sing along.</li><li>A Higher number of pitches in the chorus hook . The more sounds there are, the more infectious a song becomes. </li></ol>

A Catchy song

Combining longer musical phrases and a hook over three different pitches was found to be key to sing-along success.4. Male vocalists . Singing along to a song may be a subconscious war cry, tapping into an inherent tribal part of our consciousness. Psychologically we look to men to lead us into battle, so it could be in our intuitive nature to follow male-fronted songs. 5. Higher male voices with noticeable vocal effort . This indicates high energy and purpose, particularly when combined with a smaller vocal range (Freddie Mercury of Queen and Jon Bon Jovi).

Sometimes, earworms can be annoying, not the song but that non stopping repetition. Well… earworms usually disappear by itself, but a few techniques have been found to help.<ol><li>Listen to the whole song. Since earworms are usually only a fragment of music, playing all the song would stop the process of auto-completing the song and therefore getting rid of the earworm</li><li>Replace it with another piece of music. I know this isn’t an efficient solution, you just replaced an earworm by another, but at least it’s a new tune XD. </li></ol>

How to get rid of earworms?

3. Chew gum! Chewing gum activates the motor cortex , which is used when you imagine music, almost as if you are imagining what it feels like to sing the song out loud. Chewing gum interferes with this process.4. Play puzzles (Sudoku, Chess, Anagrams…), Scientists found that engaging memory in difficult work is an effective way of stopping earworms and reducing their recurrence.

Music. Vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion. 68% of adults aged between 18 and 34 years old reported…

Why is that song stuck in my head?

If I'm not passionate about it, I can't write it. I can't fake it.

To write a song, you'll have to get a hold of the typical framework. Like people, songs come in all shapes, colours and sizes but commercially it is quite certain that a good song would contain: <ul><li>Verse 1</li><li>(optional: Pre-chorus) Chorus</li><li>Verse 2</li><li>(optional: Pre-chorus) Chorus</li><li>Bridge</li><li>Chorus</li></ul>For creativity's sake, it isn't necessary to conform to this structure, there are a variety of structures to choose from. But being a songwriter, you'll have to organise your song in such a way that it fits well. If you're new to songwriting, this structure should be a good start.

Basics

Before you start, you'll have to have a topic in mind. Although I've made songs from merely having a melody stuck in my head or finding a chord progression to write around, it needed to make senseThere are plenty of nonensical lyrics in songs that end up being hits but you'll have to remember that it's always better if the song has authenticity to it's creator. When you write a song coming from a real place, you are able to connect to the listeners much better.Find a topic that interests/ inspires you. If you have writer's block, you can find ideas on the internet to get you started.

The Core

How to find inspiration?I have a practice of keeping a note of any interesting melody I hum and get hooked on to. I even record things such as, an innovative painting, a beautiful idiom, poetry or contronyms.The note app on your phone is an easy and accessible way to keep track and note your ideas before it fades away from memory.Inspiration can come from unexpected places, so keep searching for it. If you wait for it to just come hit you like a ton of bricks, there's a higher chance that it's not going to happen.Take a break, but always come back and search for a new perspective to look form

Inspiration

First,sit back and think about your approach.<ol><li>Would you want it to be sad, happy, angry or any other emotion?</li><li>Would you want it to be a pop, rock, metal, hip-hop, indie, etc. song?</li><li>Would you rather have it change the emotion into something completely different, or stay the same throughout?</li><li>Who's perspective are you writing from?</li><li>Do you want to end it abruptly or do you want to give it some closure?</li></ol>You don't have to have answers for these questions right away because during the process, you're bound to make some changes. Just beware of these questions so it doesn't sound off-topic when you're done.

Game Plan

Hooks are the addictive part of the song. The part that makes your song memorable. Usually hooks are the titles of the song.They can either be a melody or a lyric (most probably the title)It's always good to start the song by thinking of a great hook. Some good hooks are: aliterations, contradictory words, just one word (which is super popular right now), double meaning words, unexpected word combinations, a juicy punchline or an interesting/poetic words.Eg: Be Brave, Live and let die, etc.After you find a good hook, you're ready to start the process.

Hooks

Before working on the lyrics, find a good melody for your verses, pre-choruses, chorus and bridge. If you can't play an instrument or chords, there are a few backing tracks available on YouTube or other sources to help you craft a song around it.Melody first. Lyrics later.

Melody

From personal experience, I've come across three groups to choose from:<ul><li>A song from your perspective, about something you went through</li><li>A song from a third-person perspective about something you went through</li><li>A story song - includes vivid imagery and a classic story plot</li><li>A song from observation - write about something you observed</li><li>A song on social problems - eg: bullying, gender discrimination, etc</li></ul>This will be helpful to write your first song, choose a category that interests you most.Figure out what YOU want it to sound like to a listener. Then, jot down the structure. Don't worry about rhyming yet.

What Do YOU Want It To Be?

Once you've got some words to work with, start rhyming.Some songs didn't have many rhymes but attracted the public, but until we're stinking famous to be able to do whatever we want... We need to follow atleast some rhyming schemes:<ul><li>AABB</li><li>ABAB</li><li>ABCB</li><li>AAAA</li><li>AABCCB</li></ul>You can change the structure of the song after each part like: a verse can have the ABAB scheme and the chorus could have a ABCB scheme. It's good to switch it up.TIP #1: A good tip I've come to realise is to only use assonancesIt is a type of soft rhyme where only the vowel sounds match, not the consonants.TIP #2: Use multisyllable rhyming.

Rhyming

Phrasing means timingMake sure your words sound on time in the verses or any other places you change your words.Always remember that your chorus is the main part of your song, so it almost never changes lyrics. This is because a chorus is the part of the song that people sing along to, repetition is key.A good method to verify your phrasing is by counting the syllables in your verses and make sure the number is same for each corresponding line.For eg:Feeling good ( 3 syllables)Just (1 syllable)Like I should (3 syllables)Yeah (1 syllable)You can use throw away words to help: but, cuz, yeah

Phrasing

Now, you're good to go. Do some research and listen to different song structures and keep a mental note of how it worksIt's time to weave and piece it together, this is where you get bring your creativity to the table make edits, make changes, make it true to YOU. Even though I've talked alot about things that appeal to listeners, at the end of the day... The song is yours. If the song doesn't sound good to you, approach it with a new perspective another day until it does. Your song is a personification of you. So unless you're happy with the outcome, keep working on it.

Stack It Up

Cadence is the end of the song. It is an important part of song writing because closure is what gives us fulfillment. I do recommend ending it round circle, with something you said in the verse or a melody you used in the verse. It gives the listener a feeling of nostalgia and satisfaction.

Cadence

Songs are a great outlet of emotions. Our emotions can be expressed simply by words but when you add music to the equation, you bring a whole new dimension to emotion that is more easily understood.Whatever I've said so far can be applied for commercial songwriting but it's always nice to write songs as therapy or as a mental well-being activity. Even the most depressing words can sound beautiful when you give it melody.I hope this guide was helpful. Let me know how your first time songwriting, went. Till we meet again

Conclusion

Here's a small guide to the world of songwriting from my personal experience as a passionate songwriter. Get inspired and write away!

How to write a song

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