SW 1 Week 5

1. SONGWRITING 1
Week 5

2. LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of today’s session, students will be able to:
1. Utilise various rhyming techniques to evoke emotion in a
song
2. Find family rhymes
3. Define the difference between additive/subtractive rhymes
4. Define the difference between assonance/consonance rhymes

3. REVIEW
➤ Five elements of structure:
➤ number of lines
➤ length of lines
➤ rhythm of lines
➤ rhyme scheme
➤ rhyme type

4. Stable Unstable

5. Stable Unstable
➤ Even number of lines
➤ Lines of equal length
➤ Odd number of lines
➤ Lines of unequal length

6. PROSODY!

7. RHYMING TECHNIQUES
➤ End-line rhymes create a roadmap for your ear
➤ The rhyme scheme creates expectations for the listener that
you can either resolve, or not.
Stable Unstable

8. RHYME THESE LINES:
Once upon a time
There lived a rusty __________
Susan had a little pig
It liked to eat, it liked to _________
Here we go round the mulberry bush
Looking for berries to turn into ______

9. RHYME SCHEME
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe
Catch a tiger by the toe
Mary had a little lamb
Fleece was white as snow
And everywhere that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go
a
a
x
b
x
b

10. Rhyme scheme tells us when to stop and when to go:

11. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe
Goes the little song
Stable Unstable

12. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe
Goes the little song
Catch a tiger by the toe
And drop him at the gong
Stable Unstable

13. Mary had a little lamb
Fleece was white as snow
And everywhere that Mary went
She sold the lamb to pay the rent
Stable Unstable

14. ACTIVITY
➤ Take this verse as a starting point
➤ Adjust the verse to have the following rhyme schemes:
a
a
a
a
a
b
b
a
x
x
a
a
x
x
x
x

15. ➤ Tips: Look at the verse in context: what’s the song about?
➤ Stable or unstable?

16. Every night I’m lying in bed
Holding you close in my dreams
Thinkin’ about all the things that you said
And comin’ apart at the seams
(Eagles - Best of my love)

17. ➤ Perfect rhyme
➤ Family rhyme
➤ Additive rhyme
➤ Subtractive rhyme
➤ Assonance rhyme
➤ Consonance rhyme

18. PERFECT RHYME
1. The syllable’s vowel sounds are the same
2. The consonant sounds after the vowels (if any) are the same.
3. The sound before the vowel sounds are different
A lovely day to have some fun
Hit the beach, get some sun

19. FAMILY RHYME
1. The syllables vowel sounds are the same
2. The consonant sounds after the vowels belong to the same
phonetic families
3. The sounds before the vowels are different
A lovely day to have some fun
Hit the beach, bring the rum

20. RHYME TYPE

21. ADDITIVE
1. The syllables vowel sounds are the same
2. One of the syllables add extra consonants after the vowel
3. The sounds before the vowels are different
A lovely day to have some fun
Hit the beach, get some lunch

22. SUBTRACTIVE
1. The syllables vowel sounds are the same
2. One of the syllables add extra consonants after the vowel
3. The sounds before the vowels are different
Hit the beach and get some lunch
A lovely day, have some fun

23. ASSONANCE
1. The syllables vowel sounds are the same
2. The consonants after the vowels are unrelated
3. The sounds before the vowels are different
A lovely day to have some fun
Hit the beach, fall in love

24. CONSONANCE
1. The syllables vowel sounds are unrelated
2. The consonants after the vowels are the same
3. The sounds before the vowels are different
A lovely day to have some fun
Hit the beach, bring it on

25. Stable Unstable

26. ➤ Expanding your rhyming possibilities accomplishes three
things:
➤ It increases the possibility of saying what you mean (and
still rhyming) greatly
➤ It guarantees the rhyme will not be predictable or cliche
➤ It allows you control how stable or unstable the rhyme
feels, allowing you to support or create emotion through
rhyme

27. ACTIVITY
➤ Choose a couplet or verse from a song that you like
➤ Make sure it has a perfect rhyme in the rhyme scheme
➤ Alter this rhyme - change to family, additive/subtractive,
assonance/consonance.

28. SONG 2
➤ Requirements
➤ Draft due week 8