I have liked baking ever since I was a little girl. Not in a career sense, or even a serious hobby sense. I just like to cook food when I'm hungry. I can't cook a lot, and I can't cook anything fancy. I can cook some pasta dishes, pies, cakes, and cookies, I'm really good at making cookies. My favorite type of cookie to make is chocolate chip. There's a certain way you have to make the cookies, that makes them taste the best.
Step one, start mixing the sugars, butter, vanilla, and eggs together with a wooden spoon. After a few minutes finish mixing them with your hands, but make sure to wash your hands first. Once that is all mixed together add the flour, baking soda and salt. Once again mix with a wooden spoon, and finish with your hands. Pinch off a tiny piece of dough, the size of your finger tip, and squish it between your fingers, if you vaguely feel the crunch of the sugar and salt then you can stop mixing. If you can't mix everything together with your hands and the spoon, then use a beater on medium.
Step two, adding the chocolate chips, preferably Hershey's chocolate chips. A 12oz bag should be emptied into the cookie dough. Then use the wooden spoon to mix the chocolate chips in with the dough. Don't use your hands because the heat of your skin, mixed with the heat from the fiction will cause the chocolate chips to start to melt. Mix the chips in with the dough with the wooden spoon, (I can't stress that enough), for about 5 minutes. You should be able to look at the mixture and see no chip-free spaces.
Step three, placing and baking. Use a small dinner spoon to make the perfect sized cookies. Scoop up enough dough onto the spoon to cover it, but not too much that it's more than a few centimeters high off the spoon. Place the lumps of dough about a half inch away from each other on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with a light layer of cookie oil. The oven should be preheated to between 350 and 400 degrees. Place the cookie sheet or sheets onto the middle rack in the oven. Check the cookies after about 15 minutes, stick a tooth pick in the middle of a cookie that is in the middle of the cookie sheet. If the tooth pick goes in easily and pulls out clean, the cookies are done. If the tooth pick comes out with anything other than just melted chocolate then leave the cookies in the oven and check them every 5 minutes until the tooth pick comes out clean.
Now that the cookies are done you can enjoy soft chocolate cookies that aren't burnt on the bottom, but aren't still raw and gooey in the center. If you happen to have any pecans, walnuts, or anything like that, you can mix those into the recipe as well. Just be sure that you only use 6oz of chocolate chips and 6oz of whatever nuts you put in. Or, if you don't happen to have any chocolate chip, and you're too lazy to go and buy some, but happen to have either peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, or m&m's, you can substitute those for the chocolate chips. Or if you can't eat chocolate, or aren't in the mood for it, the butterscotch chips taste the best.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Practice Final: Public Speaking
I've never been a fan of public speaking, but it never was a big problem until I reached high school. My first disastrous meeting with public speaking in high school was during my junior year in high school. My history teacher was pretty much obsessed with torturing every student in some way. His room soon became my personal hell as every day we were subjected to endless amounts of notes and a deep monotone voice that read them off of a power point. Our final was supposed to be a power point presentation about an organization from the Vietnam war era. I finished my power point a week before the date of presentations and wrote up a whole speech on note cards and proceeded to practice my speech every day for the whole week. By the morning of my presentation day I could pretty much read my whole speech without the cards. Our presentations had to be timed about 12 minutes, and when I had rehearsed at home, I was timed perfectly at 12 minutes. When I got up in front of my class to present, I began to sweat and shake. My whole presentation was about 10 minutes long because I talked faster than I had when practicing and I didn't read a long quote that I had put in as a way to make the presentation longer. All together my teacher had said it was a good presentation though it was shorter than he had wanted. I knew that once I got to college I would have to do a lot of public speaking, so I thought about what exactly scared me about public speaking.
The biggest thing that scares me is that someone will laugh at me. That they will find my whole presence absurd, and that they won't be able to control themselves. I know that there is only a slim chance of this happening in front of me, and if they laugh at me behind my back, it really isn't a problem. But this thought it always at the front of my mind, and I have luckily found one technique that helps me, a bit, to get over this fear. If I look at every person in the audience and focus on one thing about them that I found funny, I would feel a little better. Just knowing that I would be able to laugh at them if they laughed at me helped boost my confidence a bit. It's not a very nice way to cope, and it isn't very respectful, but I figure that if they laugh at me, they aren't being very respectful either.
The second thing that scares me, is that I'll forget a large portion of my presentation or speech. Even though I practice for hours a day, for many days before my speech, the second I get in front of people, I feel like I forget everything for a second. The facts always come back to me right after I get up there, but I often forget some points that I wanted to make. I always kick myself when I finish because I realize that a very interesting fact was left out. I know that no one will ever know this, unless I tell someone, and I know that most people really wouldn't care either. It still bother's me though, because I feel like my teacher knows so much about the topic, that they'll call me out on the few thing that I forget to mention. This has never happened, and I know that most teachers wouldn't say anything in front of other student's anyways, but it still sits their in my mind, mocking me silently.
The last thing that scares me is that I will mess up the pronunciation of words, or mix some words together. This actually happens a lot, and I am normally able to simply back track and say the word over again without it looking like I really care. But inside I'm dying of humiliation, I feel like it makes me look illiterate and not as intelligent as the other people in my class. I know that most people don't care, it happens to pretty much everyone when they speak out loud, your brain moves faster than your mouth and vocal chords. But for some reason it's a big deal to me, and it makes me feel self conscious about how I speak. I often mix up my words when I'm just talking to my friends at school, and no one cares, we laugh about it and keep talking. But when I speak publicly, it shakes me to the core.
So it's obvious that I have never been good at public speaking. Speaking to people I don't know at concerts and open houses? Not a problem, but speaking in front of large groups of people I don't know, and even large groups of people I do know, is pretty much impossible. I stutter, I clam up, and I feel bile rise up into my esophagus. I have found some ways that help make it easier, but I doubt that I will ever feel at home while publicly speaking. I will never enjoy public speaking, and I will never be able to help other people be comfortable with public speaking, But it's human nature to have one thing that makes you uncomfortable. I try not to worry about public speaking too much, and I rehearse for days before a presentation, but no matter what, I always feel nervous before and during a public speech.
The biggest thing that scares me is that someone will laugh at me. That they will find my whole presence absurd, and that they won't be able to control themselves. I know that there is only a slim chance of this happening in front of me, and if they laugh at me behind my back, it really isn't a problem. But this thought it always at the front of my mind, and I have luckily found one technique that helps me, a bit, to get over this fear. If I look at every person in the audience and focus on one thing about them that I found funny, I would feel a little better. Just knowing that I would be able to laugh at them if they laughed at me helped boost my confidence a bit. It's not a very nice way to cope, and it isn't very respectful, but I figure that if they laugh at me, they aren't being very respectful either.
The second thing that scares me, is that I'll forget a large portion of my presentation or speech. Even though I practice for hours a day, for many days before my speech, the second I get in front of people, I feel like I forget everything for a second. The facts always come back to me right after I get up there, but I often forget some points that I wanted to make. I always kick myself when I finish because I realize that a very interesting fact was left out. I know that no one will ever know this, unless I tell someone, and I know that most people really wouldn't care either. It still bother's me though, because I feel like my teacher knows so much about the topic, that they'll call me out on the few thing that I forget to mention. This has never happened, and I know that most teachers wouldn't say anything in front of other student's anyways, but it still sits their in my mind, mocking me silently.
The last thing that scares me is that I will mess up the pronunciation of words, or mix some words together. This actually happens a lot, and I am normally able to simply back track and say the word over again without it looking like I really care. But inside I'm dying of humiliation, I feel like it makes me look illiterate and not as intelligent as the other people in my class. I know that most people don't care, it happens to pretty much everyone when they speak out loud, your brain moves faster than your mouth and vocal chords. But for some reason it's a big deal to me, and it makes me feel self conscious about how I speak. I often mix up my words when I'm just talking to my friends at school, and no one cares, we laugh about it and keep talking. But when I speak publicly, it shakes me to the core.
So it's obvious that I have never been good at public speaking. Speaking to people I don't know at concerts and open houses? Not a problem, but speaking in front of large groups of people I don't know, and even large groups of people I do know, is pretty much impossible. I stutter, I clam up, and I feel bile rise up into my esophagus. I have found some ways that help make it easier, but I doubt that I will ever feel at home while publicly speaking. I will never enjoy public speaking, and I will never be able to help other people be comfortable with public speaking, But it's human nature to have one thing that makes you uncomfortable. I try not to worry about public speaking too much, and I rehearse for days before a presentation, but no matter what, I always feel nervous before and during a public speech.
Monday, April 18, 2011
ISearch Draft
The How To's:
of Writing A Hit Song
Nicole Beckwith
Eng. 101 College Comp.
April 14, 2011
John Goldfine
ii
Table of Contents
iii... Summary
1... The Background
2... Why I Am Writing This
3... Things I Know
4... Searching
5... Things I Learned
6... Sources
iii
The Background
Music is my soul now, my life, the air I breath. I can't explain to you exactly why I love music so much, or why I like country as well as pop and hard rock. I really began to immerse myself in music in 6th grade. It started when a new student arrived at my middle school Emma Malay. She was a huge Green Day fan, the biggest I had seen. Her locker, notebooks, binders, pencil boxes, and books were all completely covered with pictures of them. The closer we got the more I started listening to Green Day, and the more I enjoyed their music. After a month, I was hooked, my locker and binders soon were covered with Green Day pictures. I started listening to the radio constantly, I could never turn it off. It helped me study, sleep, wake up, it helped me do everything.
One morning while my mom was driving me to school I heard two new songs. “Dirty Little Secret” by The All-American Rejects, and “Sugar, We're Going Down” by Fall Out Boy. I instantly fell in love with the two songs and kept my radio on at all times so I would never miss them when they came on. Soon after I heard the two songs my mom brought me to Wal-Mart and told me that I could get one CD that weekend. I had planned on getting The All-American Rejects' CD, but they were all out. When I was younger I always felt like I had to spend money whenever I got it, and that I had to buy something whenever my mom said I could. So I decided that if I couldn't get The All-American Rejects CD I would get the new Fall Out Boy CD. When I got home that night I put on my new CD and laid in bed listening to it for hours. From that moment on Fall Out Boy was my favorite band, it still is today. My obsession with them led me to finding many other bands, The Academy Is, Cute Is What We Aim For, and Gym Class Heroes were just a few.
My obsession for music soon seeped into my obsession with writing. I began to write songs, they weren't very good, the chorus' were normally short poems that I had written, the rest of the song was built sloppily around that. I knew that none of them were ever going to sky rocket me into the music industry, and I was okay with that. Song writing was just something that kept me busy at night when I was procrastinating on my homework. But it did lead me to wondering about how all these
2
people could write these awesome hit songs, while I could only manage to write good chorus'.
Why I Am Writing This
I am writing this because I want to know what exactly makes a hit song. I want to know why “Tik Tok”, by Ke$ha was so big, while “Nightmare”, by Avenged Sevenfold was never played on z107. I love both songs so I don't understand why one is so much bigger than the other. Is it because “Tik Tok” is a pop song, and “Nightmare” is a hard rock song? I can sing both songs word for word, and I am a huge fan of both artists. So I really want to understand what exactly makes a “hit song”.
What we think of as a “hit song” today is a song that can reach number one on the billboard charts. A song that is constantly played on top 40 radio, and is nominated for song of the year at the MTV Video Music Awards. They're the songs that are on the radio every hour, and are lip synched on YouTube. The songs that are preformed on every morning show, talk show, and award show in the country. They are the songs that you love to hear for 24 hours straight for a week, then you want to shoot yourself in the head whenever you hear it after that week.
Things I Know
I know what people classify as a hit song, it is typically a song that has placed in the top ten in a popular, national music chart, like Billboard. I know that this time in 2010 the top ten songs on the Billboard Hot100 were, “Rude Boy”, “Nothin' On You”, “Hey Soul Sister”, “Need You Now”, “Telephone”, “Break Your Heart”, “Imma Be”, “Baby”, “In My Head” and “BedRock”. I can tell you that I could sing the chorus of 8 out of the above 10, even a year later.
I know that the top 10 songs on that chart this week are, “E.T.”, “S&M”, “Just Can't Get Enough”, “Forget You”, “Born This Way”, “Look At Me Now”, “Down On Me”, “On The Floor”, “Perfect”, and “Rolling In The Deep”. I can sing the chorus of 8 out of 10 of these songs as well. I know that of you search “how to write a hit song” on the internet, you are swarmed with tons of sites on the subject. There have been books written about writing his songs, and you can find many interviews with artists about the popularity of their song and how it has become a hit.
Searching
When I first decided on this topic for my ISearch, I sent a message to my close friends on Facebook, asking what their favorite song was, who their favorite artist/band was, what was a “hit song” out today that they loved, what they believe makes a “hit song” and why did they like that song and artist. After reading all the responses I got, I saw that pretty much everyone had said they liked a song because it was relateable and catchy.
I won't copy down what everyone's response to the first 2 questions were, because I believe that they have no real interest to the paper now. But the following were everyone's responses to the last 2 questions I had asked, what was a “hit song” out today that they loved, what they believe makes a “hit song”.
What is a hit song from today that you love?
Bethany Ward: “I love the song Super Bass by Nicki Minaj. I like it so much because it's fun to try to rap with her, and I can sing along and it's got really cute/cool lyrics.”
Kacey Beckwith: “ back to december is one of my favorite songs out right now by her, and it's a song that a lot of people can relate to. if a person can relate to a song, chances are they will like it. it's also important for there to be a hook in the song.”
Taryn Lane: “My favourite hit song right now would have to be "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga. And not just because I love absolutely anything Lady Gaga even spits on, but because those lyrics really made me realize that I am who I am, and no stupid boy is ever gonna mess with that. I love listening to it. (Oh yeah, and a background beat stolen from Madonna's "Express Yourself" also helps! Haha.)”
Melissa Trotter: “On the song "Ain't No Rest For The Wicked" by Cage The Elephant it has a lot to say. How the world is cruel and people will do anything for money to get by in our cruel world. Plus it tells of people who you can't blame for the things they do to get money like a hooker and a crimmal. And these people say "I got bills to pay, I got a mouth to feed and there ain't nothing in this world for free. I can't slow down, I can't hold back. But you know I wish I could. Cause there ain't no rest for the wicked till we close our eyes for good." That lyric is my favorite because it's the truth of life that people seem to ignore and/or deny. “
A hit song from today that I like, is “Firework” by Katy Perry. I love it becaause it is really fun to dance to and it has a fast and fun tempo, but it also has a really strong and heartfelt message to it. The song is all about being yourself and not getting down just because you aren't necesarilly one of the “popular” girls, or because not every guy you see throws themselves at your feet. We're all human and we all have insecurities and problems that we have to ever come. Life isn't a simple walk in the park for people and no matter how bad things seem to be you have the power to ever come it all and show the world your spark.
What do you think makes a hit song?
Bethany Ward: “I think songs that are on the radio and become hits do so because they are relatable to every situation, are really upbeat, or are really catchy. Also if the artist does something weird or cool to go along with the new song, they usually seem to catch on and be hits more.”
Kacey Beckwith: “ the chorus or some part of the song needs to be catchy, something that will be remembered outside of the song. if a person can make a song that many people can relate to, and also make some aspect of it catchy, then chances are good that it will be a hit. “
Taryn Lane: “I believe what makes a hit song is a perfectly blended combination of a catchy rhythm, attitude, and lyrics that speak to you. You have to be able to relate to the lyrics to love the song. (Well, mostly. With a few exceptions...and just about every ke$ha song [: ) Which would lead me to why some people don't like songs: the lyrics mean nothing to them, so they can't make a connection.”
Alissa Toner: “a hit song would have good music in the background, voices that AREN’T auto-tuned, and good lyrics. A good beat helps, too. I like Lady Gaga a LOT because she doesn’t sound auto-tuned and her music makes even me want to dance and she is just amazing."
I think that a hit song, today, absolutely has to be something that a majority of people can relate to in some way. Whether it reminds them of something that happened to them, or if it is just talking about something they wish they could experiance, it has to make a connection with people. You can't just write down a few random verses and chorus' about something that few people care about, the message behind the song has to be strong. “Tik Tok” had catchy lyrics and melodies but at the same time it talked about having a good time with friends and doing whatever you wanted to do. That's something that speaks to a lot of teenagers and young adults because you are in that stage of your life where you don't wanna do things for other people.
Now that I know what I believe makes a hit song, and what some of my friends think make a hit song, I should tell you what several websites say make a hit song. The first website I came to was an article by Yogesh Bakshi, titled “How To Write A Hit Pop Song”. He split up the writing process into 5 parts, story, format, length, beat/speed, and the hook. The tips are as follow, “
Mid-up-tempo 4/4 beat
13-20 second intro, 4 odd minutes total length
A set pattern of the song
A verse that tells a story which the listener can relate to
A chorus that contains a hook which listeners will want to hum again and again”
This article dealt more with the technical aspect of writing a hot song, which is helpful if you can play an instrument well, I however, can not, so as helpful as technical aspects are, they don't do a lot of good if you don't have the lyrics down pack. So the next article I found was far more helpful for someone who wants to just focus on the lyrics for now.
Guitar Noise interviewed Keane Li, an award winning songwriter and guitarist for Festizio. He gave their readers 10 tips on how to write a “commercial friendly” hit song.
“Keep a journal, take chances, produce the song in your head, listen to “well written” songs in your genre, build your world and stick to it, add some pizzazz to chord progressions, let your words write themselves, listen to your songs as an audience member for the first time, be inspired, and practice.”
Keane said he had never tried the “journal keeping method” but that is seemed to work for many people and seemed to be a good idea. So when keeping a journal try these tips,
“Every time you have an idea for a new song or a catchy line, write it down... keep all your old songs. Keep the music and lyrics every time you decide not to use a song. You may often find a use for it later...”
Taking chances is a tip that I especially like, because I don't have a lot of technical talent, but Keane says that originality can, in many cases, make up for that. I didn't understand the “produce the song in your head” tip, probably because I have no idea what producing a song means, but one part of that tip I did understand was that the song should always build, it should never have a few high points and a few low points. Listening to well written songs seems like a given to me. If you want to be the best, you need to learn from the best. So if I wanted to be like Ke$ha, I would have to listen to every Ke$ha song I could find. If I wanted to be like Avenged Sevenfold, I would have to listen to every Avenged Sevenfold song I could find. Pretty much the easiest tip I have read.
Sticking to the world you built for the song seems the hardest, because it's so easy to get distracted. I have many times started writing a song about one incident in my life, and by the end of the song I'm talking about another. It's important to stick to one topic, and not be all over the place. And letting the words write themselves can be even more challenging. My mind has, on many occasions, wandered off as I am writing a song, and when I read over it, it seems as though I left to wonderland for the second half of the song.
Listening to your song as an audience seems to the most important to me. I am very insecure about having people criticizing my work, so many times I will write a song and stick it back into my binder. But if someone is serious about becoming a musician you can't be that insecure, especially with yourself. It's important to stand back for a moment and think objectively about your song.
The last source I found is my favorite out of the three. It relates every tip to Lady Gaga's song “Poker Face”, one of my favorites, and it is the easiest to understand.
“FIND GOOD PRODUCTION, because the first thing people usually pick up on is how a song sounds. Having solid production can turn almost any song into a media sensation. Poker Face's instrumentation is very strong, very catchy and has a lot of variation in it.
CREATE A GOOD SONG CONCEPT. Poke Face does this and more by using the concept of a poker face as a metaphor for sexuality and deception. Songs with thought behind them tend to have a lot more staying power than their competitors.
WRITE A CATCHY HOOK. This is critical to making a hit song, because the chorus, or the hook, is usually the first part of the song that people memorize. In the case of Poker Face, the hook is catchy because of the stutter-like manner in which it is delivered.
HAVE STRONG LYRICS. Strong songwriting is mostly to appease musical critics. Most pop music fans could careless about the words in the song, as long as they are catchy. Lady Gaga's lyrics in Poker Face are surprisingly strong for such a poppy record.”
I would have to agree with pretty much everything that was in this article. If a song sounds interesting or catchy in the first 15 seconds or so, I listen to the rest, if it's boring, I change it. The short attention spans of today's youth prevent many of them from liking a song that doesn't have a very catchy beginning. The concept of the song is the next thing that can throw a listener off. I know that many times, I have listened to a song that has a catchy beginning, but after hearing the lyrics and understanding the idea of the song, I get bored and never listen to it again. You could have a very catchy beginning melody to a song, but if they concept is that fried chicken is good, you probably aren't going to have many fans.
Source List
Bakshi, Yogesh. "How to Write a Hit Pop Song: Essential Ingredients of a Top 10 Pop Song!" Suite101.com: Online Magazine and Writers' Network. Suite101, 2 Apr. 2007. Web. 18 Apr. 2011..
"Top 100 Music Hits, Top 100 Music Charts, Top 100 Songs & The Hot 100 | Billboard.com." Music News, Reviews, Articles, Information, News Online & Free Music | Billboard.com. Billboard, 18 Apr. 2011. Web. 18 Apr. 2011..
Li, Keane. "Top 10 Tips: Writing a “Hit” Song - Guitar Noise." Guitar Noise - Learn How to Play Guitar. Facebook and Guitar Noise. Web. 18 Apr. 2011.
Milam, Jonathan. "How to Make a Hit Single | EHow.com." EHow | How to Videos, Articles & More - Trusted Advice for the Curious Life | EHow.com. Tips From People Like You. Web. 18 Apr. 2011..
Facebook interviews
of Writing A Hit Song
Nicole Beckwith
Eng. 101 College Comp.
April 14, 2011
John Goldfine
ii
Table of Contents
iii... Summary
1... The Background
2... Why I Am Writing This
3... Things I Know
4... Searching
5... Things I Learned
6... Sources
iii
The Background
Music is my soul now, my life, the air I breath. I can't explain to you exactly why I love music so much, or why I like country as well as pop and hard rock. I really began to immerse myself in music in 6th grade. It started when a new student arrived at my middle school Emma Malay. She was a huge Green Day fan, the biggest I had seen. Her locker, notebooks, binders, pencil boxes, and books were all completely covered with pictures of them. The closer we got the more I started listening to Green Day, and the more I enjoyed their music. After a month, I was hooked, my locker and binders soon were covered with Green Day pictures. I started listening to the radio constantly, I could never turn it off. It helped me study, sleep, wake up, it helped me do everything.
One morning while my mom was driving me to school I heard two new songs. “Dirty Little Secret” by The All-American Rejects, and “Sugar, We're Going Down” by Fall Out Boy. I instantly fell in love with the two songs and kept my radio on at all times so I would never miss them when they came on. Soon after I heard the two songs my mom brought me to Wal-Mart and told me that I could get one CD that weekend. I had planned on getting The All-American Rejects' CD, but they were all out. When I was younger I always felt like I had to spend money whenever I got it, and that I had to buy something whenever my mom said I could. So I decided that if I couldn't get The All-American Rejects CD I would get the new Fall Out Boy CD. When I got home that night I put on my new CD and laid in bed listening to it for hours. From that moment on Fall Out Boy was my favorite band, it still is today. My obsession with them led me to finding many other bands, The Academy Is, Cute Is What We Aim For, and Gym Class Heroes were just a few.
My obsession for music soon seeped into my obsession with writing. I began to write songs, they weren't very good, the chorus' were normally short poems that I had written, the rest of the song was built sloppily around that. I knew that none of them were ever going to sky rocket me into the music industry, and I was okay with that. Song writing was just something that kept me busy at night when I was procrastinating on my homework. But it did lead me to wondering about how all these
2
people could write these awesome hit songs, while I could only manage to write good chorus'.
Why I Am Writing This
I am writing this because I want to know what exactly makes a hit song. I want to know why “Tik Tok”, by Ke$ha was so big, while “Nightmare”, by Avenged Sevenfold was never played on z107. I love both songs so I don't understand why one is so much bigger than the other. Is it because “Tik Tok” is a pop song, and “Nightmare” is a hard rock song? I can sing both songs word for word, and I am a huge fan of both artists. So I really want to understand what exactly makes a “hit song”.
What we think of as a “hit song” today is a song that can reach number one on the billboard charts. A song that is constantly played on top 40 radio, and is nominated for song of the year at the MTV Video Music Awards. They're the songs that are on the radio every hour, and are lip synched on YouTube. The songs that are preformed on every morning show, talk show, and award show in the country. They are the songs that you love to hear for 24 hours straight for a week, then you want to shoot yourself in the head whenever you hear it after that week.
Things I Know
I know what people classify as a hit song, it is typically a song that has placed in the top ten in a popular, national music chart, like Billboard. I know that this time in 2010 the top ten songs on the Billboard Hot100 were, “Rude Boy”, “Nothin' On You”, “Hey Soul Sister”, “Need You Now”, “Telephone”, “Break Your Heart”, “Imma Be”, “Baby”, “In My Head” and “BedRock”. I can tell you that I could sing the chorus of 8 out of the above 10, even a year later.
I know that the top 10 songs on that chart this week are, “E.T.”, “S&M”, “Just Can't Get Enough”, “Forget You”, “Born This Way”, “Look At Me Now”, “Down On Me”, “On The Floor”, “Perfect”, and “Rolling In The Deep”. I can sing the chorus of 8 out of 10 of these songs as well. I know that of you search “how to write a hit song” on the internet, you are swarmed with tons of sites on the subject. There have been books written about writing his songs, and you can find many interviews with artists about the popularity of their song and how it has become a hit.
Searching
When I first decided on this topic for my ISearch, I sent a message to my close friends on Facebook, asking what their favorite song was, who their favorite artist/band was, what was a “hit song” out today that they loved, what they believe makes a “hit song” and why did they like that song and artist. After reading all the responses I got, I saw that pretty much everyone had said they liked a song because it was relateable and catchy.
I won't copy down what everyone's response to the first 2 questions were, because I believe that they have no real interest to the paper now. But the following were everyone's responses to the last 2 questions I had asked, what was a “hit song” out today that they loved, what they believe makes a “hit song”.
What is a hit song from today that you love?
Bethany Ward: “I love the song Super Bass by Nicki Minaj. I like it so much because it's fun to try to rap with her, and I can sing along and it's got really cute/cool lyrics.”
Kacey Beckwith: “ back to december is one of my favorite songs out right now by her, and it's a song that a lot of people can relate to. if a person can relate to a song, chances are they will like it. it's also important for there to be a hook in the song.”
Taryn Lane: “My favourite hit song right now would have to be "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga. And not just because I love absolutely anything Lady Gaga even spits on, but because those lyrics really made me realize that I am who I am, and no stupid boy is ever gonna mess with that. I love listening to it. (Oh yeah, and a background beat stolen from Madonna's "Express Yourself" also helps! Haha.)”
Melissa Trotter: “On the song "Ain't No Rest For The Wicked" by Cage The Elephant it has a lot to say. How the world is cruel and people will do anything for money to get by in our cruel world. Plus it tells of people who you can't blame for the things they do to get money like a hooker and a crimmal. And these people say "I got bills to pay, I got a mouth to feed and there ain't nothing in this world for free. I can't slow down, I can't hold back. But you know I wish I could. Cause there ain't no rest for the wicked till we close our eyes for good." That lyric is my favorite because it's the truth of life that people seem to ignore and/or deny. “
A hit song from today that I like, is “Firework” by Katy Perry. I love it becaause it is really fun to dance to and it has a fast and fun tempo, but it also has a really strong and heartfelt message to it. The song is all about being yourself and not getting down just because you aren't necesarilly one of the “popular” girls, or because not every guy you see throws themselves at your feet. We're all human and we all have insecurities and problems that we have to ever come. Life isn't a simple walk in the park for people and no matter how bad things seem to be you have the power to ever come it all and show the world your spark.
What do you think makes a hit song?
Bethany Ward: “I think songs that are on the radio and become hits do so because they are relatable to every situation, are really upbeat, or are really catchy. Also if the artist does something weird or cool to go along with the new song, they usually seem to catch on and be hits more.”
Kacey Beckwith: “ the chorus or some part of the song needs to be catchy, something that will be remembered outside of the song. if a person can make a song that many people can relate to, and also make some aspect of it catchy, then chances are good that it will be a hit. “
Taryn Lane: “I believe what makes a hit song is a perfectly blended combination of a catchy rhythm, attitude, and lyrics that speak to you. You have to be able to relate to the lyrics to love the song. (Well, mostly. With a few exceptions...and just about every ke$ha song [: ) Which would lead me to why some people don't like songs: the lyrics mean nothing to them, so they can't make a connection.”
Alissa Toner: “a hit song would have good music in the background, voices that AREN’T auto-tuned, and good lyrics. A good beat helps, too. I like Lady Gaga a LOT because she doesn’t sound auto-tuned and her music makes even me want to dance and she is just amazing."
I think that a hit song, today, absolutely has to be something that a majority of people can relate to in some way. Whether it reminds them of something that happened to them, or if it is just talking about something they wish they could experiance, it has to make a connection with people. You can't just write down a few random verses and chorus' about something that few people care about, the message behind the song has to be strong. “Tik Tok” had catchy lyrics and melodies but at the same time it talked about having a good time with friends and doing whatever you wanted to do. That's something that speaks to a lot of teenagers and young adults because you are in that stage of your life where you don't wanna do things for other people.
Now that I know what I believe makes a hit song, and what some of my friends think make a hit song, I should tell you what several websites say make a hit song. The first website I came to was an article by Yogesh Bakshi, titled “How To Write A Hit Pop Song”. He split up the writing process into 5 parts, story, format, length, beat/speed, and the hook. The tips are as follow, “
Mid-up-tempo 4/4 beat
13-20 second intro, 4 odd minutes total length
A set pattern of the song
A verse that tells a story which the listener can relate to
A chorus that contains a hook which listeners will want to hum again and again”
This article dealt more with the technical aspect of writing a hot song, which is helpful if you can play an instrument well, I however, can not, so as helpful as technical aspects are, they don't do a lot of good if you don't have the lyrics down pack. So the next article I found was far more helpful for someone who wants to just focus on the lyrics for now.
Guitar Noise interviewed Keane Li, an award winning songwriter and guitarist for Festizio. He gave their readers 10 tips on how to write a “commercial friendly” hit song.
“Keep a journal, take chances, produce the song in your head, listen to “well written” songs in your genre, build your world and stick to it, add some pizzazz to chord progressions, let your words write themselves, listen to your songs as an audience member for the first time, be inspired, and practice.”
Keane said he had never tried the “journal keeping method” but that is seemed to work for many people and seemed to be a good idea. So when keeping a journal try these tips,
“Every time you have an idea for a new song or a catchy line, write it down... keep all your old songs. Keep the music and lyrics every time you decide not to use a song. You may often find a use for it later...”
Taking chances is a tip that I especially like, because I don't have a lot of technical talent, but Keane says that originality can, in many cases, make up for that. I didn't understand the “produce the song in your head” tip, probably because I have no idea what producing a song means, but one part of that tip I did understand was that the song should always build, it should never have a few high points and a few low points. Listening to well written songs seems like a given to me. If you want to be the best, you need to learn from the best. So if I wanted to be like Ke$ha, I would have to listen to every Ke$ha song I could find. If I wanted to be like Avenged Sevenfold, I would have to listen to every Avenged Sevenfold song I could find. Pretty much the easiest tip I have read.
Sticking to the world you built for the song seems the hardest, because it's so easy to get distracted. I have many times started writing a song about one incident in my life, and by the end of the song I'm talking about another. It's important to stick to one topic, and not be all over the place. And letting the words write themselves can be even more challenging. My mind has, on many occasions, wandered off as I am writing a song, and when I read over it, it seems as though I left to wonderland for the second half of the song.
Listening to your song as an audience seems to the most important to me. I am very insecure about having people criticizing my work, so many times I will write a song and stick it back into my binder. But if someone is serious about becoming a musician you can't be that insecure, especially with yourself. It's important to stand back for a moment and think objectively about your song.
The last source I found is my favorite out of the three. It relates every tip to Lady Gaga's song “Poker Face”, one of my favorites, and it is the easiest to understand.
“FIND GOOD PRODUCTION, because the first thing people usually pick up on is how a song sounds. Having solid production can turn almost any song into a media sensation. Poker Face's instrumentation is very strong, very catchy and has a lot of variation in it.
CREATE A GOOD SONG CONCEPT. Poke Face does this and more by using the concept of a poker face as a metaphor for sexuality and deception. Songs with thought behind them tend to have a lot more staying power than their competitors.
WRITE A CATCHY HOOK. This is critical to making a hit song, because the chorus, or the hook, is usually the first part of the song that people memorize. In the case of Poker Face, the hook is catchy because of the stutter-like manner in which it is delivered.
HAVE STRONG LYRICS. Strong songwriting is mostly to appease musical critics. Most pop music fans could careless about the words in the song, as long as they are catchy. Lady Gaga's lyrics in Poker Face are surprisingly strong for such a poppy record.”
I would have to agree with pretty much everything that was in this article. If a song sounds interesting or catchy in the first 15 seconds or so, I listen to the rest, if it's boring, I change it. The short attention spans of today's youth prevent many of them from liking a song that doesn't have a very catchy beginning. The concept of the song is the next thing that can throw a listener off. I know that many times, I have listened to a song that has a catchy beginning, but after hearing the lyrics and understanding the idea of the song, I get bored and never listen to it again. You could have a very catchy beginning melody to a song, but if they concept is that fried chicken is good, you probably aren't going to have many fans.
Source List
Bakshi, Yogesh. "How to Write a Hit Pop Song: Essential Ingredients of a Top 10 Pop Song!" Suite101.com: Online Magazine and Writers' Network. Suite101, 2 Apr. 2007. Web. 18 Apr. 2011.
"Top 100 Music Hits, Top 100 Music Charts, Top 100 Songs & The Hot 100 | Billboard.com." Music News, Reviews, Articles, Information, News Online & Free Music | Billboard.com. Billboard, 18 Apr. 2011. Web. 18 Apr. 2011.
Li, Keane. "Top 10 Tips: Writing a “Hit” Song - Guitar Noise." Guitar Noise - Learn How to Play Guitar. Facebook and Guitar Noise. Web. 18 Apr. 2011.
Milam, Jonathan. "How to Make a Hit Single | EHow.com." EHow | How to Videos, Articles & More - Trusted Advice for the Curious Life | EHow.com. Tips From People Like You. Web. 18 Apr. 2011.
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Sunday, March 20, 2011
Add on to Intro/Backgound to ISearch
I'm learning how to play piano and guitar, and I want to learn how to play the violin soon. I've been writing for pretty much my hole life. I prefer to write poetry and fictional stories because I can make my life sound interesting in a poem, and writing about fictional thoughts in my head is far more interesting than writing about my life. I have written some "songs", they aren't very good in my opinion, but there are some verses or chorus' in them that I like. I've tried to make up guitar riffs to match the lyrics, but since I pretty much play guitar by ear, it's a little hard to do so. I would love to some day write a song and music to go with it.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Contrast Essay
My Mom's side of the family has lived in Texas their whole lives, my grandparents, and probably earlier, to my aunts and uncles. And my Dad's side of the family has lived in Maine their whole lives, again grandparents to my Dad. When my dad was 18 he joined he army and was station in Fort Worth Texas, some months later I guess he met my mom, I'm not really sure how exactly they met. The whole dating situation and falling in love thing is foggy in my memory, I'm sure my parents told me at one time but I can't remember. But they ended up getting together and when my Mom was 20 and my Dad was 22 they got married. They were moved over to Germany where my Dad was re-stationed and a few months later m sister, Kacey, was born. They lived in German for a few years before my dad was station back at Fort Hood, and a few months after that he was discharged. The question came up, where were the going to live now? My Dad was from Maine, and had no wishes to leave, and my mom was from Texas and didn't really want to move across the country, but she, of course, ended up giving in and to Maine they went. I've lived in Maine my whole life, and almost every summer my mom, sister and I travel down to Texas for 2 weeks to visit our family. Over the years I have fallen in love with the state and the people whole live their, not just my family.
First let me start with the rain storms, now it’s pretty obvious that Texas weather and Maine weather are very different. The rainstorms, I’ve noticed, seem to be the most different, well; at least to me they seem the most different. Rainstorms aren’t as frequent in Texas as they are here in Maine, and the storms that Texas does get seem almost magical. The lightening shoots down in crooked lines from the sky, never fracturing off into branches like the lightening up here. It’s an amazing sight; the thunder is so much louder too. It rumbles through the sky and shakes foundations, but it never sounds scary. I can remember nights when I would just stare out of the large sliding glass doors in the guest bedroom. Watching the sky light up with the crooked lines of lightening, feeling the house shake with the rumble of the thunder. The storms were never as violent down there as they get up here. I remember nights of hiding under my covers, struggling to push the sound of the angry thunder and the loud lashing of the daggers of rain the tried to pierce the windows. The sky turned so bright with the thousands of lightening branches sprouting all over. I’m not sure why the storms up here scared me so much, and the storms down there didn’t. Maybe it was because I felt safer there than I did back home. I never had to deal with mean people in school, or my parents fighting. For a couple weeks my life seemed perfect.
My family is also very different, my dad’s side of the family all live up here, and my mom’s side of the family all live down in TX. My Maine family is pretty mellow, and they all pretty much work outside. My dad works driving heavy equipment at Hardwood Products in Guilford; my Bumpa drove heavy equipment before he retired. My aunt went to college and teaches now, so she kind of stands out in the family. My mom works as a patient rep. in the Martin’s Point healthcare office in Bangor, and the rest of her family works at offices or are self employed. My Texas family fights a lot, there’s always someone mad at someone else. I guess you would think that this would hinder me from wanting to be around them, but it doesn’t. They always try to not let whatever’s going on at that time affect our visit. I get sick of all the drama sometimes, when it begins to feel like I’m back at school anyways. As much as I love my family that lives down south, I don’t know if I would be able to handle all of the fighting all the time. I take after my Nana, my dad’s mom, that way, I hate drama, and it wears me out. While my family up here may not always get along, and my parents may fight more often now, it’s never as prevalent as it is with my mom’s family.
The last difference is that there is so much more to do in Texas, than there is to do up here. You may be saying, ah yeah no crap, but you never really know just how much more there is to do in Texas if you’ve never been. There’s pretty much something for everyone, tons of museums on everything from cowboys and rangers, to mammoth remains. There are a bunch of different theme parks too, water parks like, and I may spell this very wrong, Schlitterbaun and Sea World, to Six Flags Fiesta. You can travel down to San Antonio and go on the River Walk and then to the Alamo, both places are, in my opinion, too beautiful for words. Or you can go down to the coast and stick your feet into the chilly yet warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. I know that I sound like one of those travel commercials, but it’s all true. I’ll admit that Maine looks beautiful with all the snow covering the ground and trees, and that the coast is too remarkable for words. I have had a lot of fun times up here, the coast is one of the most memorable things I’ve ever seen; and I love to go down to Portland for concerts. I love the York Zoo, and Shirley holds so many wonderful memories from my childhood, but I can honestly say that besides my family and very close friends, and the snow, if I were to move to Texas right now, I wouldn’t feel like I was being deprived of anything.
There have been many times when I have decided that I’ve had enough of the weather and people and scenery up here. Times when I just want to leave and never come back; never look back. Then there are times when I can never think about leaving, times when the air becomes so still and the snow seems to be floating down. Times when I can see almost every star in the sky outside of my bedroom window, something I can’t do at my grandparents house in Bellmead, Texas. Though I yearn to live in a much larger and more exciting state, that has a more controlled climate, I can’t really imagine leaving Maine, and never coming back.
First let me start with the rain storms, now it’s pretty obvious that Texas weather and Maine weather are very different. The rainstorms, I’ve noticed, seem to be the most different, well; at least to me they seem the most different. Rainstorms aren’t as frequent in Texas as they are here in Maine, and the storms that Texas does get seem almost magical. The lightening shoots down in crooked lines from the sky, never fracturing off into branches like the lightening up here. It’s an amazing sight; the thunder is so much louder too. It rumbles through the sky and shakes foundations, but it never sounds scary. I can remember nights when I would just stare out of the large sliding glass doors in the guest bedroom. Watching the sky light up with the crooked lines of lightening, feeling the house shake with the rumble of the thunder. The storms were never as violent down there as they get up here. I remember nights of hiding under my covers, struggling to push the sound of the angry thunder and the loud lashing of the daggers of rain the tried to pierce the windows. The sky turned so bright with the thousands of lightening branches sprouting all over. I’m not sure why the storms up here scared me so much, and the storms down there didn’t. Maybe it was because I felt safer there than I did back home. I never had to deal with mean people in school, or my parents fighting. For a couple weeks my life seemed perfect.
My family is also very different, my dad’s side of the family all live up here, and my mom’s side of the family all live down in TX. My Maine family is pretty mellow, and they all pretty much work outside. My dad works driving heavy equipment at Hardwood Products in Guilford; my Bumpa drove heavy equipment before he retired. My aunt went to college and teaches now, so she kind of stands out in the family. My mom works as a patient rep. in the Martin’s Point healthcare office in Bangor, and the rest of her family works at offices or are self employed. My Texas family fights a lot, there’s always someone mad at someone else. I guess you would think that this would hinder me from wanting to be around them, but it doesn’t. They always try to not let whatever’s going on at that time affect our visit. I get sick of all the drama sometimes, when it begins to feel like I’m back at school anyways. As much as I love my family that lives down south, I don’t know if I would be able to handle all of the fighting all the time. I take after my Nana, my dad’s mom, that way, I hate drama, and it wears me out. While my family up here may not always get along, and my parents may fight more often now, it’s never as prevalent as it is with my mom’s family.
The last difference is that there is so much more to do in Texas, than there is to do up here. You may be saying, ah yeah no crap, but you never really know just how much more there is to do in Texas if you’ve never been. There’s pretty much something for everyone, tons of museums on everything from cowboys and rangers, to mammoth remains. There are a bunch of different theme parks too, water parks like, and I may spell this very wrong, Schlitterbaun and Sea World, to Six Flags Fiesta. You can travel down to San Antonio and go on the River Walk and then to the Alamo, both places are, in my opinion, too beautiful for words. Or you can go down to the coast and stick your feet into the chilly yet warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. I know that I sound like one of those travel commercials, but it’s all true. I’ll admit that Maine looks beautiful with all the snow covering the ground and trees, and that the coast is too remarkable for words. I have had a lot of fun times up here, the coast is one of the most memorable things I’ve ever seen; and I love to go down to Portland for concerts. I love the York Zoo, and Shirley holds so many wonderful memories from my childhood, but I can honestly say that besides my family and very close friends, and the snow, if I were to move to Texas right now, I wouldn’t feel like I was being deprived of anything.
There have been many times when I have decided that I’ve had enough of the weather and people and scenery up here. Times when I just want to leave and never come back; never look back. Then there are times when I can never think about leaving, times when the air becomes so still and the snow seems to be floating down. Times when I can see almost every star in the sky outside of my bedroom window, something I can’t do at my grandparents house in Bellmead, Texas. Though I yearn to live in a much larger and more exciting state, that has a more controlled climate, I can’t really imagine leaving Maine, and never coming back.
Friday, March 11, 2011
ISearch Why
I decided to research hit music because music is something that has inspired my writing greatly over the past few years. I love music and writing, so whenever I can combined the two I'm in heaven. I always make up circumstances for the songs, video ideas, background information, whenever I hear a song that I really like. I've also been puzzled by the fact that some people can hate a song I adore, and vice versa. I've started to wonder over the last year, what exactly makes a hit song? Is it the beat, the lyrics, the message, the image of the band/artist, what? So I've taken my love of music, and my curiosity about people's taste in music and how hit songs are made, and somehow managed to break them down into a few question I need to ask myself to complete this assignment.
- Why do some people, like me, live for music, and to others it's just background noise?
- What makes a hit song, or a song popular?
- Why do I love Avenged Sevenfold and Fall Out Boy, and my sister lives Justin Beiber and Taylor Swift?
- Why do artists and bands use who use auto-tunes in the recording booth still get famous?
ISearch Background/Intro
Most people can remember the songs they listened to when they were very young, the nursery rhyme type songs from TV shows and stuff. Well I can't, I can remeber listening to N*SYNC, The Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, and Christinia Aguilera. My sister and I would blast their music in her room and learn all the words and dance moves. Even at the young age of 7 or 8 I was already passionate about music. From then N*SYNC and he Backstreet Boys broke up, they were my two favorites, until Fall Out Boy released Sugar, We're Going Down and Dance Dance I really can not remeber what I listened to. I can clearly remeber the day that I first heard Sugar, We're Going Down though, because it was the same day I heard Dirty Little Secret by All American Rejects. I was sitting in the front seat of my Mom's car as she drove me to school, she had just turned onto the road that my school was on, Dirty Little Secret had just been playing for the first time, and Sugar, We're Going Down came on. At first I thought they were by the same band, oh naive little me. I learned a few days later that Dirty Little Secret, the song I was completely in love with, far more than Sugar at the time, was by All American Rejects. So that weekend on or grocery shopping trip to walmart, my sister and I went back to the electronics section to try and find their cd. As we prowled the shelves looking for the disc my sister found the All American Rejects slot, it was empty. I was heart broken at first, until she found the cd with Sugar We're Going Down, he exact words were, "Hey Nicki, this is the band that sings that other song you like so much." My mom rearely let me buy cds at that time so instead of waiting, something I was not good at even then, I bought the Fall Out Boy cd. The second I got home I popped it into my stereo and sat on by bed, reading a magazine and listening. That was all it took, I was hooked, I fell in love with them, and in turn, with pop punk and rock music. Over the last few years my tastes in music have elvolved a bit. I not listen to a bit of everything, from country to screamo. Fall Out Boy is still my favorite bad however, and I doubt that will ever change.
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