24. MAKING NOTES FOR A SONG

 24. MAKING NOTES FOR A SONG:

It’s not possible to get notes for all the songs we come across, so it is necessary to know how to take notes for a song or a piece of music. The following steps will be helpful to make notes for a song.

Determining the genre of the song

Genre is the style or the pattern of the song. Some genres are much harder to learn. A pianist can consider learning Pop and Classical songs first. A person likely to be in the band can consider learning Rock, Metal, Country or Folk. A person who wants to be a DJ can consider learning Hip Hop, Urban RnB and Electronica.

Be aware that learning one song (hard or easy) can be quite obsessive and may distract or annoy other people around you, as hearing or practicing is repeated. Using headphones or doing it alone will be helpful. If it's a technology genre, note down any effects or uses of technologies.

Familiarizing with the song                                                                                                        

Listening to the song again and again always helps to know the song better, as well as identifying the different parts and repetition. This makes up the song structure. If a song goes like opening, verse, chorus, verse, and ends on the chorus, then basically there are three different parts to learn. The song structure is important because some songs can actually just have one riff or chord progression played throughout. Other songs have a non chorus based structure. Putting the song together for playing, after stopping and starting it at any specific point where it is found easier to learn, will be helpful. Perceiving the notes in the head with memorable melodies and bass lines can be useful.

Discard the lyrics, if possible, and consider listening to instrumentals of the song. It will be much easier to hear the specific instruments and always note down hearings, patterns, pauses, or breaks.

Note down the tempo and time signature. Listen for any changes to tempo and time signature if it exists. In some music this is bound to be frequent, so always consider looking into it in depth.

Getting the Rhythm

For getting the Rhythm of the song, paying attention to the notes or chords is not required. Figure out the rhythm by tapping your foot to the beat or tapping fingers on something to get the rhythm.

Getting the Notes.

To get the Notes, Memorize the tune or melody by going over it again and again until it is completely in head. Note down the effects used on the melody if any such as reverb, EQ, and delay. In dance music, this is frequent, and it is important to learn lead breaks and solos. Moreover, if the song does not have any solo parts, it can be added using some simple scales. The solo part can be played using pentatonic scales, first by touching the relevant notes that are going on in the head. Solo is based on the main melody of the song. Then adding some more improvements with slide, bend, and vibration techniques could be done.

Put it all together and Score it or notate it.

The Score sheet with the notating techniques can be used to put the notes of the song together, by mentioning all things appropriately. The notes can be written using the Carnatic or Hindustani system of music too if it is more convenient.