Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange
Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [lyrics]

Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses.

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Is writing lyrics similar to writing poetry?

I'm having trouble writing my first lyrics for a song. I think the main point I'm having difficulty with is how a lyric sentence is written? I know it's not written like a novel but similar to a poem but not exactly because lyrics are suppose to be…
user5344
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Lilypond is not aligning lyrics correctly

I was writing sheet music consisting of melody, chords and lyrics. To my surprise, the lyrics weren't aligned correctly under the notes. The file looked like correct Lilypond source code: global = { \time 3/4 \partial 4 } theChords =…
Glorfindel
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Good way to remember lyrics when covering songs?

I play covers of mainstream or rock music, which allows for alot of improv so there generally doesn't require much effort in terms of learning the music. Just kind of learn the song structure and remember a couple of riffs and I'm good to go. What…
stickman
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Notes in small font

Is there a name for the notes that appear in smaller size in sheet music? Not grace notes, but rather notes to accompany alternative words in lyrics in different verses that require slight variations in rhythm.
Duffa
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Add text at the end of the score in LilyPond

Is it possible to add a text at the end of the score like in this example?
Mahanidhi
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Lyric writing - books or essays?

Musical friends, I'm a competent writer of all forms of prose, dialouge, screenplays, and so on. But I have a secret desire ... I've always wanted to be able to write songs, that is to say song lyrics - catchy pop songs! :) Now for example, people…
Fattie
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Stress in music

I am currently reading up on songwriting and am confused by the idea of stress in music. I understand it will be necessary to match the lyrics word stress with the music beat stress but dont know how to identify stress in music almost always. Is…
user1278255
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A Major Key Song for a Sad Lyrics - a Mismatch?

Isn't it odd that I Dreamed a Dream, a very sad song from "Les Misérables", is written in a major key? Isn't it a mismatch between the lyrics and the music?
Behzad
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When did the anonymous "you" become popular in western pop music?

This question might sound a bit facetious but I have been wondering for a long time. Many western pop songs are addressed to an anonymous "you". Presumably the song writer wants to write a song that could be about anyone and not a particular…
Michael Stachowsky
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Is there a name for when a line is too long for the metre?

In some songs, a line in one verse will be a syllable longer than the matching line in other verses, and this will be resolved by adding an extra note to the start or end of that line of melody (in that verse), making the line longer by cutting into…
Dan Hulme
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Should a lyrics extension line (underscore) be used on tied notes?

I get that extension lines (undercores) are used where one syllable at the end of a word extends over multiple notes. But is this also true when the notes are tied together? In other words: Is one of the below notations more correct than the other,…
cmeeren
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What notation systems exist for indicating rhymes, alliteration and cadence in rap lyrics?

The only example I've seen so far is The Rapper's Flow Encyclopedia, which uses standard musical notation with phrasing to indicate cadence, and lyric capitalization to indicate (but not group) rhymes. [Migrated from musicfans SE.]
Uri Granta
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Lilypond: How to avoid overshooting melisma in last stanzas [incl. MWE and output]

I am trying to create some sheet music with lyrics. Some features of the music are: There are repeat sections in the music with alternative endings. The music starts on the chorus. There are more than one verse. The lyrics contain melisma (single…
Eirik B
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Singing the words to one song along with the music for another - what is this called?

Years ago I was setting out chairs during a pre-show rehearsal and since it was before everyone was due (rehearsal was scheduled to start in about five to ten minutes), folks were just playing around and the band leader sat down in front of the…
hildred
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LilyPond: words connected with hyphen

I started working on a songbook with English songs and came across lyrics where the words are connected with hyphens. What would be the best way to show these in LilyPond? In the example below there is the composed word Heart-Gate:
Sangit
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