Berklee School of Music online videos with Pat Pattison

I have Pat Pattison's book, Writing Better Lyrics. I bought it after hearing an interview with him.

I was skeptical, long believing that lyrics come out of some mystical other dimension normally unreachable until you somehow accidentally stumble through some kind of magical wormhole. I didn't think it was possible to either learn or to teach lyric-writing.

But Pattison has been teaching the subject for a very long time and has produced legions of professional songwriters who credit him with getting them going in the right direction.

BTW, I picked that book up used via Amazon for about 10 bucks - in hardcover.

Thanks for the links.

Pat's a great guy. He was one of my teachers at Berklee. His poetry and song lyric classes were some of my most memorable.

bitflipper


I have Pat Pattison's book, Writing Better Lyrics. I bought it after hearing an interview with him.

I was skeptical, long believing that lyrics come out of some mystical other dimension normally unreachable until you somehow accidentally stumble through some kind of magical wormhole. I didn't think it was possible to either learn or to teach lyric-writing.

But Pattison has been teaching the subject for a very long time and has produced legions of professional songwriters who credit him with getting them going in the right direction.

BTW, I picked that book up used via Amazon for about 10 bucks - in hardcover.

I'm skeptical too, don't believe it can be taught, would ruin a style, etc.........
I haven't seen the videos yet.
But after reading all the testimonials of this book. I ordered it on Amazon for pennies (the 3.75 in shipping is more). I'll check out the videos tonight.
Thanks Beagle and Bit.......

I like the vids.
I was kind of thinking we do this naturally....... we sing stuff, and if the phrasing doesn't quite sound right, we play with it, and make adjustments until it flows or hooks.
But i really liked the vid where he talks about the stronger words matching the more highligthed notes. Or highlighting the stronger words, rather than a preposition. That certainly make a difference, but again, don't we kind of do that naturally?
But one can get so caught up in keeping their melody in their head consistent, that they don't pay attention to the lyrical phrasing.......
Great stuff. I like that there is theory to the madness. I'm not so skeptical of this guy anymore.
But, man I want a Taylor...... the wife says some day...... (she may buy me one)

How to write a song:
http://www.youtube.com/wa..._4&feature=related

Thanks for sharing, Beagle ... but depressing for me.

TBH: These videos turned me off completely and I only watched a few minutes from 1 or 2. 

I felt the poor sexy girl was being commercially exploited by a psychologist-hireling ... just toying with her silly ego.  (And/or am I projecting my Freudian lusts?)

... also a bit redundant, clinical, old-school, and pretentious academia-pomp: Like music for music's sake and Music history 101.  A local loving vocal coach friend might be better.

Else, I'd perhaps prefer reading the book (based on Bit's testimony) to catch the art spirit (which might be less ridiculous for me in written form).