ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS
The Songwriter's Handbook
The Songwriter's Handbook
Power Strategies for Crafting Great Lyrics
ISBN: 9781538180709Couldn't load pickup availability
Platinum award-winning singer, songwriter, and lyricist Mark Winkler provides a handbook on writing great lyrics, chock full of songwriting exercises and engaging personal vignettes. This book crosses a variety of genres andteaches the craft of modern commercial songwriting as practiced by the likes of Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, and Bruno Mars.
The book includes:
- Highlights of great songwriters and their songs
- Exercises that focus on storytelling and rhyming while adding specificity and color
- Practical tips for writing great lyrics with accompanying templates
- Annotated examples of songs to illustrate effective exercises
- Information about people you need on your creative and business team
- Next steps after you’ve written a great song
- Tips on being a successful live performer to make songs pop
By using great songwriters and their songs as blueprints, Winkler reveals the tricks of the trade and shows how you can improve your songwriting skills.
By Mark Winkler
Imprint: ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS
Release Date:
Format: PAPERBACK
Pages: 160
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: A Working Songwriter
Chapter 3: How to Judge if Your Lyric Is Good
Chapter 4: Come Up with a Great Title
Chapter 5: Song Forms
Chapter 6: Be Specific
Chapter 7: Top Ten Tips for Lyric Writers: Tips 1–5
Chapter 8: Rewriting the Beatles, and Other Things
Chapter 9: Rhyming
Chapter 10: Laundry List Songs
Chapter 11: Top Ten Tips for Lyric Writers: (6–10)
Chapter 12: Tropical Nights: Me ‘n’ Liza!
Chapter 13: Getting Outside Your Bubble
Chapter 14: Writing to an Existing Melody
Chapter 15: Performing Live
Chapter 16: Break Time!
Chapter 17: Writing for the Musical Theater
Chapter 18: Strategies for Creating New Songs
Chapter 19: Show Don’t Tell
Chapter 20: Write a Song Like a Movie
Chapter 21: Writing with Collaborators
Chapter 22: Dirty Little Secrets of Songwriting
Chapter 23: Am I Doing This Thing Right?
Chapter 24: You Can Write a Song
Chapter 25: A Song Is Like a House—Toolbelt
Chapter 26: Publishing and Copyrighting
Chapter 27: Final Review
Chapter 28: What Do I Do Now?
Glossary
Index
About the Author
View full details
Author Bio
Mark Winkler is a platinum award-winning singer/lyricist who has had over 250 of his songs recorded by such artists as Dianne Reeves, Steve Tyrell, Liza Minnelli, Jane Monheit, and Lea Salonga. He has written lyrics for tunes by such esteemed composers as Wayne Shorter, Dexter Gordon, Joshua Redman, and David Benoit. His last four CDs have all charted in the top 20 on the Jazz Week charts and he has gotten excellent reviews including two "Top Vocal CDs of the year" in 2015 and 2018 in Jazziz Magazine. He has written songs for the hit musical revue Naked Boys Singing! and is also the co-writer for the musical revues Bark! and Hangin Out. As an educator, he has taught seminars in lyric writing at The Songwriters Guild, The Songwriting School of Los Angeles, and UCLA Extension.