As a songwriter you are an artist! You are in charge of creating something new and yet unheard. What a privilege! Today I would like to talk about the courage to leave gaps in your songs.
When studying art (any kind of art), you will likely find out, that gaps are as important as actual matter. Whether you are a painter, an author or a songwriter. They same rules apply.
I would like for you to imagine a pencil drawing of a human face. Have you ever truely looked at a decent sketch? If you have, you will have noticed that there are usually lots of gaps (where no colour is applied) in it. These gaps help create an illusion of light and shadow, making the face look more realistic to you.
Our brain will automatically know how to interpret the gap, or say, it will close the gap independently, therby recognizing the face as a face.
The same rule applies to sentences. Sometimes the words missing are the ones that are most present. See for example this sentence:
Like father, like son.
This idiom needs no verb. We instantly know the meaning of this comparison, don´t we? Here´s another example:
Why love, if all it does is hurt you?
Add some context and the reader will easily know who the protragnist is. The whole sentence could be something like: Why would you love, if all it does is hurt you? Doesn´t the shorter version seem more elegant? More thrilling?
Now, let´s shift our attention to writing music. Not only do lyrics generally seem stronger, when there is room for imagination, but also the music arrangement itself is dependant on a decent amount of gaps.
There´s breaks, there are variations, (e.g. where you leave away notes in chords, you vary strumming patterns, or interrupt base lines etc.). It´s those gaps, that help you polish up your songs dramatically!
Think of gaps as tools, that can be applied as much as a certain rythmn, harmonies or other elements, that make your sound YOUR sound!
Leave it to peoples´ immagination to fill in the gaps. Give your listeners that power and they will feel much more attached to your works! Art is not a one-man show. Art is always flexible, always multi-facetted and never self-opinionated. You need to allow for your audience to match it with their own experiences.
Keep that in mind and play with your art! Let it fly! Nothing much can happen anyway! Your listeners always know how to sail home that ship!
Let me know, if this advice was helpful to you? I´m happy to share more easy tricks with you!
Best, Katie
If you wanna connect, you can find me online here:
or contact me at:
kwellenberg@hotmail.com
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