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How to Borrow Rhythmic PhrasingJanuary 31, 2012 Leave a comment (http://www.organizingsound.com/how-to-steal-rhythmic-phrasing/#respond)

Many young musicians (and perhaps old ones as well) believe that an original artist is one who createswithout influence. I will admit to having held such beliefs myself in my late teens. This absurd idea isbuilt on the assumption that an artist can create without influence. But try as you might, you will fail(unless you use techniques to make your compositions truly random, but then this has already beendone as well!). The mind of a musician, whether consciously or unconsciously, is constantlyrearranging materials that are already out there. That brilliant melody that appeared to you as if bymagic? It was almost certainly a result of this process. This is not a bad thing; it doesnt make you ahack. The line between originality and unoriginality is in fact drawn in much more subtle ways than thequestion of influence. It is how you borrow that matters. Did you transform those materials intosomething new? This, Im suggesting, is the important question, and the only one that makes sense.

So if were already borrowing and working on the musical ideas of other people anyway, why not do itself-consciously as well? Thats what this series is about, getting you to build on one (and only one)element from a song you love and place it in a different context. If you put in a little effort, your result

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will never remind anyone of the song you borrowed from. It will be as new and original as a song canbe.

I want to start with a method that might initially strike you as unoriginal and derivative. But just try itout and see what happens. Theres no harm in singing something to yourself.

THE EXERCISEChoose a melody that you love. Now start singing the melody over and over, and as you do, tap yourfinger along with every note. What youre doing is working out the rhythmic phrasing of the melody.Once youve got it, stop singing and just continue tapping. Thats the pure rhythmic content of themelody, and thats what youre going to work from.

Now try to sing some completely different notes to that same rhythm. Particularly at first, focus onkeeping your melody as different from the original as possible. Keep going until you get somethingyou like.

As your new melody comes to life, play around with changing the rhythm in subtle ways to better suityour idea. Youll probably find that you can consciously start sculpting it into something new. In fact,you may have naturally done this as you formed your melody. This is because each melody has itsown demands, so to speak.

If youve followed these instructions, then youve just created something new out of pre-existingmaterials. And thats what I mean by the art of borrowing.

WHY DOES THIS WORK?The rhythmic phrasing of a melody is an important part of its overall feel, and sense of unity and drive.One of the weaknesses of melodies written by beginners is that they lack rhythmic sophistication. Ifyou borrow the phrasing from a melody you love, then you know youll be working from a strong basis.

Now pick up your guitar, play some chords, and write a new melody using the same rhythm. Oneinteresting exercise would be to see how many different songs you can generate from the samerhythmic material.

BUT ARENT I A THIEF NOW?In case youre starting to feel guilty, how about this for a bit of interesting trivia. Music historianSpencer Leigh discovered that Paul McCartneys Yesterday is almost identical to an earlier hit,Answer Me by Frankie Lane, in terms of its rhythmic phrasing (see his Brother, Can You Spare aRhyme? (http://www.amazon.com/Brother-Can-You-Spare-Rhyme/dp/095382330X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328039284&sr=8-1)). Beginning from the word yesterday in both songs, youll findidentical phrasing up until the last erday in McCartneys version. [It's my personal opinion that if wehad diligent scholars working overtime, we'd find endless examples of this kind of overlap.]

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How to Submit (http://www.organizingsound.com/how-to-submit/)

In Rhythm (http://www.organizingsound.com/category/rhythm/), The Art of Borrowing(http://www.organizingsound.com/category/the-art-of-borrowing/)

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Now I dont know about you, but if it werent for the fact that the songs share some lyrical phrases, Idont think anyone would associate them. Rhythmic phrasing is only one musical element amongmany; it is only in the context of the whole that any one element takes on its sound and meaning.

You might still be worried that your song is too similar to the original. Thats good, and its a goodreason to use an exercise like this as a jumping off point. Dont ultimately use the same rhythmicphrasing verbatim. Mix it up a little as your new melody develops, just as Ive described above.

If you come up with something you like, be sure to submit(http://www.organizingsound.com/how-to-submit/) it as an example for the rest of us.

Next: How to Borrow from Folk Songs (http://www.organizingsound.com/how-to-borrow-from-folk-songs/)

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John Thomas Mumm

I'm a musician, writer, and professional philosopher. I'm writing this blog to help musicians gain control oftheir songwriting. I'd also like to challenge some prevailing but limiting beliefs about what it takes to writegreat music.

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