More Critical Listening With Davy Nathan.
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We all start as music fans. If you’re a songwriter, producer, singer, guitar player or lyricist, you first fell in love with music as a LISTENER. Yet, so many of us don’t realize that listening to music is an art in and of it’s own, and a muscle that can be developed.
There are many ways to listen to music. In this article, we’ll concentrate on listening to songs (listening to instrumental music requires a different set of skills). So, when listening to songs, what should you be listening to? There’s the melody, lyrics, vocals, all the instruments, production, mix, there are so many things to listen to! It can all go by very quickly and be over before you know it. Here are some key suggestions to sharpening your listening and grow as a musician.
– Isolate every instrument: Play the song from the top and only listen to the bass line. Now play it again and only listen to the guitar. And then only the drums, etc. What will happen is that you’ll hear how every instrument is approaching the song and complimenting it from their own standpoint. It will make your productions better since you’ll understand what the role of every instrument is. Also, if you’re ever rehearsing your own band playing your songs, you’ll understand what every instrument should do, and it will be easier for you to communicate with the musicians.
– Listen for the harmony: This is a crucial one and requires knowledge of music theory and harmony. Start by listening to the chords as they’re passing; are they major or minor? Is the song in a major key or minor key? Are the chords pretty simple and diatonic or are there chords that are out of the scale of the song? Can you identify every chord in the song? Try playing along with the song on piano or guitar, see if you can follow. If there’s a chord you don’t ‘hear’ yet, figure it out! Once you know the chords of the song, it’s like a vail has been lifted and you can hear the song much clearer. Listening to the harmony also develops your ear training skills. The more you do it, the better you’ll get at it, and you can get to a point where you listen to the radio, and without even paying close attention, your ear automatically is following the chord progression. It takes some time to develop, but it’s a great skill to have!
– Melodic rhythm: What is the rhythm of the melody in the verse, pre-chorus, chorus? Identify and compare. Is it busy in the verse (16th notes) and long notes in the chorus? This will help you in your own writing, creating contrast with rhythm. Also, another thing to listen for is where does the melody start – does it start on the 1st beat of the measure, on the 2nd beat? Maybe it starts on an offbeat. Paying attention to these small details makes you a sharper listener.
– Melodic curve: Listen to where the melody ‘lives’ as far as the notes and the gaps between the notes. A lot of hit songs today will have very simple verse melodies that have one or two notes, and then the chorus has notes that soar high above the verse notes. Notice the range of notes in the song – what’s the lowest note and what’s the highest note. David Foster says that every song needs to have a ‘money’ note; usually happens in the chorus and usually is the highest note in the song, but doesn’t have to be. A well-known example of the money note being a low note is Garth Brooks’ song ‘I’ve got friends in low places’, where the word ‘low’ in the chorus is the money note. The money note is the most memorable note in the song. See if you can find the money note in the song you’re listening to.
– Lyrics, Lyrics, Lyrics! Probably one of the most crucial parts of a successful song is the lyrics. If you can’t understand any of the lyrics, run it back or search for the lyrics online. Make sure you understand every word. Then, you can analyze. What does the verse say? What does the chorus say? Is the bridge uplifting? What is the song trying to say? What is the message, the moral? Who is speaking and who is she/he speaking to? There are many types of lyric structures you can analyze.
– Production: This is a big one also. What choices did the producer make? The producer makes many choices – from the drum sounds to overall feel and arc of the song. Production choices make or break the song, so try isolating the production. When do instruments come in and out, the parts they play, and the sound they use. For example, there are many ways you can make a guitar sound. The guitars could be acoustic in the verses and big distorted guitars in the hooks. The drums also could be programmed in the verses (drum machine) and big acoustic drums in the chorus. (example of that is ‘Since U been gone’). Are there strings in the song? Are they live or programmed? Solo or ensemble? There are a million choices a producer has to make, and they all help convey the message of the song. Listen for those, and you’ll grow as a producer.
– Mixing: Mixing is one of those things that when it’s done right, the mix is invisible and everything just sounds great. Try sharpening your listening to notice levels of instruments and vocals in a mix. How loud are the background vocals compared to the lead? How loud are the snare, bass drum, and cymbals? Different styles of music have different rules when it comes to mixing and levels. Try identifying the choices the mix engineer made and notice what they added to the song. Mixing also includes the use of effects; Reverbs, Delays, Chorus, Flanger, etc. Using effects is like adding spices while cooking. Notice which effects were added and when.
– Run it from the top again: Music happens in the moment. If you don’t pay attention to something, it’s already over, and the next thing is happening. If you missed a lyrics, a bass fill or a note in the piano part that you’d like to hear again, listen to the song again! It may seem simple, but listening to a song multiple times opens up your hearing to new things you didn’t hear the first time. Also, rewinding a few seconds back is something I do all the time when I missed a lyric or something that sounded interesting to me, and I just have to figure it out.
All of these tips will make you a better listener and will amplify your listening experience. I find it to be like learning a new language: If I’m learning how to speak French, at first when I hear people speaking French it all sounds foreign, and I don’t understand a word. But once I know how to speak French, I understand everything I hear in French. You want to listen to music in the same way – understanding the choices the producer made, the singer, the piano player, the drummer, etc. That’s done with critical listening, constantly analyzing and learning.
Happy listening!
Davy Nathan is a Grammy-nominated songwriter, producer, and musical director. His experience working with artists such as Christina Aguilera, Toni Braxton, Jason Derulo, NKOTB and others has put him at the center of the creative process for some of the greatest all time performers and writers in the industry. He is passionate about sharing his wealth of knowledge with the next generation of hitmakers.