Matthew Moran

I posted on twitter that in songwriting Formula and feel were both important. I was asked to clarify and because twitter does not provide a very effective way to explain an idea.   When I make the distinction between formula and feel, it is a little bit contrived but let me try to explain'

I work with songwriters and performers ' most often on online tools for promotion but have done some song-coaching and performance coaching.

There are songwriters who, for fear of losing their creative edge, stay away from anything resembling a formula. They "feel" their way through every song, letting it sort of amble along where it may. I believe this is a mistake ' and a pretty bad one actually.

WHAT IS A FORMULA

Simply, a framework for a song. It could be in chord structure, ending a chorus on the 5 chord (a 7th is good for transition, of course) of a progression. Or..

Intro
Verse/Chorus
Verse/Chorus
Bridge
Break
Chorus | Chorus | Ending

Something like that ' a predictable pattern ' that is a formula.

Ill meet songwriters ' more concerned with letting their free form sort of "flow" along ' without a traditional pattern ' or seemingly without any pattern at all.

But patterns, somewhat predictable flows to a song, give the listener a comfort ' they have an expectation ' looking forward to the return of your nice hook- or the phrasing of a particular chorus ' they know where to expect an instrumental break.

Some of those songwriters wax eloquently about "writing just for themselves" but why are they playing their songs live then?  Because a "feel" only, frameless song, is often boring and hard to follow. Often, they result in over-explained, over-lyricized songs ' because they are not "bound" by a traditional framework.

Atonal/arhythmic music is "interesting" as a study (okay, not really) but outside of the study, in the coffeehouse or concert hall, it is typically painful.

And the truth is, Formula lends itself to great feel and MORE CREATIVITY!!!

I am a writer; a traditionally published for pay writer. Ive written articles, book, essays, poems, marketing copy, etc. and been paid for those things. Im good at it.

Ive taught writing and one of the most important elements I teach ' both to my kids and others and to corporate clients ' is the idea of frameworks. Rather than limit creativity, they enhance it ' greatly.  Here is why.

Take a student who has a blank piece of paper in front of them. Tell them to write a paper on their summer vacation. I promise you, for a good many of them, the paper will be stinted and mostly aimless.  Now do this, give them the 5×5 formula for 1 page essays that I was taught when I was younger.

FYI: I taught this to my oldest boy who hated writing and he always seemed to get As on his written papers ' they were so formulaic.

It looks like this.

A 5X5 FORMULA FOR ESSAY WRITING
5 paragraphs, 5 sentences each.

An essay has 5 paragraphs.

Intro that introduced 3 ideas. 3 paragraphs, one for each of the 3 ideas. A conclusion ' that either draws or conclusion or asks the reader to.

Each paragraph follows a similar formula with 5 sentences.

An intro to 3 ideas of the paragraph. 3 sentences ' 1 for each introduced idea. A conclusion sentence ' that segues to the next paragraph unless it is the final paragraph.

Thats it!  That is the 5×5 one page essay formula.

Here is what it does for the average writer. It removes the anxiety of where I start. Writing a paper on your summer vacation now only requires 3 main ideas or activities. And you plug those into the formula.

Removing anxiety enhances creativity ' it always does. And the writer can now focus on content ' not structure.

Can you break from that formula ' sure. In fact, if you are doing a 2+ page paper, you simply extend the formula. And does each paragraph need exactly 5 sentences. No, of course not.

But I used to laugh reading my sons papers ' they were pretty good ' but they often were "exactly" formula.

CONCLUSION

And so, for the songwriter, the fear that formula restricts creativity or feel is really nonsense. In fact, formula is a great way to allow feel and creativity to flourish.

At least that is my opinion.