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Ballad Poems: Ballad Writing
Ballad Writing
Ballad Form Details
Example Ballads
How do I
start writing a ballad?
- Start with a key phrase...
- ...that pops into your head,
- ...or strikes you when somebody says it,
- ...and is connected with something you feel strongly about.
- It may be a line of melody or words, or both.
- Grab a tape recorder (or your computer mike)
- and save this rough fragment immediately.
- Build on this phrase.
- Images related to the phrase
- Similar phrases
- Rhyming words
- A tune that fits the phrase
- Ask yourself questions.
- Who is saying this phrase?
- ...Why? ...Where? ...To whom?
- What is the reply?
- How did they get into this situation?
- Consequences
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| Keep going over the song: with repeated singing, natural
phrases will come...
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- What rhymes with the key phrase?
- Do these rhyming phrases trigger more images?
- Construct verses.
- Most usual is 4 lines, with the 2nd line rhyming with the last.
- Arrange the verses into sequence.
- Cobble together more verses to make a story.
- The initial fill-in verses may be Yuk! but they give your imagination a
framework.
- Sing them over and over until, days (months?) later, better words come to
you.
- Keep going over the song.
- Evolve the tune by chanting the verses.
- Are any of those chord sequences in Lesson 1 suitable?
- Rewrite the cobbled phrases; with repeated singing, natural phrases will
come.
- Do some editing.
- Throw out unnecessary verses.
- Add a chorus.
- ...or a refrain, or instrumental break.
- Or turn the verse with that initial key phrase into a chorus.
- The chorus gives the audience time to absorb the storyline...
- ...and lets them release all the emotions you have aroused in their souls.
For discussion, Post on the Forum!
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