Songwriting Workshop I with Larry Dvoskin

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This is a continuation of the songwriting process as well as life lessons by the author about how to turn your passion for music, from hobby into a career. The songwriting professor Mr. Dvoskin is available to present 'master classes' worldwide, and from time to time schedule depending available for private "hire" to offer songwriting services, career coaching, and even song production. For professional inquiries:
Contact: [e-mail]
www.miraclemusicinc.com
September 16, 2009
Interactive songwriting lecture and workshop by Grammy-nominated songwriter and producer Larry Dvoskin.

[@cobaltjones]

I like this guy's openness. He doesn't claim to know it all, but instead opens a dialogue to get at the truth. Good method of teaching.

[@NateChristyMedia]

Having had the opportunity to sit in a live class with Larry and experience his teaching, it is wonderful to have this video and fully absorb his experience. Thanks Larry!!!

[@ronanmaison6361]

you all prolly dont care but does anyone know a method to get back into an instagram account? I stupidly forgot the password. I would appreciate any tips you can give me!

[@aaronazariah3069]

@Ronan Maison instablaster =)

[@ronanmaison6361]

@Aaron Azariah i really appreciate your reply. I got to the site thru google and im waiting for the hacking stuff atm. Seems to take a while so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

[@ronanmaison6361]

@Aaron Azariah it did the trick and I now got access to my account again. Im so happy! Thanks so much, you really help me out!

[@aaronazariah3069]

@Ronan Maison glad I could help xD

[@LarryDvoskin]

Thank you Buddy! I am proud and happy to share what Ive learned to benefit others!

[@jingleskhanaudioproductions]

keep it up!

[@briancoyne6700]

This was great. I liked the talk about tension and resolution in melodies. I also noticed this in movies lately. They are very similar arts. Thank you for the lecture!

[@MIDNIGHTxUSER]

All songs r 3 chords n the truth - this man is so wise,in so many ways. Bless you sir. Keep teaching,we have so much to learn. Pay taxes to keep music n arts in the schools. We all need the dream.

[@lacmofficial]

This is such a great guest speaker you have here! Good job Larry!

[@LarryDvoskin]

Thank you! I work all the time in LA< > and Pasadena, would love to come and speak at the school sometime- in person or webcast!

[@WithmeVerissimusWhostoned]

Good lecture indeed. I agree about tension and release, or as I refer to it dance of emotions, which can be seen in any story - be it a book, movie or a song. It's what gets people the most, when you can hit their emotional chords. That's what I believe Beethoven not only was aware of, but had conscious and direct control over. He didn't need to hear how it sounds anymore, after his deafness he couldn't anyway... the music was in his head and he already knew what and how to write down.

[@gblaney]

With a BM in Composition, I find it quite excellent to have the basics explained well; I also find it quite excellent to have it on this website for free to review over and over.

[@briansuccar3655]

This is amazing! I'm pursuing my career on music. This was the best lecture I've ever had

[@MimiYouyu]

Look up Pat Pattison

[@MimiYouyu]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/j2XWp5adobGhoqM

[@MrMikomi]

Eight years later....how has it gone?

[@Kenyi_]

@@MrMikomi amazing actually my artist name is “kenyi” wow seeing this made me emotional! thank you checking up on me, god bless you! 💙

[@Skitdora2010]

@@MimiYouyu Meh. He is a grumpy frump and analytical to the point of formulaic uninspiring stuff that won't be remembered. The best art comes in the space between your hand and the medium. It doesn't come plugging in a math equation and trying to create a little voice in your head which says, "Uh-uh uh!" Stifling your pull of inspiration and making it stuck at your fingertips.

[@MikeMcKenzieLOL]

A note to Larry Dvoskin -- thank you. You presented a complex subject in an amazingly approachable and interesting way. M

[@TianaMaher]

Very interesting, thank you.

[@SebbWins]

Just a big thumbs up for uploading this. It's amazing having access to such informative content free + online. This is what the internet was designed for. Thankyou :).

[@foamstrat]

i made it through 16 minutes, the issue always with songwriting workshops is they analyze people writing songs and giving you a exact explanation of how songs are written. There is a truth to writing things via some algorithm but the reality is some song writers are just genius. The bottom line is every song that really is great has a chord progression that makes you feel something. Lyrics are the second to the beauty of any song.

[@twisttheworld]

This video is incredible!! Having had the blessing of sitting in on Larry's class I had my mind opened to so many possibilities and visions for my songs!! Thank you Larry!!

[@Engelhafen]

What a wonderful class and presentation - Mr. Dvoskin is so personable - I wish all instructors were so great at teaching.

[@fastteddyb]

I think this is the best one I heard so far - he's got a great friendly personality without being arrogant about his success:)

[@CeciliaEavesWalkerMEd]

I love the fact that the most unlikely, guy Dvoskin's Songwriting Workshop, could sing the rhythmic lyrics to TLC's "I Don't Want No Scrubs"! Excellent!

[@ronwilliams1094]

Some GREAT info here for ANY style songwriter. Rhythm and phrasing, to me, is key when considering melody in singing the lyrics.

[@camilosta]

Many many many many many thanks to Queensborough Music Department and also Larry for sharing this amazing workshop !! :D :D

[@tomaspomej1162]

Larry great lesson here thank you for that.... I left my job last month because of the "Secret" book and I am starting to write music so you can imagine how I felt when you mentioned the book :) love what you do!!!!!

[@asklestaylor]

What's the name of the book you're talking about?

[@eggbass]

How is it going so far, Thomas?

[@tomaspomej1162]

eggbass well it's exciting and tedious at the same time as I had to find out the hard way what kind of music I want to represent first and than learning the practical bits later :) now I know what and why so should be easier to focus and create but still probably long way to go as it's all new to me.Lucky for me I do have some income coming in in the meantime so dream is still on :) ps: I am not a teenager anymore so I know my odds in this but my love to music doesn't allow me to anything else at the moment so as long as I can keep this fire inside me burning emotionally and financially I will keep on. As some smart man once said "don't die with your music still in you " .......

[@eggbass]

Nice! Good luck with it. I would love to quit my job and focus on music but I have a family. So I am trying to get the ball rolling while I'm still working.

[@tomaspomej1162]

understanding man.... my wife would be probably less patient with me if we had kids

[@briantsings]

Just finishing watching this great workshop series. Thank you Larry! So kind of you to post such helpful and valuable insights with us!

[@lizlalove6171]

This is great. I was skeptical before I watched this and came away from this realizing that songwriting is actually quite doable. It's not pure magic--just some chord progressions and variations and you're on your way to writing a good song.

[@sonnybrown4758]

The closing words are priceless. Thank you.

[@javoutube1]

Terrific workshop , thank you very much for uploading it , It was superb , it covered all the topics I wanted to learn about exactly ! I think the people who posted negative comments don't understand or care enough about songwriting so they just generalize about it.

[@PopFlipCatchStickRol]

Wow I am SOOO glad I by chance stumbled across this video. I started trying to make music not too long ago and Ive been struggling really hard with creating songs. I feel like this will help me out so much. It felt like I was a student in the classroom just soaking up knowledge. Thank you so much for uploading this to youtube. SUBSCRIBED. I will definitely be checking into your other videos as well.

[@JoshNtheedrifter]

Extremely insightful. Thanks

[@mrrobbiezed]

Cheers Larry, I think your videos are great. I like how you demystify songs by dissecting them. I write poetry and I'm in the process of learning guitar so I can put some of my ideas to music.. I'm fearful that lacking musical knowledge I wouldn't know how to approach someone like yourself to collaborate for fear of ridicule.

[@moreapropos]

This guy is freaking awesome. Very impressive all the way around, what a great teacher.

[@TheShrubbist]

This dude has a comb over that defies the laws of physics! But he rocks it.

[@gogamusic]

Somewhere Over the rain-BOW - the BOW has to be the root chord. based on the original version from Judy Garland. In this video he was convincing everyone that it was the minor 3 chord. Then his whole theory of explaining that this chord and the melody was dissonant is not right since in the original song this is not the right chord. Hope this makes sense.

[@HABLA_GUIRRRI]

i like the way the singing matches the hair

[@chrislestermusic]

It is strange that you would have multiple cameras but distance micing. Thank you for recording this though.

[@DawzeyJ]

this guy is a really great teacher, thankyou for this upload

[@kashifbilgrami]

he taught me so much stuff and saved me like months of experimenting. thankyou

[@EliasFrost123]

So the tension/release theory is basically built upon the same thing as blue notes in the pentatonic scale? Because you can't rest on a blue note, you have to save it by jumping back into the scale (or in this case the chord), am I right?

[@gothicgrafting]

Thanks so much for all this information, my song writing is improving thanks to it, im so glad i was born in the computer age where i can have access to this using the net, although i don't write pop music, a lot of this can be applied to my music, Thank you :)

[@JonnyZye]

Incredible info...thank you so much Larry. Watched all three and I already am seeing improvements in my songwriting.

[@samscott54]

NIce job Larry......thanks for explaining in words the things we don't really think about too much , but makes sense when you explain it.

[@MrPetepoet]

What a fantastic lecture ,,chat. But the noise in that room was driving me mad ,how lucky the people are being there .thankyou

[@Flyahead]

Dissonance in singing or playing melody originated from blues players. Many of them didn't know about harmony will put dissonant notes in the melody which actually created unique sound. This effect later got noticed by professionals, that people will love this kind of melodies. Melody that too perfect will put people asleep, thats one of a problem with classical music, people will fall asleep on a classical concerts. Dissonant notes will give humans brain kinda rollacoaster will keep audience exited.

[@whatabouttheearth]

Not really, many earlier classical composers intentionally used dissonance.

[@PaulLadendorf]

Sorry but Lennon didn't give McCartney songwriting credit out of the goodness of his heart. They had a contract.

[@ericswolgaard1808]

At around 48 mins the instructor was asked a question pertaining to chord inversions and he answered in a way that presumed classroom familiarity of chord inversions. I would have, instead, gone into a working definition of the term "chord inversion", and then given some examples of a root position chord versus the various inversions of the chord.

[@jennifermariedylanjosephwe1345]

This is a great video! I shared it. Also, I hate it when my guitar strap gives in. I know the feeling! lol

[@monekayakamswild4195]

awesome class! create tension and release it back into the chord progression.

[@centraljerseyguitarteachin7588]

A very good presentation of what songs are and how melodies & rhythm work.

[@johanantonin6938]

@29:03 My understanding is that, the note sung is not out of the chord, it is just out of the triad, but completing the voicing to build an extended chord, Fort instance the D against the C6 (CEGA) is simply an ADD9. = C6add9 (CEGAD). Right?

[@anthonymaloney6838]

+johan ANTONIN You are correct sir. The melody implies an extended chord IF... it is used as a structural note (placed on the downbeat). If it is used on the offbeat, it is simply a passing note, (although it can also be used to imply the next chord change. For example, C to Cadd9 before changing to G as the next chord.)

[@anthonymaloney6838]

johan ANTONIN Anything diatonic to the chord is an inside note, all others in the key are outside (color notes).

[@monekayakamswild4195]

Anthony Maloney what does that mean? is it take a note from the chord and lower it with a minor or raise it to another note? I'm not fortunate Like u music heads, I'm learning music theory on KZbin.

[@anthonymaloney6838]

It means the vocal melody note placed on the downbeat is the highlight of the chord, giving it the feeling of being an outsider compared to the standard major or minor chord of 135. Take the second melody he played which follows as such. His example is written in a tuple time like 3/4, 6/8/, or 12/8, with a lead in measure (anacrusis-shortening of the standard measure). Let's assume it is a 3/4 time signature. In the example below, Larry was hinting at F# being a highlighted note in the next chord (because the first time we see it, the note is placed between the first and second beats. This make's it a passing note and doesn't change the G Major into a G Major7. But when F# is placed on the first beat for the strong syllable of apPEAR, it turns the E Minor Chord into an Add9 chord. If we add D to the E Minor (Add9) we create a common note shared by both since D is also used in G Major. This creates a feeling that the chords truly belong together. Now we not only have hinted at the coming chord by using the F# in G Major and giving G Major a romantic feel, we are also hinting at the coming E Minor (Add9). 2 3 |123|123|123|1 2 3 |123|123|123|Etc. B D G G F# G A F# Why do BIRDS sud-den-ly ap-PEAR. GMaj EMin(Add9)

[@theavitaravitar1884]

Awesome class!

[@AvaPxiaO]

A music dept. should be able to produce a better sounding video than this. If you can't change the noisy acoustics of the room you should be able to filter out some noise from the digital file.

[@TheSangredegrado]

Wow. Very Very cool. Thank you for sharing these gems. Such useful information. And Larry is awesome.

[@jingleskhanaudioproductions]

15:00 yeah that's a valuable point

[@arakrazy]

When the guy starts playing at 56:30 had to stop what I was doing as the melody took over my brain!

[@kylebennett4196]

akara etteh what Melody? He just played some chords

[@AkaraEtteh]

Ok ok pedantic! :) but a melody is technically just a sequence of notes; the arpeggio was beautifully sequenced

[@mjsmcd]

What good songs had he written?

[@Honeebeemusic]

Great Info, thanks! Hmmmmm! I remember you from the CMPA Awards Toronto. Yes I sang the impromptu Happy Birthday to a celebrated musician. Cheers!

[@Articulatedcopy]

Uhhh. When the student played. It's basically Sweet Madame Blue by Styx. I mean I'm just saying.

[@keeszondervrees8787]

There's a lot of picture taking going on... Why!?

[@EmmaDivaOfficial]

These are the things I miss about uni :)

[@nyacoustics8373]

so the moral of the workshop is like in the last 70 years no one can come up with any music that really sounds "different". Most use the same chords and rhythms that the rock and rollers used many years ago.

[@whatabouttheearth]

Mainstream music generally has the same progressions and all of those progressions and more were in earlier classical (see the videos on progressions on the channel 'David Bennet Piano'). Mainstream music is repetitive, especially modern mainstream. But there are many restrictions and dynamic elements that make the genres what they are.

[@Ronbo765]

A generous and articulate man. Thanks!

[@MrMikomi]

33:36 the least likely guy knocks it out of the park

[@danielrot3742]

I think your amazing Larry Thank^s for posting this......D.R

[@tg6769]

crazy that a music workshop has awful and distracting mic'ing

[@zeramski]

Not entirely. To me, the function of the blue note is more of a chromatic one (outside of the scale), whereas the examples Larry shows are notes that are still diatonic (within the scale). Blue notes act to "pull you out" of the scale with more obvious tension. The notes outside of the chords create more of a nebulous or cloudy effect, not so much an obvious "pull" away from the scale. That kinda "longing" feeling he was talking about, not so much a direct "happy/sad". hope that made sense!

[@peterflynn6200]

AMAZING!!!

[@MichaelLynMusic]

Great class Larry!......I'd love to sit in on one of these one day!

[@minstrelofMir]

i started a beatles copy band in 1975 age11 with twisted hands that didant even open, a long story followed,,but my point is song writing leads to enlightenment,as we have to have answers,,know this and find the deepest meanings and a way to express :-)

[@petrarodgers]

this was awesome and so informative. I learned alot. Thank you!!!

[@tommynoble685]

saying the G is a 4th chord of a song in C is incorrect.

[@Martinbeef]

There's a lot of waffling, and the students make so much noise taking photographs! However, the main message is really good and very helpful.

[@michaelmifsud4763]

Life changing instructor

[@who7771]

Students had a really experienced songwriter and nobody took the opportunity to play their music and get critiqued. What a shame.

[@MissVelvetElle]

Great, great talk! I learned so much. Thank you!

[@COLOSSALcreation10]

But a D isn't the 7th of a Cmaj? @JamesCornelisonMusic

[@markmadle]

Fantastic. Thank You!!!

[@blythekelly1795]

Thank you for this wonderful information!!

[@johnpucilla7157]

Other than the issue with the audio, this was informative. Regards, songwriter, John Pucilla

[@lordfundus3859]

Love Poland Springs.

[@aurorameddle953]

I liked it at a song writing view very informative

[@mussman717word]

I could've sworn that Cobain said he was trying to rip off The Pixies, not "Louie, Louie."

[@whatabouttheearth]

Yes, he did. He constantly said he was highly influenced by the Pixies

[@phildaniels7623]

11 yrs old? Great video quality!

[@sincerecartertm]

i wonder what part you made in there for your words (student classmate today) its kind of impossible to just perfectly perfectly match a melody , but i hopefully know you know , you can change around melodic , once formated!!

[@thealphasystem]

good vid, poor audio quality though

[@EmmaDivaOfficial]

Forgot to add, great info, thanks for uploading

[@reliablebow]

thanks Larry...excellent

[@kashifbilgrami]

check his wiki. Just type his name in. The thing is that most songwriters arent noted for anything or put in the famous lime light. They may have written it but the person who sang it is more famous for being the face. he only people who really look at them as famous are the labels and singers that talk about them and actually throw their name out.

[@whatabouttheearth]

Uh... musicians who are more serious pay attention to songwriters, engineers and producers

[@zeramski]

"Cobain himself held similar opinions, saying that it 'was such a clichéd riff. It was so close to a Boston riff or [The Kingsmen's] 'Louie Louie.'" I think The Pixies thing was an overall reference to their aesthetic (the whole loud/soft thing)

[@whatabouttheearth]

The Pixies were absolutely an influence and Cobain constantly said that, they were an influence for a large part of 90s rock and "alternative" and alot of extensions of 90s rock derived from Deals band The Breeders, Deal herself was a huge influence on all that.

[@veganmochi]

This was awesome.

[@allenalsop6032]

What is all the background noise? Are people talking?

[@autobarry]

Thanks that was an awesome class

[@martintojr]

It’s a shame that the audio in this video is not very good and the squeaking of the chairs is kind of annoying too.

[@OddHenrikBrekke]

Is it worth watching? someone answer please! :p

[@magsheffernan6795]

This is great! Also, you dont need to play an instrument to be a songwriter. Check out Mags Heffernan 'I Am Human'. Great catchy song!

[@MrTommySullivan]

This was great!

[@Michellippke]

A great video ! Thank you !

[@TLaySM]

thank you for all this priceless information :))

[@67Stu]

Pretty good for the most part, but just one thing: Did he say "Hang on Snoopy"? or is my hearing going down?

[@haylabesamuel9514]

What is WRONG with this students ????? If I where them I would pay attention and learn ... Why they cant make silence ??? uff!!

[@TheKay830]

that's exactly how I feel, the camera sound, the door open sound.. and why they don't prepare a mic for instructor since they decided to record this class? uhh!!!! even you open the subtitle, there are so many vocabulary mistakes that will misleads people.

[@pantera6]

whoaa that big dude actually sang alright

[@d_ruggs]

"Any questions?" a ton

[@BradSimpsonArt]

His necklace keeps disappearing and reappearing. What gives?

[@smfo00]

Why ?

[@Songwriter4God]

It's great that this is freely available online. :D

[@shanegregg1057]

my only complaint is that songwriters always talk like that if you're not doing all these things your song is less valid but there are plenty of songs out there that have completely implied melody that follow the chordal structure and still have tension and release