Participants:
Series Code: YCWS
Program Code: YCWS200005S
|
00:18 Hello, friends.
00:19 Welcome once again to You Can Write A Song. 00:21 My name is John Lomacang. 00:22 Thank you for taking the time to tune in again. 00:25 And this program is an exciting one 00:27 because you may have heard about rhyme like, 00:31 Mary Had A Little Lamb, and the list goes on and on. 00:34 Rhythm is so much a part of life. 00:36 If your heart is ever out of rhythm, it's arrhythmia. 00:39 Everything in our planet, 00:41 in our cycle of sun going up 00:42 and sun going down is all based on rhythm. 00:45 And the person that is going 00:46 to be a part of our program today, 00:48 the main focus, our guest is none other than Lanny Wolfe. 00:52 And I can't think of anybody else 00:53 that knows about rhythm in the way 00:55 that you have over the years. 00:56 Thank you for coming. Thank you, John. 00:57 It's good to be here. 00:59 What are we going to learn today? 01:00 We're going to learn so many different rhyme schemes... 01:02 Okay. 01:03 And how to use them, and the importance of rhyme 01:05 and rhyme scheme. 01:06 I'm astonished that one of my students, 01:10 worship pastor did a project, great singer. 01:14 And when he came to me to start taking song, 01:17 he had no concept of rhyme. 01:20 I was shocked to think that here's an adult 01:23 who made a project that was a good project, 01:26 and wrote the songs, had no concept of rhyme. 01:29 So it's amazing how many people don't really understand rhyme, 01:32 they're going to learn about it today. 01:33 Well, sit back friends and hit the record button right now, 01:36 because when this program is over, 01:38 you will think rhyme in the proper way 01:40 and then you will be able to write a song. 01:43 It's going to be an exciting program. 01:45 Hit the record button right now. 01:51 I would like to talk about a very important aspect 01:54 of songwriting, rhyme, and what I call Rhyme Time. 01:58 In a previous session, 01:59 I talked about the A, A, A, A' prime chorus format, 02:05 in which the first three lines are all the same, 02:08 and the fourth is an extension 02:10 or completion of a thought of the first three lines 02:14 as in Greater is He that is in me, 02:17 Greater is He that is in me, 02:19 Greater is He that is in me than He that is in the world. 02:24 Today, I would like to discuss other formulas 02:27 for both verses and choruses 02:29 of a song with respect to rhyme. 02:32 Rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds 02:36 of two or more words, 02:38 most often used for effect in the final positions of lines 02:41 or poems and songs. 02:43 For example, day, hay, lay, 02:46 may, play, say, tray, way, etc. 02:50 If the first word is one syllable, 02:53 the ideal rhyme for the second would also be one syllable. 02:57 However, the second word could have more syllables 03:00 than the first as in the first word day, 03:03 and the second word, obey. 03:06 Also, the second or rhyming word 03:09 doesn't have to be spelled the same way as the first word. 03:12 Just sound the same. 03:14 For example, go, G-O, show, 03:17 S-H-O-W, toe, T-O-E, 03:21 same sound, different spelling. 03:24 From the time all of us were small children, 03:27 we were introduced to the idea of rhyme 03:29 in the form of nursery rhymes. 03:32 Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow, 03:35 and everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go. 03:40 The itsy bitsy spider crawled up 03:42 the water spout down came the rain, 03:45 and washed the spider out. 03:47 Out came the sun and dried up all the rain 03:50 and the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again. 03:54 Taking you back to elementary school. 03:56 Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. 04:01 All the king's horses and all the king's men 04:03 couldn't put Humpty together again. 04:06 So nursery rhymes 04:08 were our first introduction to poetry. 04:10 They helped us master new language 04:12 because they present a vocabulary 04:15 in a format that caught our attention 04:17 and helped us to remember and use tunes, 04:20 and repetition, and rhythm, and actions. 04:24 Rhyme and nursery rhymes gives a child the sense 04:27 of anticipating the sound of the end of a line 04:31 to come based on the end of a preceding line. 04:36 Just as rhyme gives nursery rhyme structure, 04:39 it helps to give a song structure 04:41 and helps to divide the song into sections, 04:44 which usually makes it easier for the listener 04:46 to not only digest the entire song, 04:49 but easier to remember the song broken down 04:52 into sections or verses, chorus, bridge etc. 04:57 In my early songwriting career, 04:59 I used to carry around a rhyming dictionary 05:02 to save me all the trouble from going 05:05 through the alphabet in my mind, 05:07 ar, bar, car, dar, far, har, lar, mar, nar, war, sar. 05:12 But now, with the internet access, 05:16 I go to rhyme zone, 05:18 rhymezone.com 05:23 You simply put in a word 05:25 that you want to find rhymes to, 05:26 it will give you one syllable words, 05:29 it will give you two syllable words, 05:31 three syllable rhymes. 05:32 It will also give you fake rhymes. 05:35 A fake rhyme is formed by words 05:38 with a similar but not identical sound. 05:41 Fake rhymes are sometimes called... 05:44 Here we go, loose rhymes, near rhymes, 05:47 half rhymes, lazy rhymes, slant rhymes, false rhymes, 05:52 imperfect rhymes, partial rhymes, 05:55 oblique rhymes and off rhymes. 05:57 They're all fake, okay? 06:00 An example of fake rhyme 06:01 is found in the verse of I feel good, 06:04 where the word book, 06:05 B-O-O-K is rhyming with the word good, G-O-O-D. 06:11 Now I'm on my way to heaven and I'm singing as I go, 06:14 I'm so glad my name is written in the book, 06:18 just to know His blood has cleanse med 06:20 and I'm ready now to go makes me want to shout, 06:22 "Hallelujah! 06:24 I feel good!" 06:26 There's a growing trend to use more 06:27 and more fake rhymes rather than strict rhymes nowadays. 06:31 This makes it easier for the writer 06:33 to be able to have a lot more choices to choose from, 06:37 in ending a certain line of a verse or chorus, 06:39 and giving the essence of sounding close to the word 06:44 they're trying to rhyme with, 06:45 but not to be hostage to a strict rhyme. 06:48 My writing style has always been to strive 06:52 to use strict rhyme, 06:53 sometimes called exact or rigid rhyme. 06:57 Structure or form of a verse or chorus 07:00 is always dictated by the rhyme scheme. 07:04 Before I talk about some examples 07:06 of some common rhyme scheme forms, 07:09 let me talk about writing a song with no rhyme scheme. 07:14 Sometimes called through composed, 07:17 no rhyme scheme would indicate 07:19 that none of the end phrases rhyme, 07:21 it can be tricky to pull off successfully in instances 07:25 where the no rhyme scheme techniques is used. 07:28 There must be more focus placed on the rhythm 07:31 and the flow of the lyrics. 07:33 This no rhyme scheme format often works 07:36 best with some well-known writing, 07:39 such as the Lord's Prayer, or John 3:16, 07:43 which are familiar and sacred in their original form. 07:48 For God 07:52 So loved 07:54 The world 07:59 That He gave 08:02 His only begotten Son 08:09 That whosoever 08:15 Believeth on Him 08:20 Should not perish 08:23 Should not perish 08:29 But they shall have 08:33 They shall have 08:36 Everlasting 08:41 Life 08:46 To even out the length of the lines, 08:47 I incorporated repetition as in, 08:50 should not perish, should not perish, 08:53 and they shall have, they shall have. 08:58 The most popular rhyme scheme form is probably A, 09:02 A, A, A, 09:05 where all the ends of every line rhyme. 09:09 Now, don't confuse this rhyme scheme, 09:12 A, A, A, A, 09:14 with that easy chorus rhyme scheme format 09:18 that we talked about earlier, which was A, A, A, A' prime, 09:23 where it refers to all the line being the same. 09:28 Now we're talking about just the last word 09:30 of the line rhyming. 09:31 An example of this would be illustrated by the song, 09:35 Surely the Presence. 09:37 Surely the presence of the Lord 09:41 Is in this place 09:44 I can feel His mighty power 09:48 And His grace I can hear 09:53 The brush of angels' wings 09:56 I see glory on each face 10:02 Surely the presence 10:05 Of the Lord is in this place 10:11 The end of each one of those lines rhymed. 10:16 Fresh Touch of Desire also illustrates the A, A, A, 10:20 A rhyme scheme. 10:22 There is a fresh touch 10:25 Of desire 10:29 In my soul 10:32 Today 10:34 There's a fresh touch 10:37 Of desire 10:40 To go 10:44 All the way 10:47 For I've made up in my mind 10:52 I'm gonna make it come 10:55 What may 10:58 There is a fresh touch 11:01 Of desire In my soul 11:07 Today Soul today 11:11 Though the A, A, A, 11:13 A rhyme scheme is a great writing technique, 11:16 you want to be cautious of your rhyme 11:18 sounding too forced or contrived. 11:21 For example, 11:22 to rhyme with scent you choose to in the next line 11:27 with to the store I went. 11:30 In conversation, 11:31 you would say I went to the store 11:34 and you would not say to the store I went. 11:38 So, we have a second rhyme scheme which is A, A, B, B. 11:43 Lines one and two rhyme, 11:44 while lines three and four share a different rhyme. 11:48 Favorite Lanny Wolfe song, 11:49 Jesus be the Lord of All illustrates 11:52 this rhyme scheme 11:54 In my heart are kingdoms 11:58 Of a world 12:01 That's all 12:02 My own Kingdoms 12:07 That are only seen By myself 12:13 And God alone 12:17 In the past 12:20 when I tried to rule my world 12:24 It just seemed to fall apart 12:29 So please, Jesus, 12:33 Be the Lord 12:36 Of all The kingdoms 12:39 Of my heart 12:43 The verse of Greater 12:45 is He also illustrates the A, A, 12:47 B, B rhyme scheme. 12:50 Satan's like a roaring lion Roaming 12:55 To and fro' Seeking 12:58 Whom he may devour 13:01 The Bible tells me 13:03 So Many souls have been 13:08 His prey To fall in some weak hour 13:12 But God has promised us today 13:16 His overcoming pow'r 13:20 You may have heard of this little song that God gave me 13:22 that illustrates the rhyme scheme A, A, B, B. 13:26 It's called More than Wonderful. 13:28 He promised us 13:30 That He would be a counselor 13:36 A mighty God and the Prince 13:40 Of Peace He promised us 13:45 That He would be a father 13:49 And would love us 13:51 With a love 13:53 That would not cease Well, 13:58 I've tried Him 13:59 And I've found His promises 14:02 Are true He's everything 14:06 He said that He would be 14:11 The finest words 14:13 I know could not begin 14:16 To tell Just how much Jesus 14:20 Really means to me 14:25 I want to talk about rhyme scheme 14:27 number three which is A, B, A, B. 14:30 So now, in a four line verse, 14:33 lines one and three share a rhyme 14:36 and lines two and four share a different rhyme. 14:39 The chorus of A Brand New Touch illustrates that. 14:44 Lord, you know I need 14:46 A brand new touch 14:50 My strength from yesterday 14:53 Is gone 14:57 But if you give me 14:59 Lord another touch 15:04 I'll have the strength 15:05 To carry on 15:10 That's A, B, A, B. 15:15 The verses of I Feel Good 15:17 also use the A, B, A, B rhyme scheme. 15:22 Oh, how well do I remember All the days I spent 15:26 In sin With no thought of doing All the things 15:29 I should But then the blessed Savior found me 15:33 And He gently took me 15:35 In Makes me want to shout Hallelujah! 15:38 I feel good! 15:40 So rhyme scheme number three is a very popular one. 15:43 Rhyme scheme number four is A, B, C, B. 15:48 So this means that lines one and three, 15:52 they don't rhyme, 15:53 but lines two and four do rhyme. 15:57 I love the, I feel good verse of, 16:00 Have a Nice Day with Jesus, 16:02 which incorporates this rhyme scheme. 16:05 You can wake up every morning 16:08 With a smile upon your face 16:12 Just to know the Lord 16:14 Has kept you one more day 16:19 And no matter 16:21 what the day may bring You can face it 16:24 with a smile For the Lord will walk Beside 16:29 You all the way 16:33 So that rhyme scheme was A, B, C, B 16:36 and the ends of the lines were face, day, 16:39 smile, way. 16:42 Just as you can't change horses in the middle of the stream, 16:45 you can't change rhyme schemes in the middle of a song. 16:49 Every verse has to maintain the same rhyme scheme. 16:53 In verse two of, have a nice day, 16:57 the ends of the lines are alright, 17:00 day, storm and say. 17:04 Anyone can sing when the sun is shining, 17:07 and everything seems to be alright. 17:09 But it's a different story 17:11 when you're talking about a rainy day. 17:13 Just let the Lord be your umbrella, 17:15 and He'll take you through the storm. 17:17 Give the world a smile and let them hear you say. 17:20 So the rhyme scheme for verse two was consistent 17:23 with a rhyme scheme of verse one. 17:26 Also, even though the rhyme scheme 17:28 for the verses of a song can be the same as the chorus, 17:33 most often they are different. 17:35 The same rhyme scheme for both verses 17:37 and chorus can sometimes feel to singsongy 17:41 or get too monotonous. 17:42 A different rhyme scheme 17:44 sometimes helps to give contrast. 17:47 And now, 17:48 one of my personal favorite rhyme schemes, 17:50 rhyme scheme number five is A, A, 17:54 what I call internal rhyme, 17:56 B on the third line, followed by A. 18:00 So we have lines one, two and four that rhyme, 18:04 but line three has two phrases 18:06 that rhyme internally with in line three. 18:09 Even from the start of my songwriting career at 18, 18:13 I wrote Only Jesus Can Satisfy Your Soul 18:16 that uses this favorite rhyme scheme 18:19 Only Jesus 18:23 Can satisfy 18:26 Your soul Satisfy your soul 18:31 And only 18:33 He can change your heart 18:38 And make you 18:40 whole 18:45 He'll give you peace 18:48 You never knew 18:51 Sweet love and joy and heaven, 18:57 Too For only Jesus 19:01 Can satisfy your soul 19:07 Using internal rhyme line three, 19:10 you don't always have to have lines one, 19:13 two and four be the exact same line, 19:16 but it works well when they are as in the chorus 19:19 of God's Wonderful People. 19:21 I love the thrill that I feel when I get together 19:26 With God's wonderful people Love 19:30 The thrill that I feel when I get together 19:34 With God's wonderful people 19:37 What a sight just to see 19:39 All the happy faces Praising God 19:44 In heavenly places Love the thrill 19:46 That I feel when I get together 19:49 With God's wonderful people 19:55 Notice lines one, 19:56 two and four are exactly the same, 19:59 and line three has that internal rhyme 20:03 with those two phrases. 20:04 And, in the same vein, 20:07 I keep falling in love with Him is pattern A, A, 20:11 internal rhyme line three and line four A, 20:15 I keep falling in love with Him. 20:18 I keep falling in love 20:20 With Him over 20:21 And over And over and over again 20:26 I keep falling in love 20:28 With Him over and over 20:31 And over and over again He gets sweeter 20:36 And sweeter as the days go by Oh, 20:40 What a love between my Lord 20:42 And I Just keep falling in love 20:45 With Him over and over And over 20:49 And over again 20:53 I guess you could say, 20:54 I keep falling in love with it over 20:57 and over and over again. 20:58 The it being rhyme scheme number five A, A, 21:02 internal rhyme B, A. 21:04 It shows up again in one of my favorite songs 21:07 that God has given me, Jesus We Crown You with Praise. 21:11 Jesus, 21:13 We crown You 21:16 With praise 21:22 Jesus, 21:24 We crown You 21:27 With praise 21:33 We love and adore You 21:38 Bow down 21:41 Before You Jesus, 21:47 We crown You 21:49 With praise 21:54 That was Brooklyn Tabernacle singing 21:55 That cut of that wonderful song. 21:58 Have a Nice Day with Jesus 21:59 uses the same rhyme scheme technique. 22:02 But notice the length of the two phrases 22:04 in line three don't have to be the same length as one, 22:08 two and four, 22:10 as long as both of them in line three 22:12 are approximately the same length 22:14 and or the same number of syllables, it works. 22:17 Have a nice day with Jesus 22:20 Have a nice day 22:24 Have a nice day with Jesus 22:28 Have a nice day 22:31 You may wish the sun would shine 22:33 A little bit brighter But when you've got the Lord 22:36 He'll make your load a lot lighter 22:40 So have a nice day with Jesus 22:44 Have a nice day 22:47 Let me call your attention to the chorus of the song 22:51 Someone is Praying for You. 22:52 Again, it's A, A, 22:54 internal rhyme B, A, or is it? 22:58 Someone is praying 23:02 For you 23:06 Someone is praying 23:09 For you 23:12 So when it seems you're all alone 23:17 And your heart would break in two Remember, 23:22 Someone 23:24 Is pray for you 23:29 I call that to your attention 23:31 because it feels like it's internal rhyme B 23:34 on the third line. 23:37 As in, so when it seems you're all alone, 23:40 and your heart would break in two, 23:41 but those does not rhyme with each other. 23:44 As a consideration, 23:45 let's say if I wanted line three 23:47 to be an official internal line rhyme B, 23:52 I could have written line three, 23:54 so when you're feeling sad and blue, 23:57 like your heart would break in two, 23:59 then we would have ended up 24:00 with the following ends of the lines, 24:03 you, you, blue, two, you. 24:07 And this is too much. 24:08 It's overkill of rhyme, 24:10 too much rhyme for short lines like this chorus. 24:13 An exception, 24:15 although I'm a stickler for strict rhyme, 24:18 let's look at the chorus of the song, 24:20 my house is full, but my field is empty. 24:25 The words are, my house is full, 24:27 but my field is empty. 24:29 Who will go and work for me today? 24:32 It seems my children all want to stay around my table, 24:35 but no one wants to work in my field. 24:38 Repeat last line, 24:39 no one wants to work in my field. 24:42 Well, this was such a powerful song 24:45 when I felt God was giving it to me. 24:48 It wasn't until a few years after I had written 24:52 it that a student in one of my songwriting classes 24:54 asked me if I was aware that there was no rhyme scheme 24:57 in these lyrics. 24:59 The last line is simply repeated. 25:00 I was shocked because 25:02 I never really even thought about it, 25:04 because the words in the chorus 25:06 were so anointed and given by the Lord, 25:09 that I basically wrote down 25:11 what He was speaking to me without filtering them 25:14 through any rhyme scheme consideration. 25:18 The bottom line is, 25:19 you don't tell God He has to follow 25:21 any of our songwriting rules. 25:24 Remember, because most songs are written 25:27 with some rhyme scheme format, 25:29 you run the best chance for your song 25:31 to be successful if you do likewise. 25:35 Your assignment for this session 25:38 is to write a chorus using the A, 25:42 A internal rhyme B rhyme scheme. 25:47 Now, if you'll just think back the following examples 25:50 that I've given you, 25:52 I keep falling in love with Him, 25:54 and I love the thrill that I feel 25:55 with God's wonderful people, 25:57 Jesus, we crown You with praise, 25:59 I think it will be easy for you to get your pencil out 26:02 and start putting some lines on paper, lines one, two, 26:06 and four can be the same. 26:08 Line three has to have two phrases, 26:10 and they both have to rhyme. 26:11 Get your pen out and start writing. 26:18 Oh, friends, I know that you were blessed by this program. 26:21 You were not only informed, 26:23 but I hope you are transformed because I now know that rhyme 26:26 is not the same to you. 26:28 We talked about rhyme and structure, 26:30 rhyme and repetition, 26:31 rhyme and song format, rhyme schemes, 26:34 rhyme variations, internal rhyme, 26:37 exceptions to rhyme and my favorite, fake rhyme. 26:41 Well, if you want to be an aspiring songwriter 26:43 whose songs are remembered for many, 26:44 many years to come, 26:46 and even unlock the potential 26:48 in somebody's mind to be humming your songs 26:50 or thinking about the next song you're going to write, 26:53 this is the program that you were blessed by. 26:56 Lanny Wolfe gave you an assignment and, 26:58 Lanny, this was an amazing program. 27:00 Thank you, John. 27:01 I mean, to think about rhyme in the way you have, 27:04 how did you come up with that ideology? 27:07 As a songwriter, if you don't have rhyme, 27:09 you might as well change occupations. 27:11 But it's amazing to me, 27:13 you know, how many folks who are songwriters 27:16 really have no concept of rhyme. 27:18 So this is an awakening, 27:21 and an integral part of making a song 27:24 what it really needs to be memorable. 27:26 That's right. 27:28 And so, friends, get your pens and your papers out 27:30 and hit that record button for the next program. 27:33 But remember, you can write a song now 27:36 and you could make it rhyme. 27:37 So instead of just ending with Mary Had A Little Lamb, 27:40 make your first song a tremendous hit, 27:43 when you involve Rhyme Time. 27:45 Remember, You Can Write A Song. |
Revised 2021-12-30