question about critique

[staceyt]

I'm a new member and just received my first few critiques - I could use some input regarding some feedback on my ballads. The critique stated that the melodies were not current sounding as the listing had requested and that the melody sounded somewhat dated. While I can understand that the screener did not think the songs were close enough to the style that the listing requested, I've never heard of a melody described as not current sounding...especially for a ballad so i am really not sure what that means. I've been writing and performing for many years, but these are my first written critiques from people in the industry, so I want to be sure that I understand the input /semantics and can continue to improve my skills as needed. Any help is appreciated.

[allends]

First of all Stacey, welcome to the Taxi Forum!! This is a great bunch of helpful people.

Current sounding melodies are always changing year by year. Current trends in melodic content are just as dynamic in the music industry as styles in the fashion industry. When I listen to current radio, I sometimes hear intervals and inflections used by several artists today that weren’t emphasized a year or two ago. This is a partial explanation for the meaning of “current sounding”. The full answer comes from being immersed in popular music culture and having your finger on the pulse of what excites young listeners right now. For me, that means I listen to the music my children listen to: no more classic rock stations! LOL!!

I recommend Robin Frederick’s book “Shortcuts to Hit Songwriting”. Throughout the book the emphasis is on knowing what is working in the music industry right now. Sure she gives some tips that are available in other books, but the tone of this book is action-oriented and Robin always encourages us to be in touch with what’s successful right now.

From your post I understand that you have been writing for quite some time. That’s great! I’ll bet you have a lot of skill doing what you love. Applying that skill to the moving target of popular culture is a never-ending adventure. Good luck to you, and I hope to see more participation from you here!!!

All The Best & More,
Allen

[hummingbird]

Stacey, it might help us help you if you can post the listing, a link to one or two of the songs, and the lyrics. We've all struggled to read listings and understand the specifics. hang in.

[staceyt]

Thanks for both of your comments...I will take a look at the book that you recommended. With regard to listening to pop music...I listen to pop music all the time...it's my favorite genre! People who have heard my songs over the years have always classified my music as pop, but since joining Taxi, I have quickly learned that it needs to broken down and categorized beyond that...and you have to really know what category your songs belong in - I'm a singer and I've always performed my own songs, so now I need to get a more focused understanding of when and to whom it is appropriate to submit my songs ...when they refer to the 'a la kelly clarkson' etc or reference a song, I see that it goes beyond just that they are both ballads - EX: one of my critiques did a comparison of the 'melodic interplay' in the verse of the listings song vs. the melodic interplay in mine -- these are things I never thought about before, so good lessons so far!

With regard to the suggestion to provide a link so that you can listen to 1 or 2 of the songs -- that would be MUCH appreciated. I apologize in advance ...but can you provide instructions on how to post the link to the songs or point me to some directions (if they are posted somewhere...) - first time for this... I did receive some critiques for some of my up-temo songs that were very helpful (and there weren't any comments about the melody being outdated) so at this point, I am most interested in gaining a better understanding about the ballads. There were also some comments about the lyrics not being original enough (I.e. not saying things any different from what we've all heard before) - so they were originally to me when I wrote them, but now I need to think about whether the songs are originally for the rest of the world...again - good lessons. Thanks for your help in advance.

[allends]

... I apologize in advance ...but can you provide instructions on how to post the link to the songs or point me to some directions (if they are posted somewhere...) - first time for this...

Stacey,

You were very kind to accept with grace my ignorance about your art. The easiest, general instructions about posting links to music here is to just give us a link to the web page where you have music and just tell us which song to play. Some of us get more technical than that by providing a direct hyperlink to the song file itself, but it isn't that important and besides, the instructions for such a link would be different for each website where the music can be found.

I'm glad you are with us!

Cheers,
Allen