From the course: 20 Unofficial Rules of Songwriting

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Rule #2: Emphasize the natural syllable

Rule #2: Emphasize the natural syllable

From the course: 20 Unofficial Rules of Songwriting

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Rule #2: Emphasize the natural syllable

- Rule #2: Emphasize the Natural Syllable. One of the things that we have a tendency to do as songwriters is try and make words fit. But I would caution against changing the emphasis or the natural syllable, just to make a word fit. For example, if you have the word "thing" at the end of one line of a song, and you try and rhyme it with a word like "laughING" instead of "laughing," that's sort of forcing it. So in other words, as we like to joke in the industry, don't put the emPHAsis on the wrong sylLABLE. If you are going to do this, do it on purpose to really draw attention to the word, because it will draw attention to that word. In our song example, one of the things that the singer sings is she's "done with the butterflies and the rainbows." The first syllable of each word, "butterfly" and "rainbow," gets the emphasis, as opposed to "butterFLY" or "rainBOW." Just give it a listen in this audio example and you'll see what I mean about putting the emphasis on the natural syllable.…

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