The basics of songwriting
How rhythm forms songs
The pattern of beats in a piece of music – fast or slow, with the beats arranged in groups of two, three, four or more – depends on its origins and purpose. Since the time of medieval minstrels, most traditional European folk and dance music, such as Irish airs, Viennese waltzes and Polish mazurkas, have been in triple time, with the beat felt in groups of three. 'The Skye Boat Song', for instance, is in triple time, which means you can count 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3 to the tune of this Hebridean folk song, with the accent on the words that coincide with '1': 'Speed bonny boat, like a bird on the wing …'
In contrast, traditional African-American music, influenced by spirituals, hymns, African dance rhythms and workers’ songs, usually had beats grouped in twos or fours. The spiritual, 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot', for example, is in quadruple time, which means you can count 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, to the tune. In this case, there's an extra beat at the beginning, called an upbeat, so you would count -4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-: 'Swing low, sweet chariot, coming for to carry me home …'
In the early 20th century these traditions collided, producing the blues, swing, jazz and new dance rhythms like the foxtrot and the Charleston. Cole Porter was a master of the art of combining the two types of beat, either alternating them, as he did in 'My Heart belongs to Daddy' or superimposing them, as he did in 'I Get a Kick Out of You', where the words are in triple time but the piano accompaniment is in double time.
How scales work
A scale is like a ladder of notes (the word scale comes from the Italian word scala meaning ladder) starting on the keynote and stepping up one note at a time until the higher keynote (or octave) is reached. So, the scale of C reads C D E F G A B C. This type of scale, which contains eight notes, is called a diatonic scale – the familiar do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do – and forms the basis of Western classical music. There are other types of scale, like the pentatonic, which is both older and simpler than the diatonic scale.
Western music is traditionally made up of combinations of the same 12 notes. Looking at it in the form of a keyboard with black and white keys, the keys that are adjacent to each other (whether black or white) are a semitone apart, and a scale played on each of the 12 semitones in turn is called a chromatic scale. Two notes that have another note between them (whether white or black), meanwhile, are a tone apart.
The position of the semitones in any scale or piece of music, give it its particular character. In the scale of C, described above, the notes E and F and the notes B and C are next to each other on the keyboard, with no black notes between them. So they are a semitone apart. This pattern of tones and semitones makes a major scale. Minor scales have more semitones and are slightly more complex for composers to work in than major scales. Cole Porter’s songwriting is synonymous with melodies that slip between the two.
What is a sequence?
A sequence of notes is a small fragment of melody which a composer repeats at different pitches. This technique has been used by composers for hundreds of years to propel music forward, and was very typical of the Baroque period (late 17th and early 18th centuries), when Bach was composing.
Cole Porter used sequencing so much that it became one of his hallmarks. He pushed it to new limits in 'Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)', where a three-note phrase is repeated over and over again at different pitches to create a complex but coherent and beautiful melody.
