Songwriting with Party Nails
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Learn to strengthen your songwriting and craft compelling compositions in this 5-day course led by songwriter/producer Party Nails (Elana Carroll). Discover the key elements that drive your favorite tracks by exploring examples across eras and styles. Each class will consist of active writing exercises and the development of individual creative processes, including ways to keep track of your ideas.
This live course has ended. Upon purchase, you will be sent a link to the class recordings and daily recaps from the instructor..
Course Breakdown:
Day 1 - Form
Identify song sections such as: verse, pre chorus, chorus, post-chorus, bridge, tags, outro
Melodic and harmonic arc
Examples: Prince - “Kiss”, Robyn - “Dancing On My Own”, Notorious B.I.G. - “Juicy”, Rihanna - “Umbrella”, Big Mama Thornton - “Hound Dog”, Spice Girls - “Stop”, Common Chord Progressions (The Beatles)
Day 2 - Lyrics
What should I write about? Why should I write about it?”
Story shape (arc, additive, cycle)
Rhyme schemes
Lyrical hooks
Common lyrical topics
Examples: LCD Soundsystem - “All My Friends”, Kelani - “Honey”, Dolly Parton - “Jolene”
Day 3 - Melody
Melodic/vocalism hooks.
Different types of melodies for different sections of a song.
Keeping it simple.
Day 4 - Playing with form, writing from new perspectives
Form as rhythm. How to find your groove.
Pronouns, tense, narrative.
Words as sounds.
Examples: Prince “Kiss”, Rihanna “Umbrella”, Dolly Parton “Jolene”, Spice Girls “Stop”, LCD Soundsystem “All My Friends”
Day 5 - Songwriter Round Robin
Share a song you’ve written (live or recorded).
Publishing basics - song splits, masters versus publishing, registering with your PRO.
About Party Nails:
Party Nails is Chatham, New York native Elana Carroll. Party Nails has released two albums, toured with the likes of Lights, PVRIS and Eve 6, featured on dance tracks by Getter, MitiS, Battle Tapes and others, written songs for television, and scored short films. She lives in Los Angeles with her dog Snoopy.
