In Part 4 of What type of songwriter are you? we will continue to explore the different types of songwriters that you could be. Here’s a quick Song Tip Tuesday review!
Part 1 we assumed that for the most part songwriters write songs that come from the heart. The writers who fall into this category are either singer-songwriters or writers who have other performers sing their songs for them. They write to tell their truth through their songs.
Part 2 we looked at songwriters who have honed their craft to be able to write a song on assignment about any subject, a skillset that can be lucrative but takes dedication to perfect.
Part 3 we described trend songwriters who can write songs that fit these current popular trends with the hope that the songs can attract vast amounts of listeners. The goal of these pro songwriters is to get their song recorded by a big hit pop star.
In this final segment of What type of songwriter are you?, we will discuss musical theatre songwriters. A musical theatre songwriter has to be able to create a song that can achieve many objectives at one time. The musical theatre songwriter has to be able to create a song that captures the emotional moment of a scene, moves the dramatic action forward while specifically writing in the voice of the character singing.
Musical theatre songwriters have evolved songwriting skills that takes years of hard work and study to achieve. Musical theatre songwriters can fit comfortably into the other types of songwriting groups. This is because they are usually adept at writing on-assignment and writing for trends. They use their musical/lyrical skillset to capture the essence of the subject that they are writing about.
You can fit into any one or many of these songwriting groups. Take me for example: I have written many musical theatre scores, jazz songs with lyrics, tone poems, R&B songs, pop, rock and singer songwriter songs. I guess I don’t know what kind of songwriter I am. Alas!
I hope this series on What type of songwriter are you? has been helpful to you.
The art of writing is rewriting. Randy Klein
