Berklee’s Pat Pattison Teaching Lyrics Optimization
A master at work. In this set of four videos, Berklee’s Pat Pattison gives a lesson on how to follow the natural shape of language when writing lyrics. Allison Rapetti, a talented singer-songwriter, sings and plays the guitar to illustrate his points.
The basic idea is to try to use phrasing that one would use in conversation instead of choosing words that happened to fit a particular beat. This makes sense, but I would add that some genres (such as hip-hop and dance) are more rhythmic in nature and do require frequent transgression to that rule.
Still, it’s amazing to see how little changes here and there can really improve the delivery of a song. Inspiring.
