Melodic Structure Quotes

Breaking Benjamin, talk about songwriting, I mean, some of the greatest songwriters of the modern era. And, obviously, it's a little heavier.

My songwriting process is based on a formula: Color, tone, words. When I hear production, I initially identify the color that resonates with me. From there, I am able to translate the color into tone or emotion, which may depend on a number of things.

A great solo does not make a great piece. Rather, a great solo in a great song - that's what makes a 10 out of 10. It's the combination of emotional feel and inventive ideas.

To me, the lyrics of the song define the kind of style it is.

My favorite music is when the sound is supplementing the message. I don't think it's dramatic; it's cinematic.

I think my music has connected with the audience because I always have a clear vision about my songs.

I have a visual sense for the music. It has to stay true to a certain sense of period. I rely on a sense of colors and mood in my approach to the arrangement.

I'm pretty into music. Anything with music I love... I'm really big on lyrical content plus a good beat.

You grow as a writer when you learn how to make songs flow from start to finish. That's the best song, when it's such a seamless process to get to this release at the chorus, this euphoric feeling. That's why the Beatles were so good - they did such a good job building so much tension in the beginning to this immaculate release, and then it ends.

When you sit down and write a song, you kind of have the idea for the song, and you sit there at the piano and you kinda just write it. And then of course later there's some dinking around with it and changing some stuff.

I usually start with the words. The rhythm of the words gives me the rhythm of the song, and then I look for the musical highlights in it to carry it.

It doesn't take much for anyone to pick up anything I play - it's quite simple. I go for a good song. And if you hear a good song, you don't dissect it - you just listen, and every bit seems right.

When I write the music for any of my songs, I write as a composer-lyricist in my head.

I want to keep the same kinda vibe where we've got the dance element and hip-hop. I'm going to be singing a lot more, and I want to write more heartfelt songs.

What I learned about music is that it can have nothing to do with words, instrumentation, image, message, or meaning. The meaning is the melody, the notes, the rhythm - music for the sake of its own beauty, with nothing more required to express itself.

I just hear a beat and start mumbling words. I just hear sounds and rhythms, and it just kind of comes intuitively. Formatting a song, figuring out a flow, how I respond to the beat.

Great melody over great riffs is, to me, the secret of it all.

The inside of the tune [the bridge] is the part that makes the outside sound good.

Melody is the first thing that comes to me when I'm songwriting. I learned piano classically first, and then I went into soul, and so melody has always been the first. It's so important.

I write lyrics based on music, on a musical flow, and what sounds good at the time.

Music is closer to poetry than anything.

I saw that something changed in terms of the way I approach writing. I don't know. Before, everything was just sort of pieced together; and more and more nowadays I'll have complete songs - chords, lyrics, a melody - and we'll apply to those songs what we feel is required. That has happened much more on Humbug album than on any of the others.

Songs have some kind of structure that connects with people's hearts.

How did I write 'Spin Me?' I listened to Luther Vandross's 'I Wanted Your Love.'

I did co-write 'Moment of Forever' with Danny Timms. He wrote the melody, and I just did the words.