Wuthering Heights

Today I was having a little think about how I will write my solo composition. I know myself that I write better in a minor key, as every song I have done in major has ended up sounding like something from a musical. I would love to base my song upon a favourite book or poem of mine, so I have been considering perhaps using ‘Jane Eyre’ or ‘Wuthering Heights’ (although I am quite aware of another song based on the latter!) I would like to focus on the deep and tragic side of these books, perhaps zoning in on one particular chapter or phase in a character’s life. I would love to write from Jane Eyre’s perspective after she flees and finds out about the fire. I would use quotes from the novel I choose, mainly because my lyric writing is not great, but also because it would give me a great deal of research to do, and give the song more meaning.
In a module last year, I wrote a song about Alice in Wonderland. I set this in a minor key having been inspired by the Tim Burton film, and I used quotes from the novel to create my lyrics. I found the creative process so much easier when I didn’t have to worry about coming up with original lyrics. Here is a recording of me singing ‘The Conflict’.
I wrote a song not long ago for a friend of mine who writes lyrics and poetry, but not music. He asked me to put the music to his lyrics, which was different to anything I had done before. I wanted to keep the tempo slow but since the lyrics were positive I used the key of C Major. This is not my best work but I am proud of it, as I normally struggle to write in major.

 Having managed to write a major song, I still felt that my composition should be in a minor key because of the inspiration around it. I was singing through some of my favourite songs to get some inspiriation, and I recorded myself singing Atticus by The Noisettes. I love the music in this as it’s so dark and simplistic. The singer shows a lot of range in her singing, from the lower bits in the verses to the higher bits in the bridges. Although this song is originally performed with a guitar, I think I would rather use the piano to perform my composition, as I find it gives a deeper sound and is more dynamic. I tend to use my Ukulele to play lighter songs.
I find it very interesting how using major or minor keys in a song can change it so drastically. This is a video of a guy who changed Star Spangled Banner from a major key to a minor. This gives the song a whole different feel and gives me goose bumps to listen to. I feel that I can do more interesting things with a minor key, especially after listening to the chilling notes on this video.


I feel that the tone of my voice suits minor songs better than major ones. I can't pinpoint why, perhaps this is something I should research and improve on, However, I would like to use this to my advantage and will therefore write my song in a minor key.