Understanding Popular Music

Shuker said ‘composition is at the heart of discourses surrounding authorship in popular music’. I agree to an extent, but if an artist releases a song, the artist is the main name associated with the song, not the writer. Obviously the song wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the writer, but the writer doesn’t always get much recognition. For example, the other day a pupil of mine was singing ‘Breakaway’ by Kelly Clarkson, a song that I have known for many years. When I looked up the lyrics I noticed that the song was written by Avril Lavigne. She is very famous, but I was totally unaware that she had written songs for other artists.

Shuker also said that ‘little use is made of sheet music’. I agree with this, certainly with my own writing style. I usually start by writing the chords and melody, then add lyrics. After this I put those things onto sheet music and build up other instruments on top. Obviously it depends on the writer, but in most cases, writing comes from improvisation, and once that becomes practised improvisation, it is written up onto sheet music. If I was to have people play the instruments in my song, then sheet music would be vital, but in composition, it is certainly not the first thing I use.

‘Cover bands […] are generally accorded little critical artistic weight’. Again, I agree with this to an extent. Obviously when you are performing a song that someone else wrote, you don’t always feel the lyrics as much if they are not personal. However, you can relate to a song very much and feel that the lyrics do represent you or something that has happened to you. Also, when performing and making a name for yourself, pubs tend to be a good place to start. However, if you play a lot of original material in a pub, people may lose interest in the songs. If you play a lot of well-known cover songs, people can sing along and recognise songs.

When I have written songs in the past, they always seem to relate to a personal feeling I have, or something that has happened to me. ‘Those involved in making music clearly exercise varying degrees of personal autonomy’ (Shuker 1994). I have never a written a song that hasn’t had some degree of personal feelings in it. Usually I have a strong feeling about something, and then decide to write about it. My composition I have written recently is based on Jane Eyre, but the themes of equality are very important to me, so I found it easy to write about. I am aware of songs such as ‘I Am The Walrus’ by The Beatles, which may not necessarily have a personal meaning, but it is written with the artist’s personal flair and writing style. This can be a problem, as a lot of current singers do not write their own songs, so the songs may not be personal to them.








Roy Shuker (2001). Understanding Popular Music. Second. ed. London: Routledge.