In the last few segments, we've taken a

look at how your number of lines affects

the feeling of the song.
Now, let's take a look at the second
element that you have to create prosody,
your line length.
So, here we go with creating stability or
instability.
Stability, as usual, stops us.
Instability says, let's keep going, or
we're missing something.
So line lengths, when two lines match
their lengths, when two lines are the same
length, they feel stable.
They feel balanced, they feel complete,
they feel resolved.
When two lines have different lengths,
they don't feel stable.
They don't feel balanced.
They don't feel resolved.
For example, and I'll try to stay away
from rhyme here because that's, again,
another one of the elements.
Eenie meenie miney moe, catch a tiger by
the foot.
Now obviously, we're pointing with
something that might fell a little
unstable, just because you use to the
rhyme.
But listen again.
Eenie meenie miney moe, catch a tiger by
the foot.
Feels like we don't have to move forward.
Check this.
Mary had a little lamb.
Fleece was white as snow.
Sescond line is shorter.
So, eenie meenie miney moe, catch a tiger
by the foot.
Mary had a little lamb, fleece was white
as snow.
That makes us move forward.
The shorter second line makes us move
forward.
The balanced second line says, okay,
that's a wrap.
That is to say, we're done and now we can
move on to something else.
Rather than, we've got to move on to
something else.
So, you can start building your sections,
you can start building your verses,
building your choruses, building your
bridges, and so on, by creating a dance,
as it were, between longer and shorter
lines.
Take a look at these two lines.
Just a little shoebox in a package, Mama
must have kept it all these years.
Just a little shoebox in a package, Mama
must have kept it all these years.
It feels like we're done.
It feels like we've finished with an idea.
Feels like a fact, it doesn't feel like we
need to move forward so that we could, you
know, just put that into a little drum
loop.
[music] One, two, three four, two, two,
two, three.
Just a little shoebox in a package.
[music] Mama must have kept it all these
years.
[music] Just a little shoe box in a
package.
[music] Mama must of kept it all these
years.
[music] And that feels like, okay, there
we go.
Now we can continue on, but those are just
sort of facts I'm just saying.
I'm just saying.
[music] As opposed to, just a little
shoebox in a package, she kept it all
these years.
Now we need to move forward, it feels
like.
Three, four, just a little shoebox in a
package, she kept it all these years.
Now we need something like [music]
ba-da-da, de-da.
[MUSIC ]Ba-da-da de-da.
[music] Ba-da-da de-da.
And then, we'd have a complete section.
So that by shortening the second line, the
school crossing guard, rather than saying
stop, is saying, come on.
Let's go, let's go.
[music] Just a little shoebox in a
package.
[music] Mama must have kept it all these
years.
[music] Just a little shoebox in a
package.
[music] She kept it all these years.
[music] Or perhaps, here comes the sun,
fingers of gold.
Here comes the sun, fingers of gold.
That's feels like, yeah, I'm just saying.
But, here comes the sunrise, fingers of
gold.
Here comes the sunrise, fingers of gold.
And that makes the first line slightly
longer than the second line.
And the second line says come on, come on.
Let's keep going.
Ba-da-da-da-da, ba-da-da-da,
ba-da-da-da-da, ba-da-da-da.
So there, we have the sort of dance
between longer and shorter lines that if
you are creating say, a sense of this is
what I mean, this is factual.
Equal line lengths is probably going to be
something that will be your friend.
But if you're creating a section where you
want to keep the motion going, where you
want to keep it moving forward, all the
way to the end of, say, the verse, then
longer and shorter lines works pretty
well.
Now, having said that, take a look at the
difference between the second line being
shorter and the second line actually being
longer that the first line.
So, for example, [music] just a little
shoebox in a package.
Mama must have kept it with her all these
years.
[music] Just a little shoebox in a
package.
Mama must have kept it with her all these
years.
And at that point, we have a longer second
line and the feeling there is still one of
instability.
But rather, then it's tipping us over and
dropping us off the end of the building,
and asking us please, please, please move
forward.
What it does, is it creates a spotlight.
[music] Just a little shoebox in a
package.
[music] Mama must have kept it with her
all these years.
[music] And which puts a spotlight on all
these years.
Now, note that there's an interesting
relationship between where we've just been
with number of lines.
And now, what we have here, let's say that
what we've done in, Mama must have kept it
with her all these years.
Let's say that that's we're adding
something.
That is, we're adding extra length to the
line.
And that turns on spotlights.
Remember, back to the great pretender,
where when we had two verses that were
exactly the same, verse one and verse two,
then moving into the third verse, which
added something extra.
That the something extra, that fifth line
had huge spotlights on it, because it was
something that was added that we didn't
expect.
So, once you have a limelight establish
like, just a little shoebox in a package.
Now, it's up to you what you're going to
do next.
Are you going to match that line?
Stable.
Are you going to create a shorter line?
Let's move forward, let's move forward.
Or are you going to lengthen the line and
spotlight an important idea?
Those are, you know, choices that you
have.
Note that when you increase the length of
that second line that on the way through,
you've balanced the first line.
And then, added something extra.
So that in terms of it being really
unstable, it doesn't feel that way.
Adding extra stuff creates spotlights.
Taking away stuff that you expect creates
forward motion.
In the next segment, we're going to look
at some of the effects of line lengths.
Just as we looked at some of the effects
of number of lines, other than this whole
relationship reciprocity.