turn a card, write a song: easy as ace, two, three!

Turn a card, write a song: Easy as Ace, Two, Three!

Learn more: http://eartra.in/a19

http://eartra.in/a19

Did you know that even the great composers played musical games?

• Songwriting games are a great way to inspire a child’s creativity - and our own!

• Andrew Bishko created a songwriting card game for his son.



To begin, first sort a deck of playing cards.

• Remove all but the Ace through 7 cards to start.

• The cards are used to represent the seven musical pitches in the scale.

• This is how the cards are assorted in the key of C major: C, D, E, F, G, A, B.

• Ace is for C, 2 is for D, 3 is for E, and so on.

• You may also arrange the pitches in alphabetical order (A, B, C, D, E, F, G) or with solfa.



Shuffle and pick ten cards from the pile and line them up - that’s your melody.

• When deciding to move the melody up or down to a note, choose the smallest distance.

• For example, C up to A is a sixth, so instead move from C down to A, which is a third.

• If the range of the melody is too low for, move (transpose) it up.

• The notes move up by the same amount and the intervals maintain the same relationship.



To create the rhythm, use short notes: half, quarter and eighth notes.

• Use picture cards to choose: King for half notes, Queen for quarter notes and Jack for eighth notes.

• Decide whether or not to group the notes into measures of 3 or 4 beats.

• If the rhythm is a little hard to sing, “square off’ the rhythm.

• For example, add a rest on the end of the song to “square off” the last measure.



Have a friend or child sing the melody along with you and add words.

• Form their ideas into lyrics that fit the rhythm of the melody.

• Try rhyming the last line, if you want to rhyme your lyrics.

• Find ways to match the lyrics to the movements of the notes.

• For example, long notes create suspense or descending notes suggest looking down.



Repetition holds musical compositions together but can be boring so variations need to be made.

• There’s no point of writing something new when you already have a good melody.

• Keep the melody and write new lyrics for variations.

• Add extra syllables if necessary and halve the notes accordingly.

• Try adding or removing short words like “the” or “a” to create melodic variation.

• The repeated melody is familiar and the variation adds surprise.



There are easier ways to find your next line than by referring back to the cards.

• Using ten cards (notes), your phrases are roughly three measures long.

• Similarly, most popular and folk songs use phrases in multiples of two measures.

• Johann Sebastian Bach wrote pages of music from just one or two measures of melody.

• Running the melody backwards, or retrograde, was one of his tricks.



• Mozart often structured his pieces just like many folk melodies.

• Another way to find your next line is to make groupings AABA form, as in folk music.

• In AABA form, the A sections are similar, but the B section contrasts.



Your song may or may not be a big hit but hopefully you had fun!

• Games like this also exercise your melodic, rhythmic, and lyrical muscles.

• Play moves us past our grown-up inhibitions and self-criticism to the inner source of our creativity.



Full instructions and a song example




turn a card, write a song: easy as ace, two, three!

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