Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to lesson number eight.

Today we're going to be answering the question, how do musicians make sure that their songs get stuck in our heads? And that means we're going to be talking about something called a hook in music.

As usual we're going to be doing lots of listening and we're going to be doing some composing today as well.

So without further ado, let's take a look at what we'll need to be successful in today's lesson.

In this lesson, you will need a piece of paper, a pencil to take notes with, you will also need your voice or instrument or access to an online app for instruments or digital audio workstation, such as BandLab.

This lesson's better with headphones but is not required.

Even before you begin to get any equipment you see on screen, go find a quiet space to work in.

Please do so now and press play when you are ready to continue.

Using music software.

You can create music using audio mixing software.

The demonstrations in this lesson use a free programme called BandLab.

BandLab is for use by over thirteens only.

And if you are over 13, you still need permission to use it from your parent or carer.

So what is a hook? A hook in music is the catchy part of a song.

So named because it captures the listener's ear, like a fish.

Get it? Listen to the following extract.

List three things that make it memorable.

♪ Get up, stand up ♪ ♪ Stand up for your rights ♪ ♪ Get up, stand up ♪ ♪ Stand up for your rights ♪ ♪ Get up, stand up ♪ ♪ Stand up for your rights ♪ ♪ Get up, stand up ♪ ♪ Don't give up the fight ♪ Repetition, short punchy phrases, and a catchy melody are the three things that I got as to why this hook is memorable.

You may have got some more things.

As the melody being short, not using that many notes and therefore easy to remember, and also same with lyric.

Hook versus chorus.

The hook of the song and the chorus of a song often get mixed up.

So can the hook be the chorus? Well, a chorus might contain a hook, but a hook is more often just a line or two.

Can you have multiple hooks? And can you have an instrumental hook? Yes, many songs have multiple hooks and most songs have a hook that repeats.

Genres, such as EDM, that don't necessarily have lyrics, can have instrumental hooks and riffs that the listener hears all the time.

They are also short, punchy and memorable.

The lyrics are also easy to remember.

Hooks in pop songs.

Hooks can be anywhere in a song structure.

However, pop song hooks do follow some trends.

Often they are right at the beginning or the end of a chorus.

And often the lyrics reference the title.

We're going to listen to three songs now.

Shotgun, Galway Girl and Firework.

What I would like you to do when we listen to these songs is to write down the lyrics of the hooks.

Remember, this is the more catchy part of the song, the most memorable part of the song.

♪ That I'm dreamin' of ♪ ♪ If you need me ♪ ♪ You know that I'll be ♪ ♪ I'll be ridin' shotgun ♪ ♪ Underneath the hot sun ♪ ♪ Feeling like a someone ♪ ♪ Someone, someone ♪ ♪ I'll be ridin' shotgun ♪ ♪ Underneath the hot sun ♪ ♪ Feeling like a someone ♪ ♪ Well, South of the Equator ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ For the fun ♪ ♪ She got Arthur on the table ♪ ♪ With Johnny riding as shotgun ♪ ♪ Chatted some more ♪ ♪ One more drink at the bar ♪ ♪ Then put Van on the jukebox ♪ ♪ Got up to dance, you know ♪ ♪ She played the fiddle in an Irish band ♪ ♪ But she fell in love with an English man ♪ ♪ Kissed her on the neck ♪ ♪ and then I took her by the hand ♪ ♪ Said, "Baby, I just want to dance" ♪ ♪ With my pretty little Galway Girl ♪ ♪ You're my pretty little Galway Girl ♪ ♪ The light and let it shine ♪ ♪ Just own the night ♪ ♪ Like the 4th of July ♪ ♪ 'Cause, baby, you're a firework ♪ ♪ Come on, show 'em what you're worth ♪ ♪ Make 'em go, "Ah, ah, ah" ♪ ♪ As you shoot across the sky ♪ ♪ Baby, you're a ♪ On screen are the lyrics from Imagine by John Lennon.

I've highlighted the hook in this song.

Imagine all the people living life in peace and imagine all the people sharing all the world.

Sharing all the world.

And these share the same melody despite having slightly different lyrics there at the end.

They are short, punchy phrases with a very powerful key message.

On screen now are the lyrics by Motown artist, Marvin Gaye.

He was well known for creating many political songs.

One of his most famous ones was called What's Going on? We're going to listen to part of the song and pay particular attention to the hook.

Let's think of how the hook stands out from the rest of the song.

And again, be thinking about why this is so memorable.

♪ And picket signs ♪ ♪ Don't punish me ♪ ♪ With brutality ♪ ♪ Talk to me ♪ ♪ So you can see ♪ ♪ Oh, what's going on ♪ ♪ What's going on ♪ ♪ Yeah, what's going on ♪ ♪ Ah, what's going on ♪ Did you notice that in this portion of the song multiple people were singing along with Marvin Gaye.

He was almost doing a call and response with a group of other people.

His technique of getting the listener involved in the song and almost being a part of the band is one that other musicians have also employed.

♪ We've got to fight the powers that be ♪ ♪ Fight the power ♪ ♪ Fight the power ♪ ♪ Fight the power ♪ ♪ Fight the power ♪ ♪ Fight the power ♪ ♪ Fight the power ♪ ♪ Fight the power ♪ ♪ We've got to fight the powers that be ♪ That was Fight The Power by Public Enemy.

And again, we have a short, punchy phrase that is repeated over and over again.

Because one of the authors is saying fight the power.

Sometimes both of them are.

In the background, you may be able to hear what sounds like a crowd of people at a protest.

It almost gives the illusion of the people at the protest joining in with fight the power.

Similar to the ensemble saying what's going on with Marvin Gaye.

Let's take another listen to Get Up, Stand Up by Bob Marley and see if the same technique is employed here too.

♪ Get up, stand up ♪ ♪ Stand up for your rights ♪ ♪ Get up, stand up ♪ ♪ Stand up for your rights ♪ ♪ Get up, stand up ♪ ♪ Stand up for your rights ♪ ♪ Get up, stand up ♪ ♪ Don't give up the fight ♪ ♪ Preacher man, don't tell me ♪ ♪ Heaven is under the earth ♪ Again, you can hear that during this hook, we have the same line that's repeated over and over again.

And also there are multiple people singing this part of the song.

When Bob Marley begins to sing the verse, it becomes very obvious that it is just him that is singing.

So when we think about composing a hook in our own protest songs, maybe we want to think about having, not only a short, repeated phrase that's repeated over and over again, but also having multiple people join in, in that section.

Make the listener feel that they are part of the song.

Hooks in protest songs.

Protest songs will typically have a very clear message that the artist wants to get across to the listener.

With the hook being the most memorable part of the song, this is a great opportunity to leave the listener with a short, powerful message.

Where is the hook? For this task, play your three favourite songs and identify where the hook is.

Write down the lyrics or highlight the lyrics on a piece of paper.

Why do you think that line is the hook and how effective is it? Do they employ the same technique that we've discussed in this lesson so far? Do they do something else? Perhaps your song is instrumental.

Perhaps your song is from a different genre and the artist used different techniques.

Write them down.

Pause the video to complete your task and resume once you have finished.

Composing a hook.

Before we head over to BandLab and compose our very own hook for our own protest songs, let's have a look at how we might go about that process.

Composing the hook can be quite high pressure.

Why do you think this is? Here are some tips for composing a hook.

Short and sweet.

Your hook doesn't have to be fancy, just memorable.

So short and sweet is ideal.

It could literally just be three pitches.

Compose a catchy rhythm Use dotted notes.

Texture.

Reduce the number of layers or instruments so the listener can clearly hear your hook.

If the music is busy, it's less likely to be memorable.

Location.

Try putting your hook at, or just before the drop of a chorus.

Experiment with other places too, such as the start of the chorus, but measure the effectiveness.

What would happen if you put the hook in the beginning of the song? What would happen if you put the hook at the end of the song? Okay, so I'm in BandLab and I'm ready to record my hook.

I've pulled up a very simple chord progression on a lesson on how to make a riff, which you can also find on Oak Academy.

And I'm going to use this chord progression as the foundations of my hook.

Now I've written in my lyrics and notes section things I need to be thinking about.

So it needs to be short and sweet, needs to have my main message, maybe it could be call and response.

I need to think about the texture and it needs to be simple as well.

So I actually want my hook lyric to be, I'm going to make my hook lyric, don't give up.

That's going to be the main message of my song.

Don't give up.

Let's hear the chord progression all the way through one time so we can get a feel for the chords and the flow of the music.

Okay, So we have D minor, A minor, B flat major and C major.

And the easiest thing I can think of is to just do one note.

I'm going to choose A for this example.

♪ Don't give up ♪ ♪ Don't give up ♪ ♪ Don't give up ♪ ♪ Don't give up ♪ Very simple, potentially a little bit boring.

So we can add some more.

In terms of making a melody, let's stick to harmony notes.

So notes in the chord.

In D minor, those notes are D, F and A.

So let's try adding an F into the mix.

♪ Don't give up ♪ ♪ Don't give up ♪ ♪ Don't give up ♪ Experiment with using very, very short motives using mainly harmony notes or short scaling patterns.

For example, in D minor, I could use one, two, three, three, two, one, like this.

Or I could do one, two, three in D minor.

And because C major is my last chord, I could do three, two, one in C.

Then I could do some triads and some broken chords.

So I was just doing A, F, D from the D minor chord and G, E, C from the C major chord.

Using the same theme, I could just pick two of those notes.

So D and F and C and E, but just make the rhythm a little bit more interesting.

And I can just use the same notes from those two chords, D minor being D, F and A and C major being C, E, and G and change the order and and the pitches.

If we want to experiment with the call and response idea, then we need to leave some space.

So instead of playing something in all four bars, we could just play in one and three and leave two and four empty for some kind of response.

So for example.

Rest, rest.

And let's use Bob Marley's lyrics, Get Up, Stand Up.

We could have ♪ Get up, stand up ♪ ♪ Get up, stand up ♪ ♪ Get up, stand up ♪ ♪ Get up, stand up ♪ So it could be Bob or whoever's singing the song It could be Bob or whoever's singing the song on bars one and three and then the audience or other singers or other musicians in the band singing on bars two and four.

Like so.

Now what if you have a lyric in mind? So for example, don't give up, I've got there in my lyrics or notes, while I can link BandLab and experiment with playing on the piano and using my voice, using the same techniques of starting with one note, then adding some more harmony notes to come up with a hook that uses those lyrics.

And maybe I'm drawn to the riff that I've already had.

♪ Don't give up ♪ ♪ Don't give up.

♪ Something like that, or ♪ Don't give up ♪ ♪ Don't give up ♪ ♪ Don't give up ♪ ♪ Don't give up ♪ Or ♪ Don't give up ♪ ♪ Don't give up ♪ ♪ Don't give up ♪ ♪ Don't give up ♪ ♪ Don't give up ♪ ♪ Don't give up ♪ ♪ Don't give up ♪ ♪ Don't give up ♪ ♪ Don't give up ♪ ♪ Don't give up ♪ Remember, the hook isn't meant to be something that's really, really complicated, it's supposed to be short, simple and memorable.

If you repeat it enough times, the listener is bound to remember it.

Just make sure that your song isn't just a hook over and over and over and over again, because they will get bored and it will have the opposite effect.

And although they will remember it, they won't enjoy it and the message won't be as powerful.

So now over to you, when you get to BandLab, open up a chord sequence from a different lesson, or make one, you feel free to use my chord sequence here, D minor, A minor, B flat major and C.

Although, but you can pick any chord sequence you would like and come up with a short, simple hook.

You may choose one note to start with and then incorporate other harmony notes.

You can experiment with rhythms and playing to a lyric that you already have in mind for your hook.

This will take you anywhere between 10 and 20 minutes, maybe more.

Feel free to pause this video here and experiment on BandLab, save your work and then come back here and press play when you're ready to continue.

Writing a hook.

Write a hook using your voice, instruments or BandLab.

Think about the texture.

Make sure it's short and sweet and the location in the track.

Stretch.

Think about the most suitable place for your hook to return.

Is it going to be at the end of every chorus? Are you going to surprise your audience? Have a think and jot it down as that might be a great idea for when we complete our protest songs in a future lesson.

Pause the video to complete your task and click resume once you have finished.

Share your work with Oak National.

If you'd like to, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, tagging @OakNational, and #LearnwithOak.