At Berklee College of Music, Pat Pattison created the world’s first songwriting major. He has taught a host of talented songwriters, including Grammy winners John Mayer and Gillian Welch. I was introduced to Pat through his free online Songwriting course (check coursera.org), and his method of “preserving the natural shape of the language” has really helped me analyze my own lyric writing. In this episode of Composer Quest, I ask Pat about his theory that our language can be interpreted like a piece of music, with a tonic note and harmonic structure. I also share music from The Happiness Project, in which Charles Spearin wrote music to match up with the speech patterns of his family and neighbors.
[audio:https://charliemccarron.com/mediaftp/composerquest/composer-quest-071-pat-pattison.mp3]Right click to download Ep. 71, or open in iTunes.
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Episode Soundtrack
- 0:00 – “Leave My Like Alone” by Pat Pattison and Greg Barnhill
- 0:19 – “Ondine” by Charles Spearin (The Happiness Project)
- 2:01 – “Marisa” by Charles Spearin (The Happiness Project)
- 24:37 – “All I See is You” by Pat Pattison and Sally Barris
- 26:05 – “Mr. Gowrie” by Charles Spearin (The Happiness Project)
