Songs are found in every culture and they have been known to exist from the beginning of time. It is for this reason that songwriting is considered extremely powerful, as the songs tend to hold the interest of the listener and draw out a response bringing a call for action.
Many cultures in the world have songs for freedom, harvesting and planting season, songs to worship and praise deities, songs of war, those that mark a rite of passage, songs to encourage and many others. In order for a song to fulfill the reason for which it was written as well as to hit the mark, it should be skillfully composed.
To begin with, the songwriter must know the message they are trying to pass on. The lyrics should therefore be crafted in such a way as to convey this message as powerfully as possible. One of the most influential and powerful modes of communication are words in music. With the words of the song already selected, the next thing is to pick the rhythm. This should be written based on the feelings that the singer would like to reflect and elicit from the hearer. A happy song is usually upbeat and fast while a sad song may be slow and low.
Now that the songwriter knows the words and mood of the song, the instruments that are to accompany the song must also be skillfully selected. This is because the feeling and mood of the song are greatly affected by the instruments that have been selected as background accompaniment.
In addition to selecting the instruments, the tempo and beat of the song must be carefully considered. The reason for this is that they will set the mood of the song and elicit the emotions and sentiments that the writer is trying to convey. The consequents are that the experience of the hearers with the piece of music will be dictated by this.
War songs, freedom songs, celebratory songs and the like tend to have fast tempos which cause the listener to pump their fist in the air, stomp the feet and bob the head. Songs that are sad or dirge like may only get a swaying response or may cause the listener to stand completely still. A song may elicit a short term, physical reaction as described. However, other songs can cause long-term change that affects decisions made and even causes the listener to change their environment. The art of songwriting cannot be underestimated and the effect of music is commonly felt all around the world.