Writing an Essay Like a Song: A Research Strategy for Students Who Like Music

"Song" Essay Writing

If you like all types of music, you might be one of those rare people who have the Wisdom of Appreciation. Some people actively appreciate all that life has to offer, and in ordinary moments their default emotion is gratitude. Those people try to find appreciation for all types of music, even if they don't like it at first.

Maybe you like Rock and Reggae, for example, but you can also open your mind to the kind of experience so many people enjoy when listening to classical music. Maybe you can even go a step further and acquire a taste for poetry. Some people appreciate poetry and essays as forms of music. Did you ever think of poetry and essays as music?

Some students really like the idea of composing "music" in the form of an academic essay. Do you think you might become a better writer if you approach your next essay assignment as a challenge to write a song? Below you can find a writing strategy based on the relationship between essay writing and composing music.

English Musical Composition: An Academic Research strategy for Students Who Like Music

You can approach essay writing in the same way you would approach songwriting. Use rhythm, structure, bridge & fills, and a chorus. Begin by searching Google for articles about your essay topic. Read some articles until you gain an interesting idea about your topic. Meditate on that idea, and use the elements below to compose an inspired essay:

Rhythm: Let your breathing become slower and longer, deeper. You might be able to hear a silent drumbeat in the background of your mind. Maybe if you listen for it, that percussion is always there, ever-present, reflecting your mood and mental clarity. You can read until you find an idea that interests you. Breathe until you catch the rhythm of the breath and hear that drum pattern in the mind. When you listen for your sentences with attention on the rhythm of the breath, you are using rhythm in composition.

Structure: Some students don't know what to write, but you'll always come up with something to write if you read articles about your topic until you spontaneously think of a few important ideas to express. Type a word, and wait for more. Catch whatever the mind utters as you contemplate some interesting idea. The mind is always commenting on one thing and the next. Save those sentences. Write them as they come, and use a paragraph to explain each idea. When you let each idea take the form of a paragraph, and all the paragraphs are related to one main idea, you are using "structure" in composition.

Bridge & Fills: After writing a few paragraphs, you might go back and add a few great transition sentences to lead the reader's mind from one paragraph to the next without missing a beat. You can search Google to learn all about how to write great transition sentences in an essay. When you transition beautifully from one paragraph to the next, it's like using a bridge or a "fill" to segue between parts of a song.

Chorus: Each paragraph can contain a concept that somehow reinforces the main idea of the essay. If it's an argumentative essay, each paragraph will be a point to support the argument. If it's a descriptive essay, each paragraph will describe some part of whatever the essay is about. It's great if each paragraph begins or ends with a sentence that tells how it (the paragraph) backs up the main theme of the essay. When you let each paragraph reinforce the main theme of the essay, it's like using a "chorus" to repeat some important message carried by a song.

Yes, essay writing has the same elements as songwriting. One could argue that essays are not music because they do not have melody, but there really is a subtle melody in the sound of the voice that speaks silently in the mind while one is reading. Write poetry, and you are writing sheet music for the kind of song played on the instrument that is the voice of the reader's mind. That voice has subtle melody, just as your own voice has subtle melody.