Originally Posted By: chulaivet1966
Well...from my POV:

An instrumental is not a song....it's a music composition.
If one is calling a particular effort a new 'song' then (generally, by definition) lyrics would be expected/obligatory.



This. ^^

Musical compositions may come in many forms, but they do NOT need lyrics. Music that contains a lyric may still not be called a "song". I think of songs as having a "tune" that is sung using "words" (even if those words are nonsense).

And then...leaving the lyrics out of a SONG results in an instrumental version of the SONG--maybe straight, maybe jazzed.

One is not inherently better than the other. They simply are what they are.

However, on THIS forum, given the ease with which a user with BIAB can create a "piece" without a lyric and singing, it is the "value added" contributions that garner the most "respect" (and rightfully so). SOME pieces without lyrics/singing have the 'feel' of being backings for some future addition more than others, even if the expectation for hearing a "song" is not there. Otherwise, we'd hear little other than "backings" that seem to lack some "thing" that makes them special.

That "thing" might also be instrumental. Or it may be in production.

It COULD be simply expectation in a listener that makes people ask "where is the lyric?", or it could be something lacking in the piece itself. You have to decide for yourself what you want the piece to be.

I've easily got two dozen "pieces" that need that extra something.
Since I don't play a solo instrument, that is probably going to need to be a lyric and vocals. But I also have about three times as many stalled and/or failed projects that just. didn't. work. to my own satisfaction and never, ever will.

An old friend on another music-making/sharing site said once: "I make the music I want to hear because I get tired of waiting for other people to do it." That resonated with me and continues to be my own philosophy. I do what I want to do. I succeed or fail based only on my own appreciation for what's done. If I don't care much for it, nobody else will ever hear it.

I share what I share 1. To be part of a community of sharers. and 2. in the earnest hope that somebody else might appreciate it some fraction of how much I do.

Have fun. Do what you want. Take criticism and questioning only for what they are worth. And live with it.


Last edited by Tangmo; 07/19/20 06:19 AM.
BIAB 2021 Audiophile. Windows 10 64bit. Songwriter, lyricist, composer(?) loving all styles. Some pre-BIAB music from Farfetched Tangmo Band's first CD. https://alonetone.com/tangmo/playlists/close-to-the-ground