Great Songwriting Techniques. By Jack Perricone,. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. 379 pp. ISBN: 9780199967674

Great Songwriting Techniques. By Jack Perricone. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. 379 pp. ISBN: 9780199967674

Great Songwriting Techniques is a long-awaited follow-up to Jack Perricone's previous practical songwriting text, Melody in Songwriting (2000). In this new book, the Chair Emeritus of Songwriting at Berklee College of Music retains his characteristically simple, readable pedagogic tone and his focus on practical suggestions and exercises. This time however, he attempts a more comprehensive overview of a fuller range of songwriting techniques. The book contains helpful reference to hundreds of specific examples of songs drawn from a wide variety of genres and eras of songwriting. Songs from the ‘Great American Songbook’ sit alongside more varied modern examples from artists such as Nicki Minaj, Lady Antebellum and Zedd, as well as the expected Beatles or Bob Dylan. These are all notated within the book and some are illustrated on the accompanying website of audio examples.

This book is a welcome addition to the rather limited field of high-quality technically focused songwriting texts. On the whole, it avoids the ‘How to Write a Hit in Three Easy Steps’ approach of many other books on the subject, despite the use of the word ‘great’ in the title and reference to ‘hopes of creating a smash hit’ in the synopsis. Such a focus on ease and speed with relation to commercial success can make other books problematic recommendations when looking for well-rounded reference texts for academic programmes in songwriting.

Some of the most valuable aspects of Great Songwriting Techniques lie in its masterfully clear descriptions of techniques and vocabularies of melodic and harmonic development, perhaps...