How to Write Lyrics Steps to Success for Any Musical Style

How to Write Lyrics Steps to Success for Any Musical Style Suzy S. Interested in learning how to write lyrics and songs? Here, New Jersey guitar teacher  Matthew H.  explains an easy 3-step process to follow   Songwriting is not easy; just ask any composer or lyricist. While the musical composition is highly important (making sure the melody is catchy without sounding too trite), having a strong, relatable message to go along with a great tune is just as, if not more, important. Here are some tips on how to write lyrics for a good song. 1) What is the story? Too often, songwriters worry about the rhythmic structure or rhyme of the lyrics when they first should be focused on the whole point of a song: storytelling. It doesn’t matter if you are adding lyrics to existing music, creating music for the lyrics, or doing both simultaneously, you have to have a story to tell. Start small. What do you want the overall point or moral of the song to be? How should a listener feel after hearing it? Common examples include: falling in love, missing someone, feeling liberated, and so on. Once you choose a starting point, expand upon it, but write down the story as if it were prose rather than a song. For example: I miss my brother ever since he moved out of the country. I don’t get to see him as much as I used to and I feel like a part of my life will not be the same as a result. I wish things were the way they used to be when we were younger and living together at home. 2) Make your story musical. Now that you have an outline of how you want the song’s story to play out, set it to music. Even if you don’t have a solid sense of the entire orchestration or final production elements, play around with different melodic structures and rhythms. Taking our missing brother example from before, figure out which specific words need to be stressed. If youre working on the hook and you decide that the sensation of “nostalgia” takes precedence over everything else, then be sure to make that clear within the chorus with either a very clever line (avoid clichés like comparing his absence with death) or a sustained syllable within a strategic word (the o in home, for instance). A good rule of thumb is to never marry any idea right off the bat; the best way to write lyrics is to be flexible. In doing so, you’ll avoid any problems you might encounter if you insist on having a specific line a certain way. 3) Don’t be afraid to make some changes! Test out your song. Does the story make sense? Do the lyrics flow well with the music? Would everything suddenly sound much better if you switch out one word with another? These are the things you need to look for after developing your perspective and making it melodic. If you’ve been working on the song for a long time, take a break. Your ears and mind will need a distraction. After a couple days or a week even, try listening to what you have and make any necessary changes that jump out at you after having taken some time to separate yourself from your creation. When songwriting, you really are baring your soul for the world to see (and hear) in an extremely vulnerable way. If you follow the advice above on how to write lyrics, you will find the words resonate deeper than the generic pop schlock that typically permeates the radio’s Top 40. Matthew H. provides tutoring in various subjects both online and in New Milford, NJ.  He recently received his MA from NYU with a background in Sociolinguistics and related research. Learn more about Matthew here!   Interested in Private Lessons? Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Search for Your Teacher Photo by Rubin Starset

An Introverts Guide To Filing For Workers Compensation - Introvert Whisperer

Introvert Whisperer / An Introvert’s Guide To Filing For Workers’ Compensation - Introvert Whisperer An Introvert’s Guide To Filing For Workers’ Compensation For introverts, who need personal space and alone time to recharge, dealing with the process of filing a workers’ compensation and all of the complications that can arise may seem completely overwhelming. Thankfully, according to The Disability Guys, there are steps that can be taken to ensure that everything will go smoothly and that injured employees have the help they need. Step 1: Get The Medical Help You Need When the body is in pain it can be difficult to focus on anything else. Don’t hesitate to seek the care that you need in order to feel comfortable. Step 2: Write Everything Down This step is very important. Write down every detail you can remember about the accident which resulted in your injury including what caused the event, as well as each of the injuries that were sustained. Describe the treatments required to care for those injuries and continue to write down anything that comes to mind. Not only will this action help to keep track of a timeline but it may also help you find some peace. Step 3: Set A Pace When it comes to filing a workers’ compensation claim, there is a timeline for everything. For example, injured workers must inform their employers of their accident and injury within 30 days in writing. Help yourself to not feel overwhelmed by creating a list of every step that needs to be completed and the date by which each task should be completed. Step 4: Find A Quiet Space Help to clear your head by making sure that you have a quiet space to work in. Step 5: Ask For Help There is absolutely nothing wrong with asking for help. In many cases, a workers’ compensation attorney can assist an injured employee more than they ever thought possible. Attorneys aren’t just available at times when legal action is required. An experienced workers’ compensation attorney can assist from day one to ensure that the correct forms are filed out and that everything is done in a timely manner. If, as many claims are, the workers’ comp claim is denied, an attorney can assist with the appeal. What Should I Do If My Employer Is Giving Me A Hard Time? If you have been hurt on the job, your employer is required to cooperate with you while you file a claim. In fact, in many states, if they act in a way which prevents the injured worker from filing a claim, they can be subjected to severe fines and penalties. If your employer is refusing to cooperate, the first thing you should do is contact the local Workers’ Compensation Administration office and let them know that you are encountering difficulty. They can assist you with obtaining the forms and inform your employer of his obligation. What If My Employer Doesn’t Have Insurance? In the majority of states, employers are required by law to have a workers’ compensation insurance policy. If they fail to obtain a policy, they can face fines, jail time, and their business may be shut down. There are two purposes to having workers’ compensation insurance. The first is so that injured employees have their medical expenses and a fraction of any lost wages covered while they heal. The second is so that the employer is protected against personal injury lawsuits. If a workers’ comp claim is filed, an employee is barred from pursuing a lawsuit. This does not apply, however, when the employer does not have insurance. If you find that your employer does not have workers’ comp, the best step is to consult an attorney who can help you pursue a personal injury lawsuit. It is through this legal action that you may be able to obtain compensation. Bio: Mr. Mittman is the Managing Partner at Markhoff Mittman, P.C., a workers’ compensation and personal injury law firm. He has several decades of experience in assisting those who have been injured on the job and has worked with hundreds of clients who have been diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury. Outside of the office he volunteers for the Pediatric Cancer Foundation and coaches multiple children’s sports teams. Do you know what your next career step is?   Many people don’t. I want to help you accelerate your career by connecting you with your Free Instant Access to my eBook on how to construct your Career SMART Goals â€" that will help you put together your actions and keep you accountable.   Get your copy now and start your action plan today: CLICK HERE Brought to you by Dorothy Tannahill-Moran â€" dedicated to unleash your professional potential.

English Sense Verbs - What They Are, How to Use Them

English Sense Verbs - What They Are, How to Use Them English sense verbs, also known as sensory verbs, are special verbs used with each of the five senses.  Here list with each sense, and  the sense verb that matches it:Sensory Verbs List:Sight  To see (sight)Hearing  To hear (hearing)Taste  To taste (taste)Touch  To touch (touch)Smell  To smell (smell)Those are the 5 senses in English. Study the English sense verbs to greatly improve your English vocabulary.Examples of Sense Verbs:I see a blackbird outside my window.I hear loud music from my neighbor’s house every Friday night.Can you taste chili in this sauce?He hurt his finger badly and didn’t want me to touch it.She smelled smoke and knew the house was burning.Grammar How to Use English Sense Verbs:We can combine  sense verbs with adjectives to express our personal preferences, beliefs and feelings, for example:I look older than I am.Her white sauce tastes fantastic.His new sweater feels soft against the skin.We can also use sense verbs to express a similarity between two or more objects. For example:John looks like my old boyfriend.That cake tastes like ones my grandmother used to bake.It feels cold here just as it did in Alaska.Sense Verb Exercises and Examples:Here is an extract from New Zealand writer’s Katherine Mansfield’s classic short story The Garden Party. See how many verbs of the senses you can find.Only the tall fellow was left. He bent down, pinched a sprig of lavender, put his thumb and forefinger to his nose and smelled it. When Laura saw that gesture she forgot all about the karakas in her wonder at him caring for things like that caring for the smell of lavender. How many men that she knew would have done such a thing? Oh, how extraordinarily nice workmen were, she thought. Why couldnt she have workmen for her friends rather than the silly boys she danced with and who came to Sunday night supper? She would get on much better with men like these.Its all their fault, she decided, as the tall fellow drew something on the back of an envelope, something that was to be looped up or left to hang, of these absurd class distinctions. Well, for her part, she didnt feel them. Not a bit, not an atom And now there came the chock-chock of wooden hammers. Some one whistled, some one sang out, Are you right there, matey? Matey! The friendliness of it, the the Just to prove how happy she was, just to show the tall fellow how at home she felt, and how she despised stupid conventions, Laura took a big bite of her bread-and-butter as she stared at the little drawing. She felt just like a work-girl.Write the sense verbs you find in comments, and we will reply with the correct answers. Ready to learn? Learn more about Skype English lessons.

Seven Life Skills Your Teen Needs for College

Seven Life Skills Your Teen Needs for College The list of academic aptitudes and skills your child needs for college is long. Whether your teen plans to become an engineer or an English teacher, those college professors expect that he or she has the subject-matter knowledge as well as fundamental 21st century skills like critical thinking and problem solving. But there are many other important life skills that teens need to succeed in the real world. Here are seven of them: Money management Teens go to college to prepare themselves for their future careers (in which they will make money), but its essential that they understand the basics of money management long before they set foot in the working world. At a minimum, talk with your teen about how to create a budget, why its important to manage to that budget, how to set financial goals (such as saving toward something) and why debt can be dangerous (especially debt racked up by credit cards). Communication Every career involves communication in the form of writing, talking and non-verbal communication. Teens need to learn how to communicate their ideas and opinions clearly, but its also crucial that they are able to negotiate, build good working relationships through effective communication and diffuse conflicts when they arise. Listening In addition to being able to communicate and express themselves, teens must be skillful listeners. Remind your teen that listening is not just about hearing people talk. Its about focusing on what they are trying to communicate, processing it, watching for non-verbal cues and confirming understanding. Good listeners listen to understand, not just to formulate their own responses. Self-discipline In college, teens no longer have parents telling them what to do and how to do it. Its up to them how and when to study and whether to go to class or not. Do your best to take a step back in high school so that your teen can step up and take responsibility for his or her lifeincluding school. You can support your teen from the sidelines by providing structure and encouraging the adoption of good routines. Self-advocacy Self-advocacy goes hand in hand with good communication. In college, it is expected that teens will reach out when they need help or want to understand professors grading policies or something similar. Encourage your teen to be assertive and to take the initiative in high school to talk directly with teachers and guidance counselors about all things school-related. Decision-making Without Mom and Dad around at college, teens are put fully in charge of their livesquite possibly for the first time. This can be a rude awakening without practice, so the best thing you can do is offer your teen choices when appropriate. For big decisions, let your teen weigh his or her options and think through various outcomes. Be on hand for support, but make sure your teen learns how to navigate decision-making independently. Emotional intelligence People who are emotionally intelligent recognize their emotions as well as those of others and use that to guide their thinking and behavior. This aptitude is essential in college, and helps teens work effectively with others, build good peer relationships, solve problems and feel more confident as students. The above skills are all related to school and/or productivity, but there are plenty of other life skills your teen will need, like basic kitchen and cooking skills, cleanliness, personal hygiene and healthcare, and navigational skills for driving around. The point is this: Dont wait until a month before your teen goes to college to show him or her how to use the ovenor to work on fostering the above skills. In the very near future, your teen will need to operate independently in the world. If youre concerned that your teen lacks some of the essentials to succeed in college and beyondsuch as time management, effective studying and organizational skillsor is missing important content knowledge, call Huntington at 1-800 CAN LEARN. Were here to help your teen make the transition to college a successful one.

Deciding how long to teach English abroad

Deciding how long to teach English abroad Congrats on making the decision to teach English abroad! The time you spend living in another country and immersed in a whole new culture will be an eye-opening and life-changing experience. Right now, you might be feeling just a liiittle (OK, maybe a lot ) overwhelmed with all the decisions you’ll have to make before you can finally make the move abroad. Where should I teach abroad? What TEFL course should I get? Slow down for just a second! One of the most important questions you need to figure out first is, “How long do I want to teach abroad for?” While there are a variety of teaching programs and hiring schools with different contract lengths (yes, you can totally find a one-month-long TEFL job if that’s what you’re after!) English teaching positions overseas typically fall into two distinct categories: summer or short-term teaching contracts, usually ranging from 2 - 6 months and year-long (or longer) English teaching opportunities. When making your final decision, there are a few factors you’ll need to consider - major requirements, your personal finances and personal goals and how much time you’re thinking of being away from home, to name only a few. That’s actually one of the best things about teaching English abroad, though - the versatility it offers when it comes to types of employers, students, regions to work in, as well as the flexibility in terms of teaching contracts durations Sign up to Teach Away today for access to the latest teaching jobs around the world. Read this: Contracts 101: 9 key things that should be in your teach abroad contract How long can I teach English abroad? How long is a piece of string? You can teach abroad as long as you want to, for the most part (just beware of any age or visa restrictions that might scupper your plans). You can keep moving from country to country, or settle in one place for the forseeable future. As long as there's work (and with literally hundreds of thousands of ESL jobs opening up each year, there’s little fear of work drying up anytime soon) and you're willing to teach anyone, from kids to adults, you'll have a job waiting for you. a) One-year teaching contracts abroad If you’re thinking of making teaching abroad a long-term move, then a year-long contract might be your jam. And luckily for you, this is by far the most common contract length you’ll find when you’re on the lookout for teaching jobs abroad. b) Short-term teaching contracts abroad If you’re in more of a dipping-your-toes-in-the-teach-abroad-waters frame of mind, then seeking out a shorter ESL teaching contract might be the best way forward. Short-term teaching jobs abroad are especially handy for aspiring globetrotters or for people who get bored of a working situation quickly. You can always finish up your short teaching contract and teach English online on the side while you’re contemplating your next move. Just remember that hiring schools don’t usually want to keep churning through teachers and prefer to recruit people who want to stay for the full year, rather than those of us who have one foot out the door a couple of months in . And they’re willing to stump up for extra perks, like end-of-contract bonuses, to keep you around for the full year. How long are TEFL contracts abroad? Rather than skim reading a whole blog post for the pertinent info you landed here from Google to find , we’ve laid out what you need to know in the table below: EUROPE ASIA MIDDLE EAST CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA Language school teaching contracts: 10 months - 1 year (September - June) Note: 2-month summer camp contracts available Government teaching program contracts (e.g. TAPIF in France and Cultural Ambassadors Program in Spain): 7 - 9 months International schools contracts 1 year, with the option to renew Language school teaching contracts: 1 year, with the option to renew Note: 2-month summer camp contracts available Government teaching program contracts (e.g. the JET Program in Japan and EPIK in South Korea): 1 year, with the option to renew International school contracts: 1 year, with the option to renew Government teaching program (e.g. ADEK): 2 - 3 years, with the option to renew International schools: 1 - 2 years, with the option to renew (you may incur financial penalties for breaking your contract) Language school teaching contracts: 10 months - 1 year (September - June) International school contracts: 1 year, with the option to renew Note: Contracts in Asia and the Middle East often include return flights, housing either rented for you or heavily subsidized and some form of local health insurance. These kinds of perks are less common in Europe and Latin America. In the Middle East, these packages are usually reserved for experienced, certified teachers. College grads with a TEFL are in high demand for English teaching jobs in Asia, though., making it a great spot for teacher newbies who still want to make bank. Now, get out there and teach abroad! ?? ??

Now hiring 1000 English teachers to teach in United Arab Emirates!

Now hiring 1000 English teachers to teach in United Arab Emirates! We have a very exciting opportunity for English teachers who are looking to teach in the Middle East. As you may or may not know, a teaching license issued by your regional teacher licensing authority is typically required to teach in the UAE. However, for these English teaching positions with the UAE Government Schools,you only need: A Bachelor’s degree Teaching experience ESL certification (such as a TEFL certification) and/or a teaching license More about the teaching positions: The UAE Government Schools developand monitorreform activities, with a focus on standards-based, student centered education. You’ll be teaching Secondary School (grades 8 to 12) in one of six emiratesstarting in August 2016. You’ll receive a salary of approximately $5700 USD per month. Airfare will be reimbursed for you, your spouse, and up to 3 dependents. You’ll receive an end of contract bonus and health insurance for yourself, your spouse, and up to 3 dependents. Contract length is 2years. If you have an ESL certificate and are lookingto teach in the UAE but don’t have a teaching license, I highly recommend that you apply as soon as possible because it is rare to see a Middle East teaching position that doesn’t require one! Apply now for English teaching positions with UAE Government Schools

Tips From a Fullerton Tutor 4 Articles to Help Prep for Finals

Tips From a Fullerton Tutor 4 Articles to Help Prep for Finals Fullerton Private Tutoring Tips: These 4 Articles Will Help You Prep for Finals As we enter the final stretch of the school year, its essential that students stay focused. Leaving finals prep until the last minute puts your whole year of hard work in jeopardy. We encourage students to start preparing for finals as soon as possible. Now is the time to work with your teacher and private Fullerton tutor to go over any course material you struggled with before. If you didnt master the content the first time around, odds are you wont learn it by staying up the night before your test. 1. 5 Ways to Cope With A Finals Week Meltdown Summer break is so close you can almost see it. Sadly, theres a stack of books blocking your view. No need to panic. Our private Fullerton tutors have all had success in academics, and they can all attest to the benefits of staying calm during finals week. Here are some tips to avoid a meltdown. Click here to read! 2. Irvine Tutoring: 5 Tips for Success on a Literature Final Exam Have you read all required reading for your literature class? What, no!? Get on it! In the meantime, check out our five tips for success on a literature final written by one of our private Irvine literature tutors. From the article: There are several things students can work on to improve their technique when it comes to studying literature. For the most part, students can work on comprehension, annotation, reading efficiency, and identify key information. Click here to read.   3. Finals Prep: Why You Should Book Your Private Tutor Now Okay, this might sound like a plug, but hear us out. TutorNerds has your best interests in mind, and we feel that its never too soon to start prepping for finals. Where do you start? Are you prioritizing the right things? Are you organized? A private tutor can take the frantic and turn it into a plan. Click here to read the article. 4. What to Do If You Failed Your Final Exam Lets hope it doesnt come to this, but we wanted to let you know that TutorNerds has your back through success and failure. If you were to fail an exam, the most important thing is to stay calm and commit to improving. Click here for the article (lets hope you wont have to). Now that you have the tools to start prepping exams, its time to get to work. Just remember, youll enjoy summer break that much more if you end the year strong with improved grades and high exam scores. Good luck! All blog entries, with the exception of guest bloggers, are written by Tutor Nerds. Are you an education professional? If so, email us at pr@tutornerds.com for guest blogging and collaborations. We want to make this the best free education resource in SoCal, so feel free to suggest what you would like to see us write.