How to Write Lyrics About Music Theory

You can make music theory sound sexy. Yes you read that correctly. Theory does not have to live in dusty textbooks or on annoying forum posts where people clap for each other about modes. Theory is a toolkit. It can be comedic, dramatic, romantic, or brutal confession material. This guide shows you how to write lyrics that explain music theory while staying catchy, clear, and artistically valid.

This article is for songwriters who want to teach an idea inside a hook or write clever nerdy lines a crowd can sing along with. You will learn how to pick a theme, translate jargon into concrete images, keep prosody tight, and write examples across genres. You will also get exercises that force the brain to make music theory relatable. Expect jokes, ruthless editing, and a few metaphors that will make your music teacher proud and your audience entertained.

Why write lyrics about music theory

Because people love learning when it is wrapped in melody and attitude. Think about songs that slipped technical terms into common language and stuck. That is not accidental. Music is the perfect vessel for teaching because it uses repetition, motion, and memory. If you can explain a concept in three lines that repeat, you have taught someone something for life.

Also, it is a great flex. If you can make listeners laugh and then hum a V7 to I cadence in the shower, you win. But more importantly, writing about theory forces you to understand the thing better. You only simplify what you truly get. If you can explain a tritone using a parking meter and a bad date, you have earned your chord progression tattoos.

Decide your intent

Before you write, choose what your lyric wants to do. There are three big modes.

• Teach Explain a concept like interval, mode, or cadence in plain language and wrap it in a memorable chorus.
• Celebrate Write a love song to a scale or a chord. Example: an ode to the minor pentatonic that sounds like late night riff therapy.
• Satirize Make fun of theory gatekeeping. Think of it like punk for music nerds.

Pick one and commit. Trying to teach and satirize at the same time will make the song confused and the audience tired. Clarity wins.

Start with a core promise

Write one sentence that says the whole song. This is your core promise. It can be literal like I will explain the circle of fifths in the chorus or it can be emotional like I fall in love with the dominant chord. Write it in everyday language as if texting a friend. Then turn it into a title or hookable phrase.

Examples of core promises

• I can feel the resolution when you finally land on home.
• Teach me the difference between major and minor in one line I can sing.
• Your voice is a Tritone and I cannot sleep.

Translate jargon into images

Music theory words are sticky. They carry precise meaning. Your job is to translate them into pictures. For each concept you want in your lyric, pick a concrete image that is easy to hold in the mouth and in the ear.

Examples

• Tonic The home base. Image: a house key, a couch, front door.
• Dominant The push that wants to get home. Image: a hand on the wheel, a siren, a person pulling you back to the party.
• Cadence The punctuation at the end of a musical sentence. Image: a period on a paper, a door closing, a kiss good night.
• Interval The distance between two notes. Image: two chairs on a subway, steps on a staircase, the gap between you and my texts.
• Mode A flavor of scale. Image: coffee with cream, black coffee, cold brew with orange peel.

We will name things clearly next. If you use the technical word, make it pleasant to sing and pair it with a sensory image so the listener gets the emotion and the fact at the same time.

Define the terms like a friendly teacher

Always explain any technical term or acronym you use. The rule is simple. Treat your songwriter audience as friends who might not have passed theory class. Use short parenthetical definitions. Here are clear versions you can borrow.

• Scale A collection of notes arranged from low to high that define the sound palette. Example: major scale feels bright, minor scale feels sad.
• Chord Three or more notes played together. A common chord is a triad which is three notes stacked in thirds.
• Interval The distance between two notes. A major second is two semitones step on the piano. A tritone is an interval that sits right in the middle of an octave and feels unstable.
• Tonic The home note of a key. It is where the song feels done.
• Dominant The chord or note that wants to lead back to the tonic often built on the fifth scale degree.
• Cadence A harmonic or melodic pattern that signals the end of a phrase. A perfect cadence moves from V to I. That means from the dominant chord to the tonic chord.
• Mode A scale variation. Example: Dorian is like minor with a brighter sixth. Phrygian is darker with a half step right at the start.
• V7 Read as five seven. It is a dominant seventh chord built on the fifth scale degree. It increases the desire to resolve to I, the home chord.

Make technical words singable

Some theory words are clunky to sing. Tritone is clunkier than kiss. Do not let that stop you. Use rhythmic placement and vowel shaping to make words comfortable.

• Place heavy consonants on weaker beats and open vowels on strong beats. That gives the ear a place to hang feelings.
• Stretch the long syllable of a word over multiple notes if the vowel is singable. Example: try singing Doooom in a minor chorus and you have drama.
• Use internal rhyme and repetition to make the technical word feel like part of a chant. Example: Tritone, tritone, you stole my tone.

Example lines

Clunky version: I love the tritone and its tension.

Singable version: Tritone taste, it pulls me to the edge and keeps me there.

Clunky version: The dominant wants to resolve.

Singable version: Your dominant hand pulls me back to home every time.

Prosody and stress for technical phrases

Prosody means matching the natural stress of words to musical stress. Say your line out loud at a normal pace and mark which syllable is louder. That loud syllable should land on a strong beat or a longer note. If it does not you will feel friction even if you do not know why.

Real life scenario

Imagine you want the line Your V seven makes me dizzy to land on a chorus downbeat. If you sing it like Your V seven makes me di zzy the stress falls in odd places. Instead rewrite the line to Your V seven spins me round and hold spin on the long note. Now the stress lands where the chorus gives it weight.

Three songwriting strategies to teach concepts

Each strategy is a reliable workflow. Pick one based on your intent and your audience.

Strategy A Teach and Repeat

Use this when you want a simple educational chorus. The chorus states the concept in plain language and repeats a single image or phrase. Verses provide examples and metaphors.

Structure

• Chorus: State the theory idea plainly and hook it to a concrete image.
• Verse one: Give the basic example, like the way V wants to go to I.
• Verse two: Give a second example or a story where the concept matters like a song that fails without the cadence.

Strategy B Personify the concept

Turn a theory element into a character. The tonic is the ex. The dominant is the one who drags you back to the ex. This works well for pop and indie songs.

Example

Chorus: Tonic holds my keys, dominant knocks at the door. I say no but my feet walk across the floor.

Strategy C Problem and resolution

Start with confusion in the verse like I do not know whether this is major or minor. Then in the chorus offer resolution by using the acoustic image that mirrors a cadence. The chorus should resolve melodically when the lyric explains resolution. This is the moment the listener learns.

Examples that actually work

Below are full lyric snippets for different intents. Use them as templates. Copy, twist, and make them yours.

Example 1 Teach the circle of fifths in a pop chorus

Chorus

Round and round like a coffee cup ride, every fifth takes me closer to your side, from C to G to D and then back home, the circle points my way so I do not roam.

Short explanation

The circle of fifths shows relationships between keys. Saying C to G to D describes moving by perfect fifths. The imagery of a coffee cup ride gives motion and a relatable object.

Example 2 Personify the dominant as a needy ex for an indie chorus

Chorus

Your dominant calls at three AM, saying please come back to tonic, please come back again, I told it no but my hand turns the lock, the music pulls like gravity and I walk.

Short explanation

Dominant touches on the fifth scale degree and wants to resolve to the tonic. Making it a late night caller is a simple relatable image that maps onto musical function.

Example 3 Rap bar about intervals

Verse line

Major second step light like a hello, minor third drags like slow sorrow, tritone clenches teeth in a room, that gap makes a scream sound like a tune.

Short explanation

Rap thrives on rhythm and word stress. Mapping intervals to emotional textures gives lines punch and teaches meaning quickly.

How to write choruses that teach

A chorus must be repeatable and easy. If you are trying to teach a concept put the definition in a line that is as short as possible and then repeat a concrete image. Repeat the technical term once so learners make the connection. Avoid overly dense sentences with multiple clauses. Keep it bite sized. Melody will do a lot of the heavy lifting for memory.

Chorus formula

1. Line one: Short declarative definition in plain language.
2. Line two: Concrete image or personification.
3. Line three: Repeat the key phrase or technical term as a ring phrase.

Chord progression examples and lyric anchors

Use simple progressions. They are the easiest way to show function in a lyric. Below are progressions with lyric anchors that explain what is happening.

• I IV V This classic progression moves from home to subdominant to dominant. Lyric anchor: Home couch then open road then knock at the door.
• ii V I This jazz classic shows moving into resolution. Lyric anchor: I borrow a step then race to the porch then I open the door and breathe.
• I vi IV V A pop standard progression that reharnesses emotion by moving into the relative minor. Lyric anchor: bright day, quiet room, old photograph, then a promise.

Example lyric pairings

I IV V

Verse image: My key on the kitchen table, the couch remembers our names, we step into the street and the lights call the game.

ii V I

Chorus image: Borrowing your sweater then I run, V leans like a question and I answer with home.

Write metaphors that map to function

Always ask what the theory piece does and then pick a human scale analogy. Does it create tension? Use a magnet pulling metal. Does it color a mood? Use weather. Does it give motion? Use a road or clock.

Examples

• Tension forming interval like an argument building in a taxi.
• Resolution like arriving at a favorite couch after a long commute.
• Mode shift like changing from black coffee to espresso with orange zest.

Lyrics for different audiences

Not every lyric needs a full definition. If you write for fellow nerds you can be more concise and meta. If you write for a general audience treat the term like a guest and introduce it gently.

Examples

• Nerd friendly line Tritone split the key and I smiled because I knew exactly where it wanted to go.
• General audience line That weird note between sweet and bitter pulled me in and would not let go.

Real life scenarios to teach tricky concepts

Use a scene people have felt. These scenes are fast routes for understanding.

• Circle of fifths Explain it as friends forming a line where each person stands five steps to the right of the last one. Each step makes the group more distant from where it started. The further you go the less familiar it feels until you loop back home.
• Modal interchange Compare borrowing a chord from a parallel key to borrowing a hoodie from someone with a different vibe. It still fits but it changes the mood.
• Cadence Use a door closing in the scene. A perfect cadence is a firm shut with a click. A plagal cadence is a polite but softer close like a friend waving goodbye.

Practical lyric exercises

These drills will force you to make theory relatable under time pressure.

The One Image Teach

Pick one theory concept. Set a timer for ten minutes. Write one chorus that defines the concept in a single line and then repeats a concrete image twice. Do not over explain. Aim for two lines that the listener can sing back to you in the car.

The Personification Pass

Choose a chord or scale. Write a two verse lyric where that element is a person with habits, a job, and a love language. Verses tell small anecdotes about that person. The chorus reveals their secret power as a musical function.

The Swap Drill

Take a familiar song and rework one line to teach a theory point. Example take a pop chorus and replace a line with a simple cadence explanation that still fits the meter. This trains you to preserve groove while changing content.

Editing for clarity and singability

After drafting run three passes.

1. Clarity pass Remove any sentence that has more than one idea. Theory is dense when you pack too much into one line.
2. Prosody pass Say every line aloud. Confirm the stressed syllables land on strong beats. If a heavy word lands on a weak beat rewrite it.
3. Singability pass Replace awkward consonant clusters with smoother vowels on long notes. Convert tricky multisyllabic words into simpler synonyms when they sit on sustained notes.

Common mistakes and quick fixes

• Too much jargon Fix by introducing the term then immediately translating it into an image. Do not assume knowledge.
• Lecture tone Fix by adding a character or a scene. People do not want a lecture in a song. They want to feel.
• Awkward prosody Fix by moving the technical word to a different beat or rehyming the line so that stress aligns correctly.
• Over explaining Fix by trusting the chorus to repeat the core idea. Use verses for color not definitions.

Genre specific tips

Pop

Keep it short and hookable. Teach one micro concept and wrap it in a high relatability image. Use a ring phrase that repeats the term like a chant.

R B soul

Lean into texture and emotion. Use technical terms as metaphors for relationship dynamics. The chord function becomes emotional behavior.

Indie

Be clever and tactile. Use obscure images and let the song be an essay. People will appreciate a gentle explanation embedded in an immersive scene.

Rap

Exploit cadence and internal rhyme. Drop definitions in punchy bars and use multisyllabic rhymes to make technical terms feel cool and clever.

Testing your educational lyric with listeners

Get three listeners who represent your intended audience. Play the chorus once. Ask them to say in one sentence what they think the chorus told them. If they cannot paraphrase the idea correctly you need to clarify. If they paraphrase but do not remember the technical term you introduced that is okay. Consider whether your goal is concept retention or term retention and adjust.

Real life test

Play your chorus for a friend who majored in art and another friend who played drums in high school. If both can say what the chorus meant you have a winner.

Action plan you can use today

1. Pick one music theory concept you want to teach or celebrate.
2. Write a one sentence core promise that states the idea plainly.
3. Choose a concrete image that maps to the function of the concept.
4. Draft a chorus using the chorus formula I outlined earlier.
5. Run the clarity, prosody, and singability passes.
6. Test with three listeners and revise based on their single sentence summary.
7. Record a quick demo and share it on social or in a DM as a poll to see if people hum the phrase back.

Lyric examples before and after editing

Before: The dominant chord creates tension and leads back to the tonic.

After: Your fifth finger knocks at my door, it cannot sleep until I turn and close.

Before: A tritone is an unstable interval found between notes.

After: That half step from hell sits on my chest and pulls like a call I cannot answer.

Before: The circle of fifths is a tool for key relationships.

After: We spin the wheel of keys like DJ names on a list, each spin brings you closer or farther from the place you miss.

Common questions about writing lyrics that teach theory

Do I need to fully understand theory to write about it

Partial understanding can get you started but teaching forces mastery. If you write an explanation you must be ready to answer follow up questions. Use simple accurate metaphors and double check your facts. If you are uncertain write from character rather than from teacher. Personification lets you be poetic without lying about function.

How do I keep the song from sounding like a lesson

Make the song human. Use conflict, desire, and sensory detail. Teach through story not through a list. The chorus can carry the line that teaches. Verses should show scenes that demonstrate the idea rather than define it.

Can I use actual chord names in a chorus

Yes if you make them singable. People love explicitness when it sounds playful. Example repeat C major like a cheer or make V seven a short chant. If the chord names interrupt the groove consider a paraphrase in the sung line and put the technical label in a spoken bridge or an interlude.

FAQ

What is the easiest musical term to teach in a song

Tonic is easy because everyone relates to home. Use home imagery and make the chorus close melodically when you sing the word tonic. People will remember the feeling and the word if you pair both.

How do I handle acronyms like V7 or ii V I in lyrics

Spell them out or sing them as letters and numbers if the rhythm allows. Alternatively paraphrase their function for the listener then drop the acronym in a small ad lib for nerds. If you choose to say letters and numbers make sure the cadence feels natural in the melody.

Should I explain every term in the song

No. Teach one central thing well. If you cram technical content the listener will not remember anything. Use verses for related color and keep the chorus focused on a single digestible idea.

Will including theory terms alienate fans

Not if you make them human and fun. Fans who hate theory will still sing a clever line that feels honest. If you are worried write two versions. One with the jargon for your niche audience and one that translates for casual listeners.