<aside> 🎼 *Folk music is a vibrant part of Scottish tradition, and often used in fantasy stories to communicate historical information about the world. This artefact was designed to bring the writer’s own love for music as a source of inspiration for her worlds, and own singing experience, to the development of the Callanwynd Isles. To develop lyrics, the author used ChatGPT and Moises. Sound generation was completed (or attempted) with SunoAi, Demo, and Hookpad. ***Accompanying images were generated with Midjourney.
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🔊 Hear how this process completely transformed the vision of storytelling mediums the author expected this world to take
<aside> 📌 A Note on Sound Generators While various audio generators have existed for a while (such as text to speech readers), truly functional music generators are still slowing emerging. Many of these generators have been successful in developing background, instrumental music for videos (to match to the movement/speed of the video). In addition, some are capable of simple chord progressions in genres that are both popular enough to have been worth the investment, and formulaic enough to build models on, such as pop, rock, and American country music. As this study is looking at Scottish folk music specifically (and later, musical theatre style ballads), the melody generators still overall need a fair amount of music theory and composition knowledge to be truly effective.
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🔊 Hear more about the research phase.
https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/5HbMbKVXPtXW9ymYYdMBmI?utm_source=generator
https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/7GGZ7ae0SEjmQclogCPkRn?utm_source=generator
<aside> 🎙️ Interview with Director of the Traditional Music Forum (Scotland)
Key Terms and Considerations:
Representing Scottish Folk Music in Fiction:
🔊 Developing the Folk Song with ChatGPT and Suno
<aside> 🎼 Prompt for Generated Lyrics (bold for emphasis on important aspects of prompting)
Full conversation here:
I am writing a fantasy novel based on the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. I am going to tell you a brief story, that the people in this fantasy world would sing like in the tradition of Gaelic, highlander folk song. Could you please write the lyrics for the song, and ask me any other questions about the story you need to do so? You may also add details and specificity on your own.
Long ago, when the ocean was in grief and missing her daughters that chose to shed their seal skins and live on land, the people of the islands suffered terrible flooding. Many immigrated to other nations, separating their ancestral clans and moving far away from the shore. However, some of the children, who had been born in homes where the water covered the floor, began to cry on the new moon when the ocean would pull her tides far from land, as though she was pulling them and calling them home to her. While many families prospered inland with vast riches, they noticed their children never seemed as joyful as they remembered being as children. Eventually, a few families decided to return to the Isles, and their children quickly grew in health, joy and strength. This is why we now give birth on the shore itself, and let the waves wash upon a newborn child, so they may always remember the love and happiness the ocean provides is more than the golden riches elsewhere
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<aside> 🎼 Folk Song Lyrics (lyrics below completely from ChatGPT)
(Verse 1)
In days of old, when tales unfold,
The ocean wept and sighed.
Her daughters gone, to lands beyond,
She mourned with every tide.
The islands drowned, as tears came down,
The clans were torn apart.
To foreign shores, they sailed with oars,
Leaving their island heart.
(Chorus)
But the children weep, in moon's soft sleep,
For the ocean's lullaby.
The pull of the tide, they could not hide,
The call they couldn’t deny.
(Verse 2)
In cities grand, with golden sand,
The clans found wealth and fame.
But joy was rare, in the inland air,
Their hearts were not the same.
The children's cries, reached to the skies,
A longing deep and true.
For the ocean's song, where they belong,
And the waves of deepest blue.
(Chorus)
For the children knew, in hearts so true,
The ocean's ancient song.
The pull of the tide, deep inside,
Where they truly belong.
(Verse 3)
Brave families dared, with love they cared,
To return to island shore.
Their children's glee, wild and free,
Was heard forevermore.
Now on the sands, with joined hands,
We welcome newborn kin.
With waves so mild, upon the child,
The bond begins again.
(Chorus)
For we've come to see, as sure as the sea,
The ocean's love is vast.
More than gold's allure, its call is pure,
A link to our ancient past.
(Outro)
So let it be known, in song and in stone,
The ocean's call we heed.
For in her embrace, we find our place,
And the love that we all need
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Generated with SunoAI Beta. Only settings user can control is inputting lyrics (max 8 lines), so multiple iterations needed to get something roughly in the right style, with a max of 30 secs.
💡 TIPS & TRICKS
Generating Lyrics & Melodies
- When asking ChatGPT for lyrics, be clear on style and form, but don’t infringe on an artists’ IP. Give ChatGPT instructions about the themes of the lyrics, rhyme schemes, structure (ie chorus, verse, bridge), genre and mood. Do not suggest specific artists or songs that are copyrighted as models.
- Keep your expectations low, and imagination flexible. The most accessible melody generated tools for those without any composing experience (such as Suno) do not allow for much customization, only matching the lyrics provided to a melody style of its choosing. However, this can be a great starting point for high level ideation.
- Know when to stop (most often, no one will ever hear it). When starting to work with an audio generator, be very clear about your goal. It’s easy to get sucked in and try to perfect an entire song. Most likely, only a verse, chorus and simple base melody is needed to get the ideation benefit for your world-building.
- Track the development of your lyrics overtime. Especially if you aren’t used to writing in a more poetic style (like song lyrics), ChatGPT can be surprisingly effective at generating lyrics. Be sure your own notes are clear of what was generated versus your own inputs/changes, so if you do choose to use the lyrics in a later, published narrative of the world, you are confidant that it’s your own original work, or know how much needs adjustment.