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Free printable worksheet

A song title worksheet for two finalists

Use this song title worksheet when you have two finalists and a chorus to try them in. Keep the lead-in and melody fixed, sing each title twice in the same spot, then write down which word gets the strongest note and what the repeat makes you hear. Leave with two decisions you can use at rehearsal: what to put on the set list and what to sing. They can be different phrases.

Lyrical LabsMy working notes

Example: Your chair is in the moving van / My hands remember what to do. Keep both lines and the tempo for each take.

Example: Three notes: strike the first, brush past the second, stretch the third. Repeat the whole phrase once. Put one syllable on each note for this pass.

Example: The Spare Plate → THE / spare / PLATE. Holding “plate” lets the object hang there. Starting hard on “the” could sound like I’m correcting someone about which plate.

Example: Set for Two → SET / for / TWO. The last word counts someone who has already left. Repeating the instruction suggests the speaker’s hands could do this tomorrow, too.

Example: If The Spare Plate came first, sing Set for Two first on the next pass. Then try “the” as a pickup in its own take and record whether the new entrance helps.

Example: Set list: The Spare Plate. Sing: Set for two / Set for two. The object is what I want people to picture before I start. The repeated action is what I want the voice to do.

Example: I’ve mapped the notes on paper. Next I’ll sing both versions into my phone at the same tempo and listen for whether “the” sounds pointed or simply lands too hard.

Your notes stay on this page until you leave or reload. Download a copy to keep them.

Give both titles the same three notes

Imagine clearing a table after someone moves out. There’s a place you keep setting by habit. Our original chorus begins “Your chair is in the moving van / My hands remember what to do.” Give the singer two possible endings, The Spare Plate and Set for Two. Both have three syllables. One lets you see what’s on the table. The other gives the hands an instruction they still remember.

Use your own melody if you have one. For the example, tap once with some weight, tap lightly, then tap and hold. Say each candidate over those three taps, then repeat it. Keep the same lead-in, tempo and note lengths. On the sheet, capitals mark emphasis and slashes mark note changes. You can do a spoken pass now and leave the sung result open until rehearsal.

Listen to the little word as well as the long one

In THE / spare / PLATE, the last note has an object to hold onto. The first accent lands on an article. Imagine someone reaching for the wrong dish: suddenly a pointed “the” might be just what your singer means. Alone at the table, the speaker might barely voice it. Try both readings before you strike the phrase off the list.

In SET / for / TWO, the first note gives an order and the last one counts the places. Sing it a second time after the moving-van line. Does it still sound like an instruction, or has it started to sound like something the singer can’t stop doing? Quote the word that made you hear a difference. “I hurried through ‘for’ and had a beat left for ‘two’” gives you something to try again.

Separate the set-list decision from the sung line

Pat Pattison describes a title as a way to hold a song’s central idea together across its sections. Put each candidate above the verse as a final check. If you saw The Spare Plate on the set list, the empty place at dinner would have a name before the singer opened their mouth. Set for Two would let the listener discover whose second place it is.

Our pencil decision is to title the song The Spare Plate and repeat “Set for two” in the chorus. The title names the thing left behind and the voice keeps doing the familiar work. Someone writing a more confrontational song might want to hit “THE spare plate” twice. Try the less comfortable phrase again in the opposite order. If you move a word onto a pickup or change a note, mark that as a new version so you know what helped.

Take a two-line decision to rehearsal

Write the title on one line and the exact sung ending on the next. If you have a recording, add a single observation from listening back. If you only spoke the lines, write down the word you want to test when you can sing. The filled examples above are a pencil rehearsal of an invented song. You can finish the sheet with an honest open question.

Download the text before you reload or leave. You can also print a blank copy, fold the two candidate names out of sight, and ask a bandmate to jot down the words they hear when you sing the ending. If you still need a second candidate, try “The sentence you avoid” in the prompt generator’s Hooks category. Use the action you come up with as the second phrase and bring it back here.

A few useful answers.

What if my two song titles have different syllable counts?

Start with the same musical space. Mark a rest for a short title or the syllables you squeezed onto one note for a long one. If the squeeze hides an important word, save a second take with a changed rhythm and label it. You can then tell whether you preferred the phrase or the new tune.

Can the working title stay out of the chorus?

Yes. Try the title above your lyric and the other phrase in the singer’s mouth. Write a reason for each choice. In the table example, a listener can connect the spare plate in the title to the second place in the refrain even though the singer never names a plate.

What do I write if both versions work?

Write down what each one buys you. Try singing one at the first chorus and the other after a later verse. If the story gives the switch a purpose, keep both for rehearsal. If you still hear the same effect, keep the one you’d enjoy singing again and date the decision.

Sources & further reading

Keep the idea moving.

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