Finding and editing skill

This article has been translated from “発掘力と編集力”.
The author is a Japanese, and this report is mainly written for Japanese poetry.

Overview

This is a report on the hypothesis that rhyming skill can be broken down into two elements.
The two elements are “finding” and “editing”.
The former relates to the individual rhymes (parts), and the latter to the overall quality of the text (layout).

Finding skill

Finding is the skill of discovering rhymes.

If I compare this to a profession, It’s like a fish wholesaler.
It requires a wide range of suppliers and an observant eye to recognize the freshest fish.
The talent of finding has to do with patience and a broad vocabulary.

The task of listing many rhymes can be accomplished by anyone (as long as it takes time).
In extreme cases, it can be mechanized.

What is important is the sense to select “usable parts” from the list.
This can be honed through experience.

Also, 90% of rhyming is time and effort, and the remaining 10% is luck.

A really good rhyme often comes from an accidental flash of inspiration.
The more time you spend on it, the more likely you are to encounter such luck.
In order not to miss the chance, it is effective to discover them carefully.

In the “5 elements for good rhyme” mentioned earlier, finding skill is related to “unexpectedness” and “linkage”.

Editing skill

Editing is the skill of arranging rhymes.

If I compare this to a profession, It’s like a sushi chef.
It requires a cooking technique that maximizes the taste of the ingredients.
The main skills involved are metaphor and sentence structure.

The process of combining the listed rhymes requires a sense of balance.
If the rhyme is to follow the theme and be natural in the text, usable words will naturally narrow down.
The key to editing is how smoothly you can hide the connections and make them fit in.

Another key to editing is to somehow coordinate the parts that don’t go well together.
(A typical example is “split rhyme”, in which the content diverges greatly between phrases.)

In the “5 elements for good rhyme” mentioned earlier, editing is related to “clarity”.

The importance of editing

Example 1

お前のラップは　高野豆腐　おれのラップは　オーバードーズ
(Your rap is Koya-Dofu. My rap is overdose.)

When thinking of connections, even messy connections like above are often adequate. (※1)

In Example 1, “Your rap is” and “My rap is” are “connection”.

Example 2

The following are another example of connecting them.

失恋の歌詞ばっかオーバードーズしてウェットに浸した高野豆腐
(You overdose on lost love lyrics like soaked Koya-Dofu.)

The same story (rhyme) can be made even more delicious by connecting.(※2)
In example 2, “You” and “on lost love lyrics like soaked” are “connection”.

Summary of the two skills

1. finding skill is “what rhymes with Koya-Dofu”.
2. editing skill is “how to connect Koya-Dofu and overdose”.

These are the two pillars of rhyming skill.

※1 The versatility of this template is also amazing in a sense, as it can be used to forcibly connect any words.
※2 A typical example of ingenuity is the use of metaphor to connect the context between phrases.

How to extend the skills

Once a rhymer reach a certain level of rhyming, his finding skill tends to be almost lopsided with others.
In order to express own personality, where should he differentiate himself?

A certain level of rhyming is assumed to be “the ability to use homophonic rhymes or high-matching rhymes in a stable manner”.

Countermeasure 1: Improve finding skill more

This is an approach to breakthroughs through further excavation.

If the number of rhymes that come to mind is small (for example, if you can only come up with 100 to 200 rhymes for a single material), there’s still room to improve your skills by continuing to dig.
If you feel a lack of vocabulary, it also falls under this category.

Countermeasure 2: Improve editing skill

Once you have developed the finding skill enough, the next step is to develop how you can arrange the same material.

In order to incorporate rhymes while maintaining natural sentences, it is especially important to have the ability to blend the rhyme gaps with other expressions.
Ideally, the text should not only be natural, but it should also connect multiple sentences to form a single story.

To be specific here, it’s effective to increase the number of particles and conjunctions.
No matter what the next rhyme is, you should train yourself to be able to connect them naturally within a limited number of sounds.
(Binding games such as “Tsunagi Grand Prix” can also be effective.)

Aside: Editing skill in sound works

In the case of sound works, variations in flow are part of editing skill.

If the same lyrics are sung by several people other than yourself, do you have any unique strengths?
The editing skill that you can win in a battle over a common rhyme will give you an advantage.

The verses can also be interpreted in terms of “how long connecting” and “how much space to leave”.

With the exception of partial rhymes, rhyming phrases often have the same number of sounds.
This is because it is common to unconsciously “number matching” when matching vowels and consonants.

In order to accentuate this, do we use irregular padding?
Or, to create a regular rhythm, do we use a uniform number of syllables?

There are countless ways to arrange the presentation of rhymes, even with just one such decision.

Aside: automation of finding and editing

The ability to identify a large number of candidates is finding, and the ability to decide which rhymes to adopt from those candidates is a mix of finding and editing.

As mentioned above, the ability to find rhymes can be easily mechanized.
On the other hand, the part involving “editing” (judging the order of priority among candidates) is a task in which humans excel.
However, as algorithms evolve, there is a possibility that machines with better editing skills will emerge in the future.

I’ll discuss computerized rhyming in another article.
One sure thing, the rhymes don’t have any originality will eventually be exterminated.

Summary

The method of dividing an idea into two parts, can be true not only in rhyme, but in many other fields of creation.

1. to look at the part and pursue quality.
2. to look at the whole part and maintain a balance.

Utilizing the two forces as two wheels, we can refine our ideas.
Once you get used to this way of thinking, it will lead to the “ability to discover ideas” that can be used in many fields.

That’s all for today.

2017.7.19 draft
2018.8.1 japanese edition
2022.2.4 english edition