I would like to think that every song written is perfect. But, in the real world, most songs don’t meet these lofty criteria and fail. Why is this and how can we tell when a song isn’t working? A song that doesn’t work is evidenced by when the listener becomes disinterested in listening. They zone […]
Tag: #inspiration
Songs are like children. They take on lives of their own. When they leave the nest, we never know what is going to happen to them. We never know who is going to hear our song, like it or not, get inspired by it or not, or record it or not, and we never know […]
I admit it. I love everything I write. Good or bad, it is amazing to me that ‘out of my head’ a song emerges. It’s a wonderful feeling to know that I created something from nothing, and even more wonderful when I hear a recording of one of my songs for the first time. I’m […]
In Listening To Songs – Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4, we explored how to listen for the HOOK, CHORUS, PRE-CHORUS. We talked about hearing these combination of song parts as key to knowing the structure of a song. The remaining part we want to listen for is the BRIDGE. Where does it live and […]
In What Can A Song Do? – Part I, I wrote about a song ‘doing’ ‘a bunch of things’. A song can make you want to sing and dance, it can awaken emotions and focus on particular subjects. But the ultimate power of a song is when it effects mass groups of people to ‘do’ […]
I’ve always felt that a song has great power. A song can ‘do’ a ‘bunch of things’. Do? Things? What can a song do? A song can make you want to sing along. Example: She’ll Be Coming ’Round The Mountain, African-American folk song. Oh, if you don’t know the example, may I suggest that you […]
Even though the core of a song should have an emotional base, there is a learned technique that informs every song. Songwriting is a learned craft. It takes a great deal of concentration and attention to detail. Paying attention to the details of a song separates the good songs from the bad ones. If you […]
The best advice that I can give to any songwriter is to write songs as much as possible. The more songs you write, the better you will get at the craft. And, how far you can go in developing your craft is unlimited. Songwriting can be addictive simply because it’s fun to do. Yes, songwriting […]
Say you have been listening to a song written by another writer and recognize within it a structure of ABA. Believe it or not, this discovery of an ABA song structure has now become a part of your craft. All you will have to do is use this ABA structure in a song that you […]
In Part 4 of What type of songwriter are you? we will continue to explore the different types of songwriters that you could be. Here’s a quick Song Tip Tuesday review! Part 1 we assumed that for the most part songwriters write songs that come from the heart. The writers who fall into this category […]