SONGWRITING PART 1/3

#1) Authors and Musicians...
I have had some people tell me that composing music is easy, and that anyone can do it. Yes, anyone can do it, but few can really do it. Writing a song is much like being an author. Yes, we all have tools to write (everyone has a brain I hope!), but that doesn't all of a sudden make us best selling authors. Authors work at their abilities, often every day. The prime goal of an author is the same as a musician, which is to emotionally connect with the reader in some way or another. Writers do this by using motivation, characterization, and powerful word combinations among other things. Composers, like authors, have a lot in common. Our main goal is to connect with the listener emotionally. This is where our first tip comes into play: Never stop working at your abilities. If our main goal is to connect emotionally, we should want to have as many tools as we possibly can to achieve that goal. The more abilities that we have, the more choices we can make musically. It's important to have a wide arsenal of choices at your disposal, because if we keep doing the same 'tried and true' methods, their emotional effects will wear off as the songwriting becomes caged into a predictable movement.

#2) Who are you writing your music for? Know your goal.
The reason why you need to know this is because when you make music for yourself, there is no limit to what you can do to be 'expressive'. If you are making music for other people, you will have to be aware of how people relate to it. It is like this: when you are a computer genius and you want to tell someone how to fix their computer, you have to speak in their terms so they can understand what the heck you are saying. If you speak in your lingo, you will most likely lose them in techno-talk. Another example is the author. He can write a story with the largest, most sweeping words he knows- but if the reader does not know what those words mean, the entire meaning gets lost. We, as musicians, face the same predicament. Overcomplicated songs will lose the average listener. Now, other hardcore musicians will greatly appreciate your abilities and probably get more feeling from it- but the common person will most likely not be able to follow. Once again you should ask yourself when you write a song: Who am I making this music for and will they be able to relate?

#3) Scratching in the dirt
Minds are like flowers. If you let it sit there without soaking anything up, it will dry up. Not to say that you can't invigorate your mind again, but it is saying that it is harder to do so. Just like weight lifting. If you haven't worked out in awhile, it is quite hard to lift as much as you did when you were lifting every day. So this is my first suggestion. Practice. I'm not talking about technical ability this time (although you should practice that too!). I'm saying that you should practice making new songs. Make a goal to make 1 new song every week, even if it is only 50 seconds long. It is the fact that you are working your brain out. Once you begin the song, you can latch onto ideas rather quickly. That is not the purpose of the exercise. The purpose is to get your brain to find new avenues by exploring different ideas. It's about trying something new every time.

#4) Music vs. Robots
Music is an art form. It is a way to wordlessly communicate. There are computer programs that are designed to 'make songs' on the fly. How much do you think that communicates? Please don't be a robot! Don't give in and throw in random notes that fit in a scale just to fill a passage. Make a reason for why every part of your song exists. Find parts in your lead passage that really hook you. Now delete all the other parts. Now build off of the hook. Get it? Computers cannot find hooks, but your ear can. If you can't feel anything interesting from a part, get rid of it. Unless of course you want to have a "boring" part to build into something grand! There's a nice strategy.

#5) The song's opinion is better than yours! Nyah!
When you think in the best interests in the song, you may have to rid yourself some very good ideas that you wanted to do. I have come up with very creative ideas that really didn't work with the song I was currently composing. Don't mess up your song by trying to fit it in! If you can fit it in and it feels right to put it there- good shot! If it doesn't- well then you have an idea for your next song to go! Remember, the song's opinion is better than yours! Oh, here is a good one. Just because you got a new toy, does not mean every song needs to have it! There, I said it. Just because you get a wah-wah pedal for your guitar, now every song you make after that needs to have a wah-wah?? I think not! Think about what the song needs not what you want. The both of you might have varying opinions. When you make the music bigger than you are, then you'll understand what I mean- it tends to have a mind of its own.

               SONGWRITING PART 2/3