Articles discussing songwriting approaches
Okay, so there's no such school as Rhyme School (hmm, perhaps I could open one...), but there are many, many language experts from whom we have learned to rhyme, in our pursuit of better songwriting. Whether in person, in books or magazines, or online, we have learned a little or a lot about the purpose… Continue reading What They Forgot to Teach at Rhyme School
Repetition is essential to human existence. Our brains literally crave repetition in order to understand the world around us. We use repetition when we learn to talk, to write, even to walk, and certainly when we learn to sing or play a musical instrument. We use repetition to adopt a habit and to break a… Continue reading With Great Power, Power, Comes Great Responsibility, Responsibility
Sometimes, in the music business, we find ourselves wondering whether we're creating something that has a market, or feeling pressure to create something that doesn't feel authentic, for the sake of a bigger market, or just feeling the dreaded "imposter syndrome" because we observe another artist enjoying a level of success that we feel is… Continue reading Pass The Popcorn, Please
It’s easy to know when you have written a song – it has a beginning, middle and end. But then you begin the process of re-writing, improving every line until you have a masterpiece. So, when do you call it “done”? What Does “Unfinished” Look Like? Some simple questions to consider: Do you stand behind… Continue reading How Do I Know When My Song is Finished?
Sometimes, there's a danger inherent with allowing the people around you to know that you are a songwriter. People who do not write songs are usually quite helpless to understand the mysterious process that allows us to create music from nothingness. And that helplessness usually leads to some very entertaining suggestions. We Are Social Creatures… Continue reading There’s Gotta Be a Song In That…
I once heard a songwriter friend of mine say that, before he would call a song “finished”, he would ask his teenaged daughter to tell him the title of the song. It was a test of how effectively he had chosen to spotlight the central message of his song, and there were times when she… Continue reading What is my Song Title? A Songwriter’s Litmus Test
In songwriting, as in life, it’s always a good idea to listen when opportunity knocks at the door. And when we’re considering the first thing a listener will probably hear about your song, and the key by which they will ultimately file it in their memory, there’s a huge opportunity to consider. That’s right, I’m… Continue reading The Song Title – More Than Just a Label
Are you committed? Should you be committed? This morning I was at the piano, playing a song I had written some time ago. This was a song I really enjoyed writing, and I felt that, by writing it, I had accomplished something special. However, time reveals the cracks and the flaws, and I had a… Continue reading Don’t Be Afraid to Commit!
Rhyme is an essential ingredient to songwriting; there’s no doubt about it. Rhyme is used to define the structure of your song, draw attention to key messages in your lyric, and provide pleasure to the brain in much the same way as a piece of candy on the tongue. Because our brains understand rhyme innately,… Continue reading Does my song have to rhyme?
Songwriting has much in common with script writing: the impact of dialect, the pacing of story evolution, the search for relatable story and character elements, the desired emotional responses from the audience. The difference – songwriters distill only a single moment into a song. Consider a scene from your favourite movie in which one character… Continue reading A Song Is Like A Movie Monologue
