Some
time ago a gentleman contacted me and asked me to review several
of his wife's original songs. He wanted some objective feedback
as to whether or not the material was well-written and had potential
for publication. When I received the cassettes and lyric sheets,
I was amazed at the writer's natural talent. The songs were creative
and had great potential both musically and lyrically. There were
areas that I felt needed polishing, so I made some notes and arranged
a phone call with the writer to share my suggestions.
We
had not been on the phone for more than two minutes when the lady
told me under no uncertain circumstances that whatever comments
I might have, she would NEVER change the songs. She said that she
could claim no credit at all for the writing of the songs - she
had merely been the "scribe" through whom a Higher Power had channeled
them. To make any changes would be sacrilegious! Needless to say,
the phone call was extremely short. I hung up from that conversation
quite saddened that so much natural talent would probably never
receive the attention and effort it needed to make it great! Was
it Thomas Edison who said that real success is about 2% inspiration
and 98% perspiration? In my opinion, that statement was never
truer than it is about songwriting.
In
the first article of this series we examined the emotional aspect
of songwriting and learned that great songs are first and foremost
an emotional commodity. They are created from the emotional
honesty of a skilled songwriter and they speak to the universal
emotions of millions of listeners. But because songwriting is so
connected to our emotions, it is easy to become overly subjective
and sentimental about the whole subject. In fact, as songwriters
who experience the incomparable exhilaration of creating a new song,
we can literally become addicted to the process. We become
almost mystical about these "visits from our Muse" and we can easily
lose sight of the fact that there is also a very objective and intellectual
aspect to the craft of songwriting. Songwriting is definitely a
science as well as an art. After the Muse has dropped
the inspiration upon you and flown out the window on his way to
inspire someone else, you are left with the reality that you must
know the principles of songcrafting in order to polish that
lovely inspiration into a truly great song.
"OK,"
you might say, "So I buy your premise that great songs don't just
happen! I need to learn the science of the craft as well. But where
do you go to learn songwriting?" Good question!! While almost every
university has a music department filled with volumes of material
on composition, there are few institutions of learning that actually
teach commercial or hit songwriting. Over the years
commercial songwriting has been more a "seat of your pants" learning
experience. Aspiring songwriters have usually been told that they
should move to Nashville, LA or New York where they can sort of
"apprentice themselves" to a publisher for little or no money in
the hope that they will somehow get the hang of songwriting
by osmosis.
But
what happens if you can't do that? What if you live in someplace
like Kansas City and have a good day gig and a family to raise?
What if it just doesn't make sense to pull up stakes and move to
Nashville? Then what? The good news is that it is completely possible
to learn to write hit songs from wherever you may live, but it will
require self-discipline and the stretching of your creative muscles.
It will be up to you to educate yourself to think like a song
craftsman rather than simply a music lover. In my next article,
I will give you several practical ideas to help you design your
own Songwriting University, but here is one idea to get you started:
LOCATE YOUR LOCAL SONGWRITER'S ASSOCIATION!
Almost
every large or mid-size city has a group of aspiring songwriters
who meet once or twice a month to sharpen their songwriting skills.
You will meet talented musicians and lyricists from whom you can
learn volumes, and with whom you can collaborate and have lots of
fun in the process. If you can't find a number for them in the phone
book, ask around -- inquire at music stores, college music departments
or any music-related organization in your community. If there is
not a group in your immediate vicinity, chances are there will be
one quite near by. Or -- if all else fails -- you can start one
yourself!
That's
your assignment for this time. Join me again next time for more
ideas to help you enroll in Songwriting University.