I hope last week’s songwriting organization and song analysis have opened up new doors for you both in your craft and in your business of songwriting. This week I’ll add two more activities for your consideration when you’re looking for ideas to grow your career and skill level.
Business:
Make it a point to identify one musician who might help bring your songs to life. It might be a producer, an engineer, another songwriter, a bass player, keyboardist, vocalist, or ukeleist…. (make sure that’s how they like to be called)
The goal here is to sit down with someone who would be willing to play your song on guitar while you sing, willing to sing your song while you play keyboard, willing to listen to your song and talk about how it might be arranged, etc. You’ll expand your circle of contacts while gain a broader view of how your song is received. You can find these kinds of people anywhere, no matter where you live. Check local music stores for bulletin boards where players advertise their skills. Many of the customer service folks at these stores are trained musicians, so consider how their experience might combine nicely with yours. Check the yellow pages for recording studios in your area and ask if you might come by and view the facility. They should consider you a potential customer, and you should consider the facility somewhere you may choose to record in the future. As you attend shows at clubs and other venues such as coffee shops, business conventions, restaurants, hotel lobbies, and wherever else you see live music, consider that many of these working musicians are in the spotlight to network as well. Bring your business card with contact information, and as always, be honest about your intentions. You’ll need to decide what it might be worth to you in dollars to have a guitar player sit down with you for an hour and work up a guitar part for your song as you sing. If you bring a good recording device, you could end up with a great work-tape (what we call a rough demo of a song) you can add to your catalog. If you can’t pay right now, then be forthcoming about that. Many musicians are very clear about the fact that investing in folks early on in their career for free leads to great friendships and paid gigs down the road. Whatever outcome you expect, be prepared to wind up with renewed energy for writing more songs, and at least one new experience where you put yourself out there for potential success.
Craft:
One common complaint I hear from songwriters is how difficult it sometimes is to actually finish a song. We start out feverishly excited about an idea, or maybe about a knock-out first line or verse. Then, we get to the prechorus or the chorus and the ideas stop flowing. Or, maybe we’re stuck at the beginning of the second verse, without a clue where to go from there. We may have played the song in its unfinished state to a family member, friend, or writing group, only to receive feedback about the imperfections that already exist, stunting our excitement about finishing the song.
Whatever the case, the plight of the unfinished song clutters our minds and desks, keeping us from the valuable experience of actually writing through an entire idea. To deal with this problem, you’ve first got to make a pact with yourself.
1. Promise to finish every idea you start, no matter how insignificant the writing feels.
A professor once instructed me to write a song a week, and to finish each song that I started. At first I rebelled, but soon found that even if I was just writing a second verse and bridge section to fulfill the goal of finishing a song, I was practicing a valuable exercise. The first few times, the second half of the song was less focused, less intentional, and certainly less captivating than the first half. I repeated lines and ideas in several songs I finished, but I also found that I came up with good, original ideas at the same time. What was most important was that I grew a catalog of finished works.
2. Identify the section of the song in which you typically lose your groove.
Do you find verses come easily to you, and your biggest fear is a chorus that really pays off? Or, do you overflow with chorus material and avoid verse writing altogether? At what point do your musical ideas fall short of your expectations? Clarify your weak points, and do some research in those areas. There are several books on the market that focus on each of these individual points. I recommend Pat Pattison’s Writing Better Lyrics, Jimmy Kachulis’ Songwriting Workshop: Melody and Songwriting Workshop: Harmony, and my own book, Popular Lyric Writing: 10 Steps to Effective Storytelling.
3. Before you begin writing an idea, make an outline and stick to it.
If you start with a title or theme, practice outlining the content of each section. If you’re unsure how to do this, take a look at Writing Better Lyrics, or Popular Lyric Writing: 10 Steps to Effective Storytelling for help. Then, stay focused on your outline as you develop the lyrics in each section.
4. Hold off on playing your songs for family members or those close to you until you’ve lived with them (your songs) for at least two weeks. Feedback when we’re so close to an idea can sometimes be less constructive and more destructive. After I’ve given my own ears time to separate from a song, I’m more objective and can often make many observations on my own. I also like to have several song ideas in development at one time, so that when I do play my older material, I’m not crushed if it’s not my best material. The value of my ideas never hangs on one song or idea alone, and finding some separation from ideas of the past helps to foster future creativity.
