When you feel that your chord progression is lacking a bit of excitement, you’re temptation might be to toss it out and go looking for “the killer chord progression.” But that shouldn’t be your first choice, for a number of reasons. First of all, no chord progression is “killer” unless it’s partnering well with all […]
A time signature is not something that gets a lot of attention when we think of pop songs, and truth be told, it’s possible to write great music without giving it much thought. Most songs are either in 4/4 time or some other arrangement of strong-beat/weak-beat meter. As you begin the songwriting process, you’ll likely start strumming […]
Many of you know that one of the enjoyable things I get to do now and then is to take a symphony orchestra – specifically, Symphony Nova Scotia (SNS) – into schools, and play some exciting orchestral music for young people. In the main, our audiences are between ages 5 and 12, though occasionally we present our performances […]
Do you like starting the songwriting process by coming up with a chord progression first? Every songwriter has done that — even writers that focus on lyrics as their strongest suit will occasionally resort to playing a chord progression, even if just to get in the composing mood. But here’s a problem you’ll often notice […]
When you have an instinct for something, it means that you have an innate talent or gift for that activity. A songwriter’s instinct means that you enjoy writing, that it makes you happy, and that it satisfies you on an artistic level. And of course, that you find it to be easy (all things being relative, […]
You really have to admire the producers of “Hunting Ground,” the 2015 documentary about rape on college campuses, for presenting a difficult topic with such unblinking honesty, courage and power. Just watching the film trailer will change you, assuming you didn’t already know the scope of the problem. Lady Gaga teamed up with hit songwriter […]
