Written by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website: Occasionally when I adjudicate at music festivals, I am given the pleasant “task” of assessing musical works composed by young children. Happily, these types of events are non-competetive, and so it gives me an opportunity to help young musicians with their writing by showing […]
by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website. It makes for fun reading to go online and find a site devoted to the worst songs ever written. The writers of these songs can at least console themselves with the knowledge that to be renowned for being bad requires the song (often) to have […]
All songs exhibit a balance between what could be thought of as typical traditional songwriting structures, and innovative elements. And this is quite a delicate balance; A song that has too many traditional elements risks being predictable and boring. And a song with too much innovation risks being just weird. It’s a dilemma because unless you can set your song […]
An important part of improving your songwriting skills is singing your songs for others to hear. Not doing this is like writing in a vacuum, and your artistic improvement will be slow and restricted. Having someone else judge your music can be a very humbling and unnerving experience. It takes a lot of inner strength […]
So what’s wrong with inspiration? Don’t the best songs in the world inspire us? And so doesn’t that require inspiration? The simple answer is: no, songwriting does not require you to be inspired. And in fact, if youare waiting for inspiration, that could be the source of that pesky writer’s block that keeps raising its head. The role […]
There are many ways to write a bad song, but most of those bad ways will fall into one of the following categories: 1. Ignore the form of the song. The form is what makes the listener feel like they’ve been on a journey. Form, in essence, means that your song will make sense. 2. Make sure your […]
