Over on the Quote Investigator website you can read interesting research of the adage, “Easy reading is damn hard writing.” It’s commonly ascribed to the 19th century American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne, but it probably existed long before he said it. I love that quote, because it sums up, in my opinion, the problems we face when trying to write […]
As a student of music composition at university, I did a good amount of writing for music ensembles of every configuration. Orchestras, string quartets, choirs, guitar ensembles… I loved the challenges that writing for these groups presented. Some pieces I wrote were short, but in modern day “classical” music, it wasn’t unusual to write multi-movement pieces […]
Do you ever feel that your songs aren’t making an emotional connection to your listeners? Making audiences feel something when they hear your music is a crucial part of success. With every song that you write, most of the following four statements need to be true: You’ve written about personal experiences. You’ve written about people, places […]
To all my blog readers, I’d like to wish you a very Merry Christmas, and I hope you are able to spend whichever seasonal holiday you embrace with family and friends. This is a perfect time of year to reflect on this wonderful gift you possess — the gift of writing music for others to listen to […]
There are typically two times when a song’s key becomes something that a songwriter considers: During the initial songwriting process. You create your first melodic ideas based on an often-random choice of key and chords. During the performance or recording stage. You might possibly change the key to one that puts the melody in your optimum […]
How’s your musical ear? Here’s how you know that it needs some work: You can read music, but you find it difficult or impossible to play by ear. You hear a great melody, but you can’t find the notes on your instrument. You sit at the piano to play a song for a sing-along (like […]
