String section from a symphony orchestra

Travel Day

I’ve had my head a bit out of the songwriting/composition world in the past couple of days, as I had a couple of big concerts on my schedule yesterday. First was a concert where I conducted Symphony Nova Scotia in a performance for seniors, and that’s always a lot of fun. Most of the time […]

The Beatles - Sergeant Pepper

Balancing the Familiar With The Strange

If you’re trying to create chord progressions that stray pleasantly away from the standard I-IV-V-I kind, you need to read “Creative Chord Progressions.” Right now, that eBook is FREE with your purchase of “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting 10-eBook Bundle” I learned something important about teaching very early in my career: if you want people […]

Alicia Keys

Orchestrating Your Songs to Expand Your Sound Palette

If you still write songs in the traditional way — sitting on the edge of your bed with a guitar and working it all out — you probably perform your songs with your band, or perhaps as a solo performer, with guitar or keyboard as your main instrument. Lately I’ve been giving Peter Gabriel’s album […]

The Wrecking Crew

Adding Non-Standard Instruments to Your Song Recordings

How much thought do you give to the instrumental accompaniment for your songs? The question may feel like a no-brainer; if you’re a guitarist, you’ll use guitar. If you’re a keyboardist, you’ll lean towards using keyboards. But simply deciding to use the instrument you’re most comfortable with may be missing great opportunities to create something interesting for […]

A Classical Listening List to Please the Musical Mind

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 […]

Songwriting With An Open Mind

Written by Gary Ewer, author of “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6-eBook Bundle. Follow Gary on Twitter. _______________ This fall I’ll be conducting Symphony Nova Scotia in some school-based concerts, and I’ll start the first ones tomorrow. The idea is to present the orchestra to young people, right in their own schools, with the aim to […]