These days you might be listening to Handel’s “Messiah,” and even if you don’t know that work, you no doubt know his “Hallelujah Chorus” which ends the second part of the oratorio. “Messiah” is a lengthy work consisting of fifty-three movements, and listening to the entire piece will take you more than two hours. (Most […]
Songwriting is a kind of self-improvement exercise. With each song you write, you should feel that you’ve added something positive to your definition of yourself. I think it’s fair to say that one of the things that keeps you interested in songwriting is noticing that you’re getting better. Each song you write is an accomplishment […]
Psychologically speaking, there are two ways to approach songwriting; you can be the kind of person who assumes you’ve got it wrong, or the kind of person who assumes you’ve got it right. Most of the time, your songwriting process relies greatly on improvisation and testing ideas as you go. When you create something — […]
For some songwriters, working on a song is a little like staring into the sun: you can do it only for very short periods of time before you have to look away. That looking away can mean any number of things, depending on who you are. You might: concentrate instead on your playing skills; start […]
Songwriting success is great. Random success isn’t, because it means a lack of consistency. Lately I’ve been writing about the importance of songwriting principles. While a rule is something that must be followed, a principle does nothing more than guide the songwriter. Most of the time those principles exist because it’s the way we like to hear music. When we […]
Even if a song is about something emotional (love, deep friendship, death of a loved one, etc.), it doesn’t work so well to have that lyric be deeply emotional all the time. If all the audience hears is heart-wrenching feelings from beginning to end, it starts to dull its own effect. It’s far better to have […]
