The Songs to Write Project » how to write a song http://www.songstowrite.com A Beginning Songwriter's Journey Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:18:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 en hourly 1 My First Song! http://www.songstowrite.com/how-to-write-a-song/my-first-song http://www.songstowrite.com/how-to-write-a-song/my-first-song#comments Mon, 15 Feb 2010 01:33:16 +0000 Jayne http://www.songstowrite.com/?p=65 Songwriting is apparently not a linear process. In my last post I talked about starting by creating a list of possible titles and ideas. I did that but didn’t come up with anything inspiring. I got stuck again!

I Asked for Help!

I realized that I just needed a little help to get me started. The target date for writing my first song was fast approaching. (Tomorrow to be exact!) I decided to reach out and ask for help from someone I had not met before but was known to me as a professional songwriter who started later in life, just I am.

Last week I called Rosemarie Ashley of ‘Tude Vox on http://www.SassyAlternativeMusic.com. After reading about her journey on her website I realized that she transformed her self from a non-songwriting singer to a singer-songwriter and she is now writing professionally. I related to her desire to create meaningful and inspirational music because that is what I am working for too.

Rosemarie very graciously spent time with me on the phone and gave me tips on how to get started. I am happy to report that I now have the first draft for lyrics of my first song.

Here are some of the tips from Rosemarie:

  • There are a number of different ways to start a song.
  • Pick a subject or idea to explore and write a poem. Ask someone to write the music for it.
  • Take a piece of music that has the feeling that you want to write about and write vocals for it.
  • Listen to the music that you will be writing vocals for over and over. Start improvising melody. Get a feel for what the song is telling you, how it makes you feel.
  • Meditate on the piece
  • Listen and then set an intention, ask for guidance and listen for the answers.

The subject I picked is a pretty personal one – about a relationship that is bothering me. Here are my first attempts at the lyrics:

My First Song!

A Common Thread

© Jayne Burch 2009

Sailing in the universe
Waiting to be led
You joined me in this world
Pulled by a common thread

We sailed along together
Until it was time to fly
You pushed away, but not so far
Leaving me wonder why

Pulling me to sooth your fear
Yet yearning to be free
You push away from seeing clear
Your own life aside from me

Letting go is painful
Full of anxiety and dread
You’ve joined me in this world
Still joined by a common thread

It’s not complete, but it’s begun finally! Next step is music! My thanks to Rosemarie Ashley for being the catalyst to get me started!

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]]> http://www.songstowrite.com/how-to-write-a-song/my-first-song/feed 0 Do You Start Writing a Song with a Title? – Day 5 http://www.songstowrite.com/how-to-write-a-song/do-you-start-writing-a-song-with-a-title-day-5 http://www.songstowrite.com/how-to-write-a-song/do-you-start-writing-a-song-with-a-title-day-5#comments Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:55:32 +0000 Jayne http://www.songstowrite.com/?p=57
  • What is Your Song About? Day 4
  • My First Song!
    • ]]>     Part of my daily practice (See Day 3 on Daily Practice Leading to Songs to Write) in addition to practicing piano skills is to work through a section of the Amy Appleby book, You Can Write a Song. I love doing this because it feels to me that I have a songwriting mentor. It probably doesn’t matter what book I use as long as I do it consistently a little bit every day.

    Today’s topic is Song Titles. Many songwriters start with a title they believe in and build from there. Others will create the song title after the song is written or in progress. Song titles should give an idea of the subject of the song. Some are more obvious and others are more indirect and allow the listener to discover the true meaning. A catchy or memorable song title is good to strive for in writing pop music.

    Song titles fall into a few general formats that can even move the song forward. Here are a few format ideas to think about:

    • Label. Captures the essence of the song in a word or phrase.
    • Statement. Sums up the theme and idea of the song. Keep it short.
    • Question. Asking a question catches the listener’s attention and gets them involved.

    There are numerous professional techniques to make a title interesting and catchy that come from using the figures of speech that creative writers use. Rather than study them right now, in the interest in starting to write lots of songs, I’m starting a list of titles on as many themes a possible. I’ll post some of these in the next day or two.

    How about you? Please comment below on your technique for getting started on songs to write.

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    Related posts:

    1. What is Your Song About? Day 4
    2. My First Song!

    ]]>     http://www.songstowrite.com/how-to-write-a-song/do-you-start-writing-a-song-with-a-title-day-5/feed 0     What is Your Song About? Day 4 http://www.songstowrite.com/how-to-write-a-song/what-is-your-song-about-day-4 http://www.songstowrite.com/how-to-write-a-song/what-is-your-song-about-day-4#comments Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:41:31 +0000 Jayne http://www.songstowrite.com/?p=52
  • Getting My Songwriting Tools Together – Day 2
  • Do You Start Writing a Song with a Title? – Day 5
    • ]]>     After a short break I’m back to posting about my songwriting project. My intension was to work on this every day of 2010. Julia Cameron calls it a “Creative U-Turns.” I just didn’t expect to have one on Day 4! Was it fear of success?

    I am committed to at least doing my daily practice around my music. Writing every day may be unrealistic right now. The most important part is to establish a habit or discipline around my music.

    Today’s focus is on choosing a theme for a song. Amy Appleby notes in her, You Can Write a Song, that there are only a handful of themes out there. The trick is to take a tried and true theme and present it in a fresh and updated way.

    It’s also a good idea to start by thinking through your audience or the purpose of your songwriting. When writing songs for church, for children, your community play or a concert you have much more freedom to choose a theme. If you want write a mainstream pop song writing about some of the following themes will work better because they are more familiar.

    Here are some of the major themes. There may be more of course, but these are a good start. Many have to do with love.

    • Looking for Love
    • Proposing Love
    • Making Love
    • Celebrating Love
    • Unriquited Love
    • Broken Love
    • Personal Portraits
    • Places and Objects
    • Events
    • Friendship
    • Family
    • Self-realization
    • Dance
    • Music
    • Novelty
    • Fantasy
    • Work, Money, Survival
    • Philosophical/Moral
    • Political/Patriotic

    My goal is to write pop songs so I plan to explore some of these themes for the songs to write. I like that the book gives examples of each theme. I am drawn to writing about what is going on in my life right now, especially, self-realization and things that are inspirational. Songs can have subthemes too. For now, I’ll see where this goes.

    How about you? Who are you writing for? What themes attract you most?

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    Related posts:

    1. Getting My Songwriting Tools Together – Day 2
    2. Do You Start Writing a Song with a Title? – Day 5

    ]]>     http://www.songstowrite.com/how-to-write-a-song/what-is-your-song-about-day-4/feed 0     How to Write a Song When You Are a Beginner http://www.songstowrite.com/how-to-write-a-song/how-to-write-a-song-when-you-are-a-beginner http://www.songstowrite.com/how-to-write-a-song/how-to-write-a-song-when-you-are-a-beginner#comments Mon, 25 Aug 2008 03:43:49 +0000 Jayne http://www.songstowrite.com/how-to-write-song/how-to-write-a-song-when-you-are-a-beginner how to write a songFor many learning how to write song is not so much the issue. However, learning how to find the problems in the songs they do write, is a valuable tool. To start with, new songwriters should just write lots of songs.

    The best goal is to write 100 songs. Sometimes beginning songwriters need to write a lot of songs to find what isn’t working and figure out how to get them working better. And this is often difficult to do on your own, which is why looking to outside sources can be most helpful.

    Take a song that you’ve written that you know isn’t quite right and consider why it is, what’s the problem? Is it interesting? Is it flat and without color? Eighty percent of the time it is a music issue that is related to one of the following most common faults in amateur songwriting:

    1. Lack of tension and release.
    2. Incorrect movement of the melody in the various parts of the song
    3. Musical punctuation/ phasing of the melody.


    A successful song writer does not have these issues because he innately knows how to fix them. It is possible to learn about these issues and how to fix them and how to write a song well. There are many great books that will help to revise and understand the problems in your songs. Addressing these three issues alone regarding the music will make a song much better and easier to listen to.

    The solution is to learn the basics that you absolutely need to know.

    Learn:

    1. Chord progressions and what to use where and what chords follows what. Learn which chords that are not in the key of the song are available to add tension. Learn how to add tension with sevenths etc.
    2. How melody moves in verses and choruses.
    3. How to punctuate a melody


    Once you have mastered these three elements of how to write a song, you will have solved 80% of your problems. It’s your choice whether to go deeper into musically theory from there.

    The point is, if your song lacks color and you’ve studied the use of chords in songs, you will know where you need to add a bit of tension. You will know there is a choice of usually two chords, other than the basic one you have used, to do it. It is then simply a matter of trying one then the next and see what the effect is.

    Without an understanding of the issue of tension, you may be unaware there is a problem. If you know there is a problem but you’re not sure what is, you will not know how to fix it. In either case, you will rely on trial and error, making life hard or yourself.

    In summary, the best way to start learning how to write a song is to study how chords work together. Then prepare some memory aids that will remind you which chords work with the key you have chosen and which chords you can use to add tension (that might take you an hour’s worth of work.) Several half hour lessons would be enough to cover these basic elements. Well worth the effort. And the writing should improve.

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