INTRODUCTION
How
this
course works...
TRYING
TO
DO EVERYTHING RIGHT
As much
as we wish we could
do it, it is impossible to condense songwriting down to a formula that
wins every time. If we could, I believe songwriting would
become a
boring, predictable exercise that would barely hold our attention.
Not
only that, you can do
"everything right" in songwriting, and still come up with a song that
doesn't really do it for us.
Consider
this: A very good
football team can do "everything right," and still lose the game. To
win a football game takes talent, technique, practice, and a measure of
luck: the ball needs to bounce your way, as they say. And to write a
successful song requires a good melody, a good lyric, a good chord
progression, and then that "magic" that happens when all of those
things seem to really click together: the ball just bounces your way.
Once
you've got that song,
trying to use that same formula to create a new song will often result
in a song falling flat on its nose. So, as much as we wish we could
apply it, the formula for a killer song needs a healthy dose of basic
creativity and ingenuity of the writer in order to ultimately work.
Thus,
there are things you
must do as a songwriter that are crucial to making a good song. Things
that go beyond developing and using a songwriting formula. There are
ways to structure a melody that makes it more likely that people will
click with it. Ways to word things that really connect with a listener.
HOW
THIS
COURSE WORKS
This is
a companion course to the book, "The Essential
Secrets of Songwriting." I gave
a lot of thought to
how to put into written format the way I help students with their
songwriting projects. Could I actually do that in this online format?
It's not like teaching music theory, where most of the time you are
looking for that one right answer. It's... different. It's a creative
process, where the result will differ from person to person, from song
to song. And anyway, we aren't looking for right answers; we're looking
for good songs.
How I
help students is to
look at the actual song that they're writing, and give them advice that
pertains to that song. It
may not
be the same advice at
all that I would give to someone else for their
song.
But that's difficult to do in an
online course. But there are things
that we
can do in this sort of
setting.
This
course works by
proposing a series of activities, organized into lessons, that are
designed to help you in the following ways:
- Expand your imagination and develop your
creativity.
- Expand your understanding of form and structure.
The
ideas found in this
course are quite easy to follow and complete, and are meant to be as
fun as they are useful. Creative training needs to be enjoyable. It's
hard to be creative when your brain is being taxed trying to complete
mundane, uninspiring tasks.
SOME
PRELIMINARY ADVICE
If you
are doing this course,
it means that you are serious about improving your songs. And if
that's true, then I highly recommend that you begin that process of
improvement by doing the following:
- Listen to a lot of music. Try as much as
possible to expose
yourself to as many genres as possible. The more music your creative
brain experiences, the more eclectic your ideas will be.
- Read as much as possible. You need to
experience how good
writers phrase their ideas. And you need to learn how good writers
control pacing, drama, and the general presentation of ideas.
- Don't throw anything out. As you work on
songs, fragments
of ideas will pop into your head. A bit of lyric here, an interesting
chord progression there. You may find that a lot of ideas don't work
their way into your song. But they could find their way into a future
song. So keep a book for your ideas.
- Set aside a regular time every day for
writing. If you're a
student at school, you may have to be a bit creative with your
schedule, to accommodate your class schedule. But try to be as
consistant as possible.
- Prepare your mind to try different methods of
composition.
Most good songwriters would tell you that they try many different ways
of writing. Sometimes they work on text. Other times they develop a
chord progression, or base a song on a bit of melody. Try to be
open-minded and creative with your songwriting process.
If
you're ready...
...on
to Lesson 1 - FOCUSING
YOUR LYRICS
NEWS: Gary's newest e-book "How to
Harmonize a
Melody" is being offered FREE to anyone purchasing any of Gary's
e-books. Read
more here.
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I'd love to hear from
you! If you find these lessons useful, or if you have any questions,
please don't hesitate to write me (Gary Ewer): gary@pantomimemusic.com
©
2005, Pantomime Music Publications
"The Essential Secrets of
Songwriting
Online Free Songwriting Course" is the copyright property of Pantomime
Music Publications. Permission is granted to link to this page;
however, it is a violation of copyright to place this material on
another website or server.
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