Writing Music
When I started doing this as a hobby, I thought I'd get to a certain point in understanding and writing songs, and both have the basics down, and be really great at it.
Ha, about the only thing I seem to be doing well at this point is writing the lyrics. And even that is a product of minoring in English. From what I've read on the subject, it is just that. Lyric writing and tune writing are as subjective as whether or not you like "On The Road Again", at 8am on two consecutive days. And there are top songwriters out there who've never had a college English course, making millions. Knowing how to put word to paper is no guarantee of grand royalty payments.
I've written lyrics, for which entire segment of people told me that they loved it, laughed their heads off, and when was I going to release it for radio? And another segment of the population doesn't know even who I am, because I have to pen some of my lyrics under an alias, a common occurance in the music world anyway.
So, it got down to whether I liked what I was doing, and had a reasonably listenable progression between my words, verses, and choruses.
The tunes are something else again. As I read more on this subject, I find that I'm in great company with some of my frustration. I can write a tune one day, write an arrangement for it, and within a week, greatly dislike it, and start from scratch! But then I found out that is the norm! Most songwriters go through that on at least half their songs.
Touching someone with what I write is also as fickle as whether or not I will like Vanilla flavored coffee next Wednesday. I just don't know! However, if you don't try, you won't touch. And at some point, if you've got the right combination, you may get someone to listen (aside from the captive audiences like your family). And if you've got the right combination at the right time, you might have a chance to get it heard on radio.
So, in amoungst all the effort, retries, and editing, I find that most of my mentors have the same problems I do. Worse for them, it's a living, and the product has to keep bread on the table. I'm at a relatively safe place, because I have a steady paycheck from another occupation. What I want to discover, like every other hopeful writer, is that I've got the right stuff in me, to turn the hobby into a hit.
I'm told that songwriting is an art. I don't feel much like an artist or an artiste. What it does feel like is really hard work, albeit I love this work, which on occasion, has reaped a reward of a number of people giving me positive feedback. One wonders sometimes if art means you suddenly are inspired and write really profound lyrics and tunes, and the whole world rushes to your feet. Don't think that happens much, in real life. Have to admit though, I've felt some nudges of jealousy for the teenager who just had a video done after penning "How Do You Get That Lonely?". God bless'em for whatever experience allowed that song to get on paper!
I have to make my own way.
OK, talk at me.
Ha, about the only thing I seem to be doing well at this point is writing the lyrics. And even that is a product of minoring in English. From what I've read on the subject, it is just that. Lyric writing and tune writing are as subjective as whether or not you like "On The Road Again", at 8am on two consecutive days. And there are top songwriters out there who've never had a college English course, making millions. Knowing how to put word to paper is no guarantee of grand royalty payments.
I've written lyrics, for which entire segment of people told me that they loved it, laughed their heads off, and when was I going to release it for radio? And another segment of the population doesn't know even who I am, because I have to pen some of my lyrics under an alias, a common occurance in the music world anyway.
So, it got down to whether I liked what I was doing, and had a reasonably listenable progression between my words, verses, and choruses.
The tunes are something else again. As I read more on this subject, I find that I'm in great company with some of my frustration. I can write a tune one day, write an arrangement for it, and within a week, greatly dislike it, and start from scratch! But then I found out that is the norm! Most songwriters go through that on at least half their songs.
Touching someone with what I write is also as fickle as whether or not I will like Vanilla flavored coffee next Wednesday. I just don't know! However, if you don't try, you won't touch. And at some point, if you've got the right combination, you may get someone to listen (aside from the captive audiences like your family). And if you've got the right combination at the right time, you might have a chance to get it heard on radio.
So, in amoungst all the effort, retries, and editing, I find that most of my mentors have the same problems I do. Worse for them, it's a living, and the product has to keep bread on the table. I'm at a relatively safe place, because I have a steady paycheck from another occupation. What I want to discover, like every other hopeful writer, is that I've got the right stuff in me, to turn the hobby into a hit.
I'm told that songwriting is an art. I don't feel much like an artist or an artiste. What it does feel like is really hard work, albeit I love this work, which on occasion, has reaped a reward of a number of people giving me positive feedback. One wonders sometimes if art means you suddenly are inspired and write really profound lyrics and tunes, and the whole world rushes to your feet. Don't think that happens much, in real life. Have to admit though, I've felt some nudges of jealousy for the teenager who just had a video done after penning "How Do You Get That Lonely?". God bless'em for whatever experience allowed that song to get on paper!
I have to make my own way.
OK, talk at me.
posted by Wayne Cook at 6:15 AM
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