Monday, March 1, 2010
Thursday, October 22, 2009
The "Write" Environment- Songwriting Stations
2 AM in Toronto. All the lights in my room were out, with the exception of a few small candles burning on my windowsill. I needed something to light up the pages of my notebook, but too much light can ignite the wrong kind of emotion, and I was writing a song that required a much more lonely environment to set the mood. Outside the snow fell down. It had snowed a few times that winter, but never like this. I guess you could call it the first blizzard of the year...but it was very quiet, not that violent kind of snowfall that first comes to mind when you hear the word "blizzard"...everything was very silent, and very still. I was writing songs for my first album, and that night I wrote a song called "June and September". I'll remember everything about that night forever. It was first time I realized the importance of a good writing environment.
A lot of actors take a moment before shooting a scene to get into character. Well, songwriters do the same thing. Before I put pen to paper I have to know the kind of song I want to write. Its very hard to sit down and write a song with no direction... because your song will end up having no direction. Up tempo songs are usually written in the studio. I build a drum track, lay down some guitars, and work out a melody just by singing over the progression... writing ballads on the other hand usually just starts off with me and an acoustic guitar or a piano. Ballads are usually a lot more personal and a lot more emotional. They force you to dig deep into your soul and pull out every emotion you feel. Diving way down inside yourself can take a lot of time and a lot of patience. You have to be in the right kind of mood to recognize certain emotions and sometimes its not easy to get into the right kind of mood.
(Above: "Songwriting Station"- Boston)
Over the years I've found that the best way to get in the right mood is to set the right mood. In every home or apartment I've lived in there's always been a specific place I've designated as my "songwriting station". Apart from a big comfy chair by a window and a lot of candles, there are a few things that are crucial to any of my songwriting stations. For starters I always keep all my most recent notebooks by my chair so that any unused line I've written can find its way into a song. I also need to have my rhyming dictionary and thesaurus on hand... using these books as tools is not cheating... off the top of your head, try to think of as many rhymes for the word "fear" as you can. The first reaction we have is to run through the alphabet and think of words that end the same.... appear, beer, ear, dear, here, near....etc. Sure, you can think of a few that may work... but what about all the other ones you miss by doing that...? persevere, insincere, stratosphere, volunteer... there are a lot of good rhymes you miss if you solely rely on your memory and the alphabet. There's no shame in using anything that will better your writing. Shame only comes when something you feel can't be expressed in the right way because your ego is too big.
Not only does the right environment set the mood, but it also gives you more patience. When I sit down to write I have everything I need by my side. This means that I don't have to get up, which means I won't get distracted, which means I spend less time wandering aimlessly around my apartment, and more time sitting in that chair writing.
(Above: The view from my window)
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Personal Shopping- The iTunes Version
I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. With the upcoming release of "Change" its really got me thinking about the music industry, my peers, and most importantly, YOU, musics listeners. I'm just going to be honest and come out and say it now...I GET LOST ON iTunes. It fascinates me to know that there is so much great music just waiting to be heard, and I haven't heard it yet. What really caught me was the fact that as a songwriter, I hear and buy a vastly different collection of songs than most of my non-musician friends. This has nothing to do with the fact that we like different music... especially because I love ALL music. It has to do with the fact that as a musician and a songwriter, I devote a lot of time to finding great music, music that inspires me, music that can only be found after hours of clicking the "listeners also bought" button on iTunes.
After a full nights sleep (a good 3 hours or so) I woke up this morning with this thought.
Let me do the searching for you.... the following songs are all songs I downloaded this week and fell in love with. They all inspire me, and they're all beautifully written by very talented artists. I will continue to do a post like this one once a week so that I can hopefully introduce you to some amazing songs and/or artists.
Please give these songs a listen, I know that there's a few here that have the power to change your life, at least for 3 minutes and 15 seconds. (Unless you're like me and always keep your iTunes on repeat-highly suggested)
After a full nights sleep (a good 3 hours or so) I woke up this morning with this thought.
Let me do the searching for you.... the following songs are all songs I downloaded this week and fell in love with. They all inspire me, and they're all beautifully written by very talented artists. I will continue to do a post like this one once a week so that I can hopefully introduce you to some amazing songs and/or artists.
Please give these songs a listen, I know that there's a few here that have the power to change your life, at least for 3 minutes and 15 seconds. (Unless you're like me and always keep your iTunes on repeat-highly suggested)
- MG
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Brainstorming- The Conscious and Unconscious Mind
As a songwriter, it's pretty hard to avoid the question "How do you come up with ideas?"
Let me start off by saying that writing a new song is a lot like meeting someone new. If you run out the door on a mission to find "the one", and approach every good looking person you see, you're probably going to meet everyone but "the one". You're approaching people on their looks, and that wont get you far. You need to understand who the person is before you can judge whether or not they are "the one" or not. Be patient, don't aimlessly search... know the kind of person you are looking for, and "the one" will find you when you least expect it.
Picture your mind as an endless blackboard with a tiny spotlight shining in the middle of it. Within that spotlight contains all of the information you are "conscious" of at that moment. The remaining unlit part of the blackboard contains everything you know "unconsciously". When you sit down to write, all that is available to you (at least at first) are your "conscious" thoughts- the ones in the spotlight. These thoughts are usually made up of cliches and are pretty shallow, meaning they don't add any emotional depth to the song. The "unconscious" thoughts are the lines containing the creativity and the emotional depth needed to connect with the listener. They're also the lines that make other writers say, "why the F@$* didn't I think of that!". I know I've had that reaction before listening to songs like "Call My Name" by Prince. When I first heard the line "I just can't stop writing songs about you I love you so much" I nearly fell over. I've thought about that exact phrase a million times for the last 10 years but for some reason I never once thought about writing it down and putting it in a song... it was in my mind, just not in the spotlight. The "unconscious" thoughts only move into the spotlight when you aren't searching for them... when least expected. I carry around a notebook, I write on my hand or arm, I email myself, make memo's, etc. because you never know when an "unconscious" thought will decide to jump into the spotlight.
When it comes time to actually sit down and write, I go back to the notes I made and organize my thoughts into themes/emotions, pick one, and run with it. It's these little thoughts that are the basis of a great lyric. It's the writers job to sit down and take the time to craft those "thoughts" into lyrics.
Let me start off by saying that writing a new song is a lot like meeting someone new. If you run out the door on a mission to find "the one", and approach every good looking person you see, you're probably going to meet everyone but "the one". You're approaching people on their looks, and that wont get you far. You need to understand who the person is before you can judge whether or not they are "the one" or not. Be patient, don't aimlessly search... know the kind of person you are looking for, and "the one" will find you when you least expect it.
Picture your mind as an endless blackboard with a tiny spotlight shining in the middle of it. Within that spotlight contains all of the information you are "conscious" of at that moment. The remaining unlit part of the blackboard contains everything you know "unconsciously". When you sit down to write, all that is available to you (at least at first) are your "conscious" thoughts- the ones in the spotlight. These thoughts are usually made up of cliches and are pretty shallow, meaning they don't add any emotional depth to the song. The "unconscious" thoughts are the lines containing the creativity and the emotional depth needed to connect with the listener. They're also the lines that make other writers say, "why the F@$* didn't I think of that!". I know I've had that reaction before listening to songs like "Call My Name" by Prince. When I first heard the line "I just can't stop writing songs about you I love you so much" I nearly fell over. I've thought about that exact phrase a million times for the last 10 years but for some reason I never once thought about writing it down and putting it in a song... it was in my mind, just not in the spotlight. The "unconscious" thoughts only move into the spotlight when you aren't searching for them... when least expected. I carry around a notebook, I write on my hand or arm, I email myself, make memo's, etc. because you never know when an "unconscious" thought will decide to jump into the spotlight.
When it comes time to actually sit down and write, I go back to the notes I made and organize my thoughts into themes/emotions, pick one, and run with it. It's these little thoughts that are the basis of a great lyric. It's the writers job to sit down and take the time to craft those "thoughts" into lyrics.
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