Songwriting magic and craft

Songwriters should always try to really ‘hear’ a song; i.e. figure out ‘how it works’. Learning about the choices other songwriters make, makes you a better songwriter. Ask yourself, how was this song created,  how is it arranged and why is it arranged in this way.

Songwriting advice from Ivor Novello winning songwriter Boo Hewerdine

In this video Chiara Berardelli talks about how songwriting makes her happy.

Website: https://chiaraberardelli.com/about

Chiara Berardelli is an Italian Scottish singer-songwriter living in Glasgow, Scotland. She grew up playing classical piano but spent most of her time playing along to any songs that made it over the airwaves to the Highlands of Scotland.
Chiara left her job as a doctor to follow her passion and studied music and songwriting in London and Bath. A lover of words, chords and honesty she writes confessional pop songs about life and how it affects her.

In 2010 she recorded her debut album 'Don't Be So Lovely' with Mark Freegard (Eddi Reader, Del Amitri) at Kyoti studio, Glasgow and self-released a further EP, 'My Big Mouth' in 2014. Her new album, Seamonster, released on March 2nd 2018, is her most personal project to date, inspired by the loss of her dream of becoming a mother. The songs depict a journey, from the crashing realisation that something so longed for is permanently out of reach in the title track to the tentative beginnings of finding joy again in the song Somewhere New.

Deep Space Hibernation, the lead single from the album, was Radio Scotland's Janice Forsyth's single of the week on the Afternoon Show and has also won an International Songwriting Award.

Chiara has collaborated with writer and director Rachel McJury to produce an intimate performance of the album's ten songs woven into a recounting of her experience of being childless not by choice and her quest to be ok with that. Seamonster, the Story appeared at The Barbican in April 2019 as part of Fertility Fest and will be journeying to Edinburgh's Free Fringe Festival in August.

Tom Rafferty is the guitarist in The Primevals and in The Beat Poets. Inspired by Dick Dale, Link Wray, Ry Cooder, Marc Ribot, The Raybeats and Underwater by The Frogmen.

Tom is famed for his guitar-based instrumental music. He is also a great songwriter, often collaborating with lyricists including  The Primevals founder and front-man Michael Rooney.

Americana songwriter and performer Martha Healy's advice for songwriters.

Michael Rooney is the singer snd main songwriter og The Primevals; a Glasgow Psychedelic rock group formed in 1983. Influenced by the MC5, The Stooges, Captain Beefheart, The Cramps, and 1960s US garage rock.

Advice for songwriters: from electropop songwriter and performer Carla J Easton.

The following quiz is designed to test your knowledge of the Nashviell System. All questions assume the key of C.

There are a million ways to get started on a song here's one; don't try to write a song. Just play your instrument and let your natural creativity do the writing for you. All you do is play and listen.

In the last exercise I asked you to write a song from a set of lyrics. Here's the demo I recorded on my iPhone when the Bearpit Brothers played through it. That's as far as we got with that song - we didn't record it or work on it any further.

Mobile & tablet apps that will help you to find great chord progressions.

A short introduction to object writing; a technique outlined in Pat Pattison book, ‘How to write better lyrics’.

• In this exercise you wil practice your lyric writing by re-writing the words of an existing song.

In this video, I introduced a technique that can lead to an inexhaustible source of new song ideas. I first heard a version of this idea from my favourite songwriting tutor Ed Bell. Ed is the author of the book, ‘The Art Of Songwriting’.

1. Type your favourite artists' name into iTunes or Spotify or whatever service you use. Take note of their most popular tune.

2. Listen to the song.

3. Search for the lyrics online, or if they aren't available, transcribe them from the song. Read and digest the song lyrics.

4. Summarise the story (or topic) of the song in a single line.

5. Change one word of your summary in a way that alters its meaning.

You have anew song idea. Now write a song based on it. :-)

For example, I'm a fan of The Secret Sisters. If I type their name into iTunes it tells me that their most popular song is called, 'Tomorrow Will Be Kinder'.

I Googled for the lyrics. Here is the first verse:

Tomorrow Will Be Kinder by The Secret Sisters

Black clouds are behind me, I now can see ahead

Often I wonder why I try hoping for an end

Sorrow weighs my shoulders down

And trouble haunts my mind

But I know the present will not last

And tomorrow will be kinder

It is clear to me that the story of the song is summed up in the title itself; 'Tomorrow Will Be Kinder'. In summary - the narrator has endured, sorrow, trouble and a heavy heart - but believes tomorrow will be a kinder world to live in.

In this case, I don't need to write a summary - it's already in the title.

By changing one word there are a few ways I could alter the meaning:

Tomorrow will be cruel.

Today will be kinder.

I will be kinder

You will be kinder

Tomorrow won't be kinder

Tomorrow should be kinder
Love will be kinder

Choosing two of these ideas to expand upon - I can easily come up with some new ideas:

Tomorrow will be cruel

What story can you tell with this idea? Has this person lost a lover and now they must endure life without them? Is their heart full of hate for someone who has 'done them wrong'? Has the world become a crueller place to live in as every day passes?

Today will be Kinder

What story can you tell with this idea? Are you going to be kinder from now on? Has something momentous happened in your life and now you have 'seen the light'. Is the world becoming a kinder place? Have you reconnected with a friend or a lover?

Any one of these angles can be the start of your nest song.

It is now your song, don’t re-write the original

Do not try to rewrite the original song or go through the original lyrics and alter them to fit your new story. Take this new story or topic and use it as a jumping-off point for your own song.

With this one technique (thanks to Ed Bell) you will never be short of song ideas again.

If Elaine Lennon can't inspire you to work on your songwriting, no-one can.

I interviewed Elaine for the Songwriting Magic course. In this excerpt Elaine talks about writing the song, Fear (Breakup Song).  She reveals both the message of the song and her writing process: dispensing tips, techniques and insights - in a way few can express so clearly.

Elaine's songwriting process isn't hindered by her busy family life, on the contrary it is crucial to adding that extra magic - that all great songs need.

Elaine Lennon is a breath of fresh air for songwriters: I'm confident that you will learn something valuable from this video.

Elaine's self-titled debut album is out now. Find out more at https://www.elainelennon.com/

Please give your response and comment about this video on the Songwriting Magic Facebook group. Is Elaine's experience the same as your own? What tips would you add?

https://www.facebook.com/groups/songwritingmagic/

Download Elaine's profile.

In this video Carol Laula talks about writing Gypsy - a song she wrote 30 years ago - which she has re-recorded it for her latest album, 'The Bones Of It'. It's a beautiful song inspired by her Romani Gypsy family background.

About Carol Laula

Scotland is famed the world over for its exports and one of its finest has to be singer-songwriter, Carol Laula. With a style which bobs around somewhere between the smooth, clear delicacy of Karen Carpenter and the tougher edges of Joan Armatrading, it's hardly surprising that she's risen from a young unknown to become a household name. She first captivated the media and her audience in 1990, when her independent single, 'Standing Proud', was chosen to represent Glasgow in its year of culture.

The same decade saw Carol team up with Stuart Adamson to produce a series of songs that will no doubt be seen as a legacy to the talent of the late Big Country singer / songwriter. Carol has also collaborated with Jane Weidlin of the Go-Gos, Ryan Hedgecock of Lone Justice and Australia's Cheryl Beattie.

In 1997, Carol took a study break - supposedly - but in between achieving her MA Honours Degree in Politics & English Literature at the University of Glasgow, she couldn't resist branching out into other aspects of the media and made her debut presenting shows for both BBC Radio and Scottish Television.

The noughties shaped up to be another busy decade her. As well as touring new areas such as Iceland, she has performed across the UK and Ireland with Eliza Gilkyson and appeared at Glastonbury - something of a highlight, when she not only shared the bill with Billy Bragg, but met her hero, Tony Benn.

With eight albums under her belt, the most recent The Bones of It (Vertical Records) released in February 2016, she still stirs critics to describe her as "One of Scotland's leading singer-songwriters" and "an undeniably passionate and whole-hearted singer".

Contact information:

Management:
Clare K. Duffin
e: clare@carollaula.co.uk

Booking enquiries:
RLN Music
e: Booking enquiry

Ruthie Kennedy is lyricist and singer for the fantastic Chiptune Pop Duo King Wine. King Wine use only one 'instrument', a Gameboy 'played' by Craig Wilson.

An introduction to the songwriting techniques of hit songwriter and producter Max Martin. Max Martin is the most successfull songwriter apart from Lennon & McCartney. In this lesson I outlined hte seven rules of Melodic Math; what they are and why they work.

I look at the song 'I and I and you' to find out if it passes the Melodic Math test. In the process I describe a technique for consistently fitting words to a melody.

The song 'One More Time' was a world wide hit for Britney Spears. It was written and produced by Max Martin. In this lesson I look at how well it makes use of the seven rules of Melodic Math.

In this download you will learn about different types of hook and get some ideas for creating your own. 

Here are my four favourite podcasts on songwriting. This section of the course is all about song arrangement and these podcasts all dive deep into that topic. I guarantee you will be as hooked on them as I am. Happy listening!

Here is something I've learned lately - I thought I'd pass on - before it disappears from my head. It turns out that making 'home videos' of my songs to post them on Facebook is a teaching tool. Because when I watch them back I can see what works and what doesn't.

It's an obvious thing to say, but I'll say it anyway: playing a song live is completely different from recording it and there are a million different ways to play every song. Though, of course, what works for one will not work for another. 

So how do we learn what works?

If you are playing lots of gigs, you will learn from the feedback you get from your audience. The more you play, the more you will learn and the more you will integrate that learning into your performance. Without you thinking about it you will develop a facility for reading your audience. Instead of playing your songs you learn to 'perform' them.

The flaw is, of course, many songwriters don't have the opportunity, or the desire, to play live. And right now, due to the Covid-19 lockdown, we can't, even if we wanted to.

Most of us have 'smart' phones that allow us to make videos of ourselves singing and playing the same song in many different ways. I've just realised this myself.  We can be our own audience and critique our own performance.

So from now on, assuming time and motivation, I intend to take advantage of that facility to try to find the best way to present my own songs on my 'home videos'. I'll always be limited by my abilities, or lack of them, as a singer - but that's not an excuse for not presenting the song in the best way possible. By that I mean how it is arranged and performed.

This morning I played my song, The Yellow Clock in a few different ways. Here's one version. I would have replayed it without the tiny mistake in the solo and the out of tune note near the start - but I ran out of time. The good thing is, I can improve it next time. :-)

Onwards and upwards.

How I arranged the song, 'Do you remember Marseille?' https://youtu.be/Ufr6Wc946wI

In this week's video I talk about song arrangement. All of the basics are already covered on the Songwriting Magic course - which you can revisit at your leisure.

So, in this video I take a different approach; I discuss how I arranged the song, 'Do you remember Marseille?', i.e. the charity single I recorded and released yesterday.

I've tried to give you some insight into my thought processes during the recording and arranging process.

If you have questions or feedback please leave me comments below.

Song Start Tuesday 3. Try this 'free music' exercise. Disconnect from your conscious mind and let your subconscious direct your creativity.

Songwriting - certainly at the start of the process - is not a technical exercise; songs are not mathematics; not a puzzle that requires brain power to solve. Songs are not an Ikea cabinet you are trying to put together.

So get your brain out of the way; the song wants to be written - catch it rather than writing it. It's not a logical process - it's a creative process; and you already have all the tools you need.

"How does a person create a song? A lot of it is being open... to encounter and to... be in touch with the miraculous." Joni Mitchell

"..you are desperate.. to get down to the subconscious which (is where) I really think all the goodies come from." Quincy Jones - from the documentary Quincy

"My job is often only to finish a song idea that I’ve been lucky enough to receive.” Sananda Maitreya, aka Terence Trent D’Arby

"Every child is an artist. The challenge is to remain an artist after you grow up.” Pablo Picasso

Song Start Tuesday episode 4: There are a million songs in every chord.

Song Start Tuesday episode 5. Do you need to get started on words for your song? Just look around the room.

I was listening to the latest episode of Song Exploder - a podcast created by Hrishikesh Hirway - which takes apart songs - to see how they work. For the last year, the Podcast has been guest hosted by Thao Nguyen.

Rishikesh was taking over the podcast again so was chatting to Tal about he experience hosting the podcast - and as part of that conversation, something caught my ear.

He wanted to change the intro music a little bit - just as a way to indicate the change of host - so he was talking through his process - and one thing he said was, that he wanted to ensure that the new music reflected your Thao Nguyen's energy. Specifically, the energy as expressed by her voice in her Podcast intro.

That idea of taking someone's energy as a starting point for music - I found it interesting. A day or so after that I was watching a documentary on the BBC iPlayer about composing film scores - and one of the talking heads was Moby - the electronic music artist. He pointed out that whether we are listening to the sound of a truck rattling past on the street outside or the sweet sound of a Bach cello concerto - our ear is being hit by the same thing - the energy of moving air. That air hits our eardrum (entire body in fact, as even people who are deaf, can 'hear' and enjoy music). One is just noise the other is music.

He pointed out that music - like many things in life - has no physical presence - we can't touch it and we can't see it. It only happens in our brains. Our brains interpret the air hitting our eardrums.

All of this got me thinking. As songwriters we essentially organising and presenting energy which manifests as a waveform.

So why not try to use that idea itself as a starting point for a song?

We are all different but we should all be striving to be unique and to write our 'own' songs. So my suggestion for this week is to identify your energy level and try to write some music that reflects that. Some of us are laid back (like myself) and some of us are 'all go', full of beans.

So first identify your energy fingerprint, then write music or a song - that reflects that fingerprint. For one thing - this really should help you to write music that is a reflection of you and not a copy or a pastiche of something else's work.

Please note there will be no Song Start Tuesday next week, I'm taking a break over the festive period. Enjoy yourselves and I'll see you when I get back.

In this video I talk about creating songs from riffs. Once you have a decent riff you can create a song quite quickly.