Songwritingzen.Com To Be Launched - May 1, 2008

I want to let you all know that I have a new blog. It’s the same name but different URL. It’s up at the moment. You can find it at www.songwritingzen.com

After today I won’t be posting on this blog anymore. All posts will be on the www.songwritingzen.com blog only.

When I started my blogging journey I had a blog called Corey Stewart Songwriting Tips on the Quikonnex network. That experience taught me a lot about what not to do and for that I’m very grateful.

I decided that this year that I would start up my songwriting blog again but using a different blogging platform. Hence WordPress and the birth of “Songwriting Zen”.

Learning the in’s and out’s of WordPress has been a very challenging experience but I know the decision to change blogging platforms from Quikonnex to WordPress has been a good one.

It’s also good to start again from a fresh canvas from time to time.

Shifting the www.songwritingzen.wordpress.com blog to www.songwritingzen.com was always my intention.

The advantages of me having a WordPress.org blog as opposed to a WordPress.com blog are too many to mention here.

Whether I have gone about this the right way or not remains to be seen. I hope that this transition is not a confusing one for all of you.

Of course, if you have any questions you can always contact me through this site, at songwritingzen.com or email me at corey [at] songwritingzen [dot] com.

I’ll still be keeping this blog alive as I’ve spent a lot of time registering it with RSS/Blog directories and optimizing it for the search engines. This blog will now be a pointer to the new one.

However, the most important reason for keeping this blog alive is that this is the foundation of a wonderful online community full of songwriters, writers, musicians and other creative types of all disciplines.

I’m really amazed at how quickly this community has grown. I love the interaction I have with everyone and I also love the interaction that the community has with each other.

The ability to network with others is so important no matter what field of creativity you work in. I’m very glad that through this blog and www.songwritingzen.com I can be a small part of that.

Before I sign off here I want to personally thank the following people who have taken the time to make their thoughts and feelings known on this blog. These people are the community that I speak about.

Here they are.

Nolan
JP
BT Cassidy
Mychelle.Music
Damyanti
Sanoittaja
Don Mak
Juan Zelada
Dr Tom Bibey
Shamir Rele
Tom St Louis
Larry Garrett
Geejay Arriola
Bao Do
Static City
Kelley Hornyak
Lorenzo Policelli
Tom Slatter
Jill Terry
Jennifer Goddard
Q The Enchanter
Saskia Gregory

Thank you to all of you for being who you are and for shaping this blog through your comments and thoughtful discussion. I’d love to meet you all again very soon.

And now, I move onto the next chapter of my blogging journey. I’ll see you over at www.songwritingzen.com

Until next time, keep on writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
www.songwritingzen.com

Keywords: songwriting zen, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting idea, songwriting help, songwriting blog, corey stewart

Songwriting Help - Organizing Your ‘Aural Portfolio’

If photographers can have a visual portfolio of their work then why can’t songwriters have an aural portfolio of their work?

What’s the use in writing a song if you can’t find it when you need it? Well, I have some ideas on this.

For years I had a songwriting book where I would write all of my completed songs into. By hand I would write in black pen, all in capitals with the chords above written in red pen. This was so I could see it when I was performing on stage or at home.

Doing this was like a sacred ceremony for me, a ritual of some sorts.

Writing the completed songs into the book gave me the greatest satisfaction every time I did it. It was like I was burning the song into my consciousness as I was writing it in.

Nowadays however, I put everything onto my PC and soon, I will be buying a laptop for this very reason. It will be a machine dedicated to my songwriting.

(By the way, I still have my songwriting book. It’s now a songwriting ideas archive)

I write songs using the computer now because I can use more than one tool at the same time, all in one place. How very convenient!

For instance, while I am writing down my lyrical ideas I can go online and use a Rhyming Dictionary and Thesaurus in different windows or tabs at the same time.

There are also sophisticated songwriting tools like Lyricist and MasterWriter that you can use as well. The possibilities are endless.

However you do it, it’s so very important that you make sure that everything, from your songwriting ideas archive to you aural portfolio of completed songs are organized in such a way that you know exactly where everything is at all times.

On my system I have a folder called “CS Songwriting Ideas” which has a ‘WIP’ (works in progress) folder and a ‘Completed Songs’ folder.

I record all my ideas with an open source program called Audacity and in these folders are the lyrics and MP3’s of my songs in whatever stage they are at ready to either be worked on a bit more or used in whatever way I see fit.

If anything, having an organized aural portfolio shows that you take great pride in your songwriting, the creative process and the end results of your songwriting skill.

Besides, you never know when you might need to use it.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: songwriting tip, songwriting, song writing, singer songwriter, songwriting news, songwriting idea, songwriting help, songwriting blog, corey stewart

My Personal Songwriting Process - A Recap

I held a workshop for SCALA (Songwriters, Composers and Lyricists Association) some time ago about “dissecting the songwriting process”.

From doing the workshop I was able to summarize my own songwriting process into bite size pieces. A very handy exercise for someone like myself who, at times tends to make things more complicated than they should be.

The workshop was also personally beneficial because it gave me an opportunity to hear how other songwriters put their songs together from the initial songwriting idea to the organization of their finished product.

From reading my blog posts you would certainly gather that I am a huge believer of the ‘writing for writing sake’ principle. I’m obsessive about having to get what is in my head out onto paper.

By using a songwriting process gathering ideas becomes an automatic thing, leaving me more time to be creative, not creatively administrative.

Here is the summary of my songwriting process:

1. Have the right tools available
Nothing beats a beat-up tape recorder and an A4 writing pad and pen. The simplest songwriting tools around.

2. Make time to write
Even if it’s 15 minutes a day between finishing breakfast and going to work. Make time!!

3. Have an open mind
Be open to anything. You don’t know where the next songwriting idea will come from.

4. Let yourself go
Don’t become preoccupied with past or future. For the amount of time you have set for yourself to write you are totally “in the now”.

5. Develop a single-minded focus
If you decide that an idea is worth developing into a song and you’re happy with it so far, then focus your attention on creating a song from the idea.

6. Remember, perfection does not exist
It doesn’t have to be perfect. If you need to re-write the draft do it because it needs it not because you have to.

7. Ask lots of questions
Writing lyrics is all about exploring a story or a concept. Asking lots of questions like “does this new idea need to be in this song?” will keep you on track.

8. Walk away if need be
If it’s not flowing, just walk away and come back to the song. There is no rule that says a song needs to be finished in one sitting.

9. Have fun
Go off into tangent, run with a songwriting idea to see where it leads you. If it leads nowhere then reflect on the journey.

10. Practise, practise, practise
Any process needs to be repeated to be made automatic. Practise often.

Your songwriting process can be whatever you want it to be however, if you’re serious about having the ability to write songs, you need to start looking at how you organize yourself.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, songwriting idea, songwriting help, songwriting blog, songwriting tip, songwriting process, corey stewart

12 Ways To Enhance Your Songwriting Process

I realised a long time ago that there’s no such thing as a perfect songwriting process. It can always be improved upon. Listed below are twelve ways in which you can enhance and improve your songwriting process.

Even if you implement just one of these suggestions you will be well on your way to writing more songs and generally being more creative with your life.

Here they are in no particular order of importance:

1. Keep a journal
Yes I know I have written about this a number of times but I cannot stress the importance of documenting what happens in your life and how you think and feel about it.

2. Make time for you
If I ask a songwriter why they havent written as much as they would like, the reason of not having enough time almost always comes up.

True, to get a song down from mind to paper requires a certain amount of “free” time however, if you make that time every day to write something or play something you are going to feel much better about yourself.

3. Use all of your senses in your writing
We have five senses (see, hear, taste, touch, smell) which we use to experience anything that happens in our lives. Why dont we use them in our writing as well.

Pay close attention to your senses, be mindful of them in your writing.

4. Become perpetually curious with the world
I have written before that songwriting is life. Songwriting is our way of making sense of the world around us. If we become perpetually curious with our world around us we will have more to write about. Some ways in which you can do this:

- Always ask ‘why’ either out loud or in your own mind
- Go out of your way to experience life to the fullest
- Take some risks
- Do something different every day
- Become open to learn new things

Life is about experiences, so go and find new ones and write them down in song.

5. Tame your inner voice
Most of the time your inner voice attemts to prevent you from doing what you know you should do as a songwriter. This is your ego talking and even though it has good intentions (to ‘protect’ you) what it says to you does not further your cause.

Next time you hear your inner voice mumbling inside your head as your about to do something, try to ignore it and do it anyway.

6. Don’t be afraid of your own writing
Remember, it’s okay to write a ‘bad’ song (whatever that means) and the more ‘bad’ songs you write the closer you are to writing a ‘good’ song. Dont be afraid of the outcome, just immerse yourself into the songwriting process and marvel at whatever come from it.

7. Listen to lots of music/read lots of books
This is another exercise in making time for yourself. Listening to music attunes your mind to different musical structures and melody combinations and reading books exposes your mind to different word phrases and lyrical snippets that you can use in your own songs.

8. Learn other peoples songs
I am not asking you to become a cover musician however if you learn songs that you have a real affinity with you will begin to really understand why you love that song so much and with that knowledge you can then apply that to your own writing.

If you dont play an instrument at least know the lyrics and melody of your favourite songs.

9. Find and know thyself
Commit to the concept of finding out who you really are. When you know this you’ll be able to write a love song for instance, and not have it sound like one big cliche because the lyrics will come from you and not an interpretation of what every other songwriter has said.

10. Don’t throw anything away
Whether it be on paper or on your computer, don’t throw anything away, dont delete anything from your hard-drive that pertains to your songwriting process. What you may think is rubbish now could be treasure later on. Our moods change day by day and so does our outlook on what we write.

11. Join a songwriting organization
The best way to learn more and to gain confidence in a skill is to experience the input of others. At the very least you will not feel so alone in your songwriting endeavours. Seek out and join one (or more).

12. Find a songwriting collaborator
Two heads are better than one at times. A good collaborator makes you write better, will inspire you to come up with more ideas, will allow you to ask questions, bounce ideas and share ideas much more freely.

Every songwriter should have at least one collaborator in their contacts list.

Phew! There you go. If you have any experiences after applying any of these suggestions (positive or negative) let me know, I’d love to hear from you.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting idea, songwriting resource, songwriting blog, songwriting help, corey stewart

What’s The Definition Of A Bad Song Anyway?

I ask this question because it seems to me that we, as songwriters seem to be real experts at naming which one of our creations are ‘bad’. So much so that, for some songwriters it stops them from creating altogether.

Here are some thoughts I have on the subject.

Call me strange, call me weird, but I personally don’t look at any of my songs as being either good or bad. They just are.

At the end of the day my songs are put into one of two categories:

1. Songs I perform
2. Songs I don’t perform

Of course the songs that I perform are pieces that I am very comfortable with sharing with the listening public and/or other musicians

The songs I don’t perform can then go into one of two more categories:

1. Works in progress (to be completed for performance)
2. Archived songwriting ideas (for later)

I never throw anything away. Everything that comes from my head is created into something or recycled to be created into something else in the future.

Lets face it, the more songs you write, the more ‘good’ songs you’ll write. For every good song written there are at the very least ten ‘bad’ ones lurking in the wings.

So, no matter how much you think your songwriting ideas are ‘bad’, write them down anyway. Besides, where does it say in the rules that you have to pitch or perform every song that you write anyway?

If you want to write ‘good’ songs then writing ‘bad’ songs are inevitable and besides, what makes a song bad? A ‘bad’ song from one songwriter could be another performers treasure. What do you think?

There’ll be songs you write that are meant to be performed and some songs will be stepping stones towards other songs.

Can you see where I’m going with this?

When you think about it, the concept of a song being ‘bad’ is created from a subjective opinion and really, is proclaiming one of your songs as being ‘bad’ your call anyway?

Here is a exercise to try on yourself. Try deliberately writing a ‘bad’ song and see how you go. It’s like asking a seasoned musician to play like a beginner.

It’s harder to do than you think. Just a thought.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: songwriting tip, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting news, songwriting idea, songwriting help, songwriting blog, songwriting process, corey stewart

Cherish Every Moment, Nothing Lasts Forever

I try as much as possible to turn a negative situation into a positive one.

Recently, my car wouldn’t start. The battery had finally given up and to get this car problem fixed I had to do a lot of waiting around.

It was from this waiting that I got the idea for this post.

You see, in the past, when I found myself in this type of situation I would get really stressed, angry and unbearable to be around. This was because I’d be thinking about all the ‘time’ I was wasting and all of the ‘things’ that I had to put on hold.

It never occurred to me that eventually the situation I was in would pass and I would again be my productive self with a car that was fully functional.

However, I handled this car experience very differently.

I was calm, cool and collected. I was only focused on solving the problem at hand in a methodical and purposeful way. I didn’t allow my emotions to get involved at all.

I kept reminding myself that ‘this situation will eventually pass. ‘I need to be patient and embrace this moment for it will be my greatest teacher.’

Now here’s where the songwriting part of this post gets tied in.

If, at this very moment you’re feeling stuck in a creative rut with nothing coming out. Realise this…

It won’t last forever so learn something from it.

If, on the other hand you’re feeling overwhelmed with the songwriting ideas that are pouring out of you. Realise this…

It won’t last forever so cherish every moment of it.

We, as songwriters will experience peaks and troughs all throughout our creative lives. Life in general is a cyclic experience, always has been and always will be.

Wherever you are at right now, whether good or bad, remember.

It won’t last forever.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: songwriting tip, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting resource, songwriting blog, corey stewart

Finding A Songwriting Collaborator

In recent times, I’ve been making a real effort to collaborate with other songwriters. I’m really enjoying letting go of my own ideas and sharing them with other talented people.

When I first started to write songs I was co-writing a lot. This was mainly out of necessity because I wasn’t playing guitar back then. Nevertheless, I had no trouble finding someone to give me a hand.

After I started learning to play guitar I realised that I could write songs on my own. So I did.

For a long time.

Writing songs by yourself is good for a while, but I missed the collaborative aspect of co-writing. Finding a songwriting collaborator for me is a way of changing my routine, to inject fresh new ideas into my songwriting process.

How you find a songwriting collaborator all boils down to how well you network and communicate with other songwriters, musicians and related organizations.

Here are some suggestions to get you started.

1. Ask your friends to collaborate with you.
Let your friends know that you are writing songs and that you’d like to work with them.

That’s what I did when I started. I had a friend who taught me my first chords on a guitar (I think it was an A chord) and we started jamming. All of a sudden we were writing songs.

The more chords we learnt and the more knowledge we gained we put it all into our songwriting. We would spend hours on it.

I still remember those days very fondly (I have them on tape too) we had a lot of fun.

2. Join a songwriting organization.
Besides asking your friends, the best way to find a co-writer is to associate yourself with other songwriters that are of a similar standard and are of similar experience to you. Where do you find these people?

At your local songwriting organization.

I can’t stress enough the importance of a songwritng organization to your growth as a songwriter. You’ll meet new people and new networks, you get an opportunity to perform your songs (if you are a singer/songwriter) and get them critiqued as well.

However, the most important function of a songwriting organisation is to bring songwriters together.

The organisation that I belong to is called SCALA. It’s based in Adelaide, South Australia but it sevices a membership that spreads all over the world.

If there’s a local organisation near you then join it and start networking. Simple as that really.

3. Use songwriting forums/newsgroups and message boards.
You’ve heard me say it before (and I’ll say it a million times more I’m sure) that the internet is the best networking and researching tool ever.

If you’re having no luck with your friends or you local songwriting organisation then hop on the web and go to a few songwriting forums and ask if anyone wants to collaborate with you.

More often than not these forums have a special section where songwriters looking for collaborators can post a request in hope of finding a co-writer.

Here are some forums/message boards I like and frequent occasionally:

SCALA Message Board
Singer/Songwriter Directory Forum
Songwriters Tip Jar Forums
The Muses Muse Message Board

Get on them, introduce yourself and ask away.

It’s always good to have a co-writer that is close to home. You can meet up personally and jam away ideas around each others kitchen tables (or recording studios).

If someone who is on the other side of the world wants to work with you though, it might be a bit challenging but not impossible.

4. Go to open mic nights
What better place to go to see and hear songwriters and musicians of all standards and experiences than your local open mic night. There are plenty of opportunities to introduce yourself to others and even a chance to perform your work to a performer-friendly audience.

I’ve experienced first hand the networking magic that open mics can create. I run one myself every Wednesday night for this very reason.

The benefits of an open mic night are many and numerous. So much so I’ve written a blog post about it called “The Benefits Of Open Mics For Songwriters”

Give these four suggestions a try and see what you come up with. You have nothing to lose and great songs to gain.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting organization, songwriting forum, songwriting blog, corey stewart

The Blank Piece Of Paper Is Your Friend

“Is the glass of water half full or half empty?”

The reason why I ask this question is that the answer you give may determine how you see your whole songwriting process.

The blank piece of paper in front of you can be either one of two things.

1. Something to be afraid of.
A scary journey into the unknown, the graveyard of yet another ‘bad’ song

2. A door to a world of infinite songwriting ideas.
A place where the muse is waiting for you to come on in and play for a while.

Let me ask you this.

Are you free to create whatever you want whenever you want without prejudice? Or, are you a writer that feels shackled by the belief that you must obtain a quantifiable result everytime you apply yourself?

Which headspace would you rather be in?

I know I’m asking a lot of questions here but as songwriters, we face these questions everytime we sit down and attempt to write something.

The main difference is that our answers to these questions are automatic and unconscious, then we wonder why we’re not creating anything.

Try this the next time you sit down to write a song. Look at the blank piece of paper in front of you as your friend, your playmate.

Just having the thought of sitting down and writing a song means the muse has knocked on your door and asked if you could come out to play.

So play!

If you look at the world as being a glass half empty then the blank paper is proof that you ‘haven’t achieved anything’.

If you look at the world as being a glass half full then the blank paper is the doorway of infinite songwriting possibility.

How is your blank piece of paper looking?

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting idea, songwriting help, songwriting blog, songwriting resource, corey stewart

Expanding On Your Possible Song Titles

As mentioned in an earlier article “brainstorming possible song titles” I brainstorm words and phrases for 30 minutes at a time, making sure that for every list I do I put the date on top so I know which list to look at first.

After doing this exercise 2-3 times a week for a few weeks you should have accumulated a very large list of possible song titles to glean some sort of inspiration from.

Now is the time to start writing some songs. Here’s what you should do with your possible song titles list:

1. Take the earliest lists and look them over again.
Pretend you’re looking at the song titles on the inside sleeve of a CD cover. Say the phrases out loud taking special note of the melody and the rhythm of the words.

Is there anything on your list that shouts at you “I belong in your song”?

2. Once you spot a title, grab the phrase and write it on the top of a fresh page.
You’re now going to start expanding on a random idea of your choosing.

3. Start brainstorming ideas from the word or phrase.
Lets take the example of “Scrambled Eggs”. What does the title remind you of or, what images does the title conjure up for you?

breakfast
morning
waking up
dreaming
family eating together
sun through the kitchen window
the weekend
being glad to be alive

You are starting to make a list of word pictures and associations from the phrase. This will be the beginnings of the skeleton structure of the song lyric itself.

4. Find the story/central theme
Is there a melodic or lyrical hook that you can use to underpin a chorus? Will the possible song title be enough of a hook for the song? Can you see a story or central idea of the song developing from your brainstorming?

From the list above I can see a first verse already.

I wake up in the morning
From a dream that left me warm
Sunlight shines through my window
As I walk into the kitchen
My family eating breakfast
Tells me it’s good to be alive

(Ok, I didnt say it was going to be good)

Can you see how some of the words (or the inference of those words) in the list above made it into a verse?

5. Marry up the brainstorming ideas and the central theme and start creating the song
Continue with the expansion of your brainstorming. Don’t be too concerned with song format as all you’re doing at the moment is fleshing out the songs lyrical skeleton. Aim for completing three verses and a chorus using this method.

Remember, this is still a first draft with no music or melody attached to it.

6. Fine tuning the draft
If, in your lyrical brainstorming you’ve come across a rhythmic motif or melody for your song, you can use as the basis of the song arrangement. If not, then you need to start from scratch.

How music is put to lyrics depends on the individual songwriter. There is much to-ing and fro-ing between the musical arrangement and the lyrical content with each element of the song making room for the other.

If you need to do more than one draft of your song to complete it, then so be it. At the end of the day there is no right or wrong way to complete a song.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: songwriting,songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting blog, songwriting resource, corey stewart

Songwriting Process - How I Do It

“Writing a song is like fishing. You have to bait the hook to get a bite.” - CS

I thought it was about time I put onto paper how I get my songwriting ideas. What works for me may not work for you but give it a go anyway. If it does work for you then let me know.

Ok, let’s go fishing.

1. Make sure that you have a tape recorder/dictaphone and notepad handy.

You’re about to bait your hook and throw the line in so you better have an audio and written recording device ready when the songwriting idea bites your hook

2. Pick up your instrument of choice, and start noodling.

What I mean by noodling is, don’t play anything in particular just improvise. Let your creative juices start flowing. Dont worry if what you are playing sounds like something else and dont worry if you are playing your favourite chords.

Just enjoy the moments between you and your instrument. You have just thrown your line into the sea of infinite songwriting ideas.

If you feel like singing some improvised, non-sensical lyrics to accompany your noodlings that’s fine too. Engage yourself in the rhythm of the words not the meaning of the words. If some meaning comes out of it, that’s a bonus

3. Pay attention to what you play. Be prepared to go off on tangents.

The more you noodle you’ll notice that what seems familiar at first will become less so. If you stumble across something which makes you say to yourself “ooh, that sounds nice”, run with it, explore it.

This leads to the next step.

4. Stop noodling and start exploring.

You’ve got a bite. A songwriting idea has taken your bait. Now is the time to reel it in and make some sense of it. Play it over and over again. What you’re doing here is formulating a skeleton structure of the songwriting idea.

5. Put it onto tape and write down the chords on paper

Start playing the songwriting idea onto tape. If in your noodling you were singing some nonsensical gobbledigook at the same time and some lyrical hook comes into mind then write that down. If anything, it will enable you to tell one songwriting idea apart from another.

6. Leave it alone and start noodling again. Go back to step 1.

What you’ve put onto tape is not meant to be a completed masterpiece. It is the concrete beginnings of a songwriting idea. Put it down and go onto the next one because the time to refine the idea is not now, it’s later.

When you are fishing you dont catch a fish and then stop everything to prepare it to be eaten. You store the fish and continue. It’s the same with songwriting ideas.

How long you want to keep fishing is totally up to you.

As I mentioned before this is the way I gather my songwriting ideas. It may not work for everyone but it works for me. I would be interested what people think of it so if you have any questions and/or feedback then feel free to let me know.

And another thing, dont be concerned with getting a result. If you start noodling and all you do is noodle then that’s fine. You can always try again next time.

Practice makes perfect but the most important thing is perfecting your songwriting process not the end result.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting tip, songwriting blog, songwriting resource, corey stewart