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Songwriting is one part inspiration and one part perspiration. It doesn’t matter whether you have a lot of ideas and catchy phrases floating around in your head. Unless you get them down on paper, they won’t do you any good at all. I suggest you buy yourself a small pocket notebook and keep it with you at all times. That way you can easily jot down any creative thoughts you have during the day. This should provide you with plenty of material when trying to write a new song.

Developing your listening and observational skills is another important aspect of songwriting. The gold nuggets are out there, sometimes you just need to dig a little deeper in order to find them. They are lurking in the conversations you hear, the road signs you pass, the T.V. commercials you watch, the newspapers and magazine articles you read. John Lennon wrote the Beatle’s song, “Happiness Is A Warm Gun” after seeing a gun
magazine sitting on a coffee table with that headline written on it’s cover. Likewise, The first lines of Roger Miller’s song, “King of the Road”, were written after seeing the words: “Rooms To Let 50 Cents” and “Trailers For Sale Or Rent” on two separate road signs and then reversing them.

As you have probably noticed, people love to tell stories and talk about themselves. As a songwriter, you can use these tendencies to your advantage. Try putting yourself in someone else’s shoes when they’re talking to you. Listen for any repetitive statements they make. Take mental notes. What stands out? What do you remember most about the person? What impression are you left with? Write it down. Fictionalize, exaggerate or minimize the information to suit your lyric.

Real life stories offer great material too. Consider Bob Dylan’s song “Hurricane” for instance. It’s woven around the true life story of a black prize fighter by the name of Hurricane Carter. Carter was falsely accused and then sentenced to life imprisonment for a murder he did not commit. This event sparked a protest movement involving some celebrities who made several unsuccessful attempts to secure his release. Years later, when a major motion picture staring Denzel Washington was created about the story, Bob Dylan’s song “Hurricane” became a natural choice for the background theme.

Words tend to create their own rhythmical pattern according to how they are placed within a sentence or phrase. So, after you’ve collected some good ideas in your songwriting notebook, try to use the material to create a “hook” for your song. Be willing to experiment with different ways of saying something. Listen to the melodic structure as you speak. Take note of where your voice rises and falls. Try singing what you hear. Sing the lyric high, low, fast, and slow. Try it with a country twang, or a bluesy feel. All these things can help spark the intuitive side of your brain.

Even after you’ve tried all these methods however, many songwriters will tell you their best songs come when they aren’t even trying! Now why do you suppose that is? I believe it has something to do with being relaxed and open enough to receive what your subconcious mind has to offer. All your past feelings and experiences are stored in there somewhere. But these resources are often blocked from your conscious mind as a result of tension and stress. And it is commonly understoodthat when a person’s songwriting efforts become strictly mechanical, the results will be generally poor.To prevent this from happening to you, go for a walk, listen to music, or do something else you enjoy for a while. Taking a break can work wonders to refresh your creative spirit!

Becoming a good songwriter will require time, dedication and effort on your part. Learning to listen to others, follow your intuition, and being open to trial and error are some of the things you can do to cultivate your skills. But many gifted songwriters give up as soon as they encounter difficulties. They become discouraged when they hit a mental road block and feel their creative juices have stopped flowing. While other, less talented individuals, go on to have successful songwritng careers simply because they learn to persevere. Do you see problems as stumbling blocks or stepping stones? How you respond to obstacles will make all the difference in becoming the songwriter you dream to be.

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Kathy Unruh is a singer/songwriter and webmaster of ABC Learn Guitar. She has been writing songs and providing guitar lessons to students of all ages for over 20 years. For free guitar lessons, plus tips and resources on songwriting, recording and creating a music career, please visit: http://www.abclearnguitar.com

Tags: Bob Dylan, creating a song, creative writing, inspiration, John Lennon, songwriter, songwriting, writingBob Dylan, creating a song, creative writing, inspiration, John Lennon, songwriter, songwriting, writing

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Art and Science are the two opposite things. The world changes and these two categories change as well. But do they change in the same way? Let’s take a closer look at these two approaches and examine how different they are.

Music certainly changes a lot, but can these changes be seen as
‘advances’? From the baroque period right up to present day pop, music
has advanced rhythmically, melodically, and technologically, but only
the latter of these three in the same way science has. Advances in the
ways music has been created over the years have been mainly due to
advances in the public’s tastes, views and beliefs over the same
period. The most ‘advanced’ art at any one time could, therefore, be
seen as the means of expression deemed most popular or suitable at the
time. Electronic music, or music that uses technology to produce its
sounds, rhythm etc. is one area of music where advances (in the
scientific sense of the word) take place.

New inventions such as the
synthesiser can produce sounds never heard before, and improvements in
recording, editing and sound quality have led to new methods of music
production being created. I would argue, however, that the application
and creation of these aspects of music is scientific. True, to create
melodies and rhythms using these new inventions is artistic, but then
the melodies and rhythms created will not be more ‘advanced’ then any
before them, just the way they sound will be. The same is true of all
advancements (in the scientific sense of the word) in art. In a
scientific sense of the word ‘advanced’, the most advanced music would
be the music that incorporated the most up-to-date technology in its
creation. But the scientific use of the word ‘advanced’ is not
appropriate when describing advances in art. These advances are
advances in the culture, morals and beliefs of the public.

Scientific advance and musical advance are very
different, but the two are very closely linked. It can be seen from
looking at undeveloped civilisations that the advancement of art
relies on the advancement of science and technology. Developing
countries approach to art is usually very narrow, focusing mainly on
food and gods. Science represents the main opposition to religious
study and if developing countries were scientifically and
technologically advanced, it would be very unlikely that their music
would still focus on the same things.

Scientific and technological advances provide new materials, methods
etc. to artists, who may or may not incorporate them in their work.
Musical advances are due to advances in the public’s tastes, views and
beliefs over the same period, and should be seen more as ‘changes’,
not ‘advances’. Because of the inherent individualistic and
self-expressive nature of music, a change in any part of it cannot be
seen as an advance or an improvement, only as a new method of
expression, not better or worse than the one’s before or after it. A
scientific advance, however, most often involves a discernible
improvement from one idea to another, the old being replaced by the
new. No such replacement occurs in music, with the old being
incorporated into the new. The deliberate and calculated form of
advancement that occurs in science (research, experiments etc.) is
another difference between the two, with changes in music coming about
because of changes in society (culture, morals etc.) and not
deliberate decisions about what to create.

Both music and science advance, but they do so in different ways.
Nonetheless, both the arts and science are closely linked, as is their
advancement, and a lack of progress in one will ensure similar results
in the other.

The article was produced by the member of masterpapers.com.
Sharon White is a senior writer and writers consultant at term papers. Get some useful tips for thesis and buy term papers .

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