The Art of Song
May 9, 2004 myMusicShare/Save
So I went to this party last night thrown by this keyboard player. Dope pad, nice keyboards everywhere, and a beautiful home studio where we had a nice little late-night jam session.
And the thing I kept hearing, when I first got to the party and started introducing myself to people, and later on, after the other singer-types and I had sung our drunken dry-throated asses off, was “Oh, where do you sing?” And its corollary, “What kind of stuff do you sing?”
My answers: “Um, I don’t really” and “Well, uh, I don’t really sing anything anymore.”
THIS IS A PROBLEM.
It’s time to get serious again about singing. I gave up on the open mic circuit cause I didn’t have any songs, due largely to my continual defeat in the ongoing struggle against lyric-writing. Singing covers doesn’t really appeal to me, so I must venture once more into the fray.
I’m considering taking a songwriting class at the New School this summer: either Songwriting or Lyric Writing. Now, you know I’m normally very skeptical of classes in non-academic subjects and their effectiveness, but anything that forces me to write lyrics on a regular basis has to be good for me, right?
Anyway, just fishing for opinions, cause, seriously, some changes have to be made around here. If I take one of these classes, which one should it be? Should I just take voice lessons instead? Decisions, decisions. And if you have any other ideas for how to get me back on the stage, don’t keep them to yourselves…
May 9th, 2004 at 12:52 pm
Songwriting > Lyric Writing
Lyric Writing sounds like it teaches you to design pop music.
May 9th, 2004 at 12:58 pm
Yeah, this is true, but I’m not sure I really need help with harmonic structure, chord progressions, and interesting melodies – I’ve think I’ve got a pretty particular style in that respect already. But I guess it couldn’t hurt, and they do work on lyric-writing in Songwriting, and probably in a way that’s less cheesy and commercial…
May 10th, 2004 at 12:16 pm
Let’s not forget “Oh, I enjoy singing on soce’s tracks.. check his website.. my orange star is on it’s way, as soon as he finishes mixing down the tracks–”
I think once you say the name “soce”, all heads will turn, and you will get instant respect.
YA MAN,
socetew
May 10th, 2004 at 9:02 pm
Take the class in Lyric Writing. You will learn as much from what you hate about it as you will from what you like about it. And the muse don’t start talking till you start reachin.
May 10th, 2004 at 10:01 pm
ASS. I will write you any lyrics you ever need. I’m brilliant at it, and above all, modest. Take the class, ass. But remember you have a one man master class tutorial up the street.
May 10th, 2004 at 11:40 pm
Your humility is an example to us all, my friend, Anyway, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, writing lyrics isn’t just about having something to sing. Sure, you write some good lyrics (jesus, Eli should have a look at your ego – he’d have a field day), but why would I want to sing about your feelings?
Why go so far to achieve self-expression through melody, why even try to sing my little heart out, if I’m gonna bring in a ringer when it comes to the message? I mean, look at me, I can’t even have other people living in my apartment – how am I supposed to let them into my most personal of spaces?
And don’t you call me ass on my own blog. I have powers here. I can make you say anything I want…
May 11th, 2004 at 6:02 pm
Calm down! Breathe easy! The move’s got your pantaloons firmly in a bunch. All I’m saying is, I don’t take much stock in classes–I’ve taken them, and our ultimate arbiters of success at the end of the day are our own tastes. You know what kind of lyrics you like, and what kind you don’t like. You also know what you want to say. The only way to get good at writing is to just keep writing. I’ve seen it in your music–you improvise piano about a thousand times better than before because you do it a lot now–and now you have to do it on the lyrical tip!
I think voice lessons are a FINE idea–you have an amazing voice, and a good teacher will bring even more out of you, and I can recommend some people on that score. That’s a technical thing. But you are surrounded by talented folks (I’m not just blowing my own spot up here–i’m talking about soce and C. Jackson and any number of the people on Teknotes) and the way you get good is by playing. I think the music I write has gotten better by playing with you. So go to the Sunnyside of the street and write!
May 12th, 2004 at 10:44 am
Stop whining and sing,
Write a song, then sing it,
Oh god……
May 12th, 2004 at 1:46 pm
Get together with your friends (or alone). Play a phat instrumental beat and start singing.. see what happens. You can start freestyling. just do it–eocs
May 23rd, 2004 at 2:39 pm
I signed up for the class, and the psychological effect of taking myself seriously has already gotten me writing. My AMAZING new apartment has, of course, also helped.
You’re all right, of course. This is a definitely a “just do it” kind of thing. “Freestyling” doesn’t work for me, because I just end up with more melodies and nonensical lyrics, and, shit, I have enough of those for a “Nonsense Boxed Set” at this point.
I think just getting out there and singing will help me a lot more than taking voice lessons. But I think this class will push me in ways i’ve never been pushed before. Just like Lin said – just as I’ve become so much more comfortable improvising on the piano and playing by ear in the past few months, just from doing it all the time, hopefully this’ll give me a little more confidence and fluidity with lyric writing and song-structure.
And it’ll certainly get me singing more. Not arias, or showtunes, but my own shit.
Thanks for the advice, y’all. I smell good things in the air.
June 2nd, 2004 at 7:00 pm
Man, just reading this rings home. If it’s any consolation, I’m going through some very similar stuff right now in trying to find my historical muse. “Just write, dammit!” seems the word of the day, but it’s often easier said than done–with the difference between us being that I have a hardass advisor to help discipline me, or rather, to force me to discipline myself. But in the end it’s a struggle within the self that I’m confident we’ll both win. Eventually, it seems to reach a threshhold where I say “It’s time,” and then out comes the creative product at last.
June 3rd, 2004 at 10:02 am
Dave, it is decidedly not easier said than done. It is extremely easy to “just write” as long as you can convince yourself not to care what comes out. That is, of course, the hard part.
Tuesday night after my class, feeling energized about writing, I parked myself in my papasan, set my kitchen timer for half an hour, and said “I am not getting out of this chair until the timer goes off.”
Two minutes later, I got up out of the chair. The ticking of the timer was so aggravating I had to muffle it.
I sat down again, turned on the fan to block out background noise, and just let ideas flow onto the page.
It works surprisingly well. It’s the only way I used to get anything done – I’d just kind of forgotten about it.
Allot yourself a reasonable amount of time – turn off your phone, find a room where things don’t distract you and you feel comfortable, and tell yourself that you are not going to plan, you’re going to brainstorm. Don’t cross anything out, don’t filter anything – if you get an idea you don’t like, write down another idea after it. After half an hour, you WILL have at least one thing that you really like.
I say this, of course, not only to advise you, but to remind myself, because it’s SO easy to forget.