IJ’s Song Blog

I will be posting my monthly article regularly from the Muse’s Muse here after its publication in the newsletter. The Muse’s Muse is a huge songwriting community created by Jodi Krangle, and I have written for the newsletter since the early days. If you’ve never visited Jodi’s site, you’ve been missing out!

The article is meant to point out websites that might inspire you as a songwriter, whether from a creative or technical standpoint, or just to give you an idea of who else is out there.

Here is the article from the Feb.09 issue:

M u s e ‘ s C l u e s : by Irene Jackson
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This past Christmas season, my husband and I attended an event
which has become an annual tradition for many Canadians. Stuart
McLean is a broadcaster with the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation) and every Sunday we tune into his “Vinyl Café” on
CBC Radio. He often tours the country with the show, and during
the month of December he has a live Christmas show that he brings
to many cities across the country. His show is also broadcast on
NPR in the US and can be heard online through a podcast:

http://www.cbc.ca/vinylcafe/home.php

The Vinyl Café is a collection of “stories, essays and music
(both live and recorded)” and Stuart McLean is a wonderful
storyteller. Not only does he read his own writings on air, but
he encourages listeners to submit their own stories and he will
usually read one or two of them each week as part of the show. A
song usually follows the story, and often the song relates to the
story topic. The show is folksy in nature and always fun to
listen to and Stuart McLean is a distinctive voice who never
fails to entertain.

Whatever style you write in, however you think of your
songwriting, you are always telling a story. The story might
only be about a moment in time or painting an emotional
landscape, but the best songs have a great beginning, middle and
end, just like a great story. Storytelling itself has become
almost a lost art in our technically-obsessed world, but it is
something every songwriter should think about when penning
lyrics, and the Vinyl Café is a great re-introduction to the
world of telling stories.

You can get the latest podcast from the website by either
subscribing or downloading straight on to your computer. Listen
to just one of these shows and I guarantee you’ll be inspired!

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