songwriting

Muses’ Clues Apr/09

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M u s e ‘ s C l u e s : by Irene Jackson

From The April 2009 issue of Muse News at Muse’s Muse

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Years ago I heard about a songwriting challenge called “50 Songs
in 90 Days”, which was basically a summer-long (for those of you
in the northern hemisphere!) challenge to complete 50 songs
within a limited amount of time, brilliant or not, just to do it.
A lot of songwriters enjoy the challenge of a deadline, and if
you’re one of those, then you might enjoy this challenge. It
started out as a Yahoo group but it grew and was eventually
sponsored by another group called FAWM, or February Album Writing
Month, which you can find here: http://fawm.org/.

February is over, of course, but check their website out anyway,
because even though you’ve missed the challenge this year, you
may find some inspiration in some of the forums and submissions
on the site. They have also spurred some online and live
regional events in a number of places, mostly in the US, where
songwriters gather to showcase and hobnob. As well, there are
some online events including podcasts and chats, mostly held in
February but certainly worth checking out as well.

One of the best parts, of course, is their Jukebox where you can
peruse some of the songs that have been uploaded to the site by
songwriters participating in the challenge. This year they had a
total of 7375 songs uploaded by 754 active members. You can also
look through the songs page and listen to the latest submissions.
Some of the songs are listenable but others are “locked” for
various reasons.

The website is kept alive by donations, and even though the
challenge is over for this year, songwriters are still able to
join up and for those who are participating, there is a little
meter beside each name to show their progress. There is also a
forum where songwriters discuss their progress among other
things.

To those of you who are constantly looking for inspiration,
Google “songwriting challenge” and you’ll find other songwriters
who have participated in the 50/90 challenge, or who have created
challenges for themselves and are blogging about it.

Inspiration is always out there if you look hard enough!

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The End of “Performing Songwriter”

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A magazine which I have subscribed to and enjoyed online is coming to an end.  Performing Songwriter has been around for 16 years, filled with well-written articles and interviews with well-known and little-knowing performing songwriters from everywhere.

It looks like difficult economic times are the main culprit of the end of this wonderful magazine.

If you have ever subscribed to it or enjoyed the online version, head over to the website while it is still there and email Lydia Hutchinson, the editor, and let her know.

“Why do all good things come to an end…” – Nelly Furtado

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Songs For The Flu

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I’ve always had a bit of trouble with topical songs when they’re on the serious side, mostly because I find them cheesy and trite.  But that’s just me.  A lot of songwriters whom I’ve met over the years are inspired by world events (think 9/11, for instance) and immediately pull out the guitar and the writing pad and do their thing.

Now the recent Swine Flu outbreak is certainly a serious event, but I was amused to hear about the number of (mostly funny) songs that have popped up on YouTube as a result of it.  The above is just one example and I’m guessing as this outbreak continues, there will be more arriving.

Here’s another one that’s very cleverly written called “My Baby Gave Me The Pig Flu”:

I like that he used “pig” in his title…it’s just as funny, but it also sets his song apart. He’s a good writer and knows how to tickle the keys too 🙂

And last, but not least, “I don’t know how, I’ll find the sow, that gave me that swine flu”:

Of course, there are all kinds of liberties taken with the subject. Swine flu does not come from pigs and a lot of people don’t really have the facts right, but the idea of something called “Swine Flu” is just too tempting to avoid. We didn’t get the same response (if any, actually) in terms of songs written for the Avian Flu…the word Avian just doesn’t conjure up anything funny!

I’ve written a few funny songs and I appreciate people who can take a subject and find all kinds of great lyrical twists or word plays.

So, as an exercise, how about writing your own Swine Flu song? Sure, it’s already been done, but can you do better than the ones in these videos? Can you come up with something they haven’t? If you do, why not join the forum and post it there?

Go ahead, be a ham 🙂
IJ

Songwriting Exercise

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There has been an interesting challenge on Facebook in the last while, one that I participated in myself and found kind of fun.  And as I did it, I thought that with a couple of moderations, it would make a good songwriting exercise to stir up your creative juices.

The challenge involved going to websites like Wikipedia and the Quotations Page and then Flickr to pick random names and quotes and photos to create an album cover.

So I’m going to put in a twist.  Here’s what you do:

1. Go to Wikipedia and hit random, here The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your song

2. Go to Random quotations page, click here. The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is a phrase that has to appear in your song

Now here’s my addition:

3. Go to the HotFrets Chord Progression Generator. Pick a key, a progression and a style and generate a chord progression to try out on your guitar or piano

And that’s it!  See what you come up with. 
IJ

Songwriting In A Lousy Economy

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It’s hard enough for songwriters when the economy is humming along nicely, but what do you do when it takes a downturn as it has in the last few months?

Most of us don’t have any delusions of grandeur when it comes to writing hit songs;  in fact, many of us are only writing for our own pleasure.  But those of you who are still seeking that holy grail hit song, or just a one song publishing deal, might have to re-think your strategy these days.

Publishers stopped hiring new writers a few years back when the songwriting biz started to sour (blame downloading and mp3 players for that one), and now it seems that it’s almost entirely fruitless to even pitch to publishers.  The independent route appears to be the only way to go, which means a lot more leg work and an even longer waiting period for anything to happen.

Here are some ideas:

  • If you are a songwriter who doesn’t perform, these days there are so many ways to approach lesser-known artists and bands online through their MySpace pages or homepages.  The first question always is, do they write their own material?  If they don’t, or if they do a mix of covers and originals, listen carefully to the songs they perform.  Is it what you write?  No point in approaching a band or artist in a completely different genre, and that seems perfectly logical, but I have heard of songwriters blindly offering songs with little or not thought to that!
  • If you would rather meet them in person, consider going out to local venues in your area and getting an idea of what bands and artists are playing.  Once you’ve educated yourself a little, then approach them and ask if they would consider listening to your stuff.  And be prepared with a CD in hand!
  • It seems that synchs (or synchronization contracts) are becoming more and more popular.  For instance, getting your song on a television commercial or series can mean a lot of money and ultimately a lot of fame…look at what 1,2,3,4 did for Fiest on the iPod TV spots!  A lot of TV series use artists and bands songs in their shows.  If you’re smart enough, you can find the person on a series who picks the music (usually called the Music Supervisor), and send them some of your music.  But…REMEMBER to do your research;  does your music match the kind of music they have already used?
  • Make use of MySpace and any other music-related pages out there to show off your work.  You never know who you might “meet”

Okay, there are just a few ideas for you to ponder.  It’s hard to stand out these days, and even harder with economic times being so difficult and cut-backs happening everywhere.  But remember, in difficult times the general public turns to entertainment to make themselves feel better.  So all is not lost…hang in there!

IJ