Song Writing Inspiration

I've got some students in my involved in a songwriting workshop, at the end of about 2 months they'll have written and sung a song of their own. Mind you, these are 5th graders, so they're about 11-12 years old. The reason I mention this is that, when I see people on Yahoo ask for songwriting help, they get answers like "nobody can help you write a song, it has to come from your heart" or "if you just sit down to write a song you can't do it, you have to be inspired." That really is a load of crap. Totally. I'd venture to say that well over half of the music out there today is written by professional songwriters writing for an artist. Not to mention the fact that until Beethovens time, almost ALL music was written by contract. Meaning, the artist worked for a patron/client who told the artist what to write and supported/paid them for their services, just like an architect or maid, or butler.

So imagine this: the king is having some fireworks so he says, "hey Handel, write me some fireworks music, make it upbeat or something, 'fireworky', you know" Handel says, "you know king you have to feel it in your heart, you can't just sit down and write music." The king says, "you write me my music or you're going to feel my boot in your ass".

See, the thing is, we have empathy, we can put ourselves in other peoples skin, so to speak. Mary Shelly wrote Frankenstein on a bet. She didn't know what it was like to be a monster or a "mad scientist". Yet she wrote the book, a book that kicked off a whole genre of literature and film. You don't need to be something to write a song about something. You can pretend you're something you're not. When people tell you, "feel it in your heart" remember the (probably apochryphal) words of Aaron Copeland. When asked when he wrote music he said "when I'm inspired", he was then asked when was he inspired, the reply? "From 8:00 to 4:00 Monday through Friday". Which brings me to the words of Grouch Marx "Sincerity is everything, when you can fake that you've got it made" Song Writing words to live by people.

Miley Cyrus Doesn't Song Write, Billy Ray Doesn't Song Write Either.

Professional Song Writers They're Not.

Here's a secret kids, Hanna Montana is not real. And she doesn't song write.

Please don't fool yourself teenyboppers of the world, Hanna Montana (who is a fictional character on a fictional scripted show) is the calculated creation of middle aged executives, designed to separate teenagers from their money. I mean really, a money making juggernaut like the Walt Disney company would not entrust the money they sunk into developing that show to the songwriting talents of a 15 year old girl (or a one hit wonder like Billy Ray Cyrus).

Her first album lists about 8 producers - that's who writes her songs not her or Billy Ray. Best of Both Worlds (and about 6 other songs) was written by this man, Matthew Gerrard. He also wrote 3 songs for High School Musical. Look at his bio, and you'll notice he's written for Cheetah Girls, Hilary Duff, Nick Carter, Plain White T's, and Eden's Crush, look at the link for the complete list it's a veritable teenyboppers who's who.

Miley/Hanna might have contributed a few words to a song to get songwriting credit, but this guy and a half dozen others are the brains behind the voice. Most pop stars today are the creations of some middle aged, male, (mostly white) executives.

Here's a direct quote by Matthew Gerrard profiled in the link above. "we came up with a style that would work stylistically for her and the show and have a unique sound. I ended up writing six songs for the soundtrack, including ‘Best Of Both Worlds,’ which is the show’s theme song." "WE CAME UP WITH" it's a show people, calculated to sell. And apparently, for this song writer, it does.

How to Song Write. | Turn a Poem Into A Song Part 2

How to Song Write: Developing Song Verses.

Ok, in the first part of How to Write Songs, I talked about my thought process in creating a chorus from a poem I was given. This time I'll talk about the verses. Here's the material that became the verses, for reference.

Will you be my angel?
When you cross to the other side.
When those pearly gates swing open wide
When Jesus' Glory shines upon your face
Will you be my angel, brother?
When a shout welcomes you home,
When Jesus heals your every hurt
When you look down from the majestic throne.
Will you be my angel, next of kin
When kisses cover your cheeks from your mother
When pride glows in your father's eyes
When you are crushed in hugs and bathed in tears

Ok, I didn't do much to the first stanza, I just reversed lines 3 and for and removed some syllables so it would fit the musical phrase of the song. One thing I'd say about a lot of poems or "songs" that people write, especially if they don't sing, is that the lines will often have wildly varying syllable counts. At the very least they should be easy to speak, but the simpler the poetic rhythm, the easier it will be to sing. Again, for verse two, I removed some syllables here and there to make it more singable.

How to Song Write: Verse 3, Overcoming Cliche.

For verse three, I couldn't come up with a way to elegantly fit all the imagery in without making it stilted. The tears/fears rhyme is cliché, but you don't often hear of tears getting rid of fears, usually it's fears causing tears, so I flipped the idea around to soften the cliché. I kept the mother imagery, but I probably should have put the father imagery into another verse, and I'm still not happy with what I have.

Now obviously the decedents mother and father had preceded him in death and were there waiting, but you don't quite get that with what I have. There's probably a more elegant solution, but I didn't want to stray from the original words too much. I did keep the "Will you be my angel" as each first line of the song as it's what the poet had, and it drives home the theme. The "When" starting every other line was a little much though, so I removed a few of those.

How to Song Write Using Universal Song Themes.

Now this obviously is a religious poem, filled with religious imagery, which has become familiar to the point of cliché. However, that familiarity seems to resonate with the people who listen to this kind of music. But it's part of the reason I don't like much contemporary Christian music, because it ends up being so much "God your are so big" type of thing. There are so many personalized faith songs, that by sheer number they become generalized and have a sameness to them. Of course the same could be said for love songs, protest songs, etc. Still, that's the fine line a good song has to walk, being personal, but general enough that everyone can relate.

This song however, talks about a loved one looking down as a guardian, which to me is a pretty basic human theme, still this song will obviously have a niche market. As an aside, while listening to some Christmas music, my wife commented that Amy Grant's voice was plain. Which it is, it's a good voice but nothing unique or exceptional. I think she became so popular because she was the first to fill that niche of religious music that was pop flavored. It's now the pop sub-genre known as "inspirational", but never discount the niche.

How to Song Write: Staying True to the Poet.

I will say I was given free reign by the poet to change anything I wanted, which helps, many times people are in love with their words and don't want to change a single thing. Unfortunately that can lead to a stilted, difficult to sing melody. The melody and lyrics have to give way to each other, that's why I think it makes it so much easier if the poet sings. That being said, I like to keep as much original material as possible, and if I can't, I can at least stay faithful to the spirit of the original. Those are some things I try to keep in mind when I am writing songs for other people.

After playing it for various people, I found they were a little confused about who the angel was. They didn't get that it was somebody who had died, and after thinking about it I agree. I know the backstory, but I the song doesn't really tell you that. However, I didn't write it.

I hope this series on How to Song Write has helped you, here is the finished product, Will You Be My Angel.  

How to Song Write. | Turn a Poem Into A Song

Do you like to write poems? Would you like turn them into songs? If you don't know how to write songs, but you do write poems (they're not the same), here's the process I used when someone gave me a poem of theirs. It had some good points, but needed some work before it was usable. Here's how I did it.

First off it's of a very religious nature which I know is not everybody's cup of tea. Still, the process is the same no matter what style you listen to. My wife listens to a lot of contemporary christian music, but it's not the type of subject matter I typically listen to/write about, so I thought it would be a good exercise for me. So, I'll first post the poem and then take you through my thought processes, and how I turned it into a song.

Will you be my angel? When you cross to the other side.

When those pearly gates swing open wide, When Jesus' Glory shines upon your face

Will you be my angel, brother? When a shout welcomes you home

When Jesus heals your every hurtWhen you look down from the majestic throne.

Will you be my angel, next of kinWhen kisses cover your cheeks from your mother

When pride glows in your father's eyesWhen you are crushed in hugs and bathed in tears.

Will you be my angel, friend. Can you pray that my feet never stray from that rugged road?

Can you send the Father's care when slandering words I hear?

Can you wish the support of Jesus' arms to carry me in my weakest moment?

Will you be my angel, brother next of kin, friend and warrior?

Will you... for one brief moment let me in your heart?

Finding the Theme of the Poem.

Ok, the first thing I did is look for the overriding theme: the writer was asking for people that have died and gone to heaven to be guardian angels.

Can you pray that my feet never stray from that rugged road etc

.This person was a brother, friend, and next of kin to the writer. In each verse the writer is describing what will happen when the deceased gets to heaven

Cross to the other side, When a shout welcome you home, When pride glows in your fathers eyes, etc

An Important Part of Writing Songs: Develop the Chorus and Hook.

So, I wrote the song chorus first using the second to last stanza, which also breaks the form of the previous 3 stanzas. I took the first line and last line and made them rhyme like so:

Don't let my feet stray from the rugged road/Jesus will you carry me when I bend beneath the load

Then, I took the the unifying "family" theme from the first three stanzas, and the warrior theme from the last stanza and combined them to be the last 2 lines of the chorus. Put them with the first two and you get this:

Don't let my feet stray from the rugged road/Jesus will you carry me when I bend beneath the load/Will you be my angel, brother next of kin/Will you be my angel, warrior and friend

Decide on Rhyme Scheme | Not Every Song You Write Has to Rhyme. 

Now, I usually don't like to rhyme line 1 with line 2 (couplet) but, because the line breaks in the last two lines (angel, brother / angel, warrior) I went ahead and did it. My friend Paul (who also knows how to song write), who wrote the music for the chorus also put a natural break in the first two lines, so it doesn't sound too stilted. Ok, in my next part of how to write songs we'll look at how I approached the verses. 

Go to part two of How to Song Write. | Turn a Poem Into A Song

How to Song Write.

How to Song Write Welcomes You.

I'm a music teacher who likes to write songs. I think it's important that every music student learns to write songs too. Many times in music education we teach students to play their instrument, but we never give them their own voice. Many times music students will just play songs that are written by others. I think that's sad. Everybody has the talent in them to write songs, even children as young as 8 can learn how to write a song on guitar, using 3 easy chords and a few simple rules. You can learn how to write a song too.

Learn a Simple Instrument, It Can Help You Learn How to Write Songs.

The guitar is one of the simplest instruments to play. Just by learning three chords you can play hundreds of songs already written, some that are on the radio right now. You can be playing songs within a month. Anybody from Jesse McCartney, to the Beatles, to the Ramones write songs with three chords. You can learn how to song write too. Not just lyrics, but chords and melody. 

You Don't Need to Read Music to Learn How to Song Write

You don't need to know how to read or write music, all you need is a computer or phone, or something to record your efforts. Most people only write down the lyrics and chords as they write songs, and that is simple enough that anybody can do it. If you want to learn how to play guitar, I have a blog for guitar beginners with guitar chord charts and chord progressions that can help you song write. Don't let the big words scare you, chord progressions are just chords played in a certain order. That's all. I'm also working on a blog with easy guitar songs you can learn to play.  You only need to learn three or four chords and you can find song chords for beginners at my blog.