iSOUND - A Wealth of Information for the Aspiring Performer

Normally when I find a really useful site, I just copy the URL and put it somewhere on the sidebar on this site assuming you all will eventually come across it. Tonight I was messing around in the Man-Cave™ and received a message from a fellow Michigan perfomer, Dan Vaillancourt. He turned me on to a site that had a page full of useful article links. A few article titles:

• Getting Better is All About Promotion! Promotion! Promotion!
• Entrepreneurship Is The Key To New Artist Success Today
• Image: It Still Matters More Than The Music
• Building An Effective E-Mail List and Delivering the Right Message
• The importance of blogging and keeping your content fresh

Check them out if you get the chance. Note the list of article links in the sidebar of this site. There is a ton of useful information available to the motivated artist.

John

Tunesmith - Songwriting Books

A couple years ago I purchased and read a book called Tunesmith by Jimmy Webb. After going back to this book recently, I can honestly say that every songwriter should read this book. Even if only for the first chapter. Webb is an inductee in The National Academy of Popular Music Songwriters Hall of Fame. His biography says the following:

Jimmy Webb has given the American songbook more hits, in more styles, than any other songwriter of his generation. The wunderkind of pop music, Webb became the hottest songwriter around when, starting at age twenty-one, he wrote a string of hits including "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Galveston," "Up, Up and Away," and "MacArthur Park."

Here are a couple quotes from the back cover of the book:

Tunesmith [is] an eminently readable master class in songwriting-one that will thrill aspiring composers and lyricists, yet still interest the general reader." - Michael Eck, Albany Times Union
Tunesmith may be the most interesting book ever written on songwriting... The sections on writing lyrics are riveting... It's for anyone who enjoys words." - David Hinckley, New York Daily News

Chapter titles:

Out of Thin Air
In This Room You'll Never Make a Mistake
It's Only Words
Elements of Form
It Can't Get No Verse...
Give Us a Tune Then, Jim
In Search of the Lost Chord
You and the Words and the Music
At Odds and Ends
Getting to First Base
Living With It

If anyone knows of any other useful books on Songwriting, please include the title and author(s) in a comment and I'll post the list in this thread or on the sidebar.

Thanks,
John

Songwriting/Recording Book Listing -

• Webb, Jimmy. Tunesmith. New York, NY: Hyperion, 1998
• Swedien, Bruce. Make Mine Music. Norway: MIA Musikk, 2003
• Blume, Jason. 6 Steps to Songwriting Success. New York, NY: Billboard Books, 2004
• Thall, Peter, M. What They'll Never Tell You About the Music Business. New York, NY: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2002

Playing Live

After witnessing the Ann Arbor Folk Festival this past weekend (see my review) I'm feeling pretty motivated about not only writing, but playing out. In addition to hosting such great acts as Over the Rhine, Glen Phillips, Bill Staines and more, The Ark in Ann Arbor has an open stage night about once a month. I've played out a bunch as the drummer for my band in years past, but never as a singer/songwriter. Now that I've got a couple years of playing under my belt, I'm considering taking a few songs out to the public.

I'm wondering what others have to say about the challenge of playing your songs out live. Any comments, hints, suggestions or warnings?

Thanks,
J

edit to add: Also, what do you think about "scripted" banter? I know that most banter isn't technically "scripted", but artists repeat the same banter between songs as a result of trying different things over and over and finding what works. Seems to me that keeping the audience involved and interested is vital. Comments?

All We Need Is Some Love

ALL WE NEED IS SOME LOVE.mp3 [02.02.07] - completely re-recorded/updated w/harmonica break and raised in pitch.

ALL WE NEED IS SOME LOVE.mp3 [01.25.07] - w/drums!

ALL WE NEED IS SOME LOVE.mp3 [01.15.07]

VERSE
in the dark of the night
through the thickest fight
when you've got nothing to give

when the things that you hold
leave you shattered and cold
and you forget how to live

CHORUS
All you need is some love
A little help from above
When all hope is gone
All we need is some love

VERSE
when you sleep all alone
with a hand on the phone
wondering when it will ring

and you wish on that star
doesn't matter how far
'cause you'd give anything

CHORUS
What you need is some love
A little help from above
When you can't carry on
All we need is some love

BRIDGE [not sure about these lyrics at this point]
Never let the darkness in this world
Take away your spirit and your hope
Never stop believing in the day'
That violence and hatred won't be found

INSTRUMENTAL BREAK [as verse]

CHORUS
All you need is some love
A little help from above
When all hope is gone
All we need is some love

What you need is some love
What you need is some love
When all hope is gone
All we need is some love

All we need is some...
All we need is some...
All we need is some...
All we need is some Love

The Story of "All We Need Is Some Love"

This one has come about by simply playing a chord progression over and over the past few days. Oddly, for me, the chorus came first. I'd just sit here and hum some melodies over it and one seemed to be begging to be sung. Once I had the chord progression and melody somewhat nailed down, it seemed to me that the song was wanting to speak to this theme of love and hope. I've said many times that I don't really feel like I "write" songs, I just discover them. Peeling away the covering until it shines through. It pays to learn how to listen for the song, I suppose.

Once I had a basic chorus idea, I set to work on the verses. These came much slower (probably because I don't usually write them after the chorus). I made a conscious effort to keep the melody for the verses a bit lower and quieter (dynamically). Once I had hummed enough melodies and chosen one, I put the "meat on the bones" and wrote a couple of simple verse lyrics. All the while, trying to speak to this universal theme of love and hope.

This is very "naked" and bare. All my vocal and creative weaknesses are there for your perusal. In this take (one of the first), I was more concerned with the phrasing of the lyrics in relation to the music than how I was singing (obviously). I have a long way to go before I know how to perform this song. Being able to play it once and perform it are two different things, I think.

In the end, I can hear lots of soaring background vocals and organ as the song swells to it's climax, which I hear happening right in the middle of the last (longer) chorus.

But for now, here is a *very* rough/bare/naked draft of...

ALL WE NEED IS SOME LOVE.mp3 [02.02.07] - completely re-recorded/updated w/harmonica break and raised in pitch.

ALL WE NEED IS SOME LOVE.mp3 [01.25.07] - w/drums!

ALL WE NEED IS SOME LOVE.mp3 [01.15.07]

Thanks for listening,
John

This Guy Listens To Crappy Music

David Byrne.


A crappy music listener.

This article is deep and wide and looks into the implications/ramifications of music formats (tape/lp/cd/mp3) on it's creation.

Here it is.