Archive for February, 2009
Songwriting Zen Article Directory Is Here
I love songwriting articles, I love writing them and I love reading and learning from them.
There’s so much free songwriting information around that you’d have a huge songwriting resource if you somehow bundled it all together. The main problem is that, at the moment, you have to search high and low to find all of these gems of information.
Wouldn’t it be fantastic if it was all in one place?
In “Create Your Own Comprehensive Songwriting Resource” I talk about an article written by Orlando Gutierrez outlining the concept of putting together a songwriting resource through researching free songwriting information found online.
I thought I’d take this concept one step further and build my own songwriting article directory. A place where you can find songwriting and other related information all in one place.
So, from today I’ve launched the Songwriting Zen Article Directory.
On it, you’ll find a link to my FREE eReport “11 Ways To Eliminate (Song) Writers Block FOREVER” plus, hand picked songwriting and other music related articles for your reading pleasure that I’ve gathered from my online research. I’m constantly surfing the web looking for songwriting information. Now I have a place where I can put it all.
If you have written a songwriting article and you want it published or, a favourite songwriting article you want included in the Songwriting Zen Article Directory then contact me and I’ll have a look at it.
Even though I only finished building it yesterday I already have five songwriting articles for you to read. They are:
- It’s Time To Thank A Songwriter – Orlando Gutierrez
- 7 Tips For Better Songwriting – Kyle H
- Great Songwriting Resources Are Yours For The Taking – Orlando Gutierrez
- Tips On Songwriting – Darren Monson
- 5 Songwriting Tips – Mahmoud Ibrahim
I’m excited by the possibilities of having my own songwriting article directory to share with you all. We can all hone our songwriting craft together.
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Keywords: songwriting article, songwriting resource, songwriting, songwriting tip, songwriting idea, songwriting help, songwriting zen, songwriting blog, corey stewart
It Doesn’t Matter Where You Start, As Long As You Start Somewhere
Sometimes writing songs is a linear experience.
You come across a possible song title that jumps out at you and after writing the first line of the first verse, a first draft is suddenly completed from start to finish.
Sometimes writing songs is a puzzle solving exercise.
You take a piece here, a song title there, a bit of a verse here and a half written phrase there and, after discovering the common thread that connects everything, a song is eventually completed.
Sometimes writing songs is like incubating an egg.
You finish writing a chorus but find you can’t go any further however, after leaving the half finished song for a period of time something triggers in your mind and the song magically completes itself.
Sometimes you start writing from the beginning and work forwards, sometimes you start from the middle and work outwards and sometimes you start at the end and work backwards.
It doesn’t matter where you start, as long as you start somewhere.
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, songwriting zen, songwriting tip, songwriting idea, songwriting help, songwriting blog, songwriting resource, corey stewart
New Hair, New Song
Last Tuesday I had all of my hair cut off after almost 3 years of having long hair.
Before
After
The main reason for cutting it all off was that I was just over it. I was over how it made me feel when I looked in the mirror or when I saw myself in a photo.
The long hair was becoming “old hat”.
As soon as my hair came off I immediately felt so much better about myself. I literally had a weight lifted off my shoulders (there was a lot of hair that come off) and I felt free. I also noticed that with my new found freedom, a new sense of creativity was appearing before me.
I even wrote a new song for FAWM.
This experience has taught me first hand that the muse loves to call on people who feel good about themselves. I suppose this makes the muse feel welcome.
This is another example of how the smallest changes make the biggest differences.
Oh, about the song. It’s called “Hear You Scream” and it’s about a friend of mine who is living a life he doesn’t want to live in, but won’t speak out about it.
It was sparked by a line that popped into my head as I was strumming the verse chords “But who am I to judge you on why you choose to live this way”.
It’s amazing what comes out when you open the door to let the muse in.
© C. Stewart 14/2/2009
Through your mask I feel your cries
I see behind your face
But who am I to judge you?
On why you choose to live this way
With all the words that are in the world
Why don’t I hear you speak?
This silence I hear from you is deafening
It’s offensive to my ears
I want to hear you scream
I want to hear you scream
You have this need to be wonderful
And everyone’s your friend
You gravitate towards decadence
And succumb to the latest trends
It’s very easy to lose yourself
But even harder to find
I still don’t know why you let yourself
Decompose from the inside
I want to hear you scream
I want to hear you
I know that in silence you’re suffering
Because you’re trapped in a world of pain
And greed and obligation
Where nobody whispers your name
You live your life for everyone else
But at the end of the day they don’t care
It’s too late to wait for tomorrow
You’ve got to find your voice today
I want to hear you scream
I want to hear you scream
I want to hear you scream
I want to hear you scream
**************************************************
I have jotted down a lot of songwriting ideas in the last few days, I’m really looking forward to turning some of those into songs. I’ll keep you posted.
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Keywords: fawm, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting idea, songwriting help, songwriting blog, songwriting resource, songwriting zen, corey stewart
I Wish I Wrote That #2 – “Wave” By David Sylvian
Seeing that it’s Valentines Day today I wanted to share with you a song that I think should be the benchmark of all love songs. The song is called “Wave” and the songwriter is David Sylvian, ex frontman for the early 80’s new-wave-avant-guard-pop band “Japan” and a collaborator of artists such as Robert Fripp (King Crimson) and Holger Czukay (Can).
I wish I wrote this because the song goes way deeper into the emotions of love than I could ever begin to imagine. It’s truly a beautiful piece of music matched with a highly emotive and deeply spiritual document of one persons love for another.
For me, this song is one of those rare gems that never fails to move me emotionally and every time I hear it, a shiver races up my spine.
David Sylvian released this song in 1986 on his second solo album “Gone To Earth” and it’s nine minutes and eleven seconds of sublime aural perfection. The video below is taken from a performance in Tokyo in 1993.
Enjoy…
Wave – David Sylvian
It seems that I remember
I dreamed a thousand dreams
We’d face the days together
No matter what they’d bring
A strength inside like I’d never known
Opened the door to life and let it go
This sun may shine forever
Upon the back of love
A kingdom raised from ashes
And held within your arms
And should the rain break through the trees
We’ll find a shelter there and never leave
I’ll run to you, nothing stands between us now
Nothing I can lose
This light inside can never die
Another world just made for two
I’ll swim the seas inside with you
And like the waves, without a sound
I’ll never let you down
Upon a wave of summer
A hilltop paved with gold
We shut our eyes and make
The promises we hold
A will to guide and see us through
I’d do it all again because of you
I’ll run to you, nothing stands between us now
Nothing I can lose
This light inside can never die
Another world just made for two
I’ll swim the seas inside with you
And like the waves, without a sound
I’ll never let you down
I’d tear my very soul to make you mine
*************************************************
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Keywords: david sylvian, robert fripp, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting blog, songwriting zen, songwriting idea, corey stewart
An Insight Into Sting’s Songwriting Process – Video
I stumbled across this old video of Jools Holland interviewing Sting (circa early 80’s) today and it gives a brilliant insight into the way that Sting gathers, processes and demos his songwriting ideas before introducing it to the rest of the Police band members
Even though the video primarily focuses on how he come up with “Message In A Bottle” (one of my all time favourite songs) there are plenty of pearls of wisdom to be had if you listen for it.
Look out for the introduction of Dennis as one of the central characters in his songwriting process.
I loved every minute of this video especially the old recording technology I mean, I used to have one of those Tascam 4 track machines (ahh, memories). I hope you enjoyed it too, let me know what you think.
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Keywords: sting, the police, jools holland, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting idea, songwriting process, songwriting blog, songwriting zen, corey stewart
Egg Timers & The Songwriting Process
Now that FAWM (February Album Writing Month – 14 songs in 28 days) has officially started it’s really important to find ways to make time to develop your songwriting ideas into completed songs. As you would already know, I’m a huge advocate of building a songwriting ideas archive and constantly fine tuning your songwriting process.
For quite a while now I’ve been adding to and maintaining quite a substantial songwriting ideas archive of my own and the challenge I’m faced with now is that I have so many songwriting ideas at my disposal, I don’t know which one to start with first.
I’m becoming paralysed by too much choice. Hmmm, maybe the answer lies in randomness and restriction. Confused? Ok, let me explain.
In my experience, I’ve found that giving yourself all the time in the world to complete something allows the beastie called procrastination and your inner critic to join forces and provide you with (what seem to be) very valid reasons for not doing what your supposed to be doing.
If you restrict yourself to a deadline then your focus becomes much stronger and your procrastination/inner critic dialogue becomes less obvious. That’s the restriction part of the equation now what about the randomness part?
The randomness comes from picking any songwriting idea at random to start with. An example would be that I take a page full of possible song titles (see picture above) and pick one at random. Then, I set a timer for 10 minutes and in that time I start building on the randomly chosen songwriting idea.
Once the 10 minutes is up I determine whether I have sufficiant momentum to keep going. If not I start the process again with another randomly chosen songwriting idea from my archive.
The timer I’ll use will either be one of a few online timers or this wonderful example (see picture below). Whichever way I go it will make for an interesting outcome.
Here are the steps again for you to consider:
1. Pick a songwriting idea from your archive at random
2. Set your timer for 10 minutes and start expanding the songwriting idea
3. After 10 minutes if you’re going with the flow then keep going. If not, repeat process with another randomly chosen songwriting idea
Give it a go and see what happens and if you’re not registered with FAWM yet then consider doing so because deadlines are sometimes good for you.
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
PS: Feel free to download my FREE eReport “11 Ways To Eliminate (Song) Writers Block FOREVER” if you need a little help getting out of a rut.
Keywords: songwriting idea, songwriting process, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting zen, songwriting blog, corey stewart
FREE eReport – Download NOW!
Search
Pages
Archives
- July 2009 (1)
- April 2009 (11)
- March 2009 (2)
- February 2009 (6)
- January 2009 (5)
- December 2008 (7)
- October 2008 (2)
- September 2008 (6)
- August 2008 (6)
- July 2008 (15)
- June 2008 (21)
- May 2008 (25)
- April 2008 (28)
- March 2008 (32)
- February 2008 (1)
Categories
- 50/90 Challenge (6)
- Corey Stewart (14)
- Courting The Muse (1)
- Creativity (1)
- Favourite Songs (5)
- Favourite Songwriters (2)
- FAWM (3)
- Guitar Lesson (3)
- Home Recording (1)
- Inspiration (1)
- Lyric Writing (2)
- Miscellaneous (3)
- Open Mics (3)
- Performing Songwriter (5)
- Sing Out 2008 (1)
- Songwriter Spotlight (4)
- Songwriters Block (2)
- Songwriting (7)
- Songwriting 101 (6)
- Songwriting Advice (2)
- Songwriting Articles (5)
- Songwriting Association (1)
- Songwriting Business (1)
- Songwriting Collaboration (1)
- Songwriting Competition (3)
- Songwriting Contests (9)
- Songwriting Exercise (2)
- Songwriting Forum (1)
- Songwriting Help (15)
- Songwriting Ideas (9)
- Songwriting Lesson (1)
- Songwriting News (21)
- Songwriting Process (10)
- Songwriting Products (1)
- Songwriting Promotion (1)
- Songwriting Resources (4)
- Songwriting Technique (2)
- Songwriting Tips (19)
- Songwriting Tools (11)
- Songwriting Videos (1)
- Songwriting Zen (30)
- Uncategorized (1)
Find Songwriting Zen On:
Corey’s Gigs
- No shows booked at the moment.
- View all shows
- RSS
Corey On Twitter
Corey On Facebook
Subscribe To SZ
