Mind Map

Songwriting Zen – The First 30 (+2) Days

I started Songwriting Zen on February 29th and already it’s April 1st. Time does fly when you’re having fun.

I wanted to reflect on the first month of this blogs existance because doing Songwriting Zen has really made a difference in my life. I wanted to re-focus my online music marketing and start from a clean slate.

I know that I am doing that and a whole lot more. I’m writing everyday again and I feel much more creative and centred in what I do.

It’s a liberating feeling.

If you look at my first post “How To Unscramble An Egg” I mention that I’ve been moving my information from my old songwriting blog “Corey Stewart Songwriting Tips” on the Quikonnex network to Songwriting Zen on WordPress.

This is because with WordPress I’ve found a much better blogging platform with more features and funtionality. Best of all, WordPress is FREE!

Quikonnex has a yearly fee.

Right, now that I’ve given you some more background information about the existance of Songwriting Zen, here is a recap of the first 30 (+2) days.

The total amount of time Songwriting Zen has been visited is 613 times. I had a rough goal of 500 so my expectations have been exceeded straight away.

The top 3 posts in page views so far:

1. Mindmapping Your Songwriting Ideas (44 visits) – I was surprised how popular this post was. I think the concept of using a mind map in the songwriting process struck a chord (pardon the pun) with everyone. I would love to know how people are going with their own mind maps.

I will definitely be adding more mind mapping information to the mix in future posts.

2. The Anatomy Of Construction (42 visits) – I was personally very happy with this result as this is the name of my good friend BT Cassidy’s writing blog. Having this post come in at number 2 showed me that my “songwriters can learn from writers of other disciplines” theory is a sound one.

3. What Comes First? Words Or Music? (21 visits) – The first question that every songwriter ask. It didnt surprise me that this post was in the top 3.

To everyone that has visited Songwriting Zen, read the information provided, made a comment (or two), linked to Songwriting Zen from their website or gave me words of encouragement and support.

I say a huge THANKYOU.

For me, this is only the beginning of a new journey. In addition to my own songwriting efforts, marketing music online is uncharted waters. With Songwriting Zen I’m taking a great leap of faith.

I’m very glad to have you on this journey with me.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, writing, songwriting zen, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting blog, corey stewart

Tags: bt cassidy, Corey Stewart, Creativity, mind map, music, Open Mics, Songwriter, Songwriting, songwriting tip, Songwriting Zen, writing, zen

Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 Songwriting News 6 Comments

Making A Mountain Out Of A Molehill

From little things, big things grow.

I have a whole lot of word snippets, possible song titles and miscellaneous phrases floating around in my head or organised on pieces of paper.

I am constantly on the lookout for these songwriting ideas because, it’s from these ideas that my songs are born.

One songwriting technique that I use a lot to turn these random ideas into songs is writing a story in longhand using an idea as it’s inspiration and then, once finished, condensing the story into a song.

From one line a sentence is formed, from a sentence a paragraph is formed and from a paragraph a short story is formed.

Its amazing how much you are able to write if you let yourself go. Writing a story from a single idea enables me to express that idea to its fullest potential.

I start writing automatically and explore every tangent that comes to mind. I might even use a mind map to keep track of all the different paths that I come across.

I try to fully exhaust all my options in one sitting.

Once I have finished writing all I do is eliminate the non essential bits of the story and mould a song with what’s left over. A process of elimination.

I find it best to begin this editing process a day or two after I’ve written the story, to ensure I have fresh eyes and ears. Nevertheless, this is where the fun begins.

Personally, for me, it’s much easier to write too much and take things away than to write too little and have to add things in afterwards.

It just goes to show that in songwriting, it pays make a mountain out of a molehill.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, mind map, writing, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting technique, songwriting blog, corey stewart

Tags: Corey Stewart, Creativity, mind map, music, Songwriter, Songwriting, songwriting blog, songwriting tip, Songwriting Zen, writing, zen

Monday, March 31st, 2008 Songwriting Tips 2 Comments

Mindmapping Your Songwriting Ideas

From one idea, many ideas form.

I love mind maps. I’m a visual person, and developing a songwriting idea by using a mind map really helps me write my song lyrics more effectively.

Right now you’re probably asking “what is this mind map?” Well, according to Wikipedia a Mind Map is:

“…a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks or other items linked to and arranged radially around a central key word or idea. It is used to generate, visualize, structure and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, decision making, and writing”.

A mind mapping exercise is a simple, but a very effective way of fleshing out the body of a song from a single idea, phrase or a word.

It’s very similar to brainstorming but in a very visual way.

If you follow the steps outlined below, you will have a whole song laid out in front of you. All you have to do is follow the paths that you have created.

Heres how you do it.

1. Take your idea, phrase or word and write it in the middle of a piece of paper and draw a circle around it.

2. From that circle branch out five lines in different directions. At the end of those lines write a word that is associated with the central word. These words could be the basis for your verses and choruses.

3. From each of those five words start writing five other words that relate and so on.

By the time you have had enough (or you run out of paper), you’ll see the whole song mapped out in front of you and it all started from one songwriting idea, phrase or a single word.

Start from the central theme and work outwards, following the word paths you’ve created. Can you see what phrases you can come up with from doing that.

Be careful not to have too many initial branches springing out from your central theme. This will turn your mind map into a complicated mess of too many ideas pulling against each other. Up to five is plenty.

Remember, you dont have to use all (or any) of the words you have written down, this is another way of opening your mind to new ways of generating songwriting ideas.

Most of us are visual people. As mentioned before, I personally access information the best this way. I can tell you having a whole song mapped out in front of me makes the job of formulating a song so much easier.

Give it a go and see what happens, you’ll be amazed at some of the paths and tangents you create.

Let me know how it works for you

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

PS: For more information on Mind Maps, click here.

Keywords: mind map, songwriting idea, songwriting, writing songs, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, corey stewart

Tags: Corey Stewart, Creativity, ideas, mind map, music, Songwriter, Songwriting, songwriting tip, writing, zen