Songwriting Zen
The 50/90 Challenge Is Here Again
Today is the start of one of the greatest songwriting challenges ever constructed IMHO. The 50/90 challenge.
Run by the good folks at FAWM (February Album Writing Month), the premise of the challenge is really simple: Write 50 songs in the 90 days starting July 4th until October 1st. It’s a simple concept but incredibly hard to achieve.
According to the 50/90 challenge website the challenge is:
“… (a) club. Each summer, 50/90 forges a collaborative community where musicians of all walks and skill levels write a slew of new music material in only three months. That’s roughly one tune every other day. Participants are a mix of music professionals, students, homemakers, and folks who work day-jobs but rock nightclubs”.
Sounds great!
I tried it last year and failed miserably (well, that’s how I saw it) but hey, that’s the great thing about the 50/90 community. It’s a community where everyone helps each other, where there’s no failure, just a lot of fun, networking and good songwriting.
Doing the 50/90 challenge last year really showed me that I had very little control over my inner critic and my need for absolute perfectionism. This realization caused a great deal of initial sadness which caused me to question whether I should continue with this songwriting blog.
I was thinking to myself things like: “How can I write a blog about writing songs when I find it hard to write songs myself?”
Thankfully I got over myself very, very quickly.
I’m going to participate in the 50/90 challenge this year but this time I’m going to not take it so seriously and just have fun with it. If I write 50 songs in 90 days then great, if not then at least I’m writing, which is something I really love doing.
Give the 50/90 challenge a go and see what happens. It maybe the kick in the pants that you’ve been looking for.
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
MySpace | Facebook | Twitter
Keywords: 50/90, fawm, songwriting, songwriter, writing songs, songwriting tip, songwriting blog, songwriting help, songwriting zen, sonwriting idea, corey stewart
Corey Stewart – “Shadows”
“Shadows” was written after the breakup of a pretty messy relationship, a relationship which was characterized by me having to walk on eggshells for most of it.
In the song I try to conceptualize the feelings of nervousness and anxiety I was going through at the time.
Having your words and actions questioned by your partner all the time was not a pleasant situation to be in however, in saying that I’ve learned a lot about myself in the process.
Here is the song for your listening pleasure…
Shadows
© C. Stewart 1999
It’s only one word
That’s all that I ask of you
I don’t ask for much
But it seems like that I’ve asked for the world
You say that it’s okay
And everythings forgiven now
But no matter what you say
It never fits with what’s in my mind
I’m walking away, walking in circles
Looking through windows
A prisoner of my own mind
Can’t you see the tears in my eyes?
I’m trapped in this lifetime, it’s never-ending
Due to my sorrow
Shadows and lifetimes
Can’t you see the tears in my eyes?
My smile has disappeared
It’s been replaced by all my fears
Fears I’d thought were gone
But now have come to haunt me again
I dare to say a word
Just in case you hear me wrong
It’s still the common thing
Even though we are apart
I’m walking away, walking in circles
Looking through windows
A prisoner of my own mind
Can’t you see the tears in my eyes?
I’m trapped in this lifetime, it’s never-ending
Due to my sorrow
Shadows and lifetimes
Can’t you see the tears in my eyes?
**************************************************
Of course, any comments or feedback is most welcomed.
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting blog, corey stewart
I Wish I Wrote That #4 – “Under The Milky Way” By The Church
This song by Australian band The Church is a great example of what can happen when a bolt of “divine” inspiration comes your way.
Apparently this song was written in about 15 minutes from start to finish, not a bad day at the office 
I remember when I first heard this song saying to myself “this has got to be a hit” and sure enough, it was their only international hit.
What I love about this song is its simplicity, its tasty blend of shimmering 12 string guitar and mandolin and that 2 chord chorus.
Even though Under The Milky Way was written in 1988 it still seems relevant now in its production values and arrangement.
For me it’s a real joy to play. I hope that this song is a real joy to listen to. Unfortunately the original video of the song has been taken down from YouTube but I found the audio.
Enjoy…
Under The Milky Way – The Church
Sometimes when this place gets kind of empty,
Sound of their breath fades with the light.
I think about the loveless fascination,
Under the milky way tonight.
Lower the curtain down in Memphis,
Lower the curtain down all right.
I got no time for private consultation,
Under the milky way tonight.
Wish I knew what you were looking for.
Might have known what you would find.
Wish I knew what you were looking for.
Might have known what you would find.
And its something quite peculiar,
Something shimmering and white.
Leads you here despite your destination,
Under the milky way tonight
Chorus
Instrumental
And its something quite peculiar,
Something shimmering and white.
Leads you here despite your destination,
Under the milky way tonight
Chorus
Under the milky way tonight
Under the milky way tonight
Under the milky way tonight
Under the milky way tonight
**************************************************
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
MySpace | Facebook | Twitter
Keywords: the church, steve kilbey, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting idea, songwriting help, songwriting blog, songwriting zen, corey stewart
A Song Is Never Finished, It’s Always Evolving
Jeff Oxenford, in his songwriting blog recently wrote a post called “Songwriting: You’ve Got The Song, Now What?” in which he discusses some points to look out for when you’ve “finished” a song.
The one thing that really stood out for me in his post was the following quote at the beginning of the last paragraph:
“My final piece of advice was to not consider the song finished, instead think of it as evolving.”
Wow! That line stood out for me because, for some of my songs I have an ongoing argument raging in my head regarding the its finished vs its evolving concept, so much so that at times it prevents me from getting on with the next songwriting idea because I get stuck on what I’ve already done.
Sometimes, we as songwriters tend to forget that our chosen craft shapes a product from a flexible, malleable and intangiable medium called music. A medium in which nothing is ever truly absolute.
A song I perform will sound different to the way another artist will perform it. Everything about our craft is subjective and based on interpretation of the songwriter, performer and the listener.
I remember (all those years ago) when I first started out writing songs and playing in bands I had to make sure everything was perfect. The songs had to be “just right” and the band had to wait for the “right time” before it started playing gigs.
I learnt pretty quickly (after being involved with a number of bands who formed and broke up without playing any gigs) that everything about the art of songwriting and the music business is constantly evolving.
As soon as you think you’ve “made it” or that you’ve “finished”, something else comes along that inspires you to change your mind.
The way I look at my songs changes all the time depending on my mood, health and state of being. No song performance I do ever sounds the same the only difference is how much energy I spend on each song.
I know songwriters who obsess over every song they write. They tend not to write too many new songs because they are trying to make their old songs sound perfect.
If you’re one of these songwriters then STOP! This obsession will only make you unhappy and artistically unfulfilled.
For me, some songs are more finished than others. These are the ones that I allow to evolve naturally, through performance or being inspired by the feedback of others. While others I’ll actively work on, re-writing bits here, changing arrangements there until they get to a stage where I feel “comfortable” with the song.
If you look at your songs as something that is evolving rather than something that needs to be finished, then perfection becomes irrelevant and believe me, letting go of perfection is one of the biggest weights an artist can relieve themselves of.
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting blog, songwriting zen, corey stewart
Songwriting Zen Forum Is Now Closed
A couple of days ago I decided to take down the Songwriting Zen Forum.
The reasons for closing it down are twofold:
First of all, I didn’t have the time to devote to it anymore. For all of its good points, phpBB (the software I was using to produce the forum) gave me too much of a steep learning curve to tackle and besides, starting up a discussion forum is easier on something like Facebook.
Secondly, (and the most important reason) The forum has been over-ridden with SPAM to the point where the it has become unmanageable and because of phpBB’s steep learning curve I’ve been unable to control it.
For all the people who have registered and contributed I want to first of all thank you very much for the time you’ve put into your comments and discussions and at the same time I want to extend a sincere apology for not continuing on with it.
I do however, have a Songwriting Zen Facebook Page ready to go so I’ll be moving the forum there. Check out the page and become a fan.
Stay tuned for more information. I’ll let you all know when it’s ready to go. I’d love to pick up the songwriting discussions where we left off.
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, songwriting forum, songwriting tip, songwriting idea, songwriting help, songwriting resource, songwriting blog, corey stewart
Songwriting Zen – One Year On
Well, it’s been a little over a year since I started Songwriting Zen (on February 29th, 2008) and I must say I’m very proud of my songwriting blog.
It’s given me a forum to share with you my thoughts and feelings about the wonderful craft of writing songs. It’s also enabled me to get to know other from all over the world, the networking opportunities are endless.
One of the most interesting sides of running a website/blog is the statistics that you can collect and the conclusions you can draw from that information.
Below are the 10 most popular posts/pages over the past 12 months and the amount of views these posts/pages received:
- 11 Ways To Eliminate (Song) Writers Block FOREVER! – 305
- Aleve® “MOVEMENT” Jingle Writing Contest – 267
- Using A Thesaurus To Conquer Songwriters Block – 202
- Music – 149
- Songwriting Tool – Free Worksheets For The Songwriting Guitarist – 134
- The Singer/Songwriters Toolbox (Book 1) – 128
- 50 Songs In 90 Days – Can You Do It? – 124
- Songwriting – 120
- My New Songwriting Tool – Zoom H4 Handy Recorder – 120
- Contact – 117
What does this mean? People are looking for information on songwriting and the creative process. People want to tell the world their stories through music and that they are using Songwriting Zen as one of the websites that provides them with what they are looking for.
What are people looking for when it comes to songwriting information? Well, here are the top 10 keyterms that people are type into their search engines that lead them to Songwriting Zen and how many times these terms have been keyed in:
- song writing ideas – 150
- songwriting ideas – 129
- songwriting – 106
- songwriting help – 77
- jingle writing contest – 49
- songwriting prompts – 45
- songwriting zen – 44
- songwriters block – 40
- jingle writing contests – 40
- song writing – 36
People are looking for songwriting help, songwriting ideas, songwriting prompts and ways that they can beat (song) writers block. It’s heartening to find that what I’m doing with Songwriting Zen is on the right track.
As a songwriter I find one of the most important skills is listening. By using your ears you pick all sorts of phrases, rhythms and quotable sentences that make for good song lyrics.
When running a website/blog, the way you listen to your audience is either through your communication with them via comments and forums and/or your web statistics. I intend to write more about the songwriting process, creativity and useful songwriting tips.
This year however, I do want to expand into writing about songwriting theory and the business that surrounds the songwriting craft. More on that in the near future.
I also want to enlist your help a whole lot more. If you have any songwriting question that you want answered or have an idea for a songwriting article (or you want to write one and have it published on Songwriting Zen) then contact me and we’ll have a chat.
I’d love to hear from you. I want to listen.
Here’s to the next 12 months. Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting zen, songwriting blog, corey stewart
“11 More Ways To Eliminate (Song) Writers Block FOREVER!” Is Finally Here
I know it’s been a while but my new FREE eReport, the long awaited “11 More Ways To Eliminate (Song) Writers Block FOREVER!” is finally here for you to download and share with others. Talk about hot off the virtual press and ready to be devoured by songwriters everywhere.
Feel free to download it and give it away to anyone and everyone that you think will benefit from writing more songs and not letting songwriting blocks get in the way.
This eReport is my gift to you.
I’m very passionate about the songwriting and creative processes. Having something like writers block getting in the way of that is something that writers of all disciplines dread.
Since February 2008 when I started Songwriting Zen my focus has been exactly the same. To make sure that you receive the most relevent, topical and unique songwriting information around.
I’ve always felt that it’s important that songwriters, being the backbone of the music industry are supported by organizations, associations and, most importantly their peers.
Songwriting Zen and now this FREE eReport is my way of giving songwriters a helping hand and, it’s also my way of giving back to a music industry that has helped me greatly.
11 More Ways To Eliminate Writers Block FOREVER! is a list of 11 more techniques that I use myself to get out of a rut or, to generate more songwriting ideas.
Download it, read it, print it out if you want to, and apply it to your songwriting process. I’m sure that these techniques will greatly enhance your songwriting and besides, it’s FREE!
Let me know what you think of it. Has it helped you to get out of your own rut? Any techniques work better for you than others?
To download 11 More Ways To Eliminate Writers Block FOREVER! just go to the FREE STUFF page on this website and follow the instructions from there.
What have you got to lose?
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Keywords: writers block, songwriters block, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting idea, songwriting help, songwriting news, 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
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
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