I’ve decided that my song writing skills are a little rusty and in need of a swift kick in the ass. As much as I “know” a huge array of techniques and theories (not to mention my ever expanding library of music books and magazines), I don’t quite utilize a lot of what I know. For example, I’ve still yet to figure out what my best vocal range is and what is the most impressive key for me to write in is.
Being that my song writing is all spontaneous, I tend to write song that don’t quite fit into my vocal register. I’m also trying to get away from the use of AutoTune to correct my pitches or even as an effect since way too many people are using it now. I can’t turn on the radio without some new pop star using that “Cher” effect.
The Particulars and the Rules
- I will be using the major scale and all subsequent keys within an octave. Maybe next time I’ll use the mixolydian scale but for right now I’ll stick to the foundation.
- Each song created will be of a different genre or an experiment of genres. I will be utilizing my Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter accounts to gather ideas from my network so if you haven’t found me yet, come see me, I’d love to hear your input.
- Each song will have its own rules included as well. Such as, limiting notes to A,D, and E; no chorus; only vocals; tree stump as an instrument, etc.
- I will post the song here, but since my bandwidth sucks for the time being, I’ll have to provide an external link for listening (most probably MySpace Music)
- For every 3 or 4 songs created, I will make a montage video to show the real-time process I undertake. Crap, It may end up being like a reality show, and I usually hate reality shows.
Here are some reasons why I am taking on this self-imposed challenge:
- Basically, an exercise in songwriting. Albeit, a huge exercise, but an exercise none the less.
- If I’m not challenging myself, I’m not growing as an artist. My biggest motivation in making music at all is because of the experiments of sound and its effect on people. Oh, and because it makes me happy to sit down at an instrument and riff for days.
- As a musician I really must get into the habit of creating music consistently because in the business world there are deadlines. Consistency makes me more congruent with my art and eventually I won’t have to think about making something, I’ll just do it because I’ve mastered it. Don’t the masters at their craft seem to do things so easily?
- To discover new things about MY particular sound in the process.
- As an added benefit, I get to exercise my video editing skills as well.
So here we go, off to see the wizard, and wondering if this little journey is going to make me despise music entirely or embed a deeper motivation to continue on. Guess we’ll find out right?
As an aside, there are some people that are really inspiring to me, and those that were in direct competition to me years back as it dealt with music. I got distracted for a few years and they moved on to bigger and better gigs. This is just telling me that I need to do something. It sucks sometimes being torn between several passions.
