(From contributing blogger Ryan Galloway) So it’s time to report in on some of the results of my own little open mike tour, while I bounce around the country as a traveling consultant. In my last blog on the subject, I had told you about Don Mak’s idea for booking an “open mike” tour using [...]
Writing poetry is hard, and let’s face it — in many ways songwriting is poetry. It’s even more challenging because you’re trying to fit words to melody, as well as meter and rhyme. You have three or four minutes to tell your story, and a third of that time is eaten up by the chorus. [...]
Who’s up for a group songwriting project? Some readers have emailed me songwriting tips, but don’t really want to contribute a whole article to Blogging Muses. So, more than one reader has suggested putting together a repository of songwriting tips from the Blogging Muses readers. Great idea! So I spent last night putting together a [...]
This is quite an inspirational piece for me as a songwriter. So … there’s this guy, Jonathan Coulton, that decided to write a song a week for 1 year. He would post a new song every Friday that he recorded in his very modest home studio. He dubbed the project “Thing-A-Week”. He started out not [...]
Readers Ask: I have a fairly decent song I wrote in one sitting. Lyrics and music. I was amazed at how well it came to me. Should I leave it alone or should I try and rewrite? Great question. From a professional songwriting perspective, the answer is almost always a resounding “yes”. Professional songwriters are [...]
Gadsby is a novel written in 1939 by Ernest Vincent Wright. The unique feature of this novel was how he wrote it. He actually tied down the E-key of the typewriter so he was not allowed to use that letter in the entire novel! While some might see this as unimaginable and a task of [...]
Over the summer we had quite a few stories and inside scoops on the biggest songwriters (and singer-songwriters) in the industry. In case you missed them, here are some of the best: Songwriting insight from Daniel Powter and another interview with a great quote here. Garth Brooks and the writing of “That Summer” We All [...]
Sure he can! The following account is taken from one of my favorite websites – Story Behind the Song.net (my only problem is I wish there were more stories!) The Story Behind “That Summer” written by Pat Alger, Garth Brooks. performed by: Garth Brooks |Interview with Pat Alger conducted by Adam Olson | “That Summer,” [...]
BMI member Nate Campany is 24 years old. He lives a normal life. He has a beard, credit cards, and a job. What sets Nate apart from most of his friends is his love of melody. Nate’s first songwriting cut appeared on Lava recording artist The Click Five’s debut album “Greetings From Imrie House.” Let’s [...]
Toby is a great songwriter. I remember sitting in the Bluebird in Nashville and him coming in to play a writers night, just like anyone else. No one knew who he was, had ever seen him, or even knew that in a few short weeks he’d release his first Major label record… before he sang. [...]
