Songwriting and composing methods are dependent on many different factors at any given time.
Throughout my musical life, I’ve gone through many stages of my approach to composing. There was a huge period where everything began using a Fender Rhodes sound (I owned the suitcase model in the late 70′s/ early 80′s, then began using the Rhodes patches on synthesizers). This sound never ceased to inspire me.
I’ve always been a big fan of Steely Dan, having learned several of their songs in various bands, and always sought to find the most unusual chord progressions, ones that folded my ears like origami.
As for lyrics, often it was a case of a phrase or a title that would be percolating for a while. Then, the chords I was cranking out would somehow mesh with more ideas about the phrase, and continue in a more or less synchronistic way.
I’d like to point out the composition of one of my songs ‘The Flip Side‘ from my CD ‘The Ladder‘, because it was so unusual. It started out as a cello track for my song ‘The Big Picture‘. Then we played it backwards, and I improvised vocals over it, without any reference point for what harmonies were coming up next.
Another composition of note was ‘Tuva on Rye‘, which started out as an impromptu a cappella performance of overtone singing in Tuva, only to be completed when I returned to Canada, with heavy instrumentation.
When I got around to writing for my second CD ‘Pulse‘, it involved a lot of different percussionists from various cultures (African, Latin, East Indian, middle Eastern, Caribbean). I found it inspirational to get a few 4 minute tracks from these guys, and take it from there. It would be easy for me to write the lyrics, melody or improvise along with what they provided. So these ventures were actually co-writes.
It seems so much depends on the type of equipment one is using, and how proficient one gets with a piece of gear. For a few years, I was using a digital 8-track by Roland. It was intuitive and fast. They are pretty much obsolete now, given all the recording software available. But so many of these programs are not that user friendly, and you need to be a sound engineer to operate them. A lot of musicians just aren’t engineers, and suffer for it. So much time is wasted that could be spent on creativity. Also, the fact that there are simply infinite possibilities for plugins, effects, sound sources, etc., one can get completely absorbed in these things and lose the initial inspiration. Spontaneity can go out the window.
These days, much of my composition involves writing for overtone choirs. For this, I use the Sibelius notation software. It is fantastic and fast for hearing complex combinations of voices in a vertical and linear way. I don’t even need much of an initial grain of an idea sometimes, it just takes off on its own. I often wonder how much more we would have gotten out of Mozart, for example, if he had had access to such amazing technology.
If you are new to notation software, or would like to start with a simple program, there are free versions available.
Starting songs is often easy, finishing them is a different matter. But, OH the satisfaction when they done!
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