Philosophy of Music

Heyla, music fans!! After taking a small sabbatical to seek more of my inner self, I'm back, and bigger than before. That's right, now with more rasins!! So come on, step right up, and get yours, now!!!

Well.....in a sense, I do want y'all to step right up, but not for rasins...but for the first of many songwriters clinics that I hope to have here at Seeker. After all, Seeker is a place where we can all come to share, and learn from one another.

         "The best lesson is one that can be learned by all"
                                             -One of those old wise guys

So, this first time 'round, we'll chat mostly about how this thing will be run, and then later on we'll just dive right into it. (You'll be able to read this issue later on down the road, in case you forget....)

One of the most important things that I will stress is the fact that this is INTERACTIVE...that means you, the normally passive reader will have to get yer fingers a movin', and respond. This is important....if you learn nothing else in life, you will learn to share of yourself. Basic rule of life, when you give, you get....

Okay.....where's music come into all this? Okay...as we know, music is an art form. Art is self expression through some physical medium, or, it at least takes place on an empirical plane, that is, something we can sense with one of our 5 usual methods; sight, sound, smell, touch, taste. We use this art form to say stuff we feel, in a way we'd normally not.

There, we've said it....music is not a normal method of self-expression. We don't go around singing everything that we want to say, even if that may be really fun to do. (you may want to try this some time, for a day, or even just an hour or two...it's a great exercise for songwriting)

...back from that tangent...if we just said that music isn't a normal thing we do to express ourselves (it can be, it's just up to you) then it's not going to be something that naturally happens to you when you try it. Like everything else in music, it takes pratice to get yourself to produce results that you can be satisfied, or at the most, happy with. You don't just pick up an instrument, and instantly be familiar with everything about that instrument, not even your own voice is like that. You need to try different things, take different approaches, and work your way up to a familiarity that works for you.

The same goes for songwriting. Anyone with a little musical ability can write a song....but does that song say what that person really wants it to? Unless that person is overly shallow, most likely not. Yes, it is possible that someone can be satisfied with a song like that, but you can't really tell until you've really examined the song in perspective, and to do that, you need to acquire a few skills that will enable you to make that judgement.

Great, we got that far...now what? Well....let's try and decide what we need in order to judge our own music's worth, after all, the only one who can decide the true merit of you music is you.

Okay...so begins our first roundtable discussion/clinic. Here's how it works...I'll throw something out, make a few comments, based on personal experience, and you...yes, YOU...the reader will have a chance to respond with your own opinion. If you don't respond, then all you'll get is my opinon...and I can't say that that's the final word on anything. You may learn something from me, you may not. You may agree with my theories, you may not....but no one will know...UNLESS YOU RESPOND.....

The first thing we will discuss will be writing lyrics. What should they say? How should they flow? Is profanity a good, or a bad thing? Should they rhyme? If so, should you use a rhyming scheme?

I remember once, that Sarah McLachlan (the love of my life) once said "Lyrics by themselves look like bad poetry..." That could be very true. On the other hand...they may flow beautifully, with amazing grace (sorry about the pun) and poise. Most likely, however...they wont....eloquent words aren't allways that easy to sing. I've found that streching out a word (usually called melismatic writing...think Gregorian chant) of one or two syllables is much easer than trying to cram in a five syllable word like hypocondriac....so stick to simple words, when you can.

The best lyrics, I belive...as is the best poetry, are the ones that use as few words as possible...Why? Because, for one thing, whoever's gonna be singing the song isn't gonna want to recite the Gettysburg Address...nor are they going to want to sing nursery rhymes (which has been done...pretty much unsucessfuly, except in children's music). Not only that....but if your listener can't follow the lyric...you're just blowing out hot air, and losing half of the worth of your song.

There are exceptions, of course (one most recent: Blues Traveler's "Hook"..a most tastefully done work using *alot* of lyrics..) But the idea is to learn the rules, before you decide to break them.

I really don't want to say to much more about this....I'd rather hear what you have to say....but if you don't write back...I'll be forced to lecture on...and it'll be at all our losses...

Till next time...Sirwnai dda...