How not to write a song #ASinghLife
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Songwriting 101A

Songwriting 101A: How Not To Write A Song

All is Fair in Love and Songwriting

The above quotation (Norah Jones) just made me smile. I’ve recently started sculpting a song, along with my new singing teacher. The chorus melody as well as some of the words popped into my head while driving one day. Paranoid Me was quick to belt it out and record it on my mobile before it disppeared into the night, never to be heard again, or even be dreamt of.

I’ve tried to write songs before. I would write lyrics but get stuck without a decent melody.

Here are some tried and tested ways that will not help you to write a melody:

1) Bashing Your Head Against A Table.

Try it. Have you? Did you write a melody? That’s what I thought.

Ouch.

how not to write a song #ASinghLife

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deranged piano asinghlife
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Deranged Piano

Deranged Piano

It’s nights like these that I wish I’d bothered with music theory so that I could frantically play out all my frustration on the piano until 4am.

Play until my head is pounding,
hands are shaking and my neighbours’ ears
reverberate with the buried afterthoughts of their childhoods. ‪#‎deranged‬

 

My Dear Humans,
Please put down your phone, pay attention, and read this carefully:
Never, ever let the opportunity to learn music, music theory, or anything to do with music, pass you by. I’ve learnt <snort!> the hard way. It’s not pretty, realising at the age of 30 that my true passion lies in something that was presented to me my entire childhood, but I really just didn’t put enough work in, and snubbed it as boring or too difficult. Obviously, that is absolute nonsense. I have a real talent with no polish. Hard days and nights ahead!
 
Don’t let that happen to you.
Please.
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If you are a Mouse, be MIGHTY!

If you are a Mouse, be MIGHTY!

 

I believe that each person has infinite capacity.

While speaking with a colleague recently, we discussed some experiences we’d had with companies delivering rather poorly on customer expectations. We mentioned pretty standard activities that companies were simply failing to complete properly, one way or another.

Occurrences like those tend to irritate me quite a lot. I’ve always been highly passionate about customer service, and I believe many businesses simply aren’t focusing in the best place or simply don’t give a damn because they already have your money. Before this turns into a post about customer service, let me finish that thought with this idea: Dear Business, imagine your customer spends their money elsewhere. Imagine it. Now feel it. It’s happening, to you… because of you!

So, our conversation became a little negative and we shared some thoughts around whether people are competent and whether all people are capable of growing into a challenging work position given the opportunity.

It crossed my mind that I don’t tend to give humans enough credit, and it’s been viciously milling around in my mind ever since.

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