Quick Harmonic Tips for the Songwriter
You don’t have to have a degree in music theory to write harmonic progressions that underscore your lyric well. But writing harmonies that speak the same message as a lyric and inspire the listener to...
View ArticleSimple Tools for Better Melodies
A great melody always makes a song more memorable. It sounds obvious to say, but it is amazing how often we put emphasis on other elements of the song such as groove or lyric, taking melody for...
View ArticleTips for Finishing Songs
One of the most frustrating problems we experience as songwriters is difficulty finishing songs. We might get stuck at the chorus, or maybe after the first chorus. Perhaps verses leave us feeling we...
View ArticleTips for Writing Better Lyrics
In my opinion, the most powerful tool a songwriter has is the ability to write using sensory language. Sensory language is the language that uses touch, taste, sight, sound, smell, and movement. When...
View ArticleGive Up to Gain
Give Up to Gain In my humble opinion, one of the main reasons we performing songwriters become frustrated with our lack of progress is that we’re unwilling to make sacrifices in order to make gains....
View ArticleEasy Tools for Better Melodies
I’d like to talk a bit more in detail about melody writing, and specifically, the rhythm of the melody. Simply put, melody is rhythm plus pitch. The pitch tells us what note to sing, and the rhythm...
View ArticleHow to Write Songs with Groove
How to To Write Songs with Groove Some genres of music are driven largely by groove. If we are not accustomed to writing with groove in mind, it can be difficult to push our songwriting into this...
View ArticleTools for Finishing More Songs
One of the most frustrating problems we experience as songwriters is difficulty finishing songs. We might get stuck at the chorus, or maybe after the first chorus. Perhaps versus leave us feeling we...
View ArticleHow to Build A Team
The typical performing songwriter is both the man-power behind and the face in front of a business built from the ground up. It’s our job to not only be inspired and create, but to understand who...
View ArticleStudent Spotlight ‘Rhett Kay’
Rhett Kay, a former student of Berklee Online, is a songwriter from New York, with a wonderful lyric sense for pop and country styles. I’d like to use a few examples from her songs to highlight some...
View ArticleSimple Piano Tips for Songwriters
In my experience working with singer-songwriters, a topic that often emerges is how to use simple and strong instrumental techniques to express our songs. Some of the songwriters I work with our...
View ArticleBecoming Unique
I’ll be totally honest here. Much of what we singer-songwriters write and perform is a duplication of what has already been written and performed. Very few of us are devotedly trying to become truly...
View ArticleVisceral Language in Poetry and Lyric
On a trip to Boston earlier this year, I enjoyed the ease and convenience of Uber to make my way into Back Bay each morning. On one such trip I met a very insightful doctoral candidate driving my Uber...
View ArticleHow to Get Better Feedback On Your Songs
A friend of mine recently expressed frustration that she doesn’t get useful feedback on her songs. The kind of feedback she gets is too general, and she sometimes suspects it’s candy coated. Phrases...
View Article5 Steps to Start Writing Lyrics
If you’ve never written lyrics before, it can be overwhelming to imagine where to start. From my online students, I often hear how relieving it is to bring structure and tools into the mix as we delve...
View ArticleHow to Find a Collaborator
How to Find a Great Collaborator There are a lot of reasons why finding collaborators is difficult. Maybe we don’t feel ready, don’t know how or where to find them, or even don’t like to collaborate...
View ArticleTips for Writing Big Message Songs
There are two topics they say never to bring up with your inlaws – religion and politics. Funny enough, those same topics carry some baggage for songwriters, too, though not for the same reasons....
View Article5-Minute Tips to Better Songs
Sometimes songwriting can feel like pushing a boulder uphill. But songwriting tools help us work through difficult songs or plateaus in our writing. These tools are like good collaborators, always...
View ArticleSmall Moments Write the Song
If you’ve been writing songs very long, you may have heard how important ‘imagery’ can be in songwriting. We use imagery to draw the listener into a small moment, to engage the senses in the story....
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