Songwriting Zen

As of tomorrow (Thursday July 3rd) I’m going away for some well earned R&R for a few days.

I’m not going to be blogging until Monday July 7th which also means that I’ll be three days into my 50/90 challenge when I return.

My intention over the break is to relax, enjoy myself and not be near any computer and mobile phone for that time. I will make one exception though.

If a songwriting idea comes into my head I’ll be phoning my answering machine either at home or the office and leaving a message. I’m anticipating a lot of songwriting ideas on my return.

What a way to catch up on the three days I’m missing out on.

You know I’ve probably said this before but the answering machine is one of the best songwriting tools around.

There are some situations when it’s not very practical to carry a recording device or even a notepad around with you however, you’ll always have your mobile phone (or cellphone if you’re in the states) close by.

When a songwriting idea pops in your head just excuse yourself and use it.

Call home and hum the idea. Beatbox the rhythm if you have to. Do whatever you can to preserve the moment.

That’s what I’ll be doing.

To all you taking on the 50/90 challenge I wish you all the best. Lets all help and support each other to achieve whatever goals we set for ourselves. My biggest challenge is not musical ideas but writing lyrics.

Any lyricists out there that want to help me out, let me know. In the meantime, my getaway awaits.

See you all Monday.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: fawm, 50/90, 50 song challenge, songwriting contest, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting resource, songwriting blog, corey stewart

As I mentioned last week in “My First Guitar Lesson - An Introduction” I’m getting lessons with my good friend and very talented guitarist and songwriter Cal Williams Jr.

Last weeks lesson was a chance for Cal to discover what I knew and what I didn’t know.

We covered a lot of groundwork and by the end of the lesson my brain was starting to hurt however, I was surprised by how much information my hurting brain was retaining.

Cal asked me what I wanted from the lessons and then we got onto scales. The limit of my lead guitar playing at this stage consisted of three things:

• A major scale
• A fractured version of a pentatonic scale
• An assortment of licks and riffs

In one lesson I learnt a G major pentatonic scale, a G minor pentatonic scale and something called a “Major pentatonic third finger ascending slide in G Major”.

Whew! What a mouthful.

This week we got really stuck into scales. By the end of the lesson I was able to play a G Major pentatonic scale in five different positions (albeit very badly) which will eventually enable me to play all over the fretboard.

Now, if this sounds confusing well, join the club. I’m still coming to terms with all this information as well but it’s interesting what I’ve been able to pick up along the way.

With this new found knowledge I now know what to practise, what I want to achieve in my practise and how to go about achieving what I want to achieve.

This was something that, as a self taught guitarist, I was never able to do effectively.

How does this help me with my songwriting I hear you say…

Well, a better understanding of the relationship between notes, chords and the guitar fetboard itself will help me find melody and structure in my guitar playing which in turn enables a more efficiant translation of songwriting ideas from my head to paper.

I love the way that Cal explains things and backs them up with practical examples. He is a teacher who is still in love with his instrument. A very rare breed indeed.

I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: guitar lesson, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting resource, songwriting blog, corey stewart

Now that I’ve registered for FAWM’s 50/90 Challenge (50 songs in 90 days) starting on July 4th, I better start preparing myself for the task ahead.

One of the biggest challenges I see myself battling in 50/90 is having to come up with constant flashes of inspiration all the time.

Through my experiences and lots of online research, I’ve come up with or discovered a number of ways to court the muse however, you can never have too many of these techniques at your disposal can you?

I was talking to a couple of writer friends about this on the weekend and they both said to me that they have a book or a website of writing prompts on hand to turn on their brain’s inspiration switch.

Writing prompts! Hmmm, I needed to look into this concept a bit further.

From my research, writing prompts are little snippets of information that a writer can use to start a work of prose, poetry or whatever.

I typed in “writing prompts” in Google and the first site on the search results was www.creativewritingprompts.com.

What I found was a site specifically geared towards creative writers and journallers with over 300 prompts on the front page.

I thought I’d pick a prompt at random and see what it said. I chose number 29 (my lucky number).

“Begin a 500 word piece on… ‘If I had the power to change something, I would change…’”

Using this prompt I could see myself using the 500 word piece as a means to create a song on how I can facilitate change in my life.

Using external stimuli like writing prompts, mindmaps, oblique strategies, newspaper headlines and brainstorming possible song titles to set your creative wheels in motion is essential not only in completing the 50/90 challenge but in maintaining your own songwriting process in general.

If ever there was a time for me to exercise my songwriters mind, it would be now.

Here are five other writing/journaling prompts sites to consider:

Writers Digest - Writing Prompts

Journaling Prompts

Random Daily Writing Prompt Generator

Over 700 Journal Prompts

Creative Writing Prompts

In ten minutes I found these links by typing in “writing prompts” or “journal prompts” in Google. However, when I typed in “songwriting prompts” I found nothing.

What a great idea! A writing prompt site for songwriters. Must look into that one.

If there are any other writing prompt sites that you want to share with me please let me know. In the meantime wish me luck for the 50/90 challenge. If you want to join me, register online.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: fawm, 50/90, 50 song challenge, songwriting contest, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting resource, songwriting blog, corey stewart

Here is an update from the USA Songwriting Competition for you. If you’re still considering your entry you better be quick.

****************************************

There are just a few days left to enter the 2008 USA Songwriting Competition, this is the last chance to enter this year.

Win a top prize of $50,000 worth of cash and merchandise such as cool gear from Sony, Ibanez Guitars, D’Addario Strings, Peavey, Audio-Technica and more. Also, have your winning songs played on radio! Enter in Pop, Rock/Alt, Folk, R&B, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Instrumental, etc.

Since 1995, USA Songwriting Competition has been honoring songwriters from all over the world. Winners came from Australia, Japan, Canada, UK, Germany, Brazil, South Africa, USA, etc.

Past winners have gotten recording contracts, getting their songs on film, TV as well as getting cuts with major artists. The 2005 Winner of the country category had his winning song cut by Faith Hill.

The 2005 winner of the pop catgeory was signed by MySpace/Interscope records.

Hurry! All entries must be entered by June 30th or earlier. The entry form can be found at:
http://www.songwriting.net/entryform.html

Or enter online here with your MP3:
http://online.songwriting.net

Or through Broadjam at (**Enter now and get a FREE 6 month Broadjam MoB membership, worth $25.00, only through the Broadjam link here):
http://www.broadjam.com/contests/details/contest/index.php?contest_id=741

****************************************

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: songwriting contest, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting resource, songwriting blog, corey stewart

If you’re an avid online researcher for all things songwriting as I am, you might have come across a wonderful concept called FAWM.

It stands for “February Album Writing Month” and the idea is that you write an albums worth of material in the month of February. This equates to writing a song every second day.

FAWM started in 2003 and for the past five years it’s successfully inspired songwriters from all walks of life and skill levels to get out of their comfort zones and chase after the muse rather than wait for it to happen.

To me it looks like FAWM embraces the concepts of Songwriting Zen and puts it into practise.

A couple of days ago I found out that the creators of FAWM have devised another songwriting exercise called 50/90.

That’s 50 songs in 90 days from July 4th to October 1st.

According to the 50/90 website the 50 song challenge is:

“… a group whose purpose is to challenge members to write 50 songs in 90 days. Between July 4 and October 1 of any year, in the company of others, you can engage in some harmless songwriting mayhem. The prize is the pride in writing songs that may never have been written otherwise.”

What a fantastic way to try out all of the different things you’ve picked up from reading this blog.

I’m going for it and so should you.

I registered with the 50/90 site yesterday so all I have to do now is  wait for July 4th and start putting what I write into practise.

Not that I haven’t been doing that anyway but even for me, just the thought of putting down 50 songs in 90 days seems like a daunting task. However, it’s a challenge I’ll take on with great pride.

What a great way to face your songwriting fears and battle your inner critic head on.

Consider registering for the 50/90 challenge. We can do it together.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: fawm, 50/90, 50 song challenge, songwriting contest, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting resource, songwriting blog, corey stewart

Here is the second part of the songwriting workshop I conducted last Tuesday for SCALA (Songwriters, Composers & Lyricists Association) called “How To Win A Songwriting Competition - The Role Of A Songwriting Judge”.

One of the things I love about SCALA’s FOOM (Festival Of Original Music) Song Competition is the fact that, as a judge I get to make comments and give constructive feedback on every song I judge.

Furthermore, these comments are given back to the entrant so the amount of accountability in what feedback I give is immense.

Some competitions don’t do this and if they do, you have to pay for it.

Here are the notes I was using for the “Role Of A Songwriting Judge” section of the latest SCALA Songwriting Workshop.

It’s my hope that this gives you a bit more of an insight of the other side of song contests.

****************************************

The Role Of A Songwriting Judge
By Corey Stewart
www.songwritingzen.com

From my experience, the role of any songwriting judge is to be:

1. Objective at all times
The overall brief that I receive before judging FOOM is “judge the song, not the performance”. I must say that this is a very challenging brief to uphold. But it’s a brief I take very, very seriously.

As a FOOM judge I can’t allow my personal feelings towards a certain type of music or songwriter (if I happen to know them personally) get in the way of the job at hand.

If, for some reason there’s a conflict of interest I’m expected to disclose it. My job is to pick the best song(s) regardless of performance, genre and/or personnel.

2. Encouraging and freely giving of information
On the FOOM page of the SCALA website it reads:

“Whilst we encourage judges to provide feedback they are under no obligation to do so (but most judges do provide some feedback). Feedback sheets are returned (along with lyrics) to each entrant. Entrants are reminded that any such feedback represents only the view of the individual judges and usually is offered as a general guide only.”

Personally, giving comments on the feedback sheets is the very thing that I take the most seriously of all. It’s the thing that keeps me coming back to judging FOOM every year.

I love being able to have the opportunity to freely give encouraging and constructive feedback about the song I’m judging.

Through the feedback sheets, the FOOM entrant will know who I am and that I’ve presided over their song so I better make sure I give them information that they can use to improve what they’ve already written.

It’s a big responsibility but it’s one I embrace wholeheartedly.

3. Constructive in feedback
There is a huge difference between constructive feedback and negative feedback disguised as constructive.

Its one thing to be able to give feedback freely to songwriters but if the feedback is negative and destructive then it’s really not worth giving at all.

When I give feedback I always try to find at least one positive thing about the song and use that as an anchor for the rest of the feedback. There are ways of saying a song is not as good as it could be without destroying the very soul of the songwriter who wrote it.

As long as the feedback is balanced and the recipient knows that the feedback comes from a place of love, respect and encouragement for the songwriter and his/her craft then it’s okay to give it.

FOOM is about encouraging the writing of new material not the destruction of it.

At the end of the day, it’s not Australian or American Idol.

****************************************

At the end of the day a winning song in a song contest had jumped through many hoops to get to its final destination.

It has been evaluated, re-evaluated, listened to many times and in some cases been the topic of animated discussions between judges.

It’s hard for any human being to be 100% objective about anything. We are judgemental creatures of habit that crave security over change and stability over chaos.

Songwriting judges are no different.

Bear in mind that if you enter a song in a song contest don’t use it as a measure of your self esteem, use it as a learning experience. If you get any feedback, cherish and embrace it as a means to improve your craft.

I will do my best through Songwriitng Zen to keep you informed about any songwriting competitions that come my way. If you have any positive or negative songwriting contest experiences, let me know.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: songwriting contest, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting resource, songwriting blog, corey stewart

Last night I gave a songwriting workshop for SCALA (Songwriters, Composers & Lyricists Association) called “How To Win A Songwriting Competition - The Role Of A Songwriting Judge”.

The reason why I wanted to give such a workshop was for two reasons:

1. Entries for SCALA’s FOOM (Festival Of Original Music) Song Competition close on June 30th and I want more people to enter.

2. I’m part of the judging panel for FOOM 2008 and I want prospective entrants to know what happens on the other side of these competitions. I also wanted to share some personal guidelines of what song qualities attract my attention as a judge.

I split the night into three parts. I first of all spoke about my opinions on the role of a songwriting judge. Secondly I went through the “How To Win A Songwriting Competition” guidelines and for the last section of the night the group workshopped and gave collective feedback on submitted songs.

I’ll be posting the “Role Of A Songwriting Judge” shortly but for now here’s “How To Win A Songwriting Competition” for your enjoyment.

****************************************

How To Win A Songwriting Competition?
By Corey Stewart
www.songwritingzen.com

In reality, no-one can ever lay really claim to have the formula for winning a song competition.

However, from my experience as a songwriitng judge there are some guidelines for you to consider as you’re putting in your entry.

1. Make your song uniquely you – There’s nothing wrong with writing a love song just as long as the song comes from your unique perspective on life, your experiences and the world around you and not from a book of clichés.

We are all unique individuals so why shouldn’t our songs reflect this fact?

2. Keep your songs as simple as you can – There’s no need to write “War & Peace” to music. Try to keep one idea to one song.

3. Engage and involve your listener – I personally like a song that has a flow to it. I like a song that I can follow from start to finish.

If you’re going to describe something allow me to picture it in my mind. If you’re going to tell a story, use your song to hold my hand and walk me through it.

4. Know your song formats – Make sure your verse is actually a verse and a chorus is actually a chorus. Each part of a song has a particular function. Be aware of this when you’re writing.

Differentiate between verse and choruses. Don’t be afraid to put in a bridge or middle 8 if your needs it.

5. Don’t clutter up your arrangement – The two most important aspects of a song are its lyrics and melody. Everything else (the song arrangement) should be supporting not opposing these two things.

6. Pay attention to the rhythm of your words – For me, nothing turns me off a song more than a clumsy lyrical delivery. I’m not talking about a performance issue; I’m talking about the poor singer having too many words to sing in a song.

Songs that capture the listener’s attention generally have lyrics that follow general speech patterns. Unless you want to use a word as a hook (as in Rhianna’s UM-BER-REL-LA) make sure that the way your lyrics are sung is as close to regular speech as possible.

7. Keep your song as long as it needs to be – There is such a thing as a song that is too long for its own good. I see them all the time.

Extending your songs by having long intro’s, outro’s, instrumentals and lots of chorus repeats screams to a songwriting judge “PADDING”.

Don’t do it.

8. Do the best recording and performance you possibly can – The quality of a recording and how it’s visually and aurally presented tells a songwriting judge lot about a song.

Remember, the only way to judge a song is to listen to it.

By doing the best recording and performance of your song that you possibly can with the time and budget that you have at your disposal will give your song the best chance of being heard.

There have been times where I couldn’t (or refused to) judge a song because I couldn’t understand the lyrics or couldn’t physically hear the music.

Put your songs best foot forward. Take pride in what you do and do the best you can with what you have.

****************************************

I know that these guidelines are only that, just guidelines. At the end of the day there are no rules in songwriting.

As soon as rules and formula are developed you can bet that someone is going to come along and become the exception to those rules.

If there’s any other guidelines you want to add please let me know.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting resource, songwriting blog, corey stewart

After 22 years of playing guitar I had my first guitar lesson today and I really, really enjoyed it.

I’ve wanted to get guitar lessons for a long time. There are a number of reasons for this:

1. I want to know what I don’t know about playing the guitar
2. I want to be more purposeful, strategic and disciplined in my guitar practise
3. I want to play better lead guitar
4. I want to sharpen up and test out my theoretical knowledge
5. I’m ready to go the next step with my guitar playing
6. I want to be challenged and inspired

However, wanting to learn guitar and doing it seemed to be a very challenging proposition. As soon as I made the decision to get lessons all of these questions and seeds of doubt started creeping into my head.

How am I going to find the time?

Did I really need to get lessons?

Was it worth me getting lessons?

Will guitar lessons destroy my creativity?

It was exhausting just trying to keep up with all of this chatter but as soon as I realised that it was coming from my inner critic and not from any sense of reality, I strengthened my resolve and went ahead anyway.

My lessons are every Tuesday morning at 10am. My tutor is a very good friend of mine and gifted guitarist and writer Cal Williams Jr.

For me, making the time for lessons used the same concept as making the time to write songs. If you want to do something badly enough you’ll move Heaven and Earth to accommodate your desire.

I made the time by not going to the office until midday which means I also get to sleep-in which is a bonus.

I generally rehearse on Tuesday nights so I stay at the office to compensate the late start and go to rehearsal from there rather than from home.

Simple really.

When I mentioned my desire to get guitar lessons to my friends they all said “Why?” I just said “Why not?”

What I’m saying here is that as soon as you start thinking that you’ve learnt all you need to learn about your craft whether it be songwriting, guitar playing or whatever, you stop progressing and start dying.

Knowledge is like a muscle. It starts to wither if you don’t use it.

I was starting to think that what I was playing on guitar was starting to sound the same and I didn’t want that for my self, my audience and for my songs.

Getting lessons is only going to enhance my songwriting and my ability to collaborate with others.

I’m going to start a guitar lesson journal as part of Songwriting Zen mainly so I can internalise what I’ve learnt and to also share some of my new found knowledge with all of you.

You’re going to hear a lot more about Cal Williams Jr in future posts but I will save that for another time.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: songwriting and the guitar, songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting resource, songwriting blog, corey stewart

In my post “A Change In My Creative Environment” I was writing about the office/studio I had just moved into and how this new space was positively affecting my work.

Some of you wanted to see pictures (JP where are you?).

Well, here they are.

I’m just about ready to hook up the studio. I’ll keep you all posted on it’s progress.

Until next time, happy writing

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting resource, songwriting blog, corey stewart

I received this yesterday from the USA Songwriting Competition. I thought that you would appreciate the heads up.

The deadline for the competition has been extended so, if you thought it was too late to get your entry in, now is the time. You have until June 30th.

****************************************

The 2008 USA Songwriting Competition deadline has extended till June 30, 2008. The deadline is due to a credit card computer glitch on Sonicbids.com on May 30th.

Win a top prize of $50,000 worth of cash and merchandise such as cool gear from Sony, Ibanez Guitars, D’Addario Strings, Peavey, Audio-Technica and more. Also, have your winning songs played on radio!

Enter in Pop, Rock/Alt, Folk, R&B, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Instrumental, etc.

Since 1995, USA Songwriting Competition has been honoring songwriters from all over the world.

Winners came from Australia, Japan, Canada, UK, Germany, Brazil, South Africa, USA, etc. Past winners have gotten recording contracts, getting their songs on film, TV as well as getting cuts with major artists.

The 2005 Winner of the country category had his winning song cut by Faith Hill. The 2005 winner of the pop catgeory was signed by MySpace/Interscope records.

All entries must be entered by June 30th or earlier. The entry form can be found at:
http://www.songwriting.net/entryform.html

Or enter online here with your MP3:
http://online.songwriting.net

Or through Broadjam here

(Enter now and get a FREE 6 month Broadjam MoB membership, worth $25.00, only through the Broadjam link)

****************************************

Good luck to all participants and may the best songs win.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting idea, songwriting resource, songwriting blog, corey stewart