IndieSongwriter.net

A little while ago, I was interviewed by Sean McGaughey for his For the Sake of the Song podcast.

He asked me why I started Songwright, and why I was blogging about the theory and structures we use in songwriting. Despite this site having been up since last summer, until Sean asked me, I hadn’t really given it much thought. Songwriting is something I love, something I’ve done since I picked up a guitar, so it seemed obvious to start writing about it too.

But he asked, and I had to find an answer. I’ve thought about it a little more, and decided to share some of the reasons for Songwright’s existence. Here’s the first:

1. I love songwriting.

I love vocal music. But being a musician, rather than just a fan I love it in ways that non-musicians might not. Why? Because there are different ways to listen to a piece of music. You can just listen to the words, and enjoy them. You can hear the music, let it take you on an emotional journey, not thinking, only feeling.

That’s how most people listen to music and there’s nothing wrong with that.

But I’ve found I get a whole new level of pleasure if I know what’s behind the sounds I’m hearing. Hearing that unusual chord or key change is good, but knowing exactly what the change is, that’s even better. It’s like the difference between an ordinary person and an architect when entering a well designed building. The ordinary punter knows it’s a good space to be and enjoys it, but the architect understands all the structural details, the use of space, light, materials, airflow and design. They see the building differently, appreciate the craft in a way that the ordinary member of the public never will, and never needs to.

Music is like that too. The more you know about what’s happening, the more involved you can become, more moved, more attuned, more within the piece.

So one of the motivations for Songwright is to share my love of the architecture of songs.

So many blogs

There are already blogs about personal songwriting, songwriting circles, songwriting diaries, songwriting interviews, music business (so many of them), music technology, even songwriting zen and samurai songwriting.

There aren’t a great deal of blogs about songwriting architecture, about the craft of song, particularly if you want to talk about something other than lyrics. Songwright, in a small way, is supposed to be about for that.

There are other reasons, but I’ll share those at a later date.

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