New Year, New Start: Stepping Out Of The Comfort Zone

Hi all,

Welcome to the first edition of “A Songwriters Journey” for 2010. With the New Year upon us many of us think about resolutions to improve ourselves. As songwriters, we may want to incorporate new ways to create music by getting out of our comfort zones.

When I think of “comfort zones” what comes to mind is the same old - same old tried and true ways we’ve come accustomed to writing songs. For instance, most often I approach songwriting the same way, with a guitar, a base lyric and develop a melody around that lyric, finally I tweak and tighten. Additionally, my songs have been Country oriented for the most part. But, sometimes you have to step out of the comfort zone to push the envelope on your creativity.

There are many ways to write songs and I have tried several in the past. The one common thing I have discovered by attacking songwriting from different angles is I generally come up with something out of pocket for me. Have you ever tried writing a new song with just a drum groove to get started? I have, the outcome was a Christian Rock tune, written awhile back. I enjoyed the experience so much I wrote another Christian Rock song using a similar approach. Besides getting a couple of songs out of the deal, the experience was a load of fun and took me somewhere else musically.

Here are some tips for moving the dial on your songwriting this year that I have utilized in the past…and will use in the coming year.

1. Try writing with different instruments than you would generally use for songwriting. I have written songs using drums, guitar, piano and bass as the primary instruments.

2. Have you considered writing simply using your voice (Accapella), I have, it works pretty good and it doesn’t lock you into a perceived chordal arrangement.

3. Change the genre that you commonly write in (Country, Pop, Rock Alternative etc…)

4. Change directions. If you commonly write a lyric before the melody, try the melody before the lyric.

5. If you write lyrics you may find yourself writing things that relate to you. If you are content with life, love and family, your lyrics may depict just that. As a lyricist, try moving the dial by approaching a subject from another point of view (think movie). I wrote a Christmas song for the “Tiny Angels, Songs Of Christmas Joy” project called “A Christmas Recipe”, the producer needed another female song to round out the CD, so I wrote a song from a young girls perspective. Talk about changing directions…no I don’t long to be a little girl :-), but I placed the pictures in my head from the perspective of a music video.

6. Co-writing is one of the best ways to “change” your sound and thought process. Co-writers bring different skills and perspectives to the table that you may not have and vice versa.


Anyways, I hope this month’s blog takes you out of your “comfort zone” and helps provide you with some ways to move the creative dial. As always, feel free to add more ways to keep the creative process flowing.

My best in 2010,
Ray

Christmas Songs, A Significant Songwriter Market

Welcome to this month’s edition of A Songwriters Journey. This month’s topic, well of course with Christmas coming up next month, I thought it might be worth discussing “Christmas” songs. Generally, I’m a bit of a “humbug” with the commercialization of Christmas, but I am a sucker for a great Christmas song and tend to enjoy the spiritual side of Christmas.

Christmas songs are packaged in many ways. Traditional classics, like “White Christmas” penned by the incomparable Irvin Berlin and originally made famous by Bing Crosby. The touching relatively new classic of Bob Carlisle’s “Christmas Shoes”, written by Leonard Ahlstrom and Eddie Carswell. Spiritual godsends, like “Mary, Did You Know” (Mark Lowry & Buddy Greene) and “It Wasn’t His Child” (Skip Ewing). There’s also plenty of room for colorful humorous songs like “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer” (Randy Brooks) or lighthearted fare like the classic “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (Johnny Marks).

As a songwriter, the one thing that stands out to me, is that these songs have been collectively recorded countless times, by a myriad of artists and are played religiously every year. Why is this important? Two words “residual income”. Residual income is income a songwriter continues to generate every time the song is cut and or played. With a Christmas hit, that means annually, a little more in the songwriters pocket. Additionally, Christmas hit songs tend to “snowball” in popularity as they hang around, becoming classics. So the song tends to have a life of its own.

I’ve got to say, as much as I like the classics, there’s nothing like a fresh, quality new Christmas song. I wish more artists would take the time to sprinkle more fresh material into their CD projects. I’ve heard many excellent undiscovered Christmas songs from various songwriters I’ve met along the ways. And, although some of these songs have been recorded countless times, as stated earlier, generally their is a specific artist that seems to “owns it”; such as, Bing Crosby “White Christmas”, Bob Carlisle “Christmas Shoes” and Gene Autry “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer”. What artist wouldn’t want to be the “own it” artist for a Christmas classic? The best way for an artist to get there is to start fresh…Bing Crosby already owns “White Christmas”…time to move on. As an artist, find yourself an untapped fresh new classic, your own “White Christmas”.

This “humbug” has found some Christmas serenity in writing Christmas songs. I’ve put pen to paper on a few Christmas songs and waiting for that artist who will “own it” and turn it into a new Christmas classic. In the mean time, slow down and take some time to enjoy the spirit of Christmas and enjoy a few of these potential future Christmas classics from the songwriter website Songramp.com.


First Christmas Day
©2006 Gabriel Heiser and Donna Valentine

A Night Like This
©Denille Spears

Wait by the Window
© Copyright Matt Moran

Christmas For My Missus
© 2003 Blake Hill (BMI), Janice Messer (BMI) & Paul Buckles (BMI)

No Room
© Copyright 2008 Ray Fontenault (BMI), Pegasus Music New Zealand

O Holy Child
© Copyright Tammy Edwards

Sweet Child of Mine
© Copyright Peter Simensky

O Bethlehem
©Denille Spears

My Christmas Card to You
Copyright © Emstone Music Publishing (BMI)

This Christmas
© 2005 Danie Lee Starr

Santa Samba
Copyright © Ross Douglas SOCAN

Pop-Pop-Popcorn
© 2004(p)2007 Roka Records

Let's Keep Christ In Our Christmas
© 2008 Russ Pruitt; Ron Pruitt


Here’s a couple of Christmas CDs chock full of original material.
Bramsar Records, Tiny Angels - Songs Of Christmas Joy
Fun2Know Music, This Time Of Year