Curious how a song is written? I am starting a film series on how I write songs using the Story-to-Song method. Here is the introduction! Stay tuned for more…
Tag: songwriting
Layers and layers
Composing a Story-to-Song is a multi-faceted approach to songwriting. It is not only writing a song but also discovering and revealing layers of truth from a person’s story. In one story, there can be many layers of meaning, and it is my job as a composing guide to try to find the meaning that will…
A difficult song to write
How do you write a song about the Holocaust? This is a question I asked myself when I was approached by a woman who wanted to give her mother, a Holocaust survivor, the gift of a song. My response was to welcome to the opportunity, but inside the seeds of doubt began to take root….
A need for sharing our stories
Time banks are on the rise, and a skill I am offering to my community is that of songwriting. I offered a songwriting demonstration at the Merrimack Valley Time Exchange Skills Showcase last night in downtown Lowell at the LTC. It was a work night, but many folks came out to participate. I played a…
And the beat goes on
My days off from work are fast becoming a time for songwriting in the STS tradition. Thus far in my experience creating songs from spoken stories, I have worked with people in my community and beyond, as well as from people who are no longer living but whose stories have been captured on film in…
The Past Is Close Behind: A Holocaust Story-to-Song
This past week, I began my first post-doc Story-to-Song. I spent a few hours on a Tuesday afternoon working with a woman (I will call her Amy) who was the sole member of her family to survive the Holocaust. Her daughter (I will call her Dana) had attended a program offered by Lowell National Historical…
Songwriting Step III: The painful part
The third step in a Story-to-Song is to sing. This is the part that is my least favorite. My inner critic tends to be at its most powerful and convincing at this early stage of the songwriting process. This is also the roughest of cuts. I gently tap the red record button on my ipod…
Songwriting Step II: Making the words appear singable
The next step in the Story-to-Song process is to prepare the text for the first singthrough. I take that big block of words all strung together and shape it to look like one long poem. This essentially means looking at the text and imagining reading or singing a line of words. Inhale, speak or sing…
The ukulele is juuuuuuuuust right
It took me about 30 years to find the instrument that was the perfect fit for me. I grew up playing piano in the classical tradition, which involved a strict adherence to historic interpretation of pieces from many incredible composers. While the sound of Prokofiev continues to tug at my heart strings, I am finding…
An unexpected meeting
I have never been one to rely too heavily on ideas like destiny or fate, but discovering the ukulele may very well be one of those indescribable phenomena that shapes our lives ever after. I was attending a writing workshop in Eastern Oregon when the fateful moment occurred. Two musicians, Kate Power and Steve Einhorn,…
Guiding Song 