Technicalities

At the risk of making this blog too much about me, I’ll reveal this about Patty M: I feel torn sometimes between my “logical” mind (as a result of decades of immersion in the scientific realm) and my “artistic” mind (the one that just wants to goof off, be silly and play like a kid!). 

Well, let me put aside the “kid” for just a moment because - although I do believe songwriting benefits from a generous helping of both these mindsets - today I’d like to focus on the technical (“logical”, if you will) aspects of songwriting.

Songwriting is often described as a craft - and I think that’s accurate. Much as a pottery artist molds clay, a writer drafts a story outline, etc., there are technical skills that bring out the best in most artists. Same for songwriting, I believe. We, as songwriters, can sit and noodle on our instruments all day long until a song idea begins to bubble up, but when it finally does arrive, it’s time to take out the toolkit and have it ready to go.

So, what tools am I speaking of? Things like chord progression, melody, song form (verse, bridge, refrain, chorus), rhythm, harmony, and a whole raft of lyric considerations (like rhyme scheme, meter, point of view, etc.). 

Now, when I am writing a song, I do not necessarily wield these tools all at once. But they are always there in the background.

For example, I may come up with a nice four-line, perfect-rhyming (ABAB) set of words that will serve as a verse. Now what? Here’s when I begin to consider things like… should I start the song with this verse? Does it need a chorus? Or a refrain instead? Does the rhyme scheme serve the intention of this song? What kind of melody fits the mood I’m going for?

I probably don’t have the answers to all those questions this early in the process, but they are on my mind. And as I continue further into the songwriting process, the questions begin to get answered. Trial-and-error is a big part of this, too! I’ll mess around with a chorus, maybe with some unbalanced lines to make it “unstable” (per Pat Pattison’s terminology), but if that doesn’t work, I’ll try something else.

At the same time I am “engineering” the song, I am also letting the “kid” play - because seeing the kid play invites the Muse to come by and see what’s happenin’! I try to keep the persistent inner critic - that stink bug of the creative realm! - out of my way and let ideas, even wacky ones, have their moment in the sun.

And if I finish the song and it’s not quite right? I can let that song go, thank the Muse for the collaboration, and move on to the next one.

Or I can continue to edit the song. Which is a whole ‘nother process!

I never say songwriting is easy, but it is always interesting!