The Songwriter

The songwriter –
Creating songs, being a songwriting is the life blood of the music industry – it’s creative core. An honorable profession, perhaps not easily taught. Not simply about the technical, but about ideas, art and poetry in words and music. Perhaps a riff will develop a mood – or a bass line – or melody.
A songwriter someone who writes the lyrics as well the musical composition or melody to songs. Songwriters may perform the songs they write themselves, or they may write for somebody else to perform. People who sing their own songs are nowadays typically called singer songwriters also serve as their own music publishers, while others have outside publishers. Songs in pop music are often written by staff writers; songwriters directly employed by music publishers. Songwriting and publishing royalties can be a substantial source of income, particularly if a song becomes a hit record.
McCartney talked about writing with Lennon on the radio and more –“Songwriting is my hobby. I might strum the guitar see where I go with it, follow the road. I don’t like it to be work.. melody, words, middle eight, get to the end all in one go. We’d have ideas, bounce off each other. Write a song in 2 or 3 hours – John on one side of the piano me on the other – or twin beds and 2 guitars in the hotel room. Back then we’d be given a whole week off to write new songs, and we thought that was great. Nearly all our songs start with a line from books or newspapers.”

To write poems and travel to sing them is to return to the tradition of the ‘troubadour minstrels of the middle ages.’

Great Art - a great photograph/song/ poem/ should – ‘delight the eye/ear and kindle the imagination’.
I read about new artists who’ve been songwriters since they were six. Nothing wrong with starting young but not sure what they have to tell me at such a young age?! The hard part about being an artist is having something new to say and that takes years and years.

What is The Song?

Song have keys, harmonies, rhythms, scales and structure. Many popular song follow a clear format - verse/ chorus/ bridge ( builds with a new harmonic pattern/ connection, or pre-chorus). Chorus often contrasts melodically. Songs have chord progressions/ changes called cadences - they can follow familiar or unfamiliar patterns and developments. . Harmony adds depth and emotional dimensions.

‘The Folk Ballads’ were passed on orally and often expressed national or cultural identities. They were stories that were passed down the generations through singing .

In the 17^th century the poem and song fell away from each other and by the end the century most poems were to be printed and read silently. Sir Walter Scott was a pioneer collector of folk ballads. Francis Child (1880) collected over 300 authentic ballads and many are still sung today.