Problem child?
[Heidi writes]
A bit of a revelatory morning for me at SWF…
Taking my seat in the University Theatre to the strains of Girls Aloud (SWF truly embraces a broad range of genres). The topics for today included deconstructing hits. While this sounded interesting – I had no idea it was about to sort out a particular songwriting problem that has been plaguing me for months.
Joe's Lecture on Songwriting Structure
Part of the talk centered on AABA songs, which have fairly strict conventions about title placement, bar lengths, even how long the song itself song is. We were given a live demonstration of several Jazz standards including the song ‘Making Whoopee’ written in 1928 and ‘Yesterday’ by the Beatles. While the form is more often used in older songs, it still pops up in contemporary hits like Nora Jones’ ‘Don’t Know Why I Didn’t Come’.
This got me thinking about a particular “problem child” song of mine. You know the ones – you feel in your bones you have really good idea, but you just can’t seem to make the song flow. Because I had positioned my title at the end of each verse and chorus, I wondered if what I’d been thinking of as a Verse/Chorus song could in reality be an AABA song. After the talk, I sat down to have a go at reworking the structure. By cutting one chorus, adjusting the lyric and repositioning the instrumental break, the song sounds so much better as an AABA. RESULT! For the first time, the song seems to be fully working and I really, really like it.
Heidi
Day One 2010
Airing a new song near the Castle end of the University campus
Today’s introductory blog is a collective effort from Rachel, Mark, Heidi and Matt – the SWF volunteers. It’s our job to keep up a running commentary on all the exciting things that are already happening – and to generally help out wherever we can. From today we’ll be walking about campus, armed with cameras, laptops and vast quantities of sheer brazen noisiness. The three of us have been attending the Masters Degree course in Songwriting at BSU this year, so it was great to see so many of our “tribe” in one place!
Sunday night at Burdall’s Yard in Bath gave the songwriters a chance to make introductions – and also to hear some fantastic songs from the tutors. It was wonderful to see so many songwriters all in the same place! Andy White finished off the evening and your friendly bloggers were impressed not only with his songs, but also with his stomp box. We all want one.
After breakfast on Monday everyone trouped into the theatre for a really insightful introductory talk from Joe Bennett on the nature of songwriting – and what to expect from this week. He reminded us that this week is all about supporting songwriters of all styles and types… songwriters of all ranges of experience from the beginner to the more experienced songwriters.
Joe paused for a moment to give everyone a chance to get a little better acquainted by finding out a bit more about each other. The questions included; “Who’s your favourite songwriter? What’s your favourite song? How would you describe your songs? At this point, the buzz in the room rose to a bit of a roar. This seemed an audible sign of just how passionate everyone is about music and songwriting.
It was amazing to learn that 270 songs will be written this week – though as yet, none of us yet know what these will sound like. It sounds like it’s going to be an intensive week, but also be great fun. We were warned that sleep might become a highly prized commodity – because everyone will be so immersed in writing songs and learning new skills. Joe also asked us to keep in mind that, “a good songwriter is a good song re-writer. The first idea may not be the best, so stay open minded that we are always rewriting until the song cannot be made any better.”
Two of our favourite moments of the morning were (1) when one of the songwriters asked if there would be a bar to oil the wheels for the evening performances? Joe replied, with a sigh, “In our experience, we’ve found that songwriters prefer herbal tea and mineral water.” Which was met by horrified gasps – until everyone realised Joe was just indulging in a mass leg-pull. Then, (2) when everyone was calling out their suggestions for song titles… we were particularly taken by ‘From the Word Go’, ‘Slamming Doors’ and the intriguing ‘Mini Bongo’.
Outdoor rehearsal at the SWF café.
During the day, while the songwriters got to grips with meeting the tutors in their groups and sharing songs for the first time, we volunteers have been out and about. Our day has consisted of filming the first day and conducting interviews with the small clusters of collaborators, songwriters and tutors – and lone songwritings wherever we found them all over the beautiful BSU grounds. There were people sitting under trees or lying on the lawns with their guitars (and laptops!). Imagine our delight when we came upon two songwriters with a three-quarters finished rendition of the evolving ‘Mini Bongo’. Excellent song, too!
So here we are in the little office (our home from home for the week), pooling our experiences and pulling all of the images and notes we’ve collected through the day. All of the participating songwriters seem to have had a wonderful, creative and insightful day. The feedback from everyone is how much they are enjoying the feedback from the tutors. The words “insightful”, “approachable”, “supportive” – and “hilarious” have all been used.
Camouflaged songwriter!
Coming across the songwriters today in the act of making songs, we can’t help but be impressed with the talent we’ve seen so far…and just how lovely and friendly everyone is. One of the songwriters told us Newton Park campus must be the most creative place on earth this week. She reckons it will glow in the dark. We can’t wait to hear what emerges over the week. The first taste of everyone’s music will come this evening!
If you’re ready…?
SWF 2010 begins tomorrow! We’re all getting very excited – we’ll have 50+ songwriters, a 4-piece house band, 10-strong studio team, a big support team and (if my calculations are correct) over 250 songs yet to be written.
This year we’re using two sites – our main Newton Park campus (right) and our exciting new nightclub venue Burdall’s Yard, where we’ll be having our launch event on Sunday 15th August and our gig and Q&A on the 19th with this week’s guest Eddi Reader, who will also be contributing to our songwriters’ demo panel on the Thursday morning.
After the launch event evening, it all kicks off proper at 10am on the 16th, with an introductory lecture, some song analysis, a playback session, then the first creative task. No hangovers, please!
You can follow us on Twitter and, if you’re a participant, you can join in using the #swf10 hashtag.
Master’s degree in Songwriting
Hi all,
SWF 2009 - Final Performance Night!
We’re very excited to announce that the University’s Master’s degree in Songwriting has a new home, in the form of a purpose-built songwriters’ studio at our Corsham Court campus. The next enrolment is for September 2010 and we’re taking applications (subject to interview and songwriting portfolio) from now.
To find out more about the course visit http://www.MASongwriting.com.
You might also want to check out Pat McIntyre’s blog – he’s a student on the course (2009-10).
SWF 2010 – now booking!
SWF 2009 - Final Performance Night!
We’re now taking bookings for SWF10. The secure e-store is now live, so you can guarantee your place on the course. We’re taking up to 50 songwriters this year, but bookings will be on a first-come-first-served basis. Note – the SWF Studio option has only 12 places. If you want to discuss your booking give us a call on
Fi’s blog – day 1
Barry plays his trademark upside-down guitar chords for one of our songwriters.
We have a songwriting room which has a great view over the lake. Boo Hewerdine is our tutor today and he has just flown in from Glasgow and is straight into it! Weíre going round the group and playing from back catalogue.
Claire has just played a beautiful song that she wrote on the way back from Ireland after the applause dies down she is talking about wanting to break into different styles of playing and Boo recommends writing with other people and the benefits of this. The conversation turns to having to write quickly and it being getting into the practice of it.
He also encourages trying to write about things that you havenít written about before and having a solid reasoning behind them.
Antonia contributes a song, quite an up tempo number with a great theme and great tune.
The conversation turns to three chord songs and how strong they can be. The longer you hold the chord the bigger it sounds when it changes. Other chords can then be used for flavour. This is good news for me!
The next songwriter talks about how he finds the process of songwriting and Boo advises giving yourself a limitation just to get going for example having three verses and having an idea of what you want to say eg verse 1 introduce it, verse two develop it and verse 3 conclude it and make sure every line counts. He advises writing the song first before starting to produce it and maybe using ordinary language.
Kristian comes up with a title that he was thinking about developing which Boo thinks is a brilliant tile. He advised working on it and ensuring theres a beginning middle and an end. The point comes up about melody. Boo advises writing melodies without many notes if you donít have the range and says itís really good to give yourself boundaries when youíre writing to give you some focus.
Another great song is performed and the critique is that itís a great song and Boo gives some structural feedback around doing a solo after the bridge and do a short chorus and finish on the big note.
Chloe performs a song that she has given a new arrangement to which goes down well and we break for coffee before finding corners to write in to complete our task for the day. Luckily the sun is shining and soon there are fragments of melody coming from all around the place and new found friends are collaborating on new songs.
Protected: SWF09 schedule
Gary Ewer’s blog
Here’s a lovely songwriting blog dealing with some of the more muso/technical aspects of song craft. Gary’s a music teacher at Dalhousie University and also runs the Secrets of Songwriting site.
http://garyewer.wordpress.com/
Songwriter chat – Bragg/Taylor
We found this interesting interview online recently – just the kind of conversation that goes on at SWF.
Return of the forum!
Thanks to all of our long-serving supporters who have mourned the demise of the old forum. Well, rumours of its death have been greatly exaggerated. We’ve resurrected the whole database, user list and all, so you should be able to log in, post lyrics, critique others’ work, advertise projects you’re involved in, find collaborators etc. Enjoy!
