Final performance

On the last day of the the 2009 Festival, we all got together in the cafÈ to play back the last of the week’s songs. Many people had delayed their live performance until this final session, due either to completing a particular song toward the end of the week, or the time taken in developing chord sheets for the house band. So the band had to learn around 20 songs in a 3-hour rehearsal – challenging, certainly, but Jo and Barry were on the case with the chord sheets, so every chart was really easy to read. I think we just about pulled it off (and in a few cases, even had time to write and rehearse some vocal harmonies). Barry’s excellent A&R-ing put the rock/dance-friendly songs towards the end of the final band set, which led to predictable – but wonderful – table-dancing etc as the evening’s beer took its toll on the audience!

SWFers past and present will, no doubt, be tired of hearing me say this, but it’s nonetheless a wonderful thing; a song can be nothing more than a title at 10am, and appear on stage with a full band performance by 9pm the same day. This is testament to the way our songwriters embrace the SWF experience – throwing themselves into the writing process, and forcing themselves to complete a song. It’s this ‘momentum’ of writing, recording and performing that helps many of the SWF songwriters to break (what they perceive to be) writers’ block. Here’s an excerpt from an email I received this morning from one of the 2009 songwriters;

“I would like to thank you so much for the experience of a lifetime. I enjoyed it so much and despite much doubt did in fact write one song a day [...]. All the staff worked incredibly hard but I was astounded by your capacity to absorb the time pressures and stress. It did not show one bit and you were like the proverbial swan paddling on the water.”

Here’s a gallery of performance images from the final day. You can also find some of these images on our Facebook group.

Midge Ure on songwriting – and a Scottish songwriting competition

Here’s a video of Midge Ure (SWF special guest 2006) on songwriting, with some useful comments on clichÈ in his own first attempts at songwriting – hopefully this should give heart to some of our new writers!

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UK Songwriting Festival Student comments

Chloe describes how the Festival has altered her perspective on songwriting.†

Slideshow

Live Songwriting

SWF tutor Andy West writes a song live in front of an audience – SWF 2008.

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Performance and songwriting

To state the obvious, the UK Songwriting Festival is about songwriting. Specifically, it’s about songwriting as opposed to performance and arrangement. We often use the metaphor of a picture frame – the arrangement and performance are the frame; the song is the picture. A song is transferable to a different performer (i.e. a cover version); a song can be arranged/interpreted in different ways (instrumentation, tempo, groove/feel, arrangement etc).
But even though these boundaries are self-evident musically, it’s still very difficult to keep the song in focus when evaluating or analysing new work. After a new song has been shared in a playback session, we ask for feedback from other five or six songwriters in the group – they are, after all, the new song’s first ever audience. (It often helps if we initially prevent the songwriter themselves from responding verbally, because of course they won’t be able to explain or justify their creative decisions when the song is performed or broadcast† ñ the ‘I-won’t-be-there-when-you-cross-the-road‘ principle.)

And what tends to happen is that the audience (which, remember, consists entirely of songwriters who are completely immersed in the process all week) comment variously on the guitar arrangement, vocal interpretation or genre – i.e. everything except the song. Often the tutors find themselves dragging the discussion back to the song itself ñ harmony, melody and lyric.
This demonstrates an important principle – that listeners do not differentiate between the picture and the frame. An obvious example would be the meaninglessness of a Coldplay or Keane lyric. But although these particular types of lyric make little sense without a lot of inference from the listener, individual couplets work well enough in isolation. Most importantly, the phrases ‘sing well’ – lots of open vowels and great scansion. So although we have no idea why Noel Gallagher tells us ‘Sally Can Wait’ (and no information about who Sally is) in Oasis’ Don’t Look Back in Anger, it feels really good to sing these big vowels – especially over the melody to Manfred Mann’s Pretty Flamingo (which is lifted pretty much verbatim in the chorus). Incidentally, the obvious and deliberate reference to Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ in the piano intro to the Oasis track is an arrangement artefact, not a songwriting one. So in a publishing dispute with Oasis where Manfred Mann or Lennon’s lawyers were looking at Don’t Look Back in Anger, I’d be backing the Manfreds every time – because of the nine or so melody notes that are common to both choruses.

These artists’ songs do make life difficult for teachers (and students) of the craft of songwriting, because their status as successful hits seems (SEEMS!) to justify and legitimise sloppy lyric writing. Which, I suppose, is another reason why we were so delighted to have Richard Thompson as our guest – every single one of his songs has a ‘heart’, or clear core meaning. When RT uses poetic language or imagery, it serves to support the meaning rather than cloud it – so it’s possible for a songwriter to have their cake and eat it – imagery, clarity of meaning and singability.†

It always seems a shame to me if a technically poor singer or guitarist writes a great song but the audience can’t see the picture for the frame. Which is why the studio sessions and House Band performances are such an integral part of SWF. We try to give the song its very best opportunity to ‘survive’, ensuring that the songwriter’s skill (crafting form, melody, harmony and lyric) is not eclipsed by any technical shortcomings in the performance.

Richard Thompson – Guest songwriting tutor 2008

Richard Thompson performs ‘Cold Kisses’ at the 2008 Festival.

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Teaching songwriting with a Mac

I occasionally get asked, by Festival songwriters Read more

SWF08 – tasks

Here’s a list of the songwriting tasks from the 2008 festival. Most people did one task per day, with the guidance and support of their tutor;

Introductory task ñ ìMy Name Isî ï Write ten titles. If you have time, choose the most inspiring one and develop it into a chorus. If you have (more) time, complete the song. ††

SKILL DEVELOPMENT ñ beating writersí block

Task 1 ñ ìDo It Againî ï Write a chorus-based song where the title appears at least twice in the chorus.

SKILL DEVELOPMENT ñ making your songs memorable.

Task 2 ñ ìThereís a Placeî ï Write a song with a place name as the title.

SKILL DEVELOPMENT ñ breaking out of lyric clichÈ/ developing emotional truth.

Task 3 ñ ìAll Together Nowî ï Work with another one or two members of your tutor group and write a collaborative song.

SKILL DEVELOPMENT ñ collaborative negotiation/pitching ideas/creative space

Task 4 ñ ìScream If You Wanna Go Fasterî ï Write a song at a tempo faster than 120 beats per minute (use a drum loop, metronome or wristwatch ñ 120BPM = 2 beats/sec).

SKILL DEVELOPMENT ï avoiding mid-tempo blandness

Task 5 ñ ìMiss Ghostî ï Write a song using a ëghost songí. Choose an existing hit and rewrite its lyric and melody, but keep the syllable count and scansion the same.

SKILL DEVELOPMENT ñ creative starting points/avoiding doggerel scansion

Task 6 ñ ìWords are all I haveî ï Complete a lyric in its entirety and then add music later. Try describing your songís ëBig Ideaí in ten words or fewer before you start.

SKILL DEVELOPMENT ñ developing a strong central idea

Task 7 ñ ìYou and Iî ï Write a song that features ìIî and ìYouî characters. ††

SKILL DEVELOPMENT ñ avoiding diaristic clichÈ

Task 8 ñ ìPicture bookî ï Choose a selection of Google images and include them in your song lyric. ††

SKILL DEVELOPMENT ñ using imagery.

Task 9 ñ ìAll by myselfî ï Write a song without using a musical instrument.†

SKILL DEVELOPMENT ñ developing melodic shape

Task 10 ñ ìMy Name Isî ï Write a song with a characterís name as the title. ††

SKILL DEVELOPMENT ñ avoiding diaristic clichÈ/ developing narrative

Task 11 ñ ìTake it to the bridgeî ï Write a 32-bar song in AABA form. ††

SKILL DEVELOPMENT ñ controlling form/using hooks