Yesterday was a very interesting day for me. I signed up for and started my second online music course. This one was on songwriting. Now, you’re probably wondering what a 35 year veteran of songwriting is doing taking a course on the subject. That’s for another article and beyond the scope of this one. Let’s just say I was curious as to how the course would be taught, which is really the focus of THIS article. Why?
Well, it seems there are people out there who don’t agree with the manner in which the course is being taught. So for you to answer the question that I’ve put forth in the title of this article, you first need to know exactly how the course is being taught. So let’s begin there.
More or less, the course is being taught pretty much the way I expected it to be taught, with rules. And while the instructor pointed out that these were more guidelines than rules, take my word for it. If you want to write a song that has the best chance of being accepted by the masses, you better at least know these rules so you can know when and how to break them.
So far we’ve learned about constructing an idea for your song using the box method where you put a small box into a bigger box and then into yet a bigger box. We learned about song structure, such as verse, bridge, chorus and so on. These are all basic concepts that you will find in most popular music. Agreed?
Well, one of the people who was taking this course along with me and many others posted at the discussion forum that he was not happy with the way the course was being presented with all these “rules” and “restrictions.” He was hoping for a more “art focused” curriculum.
I asked him to explain exactly what he meant but he never really answered me. All he said was that he didn’t feel teaching us all this structure was what learning how to write music should be about. You should be able to just do what you want.
Well, I have to admit. I was kind of puzzled. If you just want to do what you want, why do you need a course to begin with? Just sit down with a piece of paper or your guitar, or whatever, and just start writing whatever comes to your mind. You don’t need a course on songwriting to teach you how to do that. And when I asked him to design this course the way HE would want it taught, he couldn’t do it.
You can imagine my confusion at all this. But eventually, I figured it out. What this person wants is a course that will inspire us to find that inner talent that we have and express it in a way that was better than the way we expressed it prior to taking the course.
Got it. But again, when asked how to go about doing that, I got no answer.
So let me ask you a question. Assuming that you also believe that the “rules” stifle creativity, how would YOU teach a course on songwriting?
I’ve been at this for over 35 years and I gotta tell you…I don’t have a clue. If somebody came to me and said “Steve, teach me how to write a song” I would pretty much go about it the way this course is going about it.
Now, I could probably write a series of articles on songwriting techniques but that would probably bore the heck out of most people who read this rag on a daily basis.
Or would it?
I honestly don’t have a clue what people want anymore. I certainly never expected to hear somebody complain about the way a course on songwriting was being taught because it was actually teaching you how to, um, write a song> is it just me or are you confused too.
By all means, if I’m the oddball here, let me know it. My contact info can be found on this site. Email me. Let me know how YOU would go about teaching songwriting if not by teaching the rules.
I mean, imagine we had no structure to songs. All we did was play a bunch of notes and sing some words without any rhyme or reason. Yeah, I know…we did that shtick back in the 70s (see Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, etc.) but it didn’t last long and got old very fast.
How many people would listen to our songs if they weren’t soundly structured? If we didn’t build up our story from beginning to end, would people keep their interest?
If you listen to your favorite songs, no matter who the artist is, you will find, like it or not, that there is some serious structure behind these songs. And I’m not just talking about verse/chorus structure. I’m talking about taking an idea and developing it throughout the song using certain “techniques.” The really GOOD songs are the ones that don’t let you hear that they’re actually doing this. But if you sit down and analyze the song, you’ll realize that it is doing just that.
Allow me to ask you. Is this a bad thing? Does it shatter your perceptions of music to know that songwriters actually use a “formula” to write their songs? Is it like finding out that there really is no Santa Claus or Easter Bunny? Man, I hope not.
If our music world was built on nothing but random thoughts and chaos, it wouldn’t be a very enjoyable world for many of us. Oh sure, there are those of us who enjoy that stuff, but the masses aren’t going to stick around for the show. If you don’t care about that sort of thing, then by all means, write your “art music” and forget about taking courses on songwriting. They won’t help you.
But if you want to learn how to write a song that a good number of people will probably enjoy listening to, then I suggest you bite the bullet and learn how to actually write a song.
Unless of course you have a better way.
So tell me. How should songwriting be taught?
For The Love Of Music,
Steven “Wags” Wagenheim