An Exercise In Futility?

Sometimes I wonder if I’m totally wasting my time writing these little articles on a daily basis. Does anybody even read them? And then I realized a few things that I’m going to share with you today. And yes, they do relate to making music in an odd sort of way.

Essentially the question I’m asking above is if anybody notices anything that I do here? After all, this site is just one out of the millions of sites on the Internet and not a very popular one at that. I get all of maybe 500 unique visitors each month. But 500 is not zero. That means there are 500 in this world who may actually care about what I have to say and may actually notice.

Okay, so what has this got to do with music? Well, everything really.

When you create a song, unless you’re a total narcissist, you do so for the enjoyment of others. I know I do. And when somebody is listening to your song, you really have no way of knowing, nor any control of, what part of the song they’re listening to. Maybe they’re fixated on the drums. I have a friend who is a drummer and that’s what he listens to. Maybe they’re a singer and they fixate on the vocals. Maybe they’re into harmony and really digging the chords you use. Or, if they’re dull and boring, not so digging them.

Point is, when you create a song, just because you think a particular part of that song isn’t all that important, like the drums or the little woodblock in the background, there are people out there who are going to notice. And if that part is out of place or not well done, or whatever, it’s going to take away from the rest of the song. There is no getting around that. A song is only as strong as its weakest link.

And you know what? I’m probably more guilty of this than anybody. When I submit songs to publishers hoping to get a song contract, the last thing I should be doing is singing these songs. Why?

Because I can’t freaking sing.

Oh, I can carry a tune. But that’s about it. I am NOT a singer. Emphasis on the NOT. And you know what? It kills me that I can’t sing because deep down inside I want to BE a singer. Yeah, it’s always been a wish of mine. Singers get all the attention in rock bands. Look at David Lee Roth when he was with Van Halen. If you’re a singer, you get all the girls.

But I can’t sing. And my voice ruins every single one of my songs no matter how good they are.

Now, in my defense, I really don’t have any other options. I can’t afford studio time. I can’t even afford to go out and hire a singer to come to my home. I have to make do with what I can do. For this reason I don’t really do any vocal recording anymore and have concentrated solely on instrumentals, thus the reason for this site.

You can make arguments that my writing is awful and my playing is even worse and that I shouldn’t be making music at all. That’s a fair criticism. I know I’m not the greatest composer and performer in the world. If I was, I wouldn’t be putting up royalty free music sites. But music is my love and dag gummit I’m going to do something that has something to do with music even if I end up broke and on the street. Well, the broke part I’m already at. Hopefully, my wife won’t let the on the street part happen just yet, though I do have a bag ready to pack my clothes into.

Sure, it may be an exercise in futility if you’re just not good at something. But if that something is something you just have to do, well, then at least do it to the best of your ability. That means you can’t be lazy. You can’t listen to your drums, know they’re not that good, know you can do better, and say to yourself, “Eh, who’s gonna notice?” Trust me, somebody is going to notice.

True story. I wrote a song once called “Dance Of The May Flower.” Get the little play on words there? Anyway, a friend of mine who was a drummer listened to it and said the drums are all wrong. Now, I didn’t hear it but then what he did while the song was playing was he tapped out the beat on the table or something. I don’t remember exactly what it was. Anyway, I listened to what he was playing and it sounded so much better. It made the whole song sound so much better. Just a lousy tapping on the table made the song sound better.

It is not an exercise in futility when you listen to your music and do something to improve it. Somebody out there is going to notice and appreciate it.

So when you write and record a song, this is what I want you to do.

First of all, when writing it, make sure every word and every note counts. There are no throwaways. The recent songwriting course I just completed and scored 102.8% on taught me that.

After the song is written, I want you to carefully plan out the arrangement. Really think about what instruments would do your song the most justice. If the song doesn’t want drums, don’t put them in there. A recent song I just did has no drums and it was perfect without them.

When you record the song, play it as best as you can. If you can afford to hire musicians, do it. If not, don’t mail it in. Give it your all.

Looking at your finished product, you’re going to notice something. It’s going to be better than anything you’ve done before it because you took the time to slave over every part, every detail.