Songwriting Strategies

Tom Slatter of Indiesongwriter.net is putting together a series of “songwriting strategy podcasts”.  Episode One was delivered by Tom himself and dealt with key changes, while Episode Two covered Nadia Cripps’ process to compose a new piano instrumental in one of her songs.

Check out the Songwriting Strategies podcasts and may the Muse be with you…

Insider Secrets to Great Songwriting

For over 25 years, Diane Warren has written top ten hits for some of the greatest voices in the recording industry. She reveals her secrets to great songwriting. And Jack Perricone, chair of the songwriting department at the Berklee College of Music, talks about songwriting across musical genres.

You can listen to the NPR Talk of the Nation program from earlier this week right here:

Drake’s Songwriting Tip: Use a BlackBerry

 

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Maybe it’s conducive to his rap style of music, but Toronto-born artist/musician/songwriter/actor, Drake, uses his BlackBerry to write his raps:

In this clip from the upcoming doc, Drake bops to the track Kanye West produced for "Show Me a Good Time" and then picks up a BlackBerry and starts punching out some rhymes.

"All Drake's raps for eternity have been written inside of a Blackberry," producer and engineer Noah "40" Shebib says in the clip. "I mean, to the point where if he doesn't have a BlackBerry, we gotta go get somebody who's got one. I've had dummy BlackBerrys around that I just pull out for him to write on, like if he needs one ... that don't actually even work!"

Drake cops to his need for a BlackBerry when working on his lyrics. "I can't write my raps on paper," Drake says. "The BlackBerry keys — my thumbs were made for touching them." The clip wraps up with Drizzy in the booth recording and referencing his lyrics on his trusty smartphone.

Hey, whatever works for you, I say… May the Muse be with him… I’m sure we’re going to see iPad and Android apps for songwriters at some point… (rhyming dictionaries and tab/chord software… hmmm, maybe I should get on that…)

Songwriting through celibacy?

From Celebuzz...

Lily Allen is truly willing to suffer for the sake of her art.

She's taking a vow of celibacy in hopes of improving her songwriting skills.

"It's good to get out of your comfort zone and test yourself," Allen says. "I'm just going to see how it goes for a bit. I haven't set a time limit or anything."

"I've actually broken up with boyfriends for inspiration. When I hit a period of not being able to write music, I get up and I walk away," Allen fesses up. "It's pretty mean-but it's true."

Sounds like Lily Allen isn't the only person who's suffered for her art.

And may the Muse be with her for it...

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