TAXI on YouTube

For those who know about TAXI, there are a series of YouTube videos that TAXI has posted in its YouTube space on Earning Your Living on TV & Film Placements. It's an interesting concept, and along the lines of the Major Maker article earlier today, may be something I'll want to work at...

The Theory of Appreciative Comparison *Part 1*

An interesting songwriting article by Kole (Kyle Hicks) for Muses Muse as the first in his series of columns on Songwriting Techniques and Theories. The Theory of Appreciative Comparison *Part 1* examines the classic technique of juxtaposition of opposites for effect. The example he gives is the lyric "You don't know what you've got, until it's gone." The words underscore the "appreciation" of one's present situation when cast into the opposite of that situation...

So, I should be thankful that I'm unpublished... Perhaps, I shouldn't be trying to get published...

Nah...

Jeff and SOCAN

Congrats to Jeff for having his SOCAN application accepted!

From Maynards to iTunes!

Toronto indie band Major Maker had their song Rollercoaster put out on iTunes today as the catchy tune from a television ad for Maynards Candy (see it on YouTube here) has been watched over 54,000 times on YouTube and resulted in an onslaught of requests for the tune.

You can read more about it here at ChartAttack.com. Good on them! I have to start thinking about all the alternatives (TV, Film, Commercials) if I want to get my music out there... and the viral marketing that goes along with it!

Flight of the Conchords

I just saw an hysterical show (HBO Original that is shown on TMN in Canada). Flight of the Conchords is a show about two New Zealand singer/songwriters trying to make it in New York... It's very funny and has two likeable leads (Bret & Jemaine).

Each episode follows them in the pursuit of their dream and showcases a song or two (always tongue-in-cheek humorous songs). As requested by HBO in its promotion of the show, I'm embedding a sample of one of the songs from an episode... if you get HBO or TMN, check it out...

SongwritersResourceNetwork (SRN)

I linked up with the SongwritersResourceNetwork (SRN) site. Steve Cahill, President of SRN, runs a terrific site that "is a trusted news and education resource for songwriters, lyricists and music composers." (from their Mission Statement).

From their email replying to my request to be added to their links:

• Hi Lorenzo,
  
  Thanks for your note. Nice work on your blog.
  
  Yes, please feel free to link us up. We'll be happy to provide a reciprocal
  link for you.
  
  Best,
  
  Steve Cahill
  President, SRN

It's always nice to get some good feedback... Ci vedimes...

CIRAA and RevAudio's Newsletter

Well, I joined the Canadian Independent Recording Artists’ Association, CIRAA, on the promotion of Revolution Audio. Check out RevAudio's latest monthly newsletter here.

As for CIRAA, this is what you receive when you sign up for free:

• Congratulations. You are now a Founding Member of the Canadian Independent Recording Artists’ Association.

  As our first order of business together, we now ask you to please help us spread the word about CIRAA. Please send your musician network a link to www.ciraa.ca and urge them to sign up. Every musician you know. Even if they receive 10 emails from different musicians asking them to join, it can’t hurt and they’ll get the point.

  We must unite politically if we are to have enough negotiating power to improve CANCON, FACTOR and the many other issues facing us. It's precisely because we have had no voice on these issues that unsigned artists have been neglected. This must change.

  Please do what you can to spread the word today.

  Thank you,

  CIRAA Membership

Song Construction - Hooks

I'm not a member of TAXI but I am signed up for the Newsletter... This is a nice piece on "Hooks" by the venerable John Braheny who literally wrote the book on The Craft and Business of Songwriting. I have the Second Edition and see that the Third Edition is now out and would recommend it...

Song construction: Hooks
by John Braheny

"Hook" is the term you'll hear most often in the business and craft of commercial songwriting. (Well, maybe not as much as "Sorry, we can't use your song," but it's possible that the more you hear about hooks now, the less you'll hear "we can't use it" later.)
The hook has been described as "the part(s) you remember after the song is over," "the part that reaches out and grabs you," "the part you can't stop singing (even when you hate it)" and "the catchy
repeated chorus." Some of the world's greatest hook crafters are commercial jingle writers: how many times have you had a jingle stick in your mind? Here are several categories of hooks.

THE STRUCTURAL HOOK
In this category, part of the structure of the song functions as the hook. The most common is the
"hook chorus." It repeats several times during the song, and it should contain the title or "hook line," usually the first or last line (See "Chorus Construction" in next months article.). We may also consider memorable "B" sections, particularly in an AABA form, to be hooks, but the chorus is almost
universally referred to as "the hook."

INSTRUMENTAL HOOKS
There are melodic phrases in songs that may not be part of the vocal melody, yet stick in our minds as though they were. In the last line of the chorus of The Beatles' "Something" after "Don't want to leave her now, you know I believe and how . . . " is a melodic guitar figure that we think of whenever we think of the melody, though there's no lyric over it. If we heard that figure by itself, we'd be able
to "name that tune." The repeated riffs or loops that introduce and run beneath Stevie Wonder's "Superstition," Michael Jackson's "Beat It," and Jay-Z's "Can I Get A . . . " are as memorable as any other parts of the songs.
Too often, I think, songwriters tend to believe that creating those instrumental hooks is the
job of the arranger, producer or studio musicians. It should be kept in mind that if those are the hooks that sell the song to the public, they'll sell the song to the producer and artist if you create them first.

STORY LINE HOOKS
Have you ever heard a song and afterward couldn't quite remember the melody or the exact words but you could remember the story? Sometimes the story itself is so powerful and evocative that it's the thing that stays in your mind longer than the exact words or melody. Examples are the Dixie Chicks' "Goodbye Earl," Clay Walker's "The Chain of Love," and Eminem's "Stan."

PRODUCTION HOOKS
Production hooks aren't always possible for a songwriter, but today more writers than ever before have access to sophisticated instrumental and recording technology. The sounds on both demos and master recordings have become very important. Experiment with the way various instruments sound in combination. Experiment with electronic keyboard synth "pre-sets" combined with acoustic instruments or natural sounds. You can digitally sample sound sources or buy them on disks, tapes or ROM cartridges and modify them yourself. MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) technology has made possible an almost infinite variety of sonic combinations.
Early recording effects such as "phasing" and "flanging" were later incorporated into electronic boxes that you could use at the tap of a button and today virtually any sound modification device used in the studio has been converted to some portable digital form that you can use at home or on stage. Certain sounds will evoke certain emotional responses. Use them as artistic tools along with lyric and melody to create mood and emotion. One of the most effective hooks is a sound no one has ever heard before. Remember, however, that once you get into the technology of creating sounds, it can be so much fun that you can easily forget that the song is still the most important thing. No matter how exciting those sounds are, they won't make up for a weak song.

Hooks are essential in commercial music. They are points of reference that keep us interested and focused on the song. They're devices that help us remember and an entertainment in themselves. Part of your job as a commercial writer is to be able to use as many different types of hooks as possible.

Performing Songwriter - DIY Feature

I don't subscribe to the magazine (yet), but thought I'd give a plug for a nice feature on the Performing Songwriter magazine webiste. It's there Top 12 DIY section (archived back to Jan/Feb 2006) that showcases independent songwriters who have released an album without the backing of a label. If that's you, there's a link on the page that invites you to send your CD in for a chance to be featured.

Good luck! (Me? I'm still working on putting together a CD...)

She's My Favourite Place

Since I've learned how to embed the player, I'll torture whoever is brave enough with an old song of mine. I put this one up on the Muses Muse lyric & music critique message board and was told the vocals were too low in the mix (need to work on learning how to do that), that the snare was too pronounced, and that the lyrics were too wordy at times... All good advice...

She's My Favourite Place

This is just classic

Sitting here all alone in my fortress den

Singing "Happy Birthday" to a wayward friend

Once upon a time I loved these walls

But now some aching voice inside me calls

The echoes I try to trace

She's my favourite place...

Certain expressions will always remind me of her evergrowing beauty

Suggest my detest at her senseless sort of duty

But in my trademark ignorance for her heart I still persist

Despite all the rejection I must face

She's my favourite place...

She's my favourite place...

I have made love to her in so many indescribable ways

That would have brought other girls down to their knees

Begging me "please"

Instead I'm left aghast and bewildered

And my heart remains abused with it's hidden treasures pilfered

She's a thief who takes yet never pays

Caught in her own lie she's trapped by my weightless hands

That have cause to crush her but would rather stroke her auburn strands

I see her beauty mark to the side of her left ear

Everytime I close my eyes and picture she is near

Like the sun she emits her forceful rays

She's my favourite place...

She's my favourite place...

It's a dream I've never dreamt which stokes the blaze inside

I could never dare to touch her, hold her as she cried

Tears of confusion were never on my mind

But should they flow I'd turn her water into wine

Her chestnut eyes burn within me all my days

She's my favourite place...

I have made love to her in so many indescribable ways

She's my favourite place...

(©Lorenzo D. Policelli, 2007)