picture perfect

Birds on Powerline

Check out this video.  A Brazilian composer saw a picture of birds on a power line and decided to create music out of it.  Cool idea? YES!  Taking melody shapes from pictures or nature.  Next time your in a writing rut, just go outside and look at the texture of the leaves, or what I really enjoy, the texture of the sand as the water ebbs while being formed by aggressive wind. TRY IT.

Speak or forever hold your peace

Here's a song written in Tagalog and English =)

By Kelly Izzo and I

"Could you love me"

time a dozen...

Something I find that really helps with the writing process is having a deadline.   

You force yourself to focus and once you do beautiful things happen.  I found that when I set a deadline for myself I was able to at least FINISH something.  It wasn't necessarily the best song or the best songs, but I got something done.   Next time set a limit for yourself.   

I forced myself to write a verse melody and chorus melody in an hour.  Got it done!  Set a deadline for yourself.   I think it would even help to have other people involved.  Get a buddy and say... " hey i have this song i want to show you, let me show it to you on thursday!"....and you won't actually have a song YET, but now there is another person involved. So you HAVE TO GET IT DONE.  bambam pow.  DO IT.

set a time block for that writer's block!

hayhayhay...

So just last week i was trying to finish one of my songs.  After screwing around on the guitar I couldn't seem to come up with anything.  So I decided to force myself to write a song in an hour.  Knowing how awful I am at working under pressure I set some boundaries so I wouldn't be doomed for failure.  Come up with a simple verse melody and chorus melody.   I had a friend that had projects due one right after the other. He told me the key to being able to write is to go with your first thought and go with it.  No more crazy editing.  Of course I wasn't such a huge fan of that but if you need a song done in a certain time frame going with your first thought isn't such a bad idea.

I also had some help from a piece of paper that was on my teacher's wall.
It was a diagram of chord functions.  It helped me to come up with something quick.

I will post a pic in the next blog because my comp seems to not be working. =T....

hi ho hi hum

So i'd been having a lot of trouble finishing music lately....lyrics are really hard to come by and fix......but I find that what really does help me finish them is reading other people's blogs oddly enough. If I'm writing about a specific emotional state or situation, I'll search blogs of people who are writing about it and get ideas.   I was trying to finish this song about my aunt who passed away.  I really wanted to get the essence of her refusing to die so I looked at blogs of people who were going through cancer and were fighting hard.  It helped a lot.  So next time, if you don't mind being creepy, go search other people's blogs =)

SHAPE POEMS!

I started reading this book about different forms of poetry. One kind of poem was a SHAPE POEM.
My friend just said it was the kind of thing people did in elementary school, but I still think its pretty cool. =)

Here's an example I found online:

My teacher for master class gave me an assignment to write a song according to a poem. Maybe these shape poems can help to dictate the shape of the melody as well? HmMm....

Duck Pond

So here are my lyrics for a PUNCHING opening line:


Please don't touch me
Or hold me too close
'Cause I'm far to frustrated from the bad sex
And unless you think you can kiss me and make me wet
I'd rather you just let me be....



That's just an excerpt I wrote from  an old song.  A little blunt. I could've been a little less blunt, but it got you hooked right? Maybe?  Got something better? SHOW ME!