Nekujak
My muse is demanding better working hours
I wrote this song about 15 years ago, primarily to add to our jam night repertoire with my guitar-playing buddies. It was nothing more than a typical singer-songwriter tune with no particular genre affiliation - just a plain old singing and strumming song. But several years later, when I recorded it, it came to life as a full on country song (video below).
It's a good example of why maintaining a healthy separation between writing and arranging can be creatively freeing, and quite frankly, just plain fun. Both functions are equally important, and you can end up shortchanging your creativity if you don't give each process it's own independent focus and attention.
These days, a lot of folks write songs directly in their DAW, adding instruments and parts as they go, so that when the writing is done, so is the arrangement. That always makes me a little sad because they've potentially missed out on the most creatively satisfying aspects of both the writing and arranging processes.
One of my favorite musical finds on the web are hardcore gangsta rap songs reinterpreted as folk or country ballads. Yes, they're often played for comedy, but they still work as songs and demonstrate what's possible if we think outside the box with our arrangements.
I know it sounds old school, but I'm a big believer in writing songs to completion on guitar or piano first, with all lyrics, chords, melody, and song structure fully worked out. Then armed with the finished song, it's time to start thinking about how it should be arranged, which might involve running it by other people, playing it together with other musicians, and simply spending time pondering possibilities for the best and most interesting ways to express the song.
Of course, there are times when we deliberately set out to write a song in a particular style or genre from the get go. Nothing wrong with that. But that doesn't mean when it comes time to record or perform the song, that we should automatically be locked into that original musical style or vision. One of the most creatively satisfying undertakings is to sit back and imagine a song brought to life in different genres with different instrumentation and delivery. Very often during this process, we unearth some brilliant hidden aspects of a song that we were previously aware of.
It doesn't happen like this with every song, of course, especially when working under time pressure. But I think it's important not to lose sight of the creative opportunities offered by treating writing and arranging as independent activities. After all, there are many notable arrangers throughout history, whose sole job it was to interpret and present songs in the most musical and interesting ways. Our songs deserve no less.
Have fun!
It's a good example of why maintaining a healthy separation between writing and arranging can be creatively freeing, and quite frankly, just plain fun. Both functions are equally important, and you can end up shortchanging your creativity if you don't give each process it's own independent focus and attention.
These days, a lot of folks write songs directly in their DAW, adding instruments and parts as they go, so that when the writing is done, so is the arrangement. That always makes me a little sad because they've potentially missed out on the most creatively satisfying aspects of both the writing and arranging processes.
One of my favorite musical finds on the web are hardcore gangsta rap songs reinterpreted as folk or country ballads. Yes, they're often played for comedy, but they still work as songs and demonstrate what's possible if we think outside the box with our arrangements.
I know it sounds old school, but I'm a big believer in writing songs to completion on guitar or piano first, with all lyrics, chords, melody, and song structure fully worked out. Then armed with the finished song, it's time to start thinking about how it should be arranged, which might involve running it by other people, playing it together with other musicians, and simply spending time pondering possibilities for the best and most interesting ways to express the song.
Of course, there are times when we deliberately set out to write a song in a particular style or genre from the get go. Nothing wrong with that. But that doesn't mean when it comes time to record or perform the song, that we should automatically be locked into that original musical style or vision. One of the most creatively satisfying undertakings is to sit back and imagine a song brought to life in different genres with different instrumentation and delivery. Very often during this process, we unearth some brilliant hidden aspects of a song that we were previously aware of.
It doesn't happen like this with every song, of course, especially when working under time pressure. But I think it's important not to lose sight of the creative opportunities offered by treating writing and arranging as independent activities. After all, there are many notable arrangers throughout history, whose sole job it was to interpret and present songs in the most musical and interesting ways. Our songs deserve no less.
Have fun!
