So you’ve seen the post about generating some great ideas for new material from the other post where I talked about sense writing. (This is all courtesy of this great book: Writing Better Lyrics [affiliate link]). If you haven’t you can catch up by reading the last post.
Now this is the next level of this event. You’ve picked the object, set the timer, and then written until your hand hurt and your mind couldn’t think of anything else to spit out to your hand. You probably came up with a few little nuggets that you could translate into seeds for new songs.
Grab a group of other creative folks. People that would be down for grabbing a pen and spending ten minutes doing a creative writing exercise. Hang out for a little bit and explain what you are going to do. Then pick the object, set the timer, and write like a maniac. THEN, go around and let everyone share how they attacked the object with their senses. I guarantee when you hear someone else describing how they hear a banana that it will surprise you and give you about ten more ideas of things to write about. Get about 5 people to do this little writing test.
Congratulations, you probably now have about a hundred ideas that you can work from. Now don’t go and blatantly rip off what someone else came up with, but use things that stuck with you as a spring board into a whole other realm of ideas.
Ever have that feeling that you have come to the end of your creative juices’ capabilities? That feeling that you just don’t know that you have any more that you can crank out?
It’s a pretty common thing, I think, with creative people. But I found this exercise in this incredible book: Writing Better Lyrics (affiliate link). It’s one of the first exercises they discuss, but the elephant of possibilities that can be delivered from using it will boggle the mind, and create small pools of drool.
They call it sense writing. Here’s the simple breakdown:
Pick an object
Set a timer for 5-10 minutes
Write about that object
It seems overly simple, but the approach is genius. The author tells you to attack that object with all of your senses. What does is look like, smell like, feel like, taste like, and sound like. And this is for any inanimate object. Try describing what a coffee bean sounds like. It forces you to come up with creative ways of thinking about the object, it also forces you to pull from your memories and experiences. I guarantee that you will have 10-15 ideas for new things you can work on when you get done.
It will be frustrating at first, but then it will get easier and more fun.
Here is a rough edition of one of the songs that I will be recording soon. It’s called “Country Soul”. The premise for me is about still liking to get out and away from everything every once in a while. It’s easier to hear when there are no distractions around.
The late part of last year and early part of this year I had set out on an ambitious little project to collaborate with a friend of mine, the extremely talented Tiffany Thompson. There were some scheduling issues and things ended up getting put on an indefinite hold as life sometimes does. But I went back in and looked at some of the song ideas that I had been working on. This is one of the songs that I was working on.
With all the tornado watches, I figured it was pretty relevant.
The Redemption song
Verse 1
And record player sends the cello dancing
Through the wreckage where tornado kissed the earth
Red dress hold the passion, pain, and promise
Can the fragments of this love be given birth?
Chorus:
And the house that once was, is gone
But the blades of grass are budding on the lawn
Alternative 2nd lines:
But the roots of this life are strong
But the foundation is standing strong
we belong, we are loved, we are strong (Hook Line)
Verse 2
We buy back the kernels from the whirlwind
Plunge our hearts and our hands into the dirt
The summer rains hide the tears and the pain
Love is messy like the stains of toil on our shirts
Again I wanted to show you a song in progress. This is the clip that I have that will be the pre-chorus and chorus section. I am going back now and working on getting the verses structured, and coming up with the progression that will work with the verses.
I think I might take it from the perspective of looking at a life that seems like it is all together, but how it comes apart when you are hit with genuine love. Imagery I have in mind are things like a house of cards, the shell that we present to the world, etc. Something to communicate that we think we know, but then are undone by Love.
Just wanted to introduce you to some incredibly talented musicians and an incredible friends of mine, East Ghost. These guys played their inaugural show last night in Washington, DC. I wasn’t fortunate enough to be there for the event, but thanks to the awesome Joe Portnoy, I was able to experience some of their new material.
I hope you all enjoy the vidoes. Watch ‘em, comment on ‘em and show some love.
Ryan ‘ Bootsy’ Brogan – Lead vocals and Guitar
Robert ‘Starship’ Winship IV – Bass
Jesse Eaves – Drums
Taylor Forry – Keys and BGVs
Hope you all enjoy!
So I sat down last night with my gracious roommate to show him some clips of things that I have been working on. I like to bounce ideas off of him and see what’s catchy and what sticks in his head. I know that if he’s singing it the next day then I am on to something.
As I played through the clips I kept finding more songs that I had forgotten about, and started getting really excited. I sat down and started writing out the names of the songs that I haven’t recorded yet, and realized that I have enough music to put together about 3 EPs . So that’s what I’m gonna do.
The first one that I am going to start recording in JUNE is going to be a lot of the material that I wrote while I was living in Washington, DC. Here are some of the tentative tracks that I am going to record. If there is a track that you think that I should record that isn’t on here, then let me know.
So here is one that was written a while back that I am excited about dusting off and thinking about recording it. Not just this acoustic version, but a “giddyup” version with a full band. It’s always a lot of fun to play live. The lyrics were written with a friend of mine, who is currently doing some incredible things in Thailand.
We’ll be the envy of angels and kings
Revealed by the Light, and the beauty He brings
All will unfold as the sky is unrolled
And the Beauty untold is revealed to all
Chorus:
Won’t you give in, Won’t you give in
Die to yourself, and let your true life begin
We’ll hear the chorus that the angels will sing
Praises will rise, and the echoes will ring
Crowns can’t compare to the Majesty there
And the joy that we’ll share when we hear His call.
I love how much this little challenge is making me stretch and just go for things. Normally I would probably sit on the song a while and mill it over until I feel like its good enough to get out your hands. This new little way of doing it is a lot of fun, though. It takes the pressure off of it having to be perfect. I get to share the process with you, and that’s kind of exciting.
I love that you can hear the birds in the background at the end of the song. Spring is here!!! So here it is.. the roughed out version of “Pain in the Garden” on acoustic.
Sit back and take in Jeremy's laid back style that has flavors of Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, and Shawn MacDonald.
