On Songwriting: My Phone Is Killing Me
When I started writing songs, I used the time honored way to draft: write in a notebook and record with a tape recorder.
That process didn’t stick.
In college, I gravitated toward drafting on a computer. Then the iPhone voice memo app became my most used option, more than texting!
I’ve had long conversations with other songwriters about their songwriting processes. In 2007, Marshall Block, producer and owner of Real II Reel Productions, told me a common trait he noticed among great songwriters.
He said they all use pen and paper to draft their songs. He challenged me to return to the same practices again. Abandon that computer!
So I tried. And failed.
I missed the speed of typing on a computer. I missed the ease of searching for words on online rhyming dictionaries. I missed legibility.
However, I want to admit a nagging suspicion I’ve had this year. My iPhone and MacBook have been hurting me more than helping me.
They are filled with tools; they are also filled with distractions.
* * * Achieving the Flow * * *
There is a process of creation where an artist enters the flow period. Time stops, and the artist is in complete focus.
I used to achieve this state of mind a lot throughout 2000-2007. I’ve noticed it’s hard and harder for me to get there.
I don’t know if this is a coincidence, but 2007 is also when I bought the first generation iPhone. Enter in that miraculous ability–to check my Twitter feed, to browse through Facebook, to read an email, to watch a Youtube video–at any time!
I’m left to ask: Am I using my phone, or is it using me? Whatever the answer, my songwriting remains sporadic, with many unfinished, abandoned ideas in the voice memos app.
* * * Back to the Notebook * * *
Last night I returned to Marshall’s advice, with a few added rules:
1. Schedule in a block of time to write.
2. Leave phone and laptop upstairs; turn off phone.
3. Experiment in a notebook.
4. Record with a simple recorder that doesn’t connect to the Internet. (I use an old Zoom H4.)
5. Allow any ideas to be written in the notebook. Allow any musical concepts to be recorded.
Is the pen mightier than the computer? My notebook and Zoom H4 recorder
After three hours, I had a full song finished! More importantly, I had one of the best songwriting experiences in a long time.
* * * Guinea Pigs and Babies * * *
I know, this isn’t a new epiphany to offer the world, but it’s an important, personal one.
We’ve entered a new era of creativity, one where we are fighting our technological advancements as much as being enhanced by them.
I have been a Guinea pig in this social experiment, and at many times, I’m failing. There is only one way for me to stay productive, and that’s to choose to disconnect from time to time.
I’m preparing for a wonderful, new distraction soon, too: a baby in March!
At SERFA 2014, songwriter Elaine Mahon gave me some tips to practice songwriting in shorter, focused chunks of time, so I’ll know how to work when a baby sleeps. I’ve been trying this more.
* * * A Warning * * *
People are warning me how a new baby will affect my schedule; however, no one warned me how technological distractions that we take for granted do, too.
I thought I’d offer a quick warning to the younger songwriters out there: Get away from your devices when you work.
There is a good chance they are hurting us more than helping us during that early stage of creation that we call brainstorming.
And that’s the most fun part of music…
Great Lake Collective’s Blue Owl Songwriter
I’m honored to have won the Great Lake Collective’s Blue Owl Songwriter competition last night in Lansing!
Nick Berry from GLC
I was nervous to close the night. Each of the five finalists had to perform four songs, including a cover. The other performers are incredible songwriters, and I wasn’t sure if my voice was going to survive the evening. It had been a long week of fighting the flu since Monday night.
This has been a year of ups and downs for Natalie and I. Ending the year with a “music up” is reminding me to feel really blessed. Also, still feeling a little feverish.
Checkout all of the GLC’s finalists’ music:
Set List: Dec. 11, 2014 @ Midtown Brewing Co. Lansing, MI
1. Damn Fine Day
2. Only the Rain Knows Why
3. Don’t Mess Around with Jim (Jim Croce)
4. Mahogany
* * *
5. Smooth (Santana)
6. Burning Bright
7. Tainted Love (Soft Cell)
8. Here Comes the Sun (Beatles)
9. I Just Want to Be Your Last
Rich from GLC introducing the songwriting contest, at Midtown Brewing Company
#ftp2015
I’m playing Folk the Police on January 25, 2015. 15 Michigan artists play two folk or bluegrass interpretations of hip hop songs.
Folk the Police has sold out during pre-sales four years in a row, so buy your tickets early here.
Line up includes:
Appleseed Collective * Bennett * Abigail Stauffer * Chris Dupont * The Accidentals
Keri Lynn Roche * Scissor Now * Wolfie Complex * Nicole P’Simer
Dave Menzo * Olivia Millerschin * The Way Down Wanders * Iggy Shevak * The Euphorics
WSG DJ Cataclysmic
Related show
Pomplamoose Tour (Part 4: Another Perspective)
Many DIY bands are confusing their tour expenses with how Pomplamoose (a duo) had expenses.
Let’s look at it from another perspective.
If Pomplamoose was a six piece band, instead of a duo, the numbers would look differently because that salary for session players would be the band’s money:
Let’s assume the $48094 salary of hired band members (4) and crew (2) was divided evenly.
$16,031.33 paid to the crew. $32,063 is no longer an expense.
* * * New Numbers * * *
So the total gross income of the tour is $135,983
$147,802 of expenses becomes $115,739. (We’ve subtracted $32,063 for this hypothetical experiment.)
So the tour would profit $20,244.
Divide that by 6 and each member made $3,374 for a month of work.
That’s not great, but this Pomplamoose’s first national tour, and they invested in their production.
* * * Forest from the Trees * * *
This is a forest from the trees discussion.
Pomplamoose isn’t a band, it’s a duo. One household–two people who are dating–keep all of the yearly income.
By the end of the year, they make more money as a duo from their diversified incomes (Youtube ads, Patreon sponsors, iTunes/Spotify revenue, etc) than they would as a band dividing everything six ways.
Sure, Jack and Nataly took the risks for a month of their tour, but by the end of the year they are in the black.
* * * More Things to Read, AKA I’ve had too much time on my hands on my day off cleaning the house before family visits for the holidays * * *
read Jack Conte’s article about the losses his band had on tour.
— My three blogs about this topic of touring: part 1 the salaries…; part 2 the hotels…; part 3 the numbers.
(And yes, the hired guns need to be paid and should sleep in a hotel room rather than the van.)
The Kind Troll
It seems like the last ten years of the Internet has brought out all of the trolls from their caves.
News articles, music blogs, Youtube videos–all overrun with thoughtless, negativity…The trolls have won the message boards, leaving them meaningless. My general rule in life is to never read the comments section.
Some news organizations have turned to disabling all together. Popular Science did this in 2013, saying “Comments can be bad for science.” Some Youtube stars are boldly disabling them, too.
When comment boards become anarchy, an opportunity is lost. Artists used to write back to their fans. Thoughtful discussions bloomed.
I felt dismayed considering this during the wake of Ferguson, Eric Garner, and the two NYPD officers murdered. How do we combat real negativity when we are surrounded by it in the digital age?
So I’m starting a personal experiment for 2015. I’m calling it #thekindtroll.
Each day I’m going to find one corner of the Internet and write something thoughtful, something positive. It might be a friend’s Facebook page. It might be a stranger’s Youtube cover of a song. It might be a writer’s article.
Seth Godin wrote about the power of committing to a “daily agenda.” I know I can’t beat the trolls, but in the Hobbit, a little sunlight goes a long way.
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