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Category: Songwriting

Writing Therapy Songs Is Good For You

November 3, 2017 / / 0 Comments

When life is getting you down and you have no-one to talk to, how about writing a song about it? I can assure you that it will make you feel so much better.

This is because writing a song about your thoughts and feelings is a wonderful way of expressing what’s happening inside you plus, it’s a great way to get things off your chest.

It’s sad that far too many people in this world never allow themselves the chance to release their bottled up feelings and it’s been proven that carrying around all your sadness and anger will make you sick.

With that in mind, that must mean that songwriters must be the one of the mentally healthiest groups of people in the world 😉

Just remember, not every song that you write has to be performed in the public arena so what have you got to lose? You are allowed to write songs for you and you only. No-one needs to know about them and they can be your own little secret if you wish.

Just as long as you write what is in your head and your heart.

It’s widely recognised that sharing a problem with family and friends is a very healthy thing to do mentally however, writing songs for therapy follows a similar concept but in this instance you’re having the same conversation with yourself.

If you want to share your song with others, that’s fine but it’s not essential.

By putting your problems or emotions into a songwriting context you’re really putting a positive spin on a negative situation.

Writing songs about what your feeling at the time allows you to put things into some sort of logical perspective.

Instead of spending hours telling yourself the same old long protracted story about what’s happening in your life, you condense it all into a four minute song. This requires you to cut to the chase with the issue and by doing that, the problem or emotion is not as intense as was first thought.

What you do with the therapy songs you write is totally up to you however, it’s how these songs help you through the tough times, not what you do with them that’s the important thing to consider here.

Please, don’t be afraid to write about how you feel even if you don’t want to face up to it. This is a great exercise in being really honest with yourself and your feelings.

Do you feel a songwriting therapy session coming on about now? The doctor is now in.

Until next time, keep on writing,

Corey Stewart
All About Songwriting

The Five Pillars Of The Songwriting Process

July 15, 2017 / / 0 Comments

A songwriting process is defined as “… a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end,” the end of course being the completion of a song.

Songs are what makes the global music industry go round and the more that songwriters are empowered and educated about their own brand of songwriting process, the better off the music business will be.

How you write your songs, from the initial spark of a songwriting idea to the final stroke of your pen, all comes down to how you work your songwriting process.

Now, there are as many variations to the songwriting process are there are songwriters in the world as the songwriting process is a very individual thing however, I believe there are five main pillars to a songwriting process and how those pillars are handled is dependent on the individual songwriter.

Your songwriting process will depend on your handling of these five pillars creating the foundation of your songwriting process.

Pillar #1 – YOU! The Songwriter
This pillar deals with the songwriter, what goes on between the ears and the environment they choose to work in because A song can’t be written if you’re not there to write it.

A songwriter’s process always starts with their state of mental physical and spiritual health. A good state of health means a healthy output of songs.

Pillar #2 – The Foundation
Any creation requires a process to allow it to happen. This pillar is all about the creation of the the foundation/process to gain opportunities for inspiration/work on creating a song. It’s important to create the right environment to be open to songwriting ideas as they spring up at anytime.

Pillar #3 – The Creation
This Pillar is all about the actual writing of the song from a songwriting idea to a first draft completion. It’s all about the creation of something from nothing. A song can be created from a number of means either individually or together at the same time.

Pillar #4 – The Revision
This pillar is all about the song revision process. Once a song is written is it the end of the process? No.

Good songwriters will revise and rewrite their song to make sure that the song is the best it can be. They will also know when it’s time to stop revising and start finishing. This is where the inner critic can form a positive role within the songwriting process.

Pillar #5 – The Business
This section is all about the business of songwriting. What will be the reason for the song’s existence? Is it to be played at gigs? Is it for another artist? Is it a therapeutic/cathartic experience or, is it a stepping stone to the next song?

All intentions for the end result are valid and need to be taken into consideration as part of the songwriting process.

If you pay attention to these five things you’ll find that you’ll be a more productive, efficient, creative and self aware songwriter.

You’ll finish more songs than you start and you’ll not be afraid of songwriters block, procrastination or your inner critic, whichever comes first.

This blog will cover all of the many facets of these five pillars through created and curated content. If you have any questions you want answered regarding your songwriting process or, you have your own experiences you want to share please let me know, I’d love to hear from you about this all important aspect of songwriting

Until next time, keep on writing,

Corey Stewart
All About Songwriting

All About Songwriting – The Very First Post

July 1, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Hi there, my name is Corey Stewart and I’m a singer/songwriter, musician and blogger from Australia and songwriting is a craft, an art-form, a process, an emotional outlet and (most importantly) a way of life for me.

I’ve created All About Songwriting to help all songwriters anywhere, at any level, expand on what songwriting knowledge they already have or, to help beginning songwriters start off their journey in a positive direction.

All About Songwriting is my attempt to document all of the aspects of songwriting, musicianship and the creative process in general that I have either directly experienced myself through being a songwriter for most of my life or, from what I’ve discovered online along the way through hand picked/curated articles and other sources of relevant information.

On a personal note, I want this blog is to be constantly reminding me of why I write songs in the first place.

Now it’s a well known fact that great songs are the backbone of the music industry. I mean without them there would be no music industry to speak of… Right? THAT is how important the role of the songwriter is in the whole scheme of things.

I feel it’s really important that songwriters have the best information at their fingertips as this enables them to be the best songwriters that they can be and it’s because of this that my goal is to have All About Songwriting become one of the most trusted sources of songwriting information on the web.

This site can only develop in the long term with direct input from its readers (that means YOU), so if now or in the future, there are any questions that you may have about songwriting, musicianship, the creative process, or anything else for that matter, just let me know and I will do my very best to answer you.

In the meantime, I wish you all well on your respective songwriting journeys, no matter where it takes you. Let’s take this first step together… RIGHT NOW!

Until next time, just keep on writing,

Corey Stewart
All About Songwriting

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