Songwriting Sunday: Songwriting Challenges

Ooh, boy. Songwriting is not for everyone, and that is okay. It is not always easy, but I think it is an essential skill for music therapists to be able to write goal-focused songs for clients. Like every other element of music, this is one that gets better when we practice. And practice. And practice.

So, if writing songs is challenging, there are some tasks that you can do to make it easier. Here are the ones that I use, but I would love to hear what you do when you need a new or very specific song to support your clients in achieving their goals.

When I get into a situation where the creativity just isn't happening, I take as many elements out of my decision tree as possible. I use dice or pull notes from a hat. I use piggyback songs. I write nonsense songs about strange pictures. I get into a repetitive chord progression and go into some word association strategies. I have figured out things to do that shake me out of my slump and back into composition. These are skills that I have practiced for many years.

Lately, I have been thinking about writing songs but not actually writing many of them. I haven't even written ideas in my ideas book. I am not doing much of anything creative at the moment - not even blogging or journaling consistently. I am moving from work crisis to work crisis, and that constant demand on my energy level has left very little for creativity. I am going to work on changing that fact this week by doing some of the techniques that I listed above.

I did write a piggyback song this week using the song I Gotta Feeling by the Black-Eyed Peas. I didn't use it with my clients, but I wrote the words and then mastered the chord progression. It is ready to go when I am ready to release it into the wild. One of the things that I have realized about myself is that I am very reluctant to do songwriting experiences with my clients for some reason that I cannot determine.

I am getting another idea for the same base song but a different focus - more SEL-focused than what I had originally put together.

This is something that tends to happen - one idea sparks another and it starts to grow in my brain like a snowball. That is why I keep an idea book. I can capture ideas as they flow and work on them later.

Right now, I am working on sing about songs - theme version. I have the TMEs started, I know what I want for the visuals, and now it is time to put it all together into one convenient package. Some of the songs have to be composed. Others are completely finished. I am hoping to get this project finished by the end of the week so I can release it out into the wild of the music therapy world.

When you have to write a song, how do you go about it?? Let me know in the comments.

 

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