Ordinary Elephant Songwriting Workshop Writing and music are lifelong adventures of which we are perpetual students. We love sharing what we’ve learned and what works for us. Everybody is unique, and the songwriting process is an ongoing experiment. Please try new things, and keep using what helps you! “That’s another thing I was explaining to my daughter. She’s frustrated that writing is so difficult, because no one told her that it’s the most difficult thing in the world… People tell you to write like you can do it, like you’re supposed to be able to do it. Nobody can do it. It’s impossible. The greatest people in the world can’t do it. So if you’re going to do it, you should first be told: “What you are attempting to do is incredibly difficult. ​ One of the most difficult things there is, way harder than weight training, way harder, what you’re summoning, trying to summon, within your brain and your spirit, to create something onto a blank page.” …learn how to encourage yourself…And be proud of yourself, treat yourself well for having done that horrible, horribly impossible thing.” — Jerry Seinfeld ​ Part 1 - Creative Process What is the story? Techniques: free writing, stream of consciousness, prose, bulleted lists, mind map Things to Keep in Mind ● No editor allowed. You have permission to suck. ● This is the time to take risks, be vulnerable, write in a flow. ● Nobody has to see this part. Jonathan Byrd even burns his notebooks to be sure! ● “Yes, and…” ● “Don’t let facts get in the way of the truth” (research historical events if necessary)...emotional truth. ● Be an observer. Write sensory information (see, smell, touch, taste, hear, organic, kinesthetic). Details can make a song more universal. Write like it’s a movie scene. ● Generate as much as you can here. We’re following Hemingway’s iceberg theory. You want a lot of content so you can pick the best pieces to tell the story. Idea Tools Object Writing ● Freewrite for 10 minutes about an object, focusing on the senses (see, smell, touch, taste, hear, organic, kinesthetic) ● Organic sense is how things inside your body feel (e.g. heart beat faster, itchy nose) ● Kinesthetic is how your body feels and moves in space (e.g. feeling of falling, floating in water) ● Try making this a daily habit! Translitic process ● Take a poem from a language you do not speak and “translate” it ● The first draft is best done in a dream-like state, and the result will be gobbledygook ● Keep rewriting, only looking at the most recent draft ● We usually bring in music and start adding form around the 4th or 5th draft Metaphor Mining ● Make lists of nouns and adjectives. Smash them together and see what you can find! ● Try it with nouns and verbs ● Try again with nouns and nouns Other tools: Part 2: Craft How to tell the story This is the time to edit, rewrite, get feedback, tinker. Get out your rhyming dictionary and thesaurus. Let’s put this puzzle together! ● We’re not telling people what to think. We’re showing them what happened. ● Record yourself and listen back. What’s working? What’s not? ● The time for honesty and judgement is now. Make sure to give yourself enough time in the no judging creation zone first! Economical writing ● How to say the most with the limited real estate we’re given. Listen to Guy Clark. Listen to Mary Gauthier. ● “Kill your darlings”—each line should belong, and contribute. Start a document with great lines that don’t serve the song. They’ll be useful in other songs. ● Always try to be sure you’re using the strongest verb possible for a situation Point of View Who’s talking? Who are they talking to? Try them all out to see which works best for the song (you may be surprised). With direct address and 2nd person narrative, be careful not to tell the “you” something they already know. (e.g. “You have blue eyes”) Song Form Verse, Chorus, Refrain, Bridge, Intro, Outro, etc. ● Use verses to propel the story ● Try out different combinations! ● Common problem: did you write the second verse first? ● Motion ○ Play around with contrast in content and structure ○ Connect the sections logically by writing to the chorus/refrain, but they should also fit together without the chorus/refrain Prosody Fitting the content and story into a musical home. All of these elements can create prosody: ● Tonality (key, mode, chords) ● Tempo & Groove / feel / rhythm ● Repetition ● Melody ● Structure ○ number of lines ○ line length ○ rhythm of line ■ where a lyric line starts relative to the 1 of a measure ■ where words fall relative to the beat/pulse ■ how long and what words are held out ■ what notes particular words happen on ○ rhyme scheme ○ rhyme type ■ perfect - family - assonance - consonance - no rhyme ● perfect - vowel sound and end sounds the same ● family - vowel sound the same, but different consonant from family ● families of consonants ○ plosives (B, T, D, G, K, P) - e.g. cat and back ○ fricatives (V, S, F, TH, Z, J, CH, SH) - e.g. lunch and fudge ○ nasals (m, n, ng) - e.g. same and sang ● assonance - across families but vowel still same (e.g. joke, stove, bone) ● consonance - only consonant same ● (e.g. smoke, duck, tack) ● assonance and consonance good for internal rhyming Resources: Books: The Complete Rhyming Dictionary by Clement Wood Roget's Thesaurus - 7th Edition Writing Better Lyrics by Pat Pattison The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield Podcasts: DIY Musician Stories #3: Mary Gauthier The Tim Ferriss Show #485 (interview with Jerry Seinfeld) The Tim Ferriss Show #405 (interview with Penn Jillette) The Tim Ferriss Show #366 (interview with Neil Gaiman) The Working Songwriter by Joe Pug Software: Mindnode Lite Example Glossary: We made a Spotify playlist for you! Go check it out at ordinaryelephant.net/workshopplaylist ​ Metaphor/ Refrain: Jeffrey Martin - Sad Blue Eyes ​ Metaphor: Loretta - Townes Van Zandt ​ Economy: John Prine - Far From Me ​ Point of View: ​ Direct Address: Justin Farren - Worthy of the Sea Second Person Narrative: The Beatles - For No One 1st Person Narrative: Anna Tivel - Velvet Curtain Third Person Narrative: Anaïs Mitchell - Shepherd Repetition: John Hiatt - What Do We Do Now? ​ Repetition (Repeat verse at end): Townes Van Zandt - Tecumseh Valley ​ ​ ​ Repetition (Refrain): Johnny Cash - I Walk The Line ​ ​ ​ Characters: Sam Baker - Ditch, Isn't Love Great ​ Emotional Truth: Mary Gauthier - I Drink ​ Consonance (Bridge): Eliza Gilkyson - Emanuelle ​ Music Contrast: Guy Clark - Hank Williams Said It Best; The Beatles - A Day in The Life ​ Economy: John Prine - Far From Me ​ Bridge (Contrast): Don McLean - Vincent, John Denver - Take Me Home, Country Roads ​ ​ ​ Groove: Forever Young (multiple versions) ​ Melody rising in the chorus: Guy Clark - The Cape ​ Rhythm of a line: Tom Petty - I Won’t Back Down ​ Rhythm of a line: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - You Got Lucky ​ Rhythm of a line: Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants To Rule The World ​ Rhythm of a line: Dolly Parton - I Will Always Love You ​ Translitic: Ordinary Elephant - Let Me Tell You What I Think ​.