The advance copies of Writing Better Lyrics by Pat Pattison just landed on my desk. Check out the old original version vs. the new book. As amazing the change is, the new design isn’t the only update. There are revised chapters, new chapters, new examples and exercises. It’s a great revision of a book that’s been a classic for nearly 20 years. 

Learn more about Writing Better Lyrics

Historically used by jazz performers, lead sheets are a form of music notation that specify the essential elements of a popular song: the melody, lyrics, and harmony.  This lead sheet is often the only form of written music for small jazz ensembles because it highlights the melody, and gives the basic chords for the musicians to vamp while the momentary lead takes the show.  Despite it’s jazzy roots, lead sheets have gone on to be highly beneficial for everyone from composers, to church worship leaders and school chorales, all the way to artists.  Lead sheets help musicians protect their content, convey original/unpublished music, as well as have printed versions of unpublished songs.

Together, the melody, lyrics and harmony define what a song is.  In the music industry and entertainment law, a lead sheet is the document used to describe a song for legal purposes.  For example, a lead sheet is the form of a song to which copyright is applied—if a songwriter sues someone for copyright violation, the court will compare lead sheets to determine how much of the song has been copied.  Or if a song is considered for an Academy Award or a Grammy, the song is submitted for consideration in the form of a lead sheet.  Musicians nationwide should protect their original content by having a lead sheet of their works.  Getting a lead sheet now will officially document your work and help in getting it copyrighted.

Excerpt from the lead sheet of "Resting"

Along with protection of your original music comes performance.  It is difficult to have a guitar player learn your song if it is just in your head or still between the lyrics.  Lead sheets help musicians get a leg up on rehearsal and performances – ultimately leading to a better performance.  Every time you are seen as a songwriter/artist in public, you have the chance to leave a lasting impression.  The band messing up a perfectly good song will not sit well with you or the listeners.  Lead sheets give a cohesion to the band that will ease your worries as a performer and allow for the delivery of your original music to be smooth and enjoyable.

What if the piece of music you want to perform with your church or school choir is out of print, then what do you do?  Having that music in written form will allow your vocalists the opportunity to perform pieces that would otherwise remain un-singable without a printed lead sheet.  Also, some church music leaders hear a song on the radio and they would love to have their worship team perform it, but all they have is lyrics and an mp3 of the song.  Worship team practice will be three times as long if the director has to lead the band with every chord after he or she attempts to figure out themselves.  This scenario is NOT ideal; often the music minister isn’t classically trained in theory and will have a hard time determining the exact chords used in a song. along with the melody.  Come Sunday morning, the song will sound just right until the 5th chord or so; the one that was supposed to be major but the leader heard it as minor and the faces of the congregation will sour because this cool song they too heard on the radio will sound a little off.

This is where Lead Sheet Station comes in to save the day.  This cool service allows the creator of an original piece of music or someone wanting to perform a song that is not in print the ability to submit the desired song and get a lead sheet in return.  This service is cutting edge.  It allows the songwriter to upload mp3s and lyrics to the secure website and in return seven days later get a ready-to-go lead sheet.  Again this official documentation of your melody and chords will be handy for legal/copyright purposes, performance ease, and it is just good to have your songs on file.  Being a virtual, internet based business, this company can reach all the continents and is an unstopabble musical advocate!  Here is a little snippet from their website highlighting the benefits of their service:

• Accurate, professional quality sheet music that is easy to read and play
• Fast service – 7 days guaranteed or your money back
• The ability to quickly and easily upload your songs and lyrics directly to our site
• Government-class encryption which ensures that your uncopyrighted songs are safe

Visit this site today to get started documenting your original masterpieces.  Maybe one day the song will be up for a Grammy and you will be ready!

I’ve had all the music finished for this one particular song for a few months now and had come up with a tentative set of lyrics and melodies.  The trouble is that although I liked them, they never felt quite right.  I had been battling with myself as to whether I should just go ahead, finish the lyrics and record all the vocals or start from scratch, keep the same melody but write lyrics that had more meaning to me.  Ultimately that’s what’s scary to me, and also very hard.  I want so badly for the words to be steeped in feeling and emotion that I almost make it impossible for me to achieve the level of writing that I want.  In turn making the task of writing lyrics seem even more daunting than it already is.

However, just as I was about to give up today I just started singing random things to this melody, a different chorus melody to the one I was previously using, and it just felt right.  From there I immediately put on my headphones clicked record and started to sing……I loved what came out and it goes with the song so well.  Most importantly though it feels like “me” and it moved me to tears because I was singing about something from inside me, something real.  The words, in places, make no sense but the point is that they helped me capture a mood, a feeling, a sense of something powerful and now I can rework them into something meaningful.  I’m no stranger to this kind of songwriting.  I often come up with my best stuff completely out of nowhere.  I think I’m the type of person who can’t really force music, I just have to wait for that moment and hope that I can make sense of it and capture it.  It’s a pretty frustrating way to write songs but I’m glad that at least every now and then I get an idea out of the blue that inspires me or makes me feel emotional.  I try to make the most of these moments because they can disappear easily and I revert into feeling useless and uninspired again. In fact that’s likely to happen momentarily but let this be proof that every now and again I actually do feel like I have something to offer with my music.

People sometimes ask me, “Why do you have a blog?” or something along the more general lines of “Why have a blog?”  The best answer I can give is Because I am a person who has a blog.  I’m afraid you either understand that or you don’t.  To put it another way, I have to write.  I’m constantly thinking, and all those thoughts rattle around in my head and start to drive me crazy unless I can write some of them out…find out what I mean by the words I put down then play with those words to see what sounds and subtle nuances of connotation I can coax from them.

People also sometimes ask me, “Why do you play in a band?”  Ok, they don’t actually ask me that.  But I know that’s what they really want to ask. The question that often seems implied in their response when I tell them I play in a band is “Well, what exactly is the point of that if you don’t make money doing it and you’re not trying to get famous?”  And my response to this conversation that largely happens in my paranoid imagination is Because I am a person who plays in a band.  I have to create music.  I have to sing.  I have to turn my guitar amp up loud and dance around to the rhythm.  Playing music makes me feel alive. And I’ll do it until the day I die.  I express things beyond words in my music, and I consequently have a lot of songs I’ve written and play on a regular basis in my apartment by myself or at a rehearsal of one of the bands I play in.

So, in both cases, why not share it?

You’re such a cool thing

with your bare chest

With the bright eyes

and all the rest

You’re every young boys dream

And every young girls treat

It’s like you’re 6 foot 2

And not just 5 foot 8

But I’m too bruised and you’re too young

We carry dust in our pockets and some chewing gum

And I got too many scars to be able to count

And there are too many signs you wouldn’t understand

But you know…

Your words are too quick

My head is too slow

You taste of cigarettes

You’re where I’ve been before

You don’t need trying hard

You know what door to chose

But if the lights went down

You’d get a bit confused

God only knows what went through your head

It must be young blood fire burning in your vains

You’ll always bring a smile to my face

And I’m just worn out, not playing hard to get

You know!

I am too bruised and you’re too young

We carry dust in our pockets and some chewing gum

And I got too many scars to be able to count

And there’s too many signs you wouldn’t understand

I know…

I saw an interesting article about the top entertainers in Taiwan and  a general breakdown of what their earnings are from -some still have substantial CD earnings, but I don’t know how accurate the figures are.

Jay Chou, who’s made no.1, is one of my favourite songwriters from Asia.

Note that it’s in Taiwan dollars, not USD -half a bill’s a pretty high amount.

http://www.88news.net/2009/12/02/top-10-highest-earners-of-taiwanese-celebs/

What makes a great artist? Being a songwriter myself, I often think about this question. When I set out to write a song, most of the time it doesn’t happen the way I want it to happen. It feels forced and unauthentic. Trite and cliche. To me, the best songs that I have written have come out of nowhere and when I usually have no intentions of writing a song. They come from an honest and vulnerable spot inside of me and have no other way of coming out but through spontaneity. It is a moment of truth and revelation and you just have to let it out and not be afraid of what you might say, or who you might offend.

So, if you are a songwriter, artist, painter, or any other profession for that matter, be authentic. Don’t be gimmicky. The true artists of today will be timeless 20 years from now. Always aspire to create something timeless in what you do and don’t be afraid of the time that it takes to create something real and honest.

A great example of a true artist to me right now is Corinne Bailey Rae. You may remember her from the hit a couple of years back, “Put Your Records On” but if you heard any of the other songs off of her first record, you heard a voice singing lyrics that were true to her heart. You believed her words and were moved by every moving melody that she sang. Here is a new song, “I’d Do It All Again,” off of her forthcoming record “The Sea.” It is beautiful.

-t

As I mentioned in a post last week, tomorrow is the release day of the new Phredd album, Phreddtastic. To help celebrate that fact, I thought I’d offer up a little insight as to how one of the songs, “Jingo Jango” came about. Instead of telling you how Phredd and I wrote the lyrics, I thought I’d show you by copying the emails we sent back and forth that birthed the song. And yes kids, this is how ALL professional songwriters write their songs.

EDDIE to FRED:

Fred,
Are you up for writing a jingle for WJTL’s listen live feature, a la those annoying freecreditreport.com commercials? Kinda like the poor sap lost his radio or something and didn’t have a way to listen but now he does. I am actually going to lip synch the song since, just like in the commercials, the guy “singing” the songs isn’t the actual singer. Did you know that? He’s a French actor. True story, dude.
No rush on this at all. At all.
Eddie

FRED to EDDIE:

I love it.  Let’s do this…
Come up with a title and then let’s write (email) lines back and forth to write the song.
So you send me the title, and then…
Let the fun begin.
Fred

EDDIE to FRED:

“The No-Radio-Needed Jingo Jango”

FRED to EDDIE:

I can’t even think properly around this song right now; my heart gets in the way. Patty wrote this years ago; I don’t know why I haven’t come across it until now. Girl can sing the sad ones.

I cry pretty easily, but with this, I never even had a chance. Never saw it coming.

Maybe it’s the timing. It’s definitely the song.

Patty Griffin, “My Dear Old Friend”

How will we smile ever again
I’m asking you sincerely, my dear old friend
What do you say, is there a way
My dear old friend

How will we laugh just like before
When there’s water rising up to our door
And we may never see each other again
My dear old friend

Will there be someone to remember
A little place that we loved
How the music played all night and day
Through the windows up above

How the birds sang in the morning
How the dog barked in the yard
I guess that’s nothing much but everything to us
And that’s what seems so hard

How will we smile ever again
I’m asking you sincerely, my dear old friend
The moon on the hill says we probably will
My dear old friend

The 2009 Boston Music Awards Spotlight: Lisa Bello… Malik Williams

“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping on your nose, yuletide carols being sung by a choir, and folks dressed up like Eskimos.”  Everybody knows… the next line.  The Christmas holiday season wouldn’t be complete without the music.  Songs reminding us of love, hope, and peace fill the air and warm the hearts of listeners world-wide.  According to ASCAP, The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire) by Mel Torme and Robert Wells is the most recorded song of all time.

Other songs like Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, White Christmas, Winter Wonderland, and Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas round out the top five of most recorded Holiday songs.  Whether it is in the shopping malls, radio stations, in movies, the songs of the season add the finishing touch to most events. The rich history of holiday music goes way back.  Music was an early feature of the Christmas season and its celebrations.

The earliest chants, litanies, and hymns were Latin works intended for use during the church liturgy, rather than popular songs.  The 13th century saw the rise of the carol written in the vernacular under the influence of Francis of Assisi.  The word carol comes from the Greek word choraulein, meaning a circle dance performed to flute music.  In the Middle Ages, the English combined circle dances with singing and called them carols.  Later, the word carol came to mean a song in which a religious topic is treated in a style that is familiar or festive.  From Italy, it passed to France and Germany, and later to England.

Christmas carols in English first appear in a 1426 work of John Audelay, a Shropshire priest and poet, who lists twenty five “caroles of Cristemas”, probably sung by groups of wassailers, who went from house to house.  Music in itself soon became one of the greatest tributes to Christmas, and Christmas music includes some of the noblest compositions of the great musicians.

This year Country, Classical, Pop, and Christian artists have tried to reinvent the season once more with new Christmas music.  The following projects have a moving mix of classic tunes as well as newly written tunes, on their way to becoming holiday favorites.  Check out the links for the following CDs – they would make great stocking-stuffers and help to top off any family holiday party.

Believe - 33 Miles

Gold and Green – Sugarland

If On A Winter’s Night – Sting

This Christmas – Michael McDonald

The Irish Tenors Christmas – The Irish Tenors

“Songwriting is a doing word.”  This phrase has been running around inside of me for about five months now.  It has marked the beginning of my return to songwriting, my renewed foray into my creative space, which had long been dusty and mis-placed.  I may have heard it somewhere, but I am fairly certain it one of those divine relations, right words, right time to help me on my way.

The phrase carries for me both an encouragement and a warning.

An encouragement that creativity is implicitly active.  The act of creating is well…an act.  I take pen to paper, words to melody, soul to canvas and by this very action I begin to reveal what has previously been concealed within me.  It reminds me that regardless of the quality of what I create, continuing to practically create something out of nothing is an act of faith, and that only good things can come from habitually taking creative action.  Latent creative potential keeps what I see invisible to the rest of the world.  Taking creative action blesses and re-creates both the giver and the receiver.

The warning is even weightier to me than the encouragement.  And it is a weightiness that has severed me from the chains of writers block. It is simple and yet it is sharp.

Songwriting is not my identity.

It has felt like it is for a long time.  Music, creativity and songwriting are core to me.  If I go to the centre of my heart I find a note there. And so with this intuitive knowing of what was intrinsic to my inner being, I began to hang my hopes and expectations and visions of my future upon the knowing that “I am a songwriter”.  And therein lay the catch.  What I imagined would spark and release me weighed me down, for “I am” statements, I have learned, are not to be approached lightly.

I have come to believe that I breathe the deepest and the freest, when the “I am” statements in my life finish with words that are relational.  That reflect how my inner being relates to my Creator and to my earthly relationships.

I am loved.  I am known. I am wanted.  I am chosen. I am gifted.

I can sit down and rest secure in that room in my heart.  And funnily enough, from there, the creativity that is still inherent within me starts to spring up of it’s own accord. I don’t like to trifle with semantics, but quietly within my heart I know and state now that “I write songs” rather than “I am a songwriter.”  Once my creativity is free to act, instead of trying to carry the burden of my being, it’s amazing what gets loosened up on the inside.

So I have determined that I will not place the burden of my being upon my pen, nor upon my piano.  I place my being in the hands of the One Who Loves Me Most and watch him free my soul to bloom again.

The artist lives in two worlds simultaneously.  The external or outer world, the skeletal framework of his life, with which he engages to work and play and practically relate to those around him.   Less visible, but perhaps more potent, is the existence of his inner world, the womb of creativity, where he perceives and listens with different eyes and ears and lives a parallel existence within this private space.

How different these two worlds are!  And how separate they can feel from one another.  One deals with tangible realities, the other with invisible realities.  One deals with the here and now, the other is musing on past, present and future all at once and framing a view through which to understand them.  One is relatable and accessible, the other is difficult to capture and contain in a way that can be shared meaningfully… and yet, what is the job of the artist if it is not to capture something of those invisible realities and make them known to the outer world?

Now, you say, the artist does not have the monopoly on the private musings of an inner world.   Naturally.  Point taken.  Invariably though, the artistic temperament seems to feel the keenest divide between the worlds, to have the most vivid experiential dichotomy between the two, and to have the greatest need to reconcile them.    Enter creative expression.

When the world inside your head feels more real to you than the world outside your front door, the action of creating something that can be expressed, seen or heard produces sharp relief.   Presenting your inner interpretation of the world you experience seems to produce a bridge that links your two worlds together.    When a melody comes up from inside of you and sings to your surroundings, when lyrics are penned that make known a thought that was previously known only to you the ripple effect is profound.

The very act of creative expression in this context is an intersection or apex of your dual realities.   It gives you, the thinker, the reflective one the chance to be known, to relieve the inner loneliness that comes from flowing in a river with a deeper current than most.   It gives the opportunity for the world around you to interact with your inner world, to be given a back-stage pass if you like to the theatre of your heart.  There is great joy in being known, especially in giving glimpses to such a core dimension of you.

Not only is there the relief of reconciliation and the joy of making yourself known however, but also there is the thrill that comes from presenting something valuable to those around you.  To serve others is to be enriched.  To allow others to perceive something newly by seeing through your eyes is to contribute greatly to the world.  To enable them the vicarious relief of getting something said that is so hard to put into words is no small service.

And so it seems the bridge of creative expression is a two way street, a servant that serves two masters by all at once providing the artist a way out, and others a way in.  And in doing so, both reflecting and participating in the divine.

I have some videos of my recent performance at Go-Girls Music Fest. However, I cannot upload them to this wordpress site without paying for an upgrade. SO…. if you’d like to see them, you can either find them on my facebook fan page. www.facebook.com/jackiedossmusic… or you can go to Youtube and search for jackiedoss. Comments are disabled on Youtube, but you’re welcome to leave a comment here.

Russians, the United States, China. Super heroes- kryptonite, flame on – Meetings to limit the amount of M.A.D. [mutually assured destruction] that would take place, the cold war, spy novels by Len Deighton, people being arrested and detained and interogated in small rooms with bare electric bulbs hanging from a roof. Truth serums, truth drugs.

The leaders with their hands on the levers of control, the levers of destruction- how could an ex actor become president- or governor for that matter- anything is possible. It was always a fear through high school- the global warming of its day- the coming crisis in the consciousness of us all- the absolute unparalleled fear- playing out disaster scenarios. The end of the world, getting about from to to town, trying to find enough food enough shelter while sheltering from nuclear winter. The dawn of the world in a nuclear white out. Would I live on beans, tinned sausages ? Beans once in a while is fine, but everyday? The salty tomato orange broth they float in is delightful on toast with melted butter- real butter, not the canola derivative that will make your arteries rot. Haven’t deliberately touched that stuff in years- hydrogenated oil, all those trans-fatty fats.  Revulsion at the thought of them, those globules sitting in the blood stream blocking arteries. No chest pains from that- from something else though yet to be identified.  I need superpowers to get through the day to day these days. I guess the accumulated wisdom of the years suffices, but just once it would be great to  up. up and away…….

New edeavour = songwriting – with Donna-Marie and Claude. Loved working with you two this weekend.
DM and I started our collaboration using Google Docs – came up with 17 verses.
Claude wrote the music.
Then the three of us spent 7 hours hashing through the volume of poetry and came up with a decent song reflecting DM’s recent trip the Newfoundland to dig up her past.

Written by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website.
_______

There’s a somewhat romantic notion out there that the best songwriters are the ones who just somehow create music without even knowing how they do it. It just flows. But that’s really not how it happens. True, there are songs that come together quickly, but even those ones require some measure of craft to make them work. If you’re stuck and can’t think of how to proceed, try thinking backwards.

Songs are comprised of many different elements all working together. So if you’re stuck in the songwriting process, and can’t think of how to move forward, try identifying what the goal is – what you’re actually trying to do – and then move backward. Here’s how that might work:

MELODY:
Perhaps you’re in the opening few bars of working out your verse melody, but don’t know how to keep it going. If you’ve got at least the first few notes of your chorus working, you’ve actually achieved a goal for your verse. So to continue with your verse, think about the tessitura (the basic vocal range) of your chorus. If your song is in C major, and the chorus is up around the note G, go back to the verse and ensure that the opening of the verse is at least a 4th or 5th lower than your chorus. Then be sure that the bars leading up to the chorus feature some sort of ascending line that seamlessly attaches to your chorus.

HARMONY:
If you’ve got the first bar or two of a chord progression, but can’t think of what to do next, look ahead: what is the goal of that harmonic progression? It’s likely that your chords are going to come back to the chord you started with, and that’s usually the I-chord. So on your note pad, write a I-chord as a goal, and think, “How do I get to that chord.” Perhaps you reach one by playing the ii-chord just before it, so write that down. Then play those two chords over and over, and try to think of a chord that might easily move to the ii-chord: perhaps a IV or a vi. Then go back to the beginning, and try to move from the I-chord to something else, and continue to fill in the centre chords from both directions.

LYRIC:
Lyrics serve different purposes depending on where they are in your song. A verse lyric is a narrative-style recounting of a story; a chorus lyric tends to express more of the emotion of the situation: how the events of the verse make you feel. Bridge lyrics usually feature a quick back-and-forth between recounting and emotive response. If you’re stuck in any one stage, you may be able to get moving by setting a goal for a later section of your song. That sometimes opens the floodgates as it provides a goal for earlier sections. If your verse feels like an aimless wandering of events or moments in your life, set a goal for your chorus (“I can’t live, if living is without you..” for example), then the earlier verse will often come more clearly to your mind (“No, I can’t forget this evening,/Or your face as you were leaving.”)

We often describe a good song as a “journey” that we take the listener on. If we’re lost on a journey, it’s not likely we’d say that we don’t know where we want to be. On a journey, we usually know where we want to be; we just don’t know how to get there. Well, with songwriting, sometimes all it takes is reminding ourselves of where we want to be, and the path there will come more clearly into view.
___________________

Download Gary Ewer’s “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” suite of songwriting e-books, open your mind, and unleash the songwriting talent within you!

Alicia Keys’ new album The Element Of Freedom comes after her biggest success so far, As I Am, in a career which hasn’t had any troughs or lows to date.  Every album she’s released, from Songs In A Minor to the present has explored depth and soul, has combined traditional elements of R&B with current, up to date production and lyrical exploration of love, loss and self-esteem in a genuinely mature fashion that is beyond Keys’ years.  She’s consistently walked the fine line between critical and commercial success, effectively having her cake and eating it since 2002.  Alicia Keys plays the piano like a professional, but is not an entertainer who hides behind her instrument – she takes risks, sings and dances on stage, and has always commanded respect with an element of political and social awareness to boot.  So what does her new album bring to the table?

Like Rihanna’s Rated R, The Element Of Freedom is impossible to divorce from the singer’s personal life context. Keys has suffered some backlash for her love affair with separated-but-not-divorced super-producer Swizz Beatz.  Fans have turned away from Keys’ maturity and moral standpoints expressed in her material to date, saying that she was phony, that she was no better than the singers who dressed and acted like hos, and the lackluster success (i.e. it didn’t shoot straight to #1 as people presumed it would) of first single “Doesn’t Mean Anything” is perhaps because of this.  Despite a simple yet effective video which sticks to the album concept of being free of material things and going beyond all boundaries, the song was solid but seemed like a softer retread of her previous hit “No One”.  Nevertheless, especially since I’m certainly not in a position to judge Keys’ being in love with a man who is attached, the music is far from bad, and second single “Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart” as well as her collaborations with Jay-Z, “Empire State Of Mind (Parts 1 & 2)” seem to be coming closer to replicating her usual success.

Here’s to hoping that The Element Of Freedom continues Keys’ string of successes.  Alicia said of the album that “”The way that the songs progress are gonna take you on a natural high. I just want you to feel a sense of freedom, I want you to feel out-of-the-box, feel inspired, You’re definitely going to be taken on a trip, I know you’re going to be shocked, you’re going to hear things that you probably didn’t think that I would sound like. It’s a journey.”  Some of this I agree with, some of it I don’t hear myself.  ”Doesn’t Mean Anything” and “Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart” both build to exhilarating climaxes, not because the music is especially bombastic (it’s anything but, though “Broken Heart” has a compelling drum loop that comes closer to bringing Kanye West’s 808 fascination into the 21st century than he himself seems to be able to manage).  Standout tracks “That’s How Strong My Love Is”, “Love Is My Disease”, “Distance And Time” and closer “Empire State Of Mind (Part II)” all employ soaring melodies that propel the listener to think and to ride their own emotions; Keys’ production and piano backing compliment each song without ever taking centre stage (as happened on occasion in her first two albums).  Its undeniable that Alicia Keys knows how to write a song, knows how to sing a song and knows how to express a song even with a voice that sometimes is limited – she wrings the emotion out of every syllable be it with a whisper (“Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart”) or a throaty, heartfelt plea (“Love Is My Disease”).

So the album is solid – but is it really that different?  As I Am saw Keys taking risks and incorporating traditional pop and even rock elements into her smoky R&B soul with stellar results (as well as a couple of lackluster songs), and that sound continues here, but in places incorporating 80s drums and synths – this sound is definitely in vogue (I still struggle to understand why), but at least Alicia Keys sounds less like she is pandering to fashion than most artists – again, this is tribute to her genuine musicianship.  I find it hard to say that I am “shocked” by anything on this album – ok, for the first time her intro is a spoken-word explanation of the album title and concept rather than a pianist showcase.  Her collaboration with Beyoncé, “Put It In A Love Song”, is fun and the closest Keys has ever come to club-ready, and Beyoncé’s voice and swagger doesn’t dominate the song as I might have feared – the two artists compliment each other perfectly and adeptly ride the compelling bassline. But here is where the surprises end – opening track “Love Is Blind” performs the same function as previous opening tracks “Go Ahead”, “Karma” and “Girlfriend”, in that they are uptempo, loop-driven productions that display the singer’s confidence before she delves into her vulnerability later in the album.  ”Unthinkable (I’m Ready)” sounds almost too similar to The Diary Of Alicia Keys‘ “Slow Down”, and while “This Bed” provides an interesting diversion on Freedom, its The-Dream-esque synths and piano are really echoing Prince (which is 80% of what The-Dream does anyway) – and Alicia Keys already covered Prince at the start of her career (“How Come U Don’t Call Me”).  The album ends on a legitimate high with “How It Feels To Fly” and “Empire State Of Mind” exploring her ideals of freedom, exhilaration and expressing her love for New York – but she’s even played those cards before, at the end of As I Am (“Sure Looks Good To Me”) and The Diary (“Streets Of New York”).

As stated earlier, the most interesting aspect of the album, lyrically speaking, is matching the songs to Alicia Keys’ newly revealed love for Swizz Beatz, never mind his marriage.  Her feelings about it resonate through the titles – “Love Is Blind”, “That’s How Strong My Love Is”, “Love Is My Disease” and particularly “Unthinkable”.  Lyrics such as “Some people might call me crazy for falling in love with you” (“That’s How Strong My Love Is”) and “I’m wondering maybe could I make you my baby / If we do the unthinkable, would it make us go crazy? / If you ask me, I’m ready” (“Unthinkable”) speak for themselves.  Obviously, as members of the public there’s only so much we know about the situation, and only a certain percentage of that is remotely true – but the artists put their souls on a record and we can’t help but speculate, at the same time as we feel the songs and apply them to our own lives and emotions.

So The Element Of Freedom is, generally, more of the same from Alicia Keys.  It’s not nearly as risky as Keys herself might proclaim, and it’s not the best album of 2009, but it does provide some moments of genuine exhilaration, and there are plenty of strong tracks to make the weaker ones (“Like The Sea”, “Wait Til You See My Smile”) nothing to gripe about.  What’s more, Keys has found some freedom in being brave enough to write about her love and experiences in a new way – and if there’s anything I’ve learned in the past three months, it’s that love is stronger than anything and I can feel most of what she’s singing about.  Her piano playing compliments the songs without ever becoming a gimmick.  And anyway, after all, if Alicia Keys is providing more of the same, she’s still doing a damn sight better than your average R&B chick.  The lyrics are still simple but deep, the music is still soulful yet current, the songs are still well-written and hooky.  I believe Keys has a better album in her yet (The Diary Of Alicia Keys is still my personal favourite), but I thoroughly commend her for not dipping in quality throughout the past 7 years.

One of my young students, Blake, has a great natural talent for manipulating the sounds of a guitar.  I’ve been working with him on developing his knowledge of scales and theory and then applying that to this talent and he’s been making some great progress over the past few months.

You can see Blake using the Source Audio Hot-Hand which I brought over for him to play with since it is right up his alley.  Recording videos like this is an extremely beneficial tool for any student of music and performing to see and hear how we actually come across to the world.  Not mention the fact that it helps the battle of getting past the shyness!

Sometimes  like to think of myself as a bit of a purist, in the sense that I should do all my songwriting and composing from scratch without any tricks, shortcuts, or whatever, but I must admit I do use a couple of handy tools to help me with songwriting if I get in a jam.

The internet has some great sites for that can aid you in your songwriting. The first of these is a rhyming dictionary site called Write Express which is brilliant for unblocking writer’s block.  There are a few rhymes to choose from:

• End Rhymes
• Last Syllable Rhymes
• Double Rhymes
• Beginning Rhymes
• First Syllable Rhymes

All you need do is enter your word, choose your rhyme, and Hey Presto, you get a magical list of words.  Now I know most of the words won’t  help and have absolutely nothing to do with what you are writing, but you might get lucky and find something you can work with.  It’s also a great laugh for writing songs really quickly that don’t make any sence.  There are quite a few rhyming dictionaries online but I prefer Write Express simply for it’s ease of use and clarity of the site.

Another tool I like to use is a thesaurus.  I tend to use one of the many free online thesaurus but any decent hardback (Roget’s Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases) will do just fine.  I use the Thesaurus.com site to help me find alternative words.

I finally blocked out some time to finish up a song or two.  This one is called “Our Last Round”, and is an attempt at an extended metaphor-type song.  I don’t know a whole lot about boxing, so I wrote this with the Wikipedia page on boxing pulled up.

Our Last Round

How could I underestimate the power of a featherweight?
You got me when I let my guard down
I held out for a while, but you came in with an uppercut
and I think we just finished out last round

Chorus:   I think we just finished out last round
You’re the champion, here’s your belt and crown
I finally decided that I’m better off here on the mat
and I think we just finished out last round.

Darling, you took your first swing when you heard the churchbell ring
How could I know I’d grow to dread that sound?
I wondered what’d the preacher mean, when he said “Alright, let’s keep it clean”
Back then when we started our first round.

Chorus

Bridge: In this corner, the contender, see the fear there in his eyes
In this corner, the defender, hungry for the prize

Every time I’d try to leave, you’d come in with the bob and weave
Doin’ your best to drop me to the ground.
But I’ve finally had enough–enough of all your fisticuffs
And I think that we’ve finished our last round.

Chorus