Throughout my internship, I have been tasked with writing and recording songs for my assignments. Prior to internship, I wrote a few songs, but they were mainly songs I kept to myself or simple hello/goodbye songs I used in sessions. I was not confident in my songwriting skills, so I hardly ever shared the songs I wrote out of fear that people would dislike them.
My internship at MTC has helped me grow as a songwriter, particularly writing songs for clinical use. Most of the songs I have written, I am now using at the Hope School during our sessions there. Along with writing songs, I was also tasked with recording them on Garageband. Prior to this I had used Garageband on a few occasions, but never to create full songs. This gave me the opportunity to learn how to create percussion tracks, layer instruments, and use a midi keyboard.
For this week’s blog post, I will be discussing the things I have learned from my experience writing songs for my assignments.
Write EVERYTHING Down
This is a lesson I learned the hard way. I would get ideas for songs, but would wait on writing them down until I had time to write the song. However, by the time I got to writing the song, I would forget the ideas I had. I have started documenting song ideas, whether it be lyrics or melody. I have typed lyrics in the notes app on my phone or I have written them on the margin of pieces of paper. Additionally, when I think of melodies, I will record myself humming or sing it on the voice recorder app on my phone. I work similarly during the process of songwriting. When writing, I find that I need to continually record myself to remember the exact melodies I created.
Take Advantage of the Moments of Inspiration
I’ve discovered that inspiration can strike anywhere. If I am in time and space where I am able, I take advantage of that moment. I find my best work happens when I am feeling inspired to write. It’s more difficult to write a song when you’re not feeling into it. Some of my favorite songs I have written came out of following moments of inspiration. I have had times where I have even gotten out of bed and began working on songs because that’s when inspiration hit.
Rhymezone.com Is the Best
When turning my ideas into a song, the website rhymezone.com was so helpful. I was able to insert the words I was trying to rhyme into the website. The website generates multiple words and phrases that rhyme with the word. In addition, this gives me words that I might not typically use in my daily life. This can add more interest and word diversity to the songs.
It is Okay to Write a Bad Song
This was something one of my supervisors told me when I was working on my first songwriting assignment. I was very nervous about creating this song, I was especially worried that my supervisors would dislike it. I have learned during my internship that it is ok to make little mistakes and try new things, because that is how you learn what to do differently next time. When I worked hard on a song and it didn’t turn out to be my best song, I learned what I try differently in the next song.
Experiment and Have Fun
As I stated, this was my first time creating full songs on Garageband. The first few songs I wrote, my supervisors noted that I did not sound excited in the recordings of them. I was so focused on making the songs “perfect” that I wasn’t finding the fun in the songs I wrote. As I wrote more songs, I explored more sounds and instruments on Garageband. I began to find the joy in creating these songs and had some pride in the outcomes. This made my recording become more “fun” sounding and I found more joy when using the songs with clients.
Overall, I have a new love for songwriting. It is so enjoyable getting to use the songs I wrote with clients to achieve their goals. Additionally, it’s exciting to see my supervisors make use of my songs. I look forward using these lessons I have learned when writing songs in the future and when songwriting with clients.
Lillian
