Write Away Magazine - April

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One Man's Songwriting Process Taylor Sappe In the 1960s, when I was new to songwriting, I used to get some great ideas for songs, but the one problem I had was that I would forget the ideas by the time I was in the presence of a guitar. I had to rely on my memory, which already had too many things in it to leave room for new song ideas. If the idea didn't occur to me at the time that I was near a guitar it got lost forever. Eventually, common sense dictated that I write everything down, so I started keeping small note pads and a pen in my car, living room, dining room, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. I tried keeping one in my pocket, but it fell apart. When a page of my notepad would fill up I would copy the ideas (by re-rwiting them) to a master notebook. When I was in the presence of a guitar and began writing, everything went to paper, so I had to rely on my memory again to remember the melody to the lyrics I wrote against those cool chords. During that chapter of my life recording devices were expensive and hard to come by. Portable recorders didn't exist.....at least not to my knowledge. All of these incompleted songs went into a master notebook that I would rotate through until a song was finished. Technology improving work flow The only type of recorders that were available to consumers at the time were big bulky expensive reelto-reel tape recorders. Eventually, cassette recorders were invented. The dictaphone was the songwriter's dream tool. We could record our thoughts and even our musical ideas and store them for later development. There was just one drawback. If you recorded hundreds of ideas on a half hour cassette tape you had to fast-forward and rewind the tape to try to find what you wanted to work on. If we wanted to add new ideas we had to fast forward to the end of the tape. When digital recording started becoming affordable for the upper middle class, but not yet for me, they began making hand-held digital recorders. This made storing of ideas much easier because you could create a seperate audio file for each song idea and name it. I was eventually able to afford a cheap digital hand-held recorder for around $100 USD. This was all before smart phones came on the scene, but digital recorders are still in use to this day, but with many advanced features that are better equipped for professional field recording. I had a cell phone since the 80s, but they didn't invent smart phones at that time. It wasn't until many years after smart phones came on the market that I finally decided to upgrade, and now I never look back. My smartphone, which is an Android, gives me everything I need right at my fingertips, wherever I go. My essential lyric writing tools in my phone are a digital recorder and color notes notepad. Color notes gives me the option to create my choice of a text document or a checklist for each topic. In the case of song ideas, I use the checklist option. Because my phone is with me 24/7, I don't need note pads lying around the house with pens that skip and run out of ink. I can just record my lyric ideas into my phone's notepad, using voice to text when necessary, and my digital recorder to capture my melodic or instrumental musical ideas. Since this magazine is about lyric writing, that is what I will focus on. If you want to learn more about the music writing process, please visit my website http://www.taylorsappe.com. How do I find lyric ideas? I try to keep alert for anything that could create a title, line, or concept for a song. Sometimes I will be watching TV, reading a newspaper or magazine, dreaming, meditating, engaging in conversations, experiencing life events or listening to music or songs. Something might trigger an idea for a song. When it does, I record it into my phone. When it happens in a dream I have to catch it as soon as I wake up or I forget it. I try to force myself to reach for the phone while the idea is still fresh in my mind, but there are still times when I am just too lazy to grab that golden nugget and I end up losing it. What do I do with the ideas I collect? Over the years I have collected literally thousands of lyric and musical ideas. Many have made their way to complete songs or musical compositions and many have not. Some are still under development and others will probably never make the cut. So how do I manage all of those ideas? Some songwriters say that it is best to set aside a specific time of day with a specific amount of time to work on songwriting. Some say it is best to continue working on one song until it is finished. What works well for some is not a one-size-fits-all. Those methods don't work for me. In fact, having a regimented schedule to create something, or continuing to work on something after my ideas for it have been exhausted actually hinders my creative process. I need an environment where a free flow of ideas can occur. For me, that doesn't happen when there are time constraints or any kind of obligation, self imposed or otherwise. The closest I can get to that method is to create a daily list of things I want to get done. Because I work in music full time, almost everything on the list is music related, so I divide up my tasks and portion 18 www.writeawaymagazine.co.uk
them out throughout the week, leaving Saturday for catching up and recreation if I am caught up, and Sunday for recreation. Just because I am engaged in recreation doesn't mean that I'm not still on the lookout for song ideas to record into my phone. I have one location on my computer where I store the masses of my lyric ideas. It is in a software program called Masterwriter. I highly recommend Masterwriter to every lyric writer who wants to be prolific at what they do. It has all of the tools you need, such as a thesaurus, rhyming dictionary with rhymed phrases, phrases containing a search word, word families, and much more. If you want to learn everything Masterwriter can do for lyricists, go to http://masterwriter.com. It's a bit pricy to purchase, so I lease it for $9.95 USD a month. In my daily schedule, I set aside one day a week where I will take time to transfer the ideas from Color Notes into Masterwriter. I don't set a specific amount of time for anything on my schedule. This way I can work on a specific task until it is done or until I run out of ideas, then move on to something else. This allows flexibility for scheduling appointments. About the author Taylor Sappe, a multi-genre songwriter/producer has been writing songs since the mid 1960s and has been involved in music full time since 1966, with a few hiatuses, but always returning to music. From 1970 to 1975, Taylor worked full time as a folk guitar/vocalist and was performing 5 nights a week. From 1976 to 1979 Taylor majored in music composition at Berklee College Of Music in Boston, Ma. USA, which included courses in lyric writing under Professors Jon Aldrich and Pat Pattison. In 1982, Taylor had his first regional hit song, “Dancin” with a band he played bass in.. In 2011 he co-wrote “Old Country Legends”with Kelsey Cronauer, which appeared on KelC's album “Get Branded”, which was nominated for a grammy for best country album of 2013. Today, Taylor produces music for production music libraries targeting film, TV, Video games and advertising, as well as teaching music production at the DeMelfi School of Music in Hazleton, Pa. You can find many of Taylor's songs and productions on all major digital platforms, such as iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, YouTube, CD Baby, and much more. Another day is set aside for rotating through the ideas I collected in masterwriter. I will open an idea and develop it as far as I can, even if it is only to add one word to it and move on to the next one. It is usually more than that, and sometimes I even complete the song in one sitting, but I have gone through ideas where there wasn't much, or anything to develop, then moved on to the next one. Songs with little or no development on a pass eventually get fully developed. Some take years. Because there are so many ideas collected it is impossible to go through everything in one day, so I will go as far as I can until my brain feels fatigued, then mark the spot where I left off until next time. In Masterwriter I can label the status. If I want to see all lyrics that are completed and ready for music, I can do that with one click of the mouse. I can do the same with “ideas to be developed” and “pick up from” on my next session. I have another day scheduled to take time with the completed songs and set them to music. Putting music to lyrics is another topic for discussion, but if you are interested in my work flow for that, you can follow me on my facebook producer page Tracks 4U at http://www.facebook.com/t.sappe. This is where I share posts related to songwriting and producing and create some educational content as well as post some of my music. If the topic interests you, you can get personalized lessons in creating music based on your existing skill set, by contacting me through my website http://www.taylorsappe.com. If you want to connect as a friend on facebook you can do so by searching my name. Additionally, if you want to connect with my producer page on twitter, you can find me on twitter as @tracks4_u . When you say “<strong>Write</strong> on!” I say “Right on!” www.writeawaymagazine.co.uk 19
Page 2 and 3: In This Issue... Features 12 Man in
Page 4 and 5: Rachel in Brisbane, Australia, asks
Page 6 and 7: The Cut Up Lyrics Technique Simon W
Page 8 and 9: 5 Essential Elements for Successful
Page 10 and 11: Lyrical Do Not Series #2 COUNTING S
Page 12 and 13: `tÇ \Ç UÄtv~ https://www.youtube
Page 14 and 15: Johnny Cash Solo Album Discography
Page 16 and 17: Why Base a Song From Life Experienc
Page 20 and 21: From the Pages of History... Forlor
Page 22 and 23: Matchmakers Lyricist Christopher lo
Page 24: The Lyric Writers Magazine Next Mon

Write Away Magazine - April

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