Recent discussions
about evaluating one's songwriting have sparked some thoughts about
what the elements of songwriting are.
Simplicity is
powerful, but in this case, I prefer identifying more characteristics
of songwriting, rather than fewer. Here is a list I made:
- Melody
- Rhythm
- Harmony
- Lyrics
- Meaning (does the song communicate something important?)
- Emotional Impact
- Engagement (is the subject matter relatable?)
- Vision (does the song present fresh ideas or a powerful worldview?)
- Storytelling
- Visual Imagery
- Structure
- Production
By evaluating your
songwriting and individual songs using these categories, I believe
you can get more insight into your strengths as a songwriter. More
items = more chances to find your strengths and feel encouraged.
Also, if you haven't thought about some of these items, they may give
you a different perspective, hopefully fueling your creativity.
While the first four
items on the list are the basic elements of songwriting, the other
aspects are different ways of viewing a song that may allow you to
increase its success or expand its audience. In particular, if you
can improve your song(s) in terms of meaning, emotional impact, and
engagement, you are on the path to creating songs that will make a
difference in people's lives and earn you devoted supporters.
I see three
different groups of items in the list (please apologize a bit of
geeking out here as I use a chemistry analogy). The first four are a
song's elements. The middle six are its products (the result of a
chemical reaction between elements). The last two involve the system
or superstructure.
I chose all of these
items because I believe they are all things that we can act on and
improve. For example, if you would like to convey more meaning in
your songs, make a note of the time that you spend in certain
activities, the things you look forward to the most, and what you
have experienced that is the most memorable. Now you have some seeds
for songs.
You can also
research these items, such as finding surveys about what news
stories, memes, or art is trending at the moment. The research could
potentially allow you to make your songs more engaging or relatable.
Here are some of the
resources that spurred my interest:
One final item to
consider is your songwriting process. That could be a whole topic of
its own:
Process (Capturing ideas, organizing ideas, deciding what to work on next, finishing songs)
Process (Capturing ideas, organizing ideas, deciding what to work on next, finishing songs)
I'd love to hear
your thoughts.
