That'd make a great song!
Had a great time at the songwriting seminar last weekend. It was at the Hotel Arts, which is a very cool place to have a seminar. Been at a couple there now and nothing beats a poolside bevie when your done. Although parking proved to be a challenge and did you know they have photo-parking tickets now? I found out the hard way.
If you don't know, it's a seminar put on by the folks who run Radio Star, the National Songwriting Competition. The seminar is in its second year and was started to give budding songwriters a better insight into the craft of writing a song. A sort of heads up before the Radio Star competition which starts taking entries October 5th.It was really cool to hear Ralph Murphy do his presentation. He's been writing and performing since the 60's and one of the smartest song guys I've ever met. I've never heard someone put into words what it takes to write a song so simply. If you missed him and are at all curious, check out his web page http://murphyslawsofsongwriting.com
One of the best points he made was simple, listen to music. It's amazing how many people think that they can write a song, yet don't listen to music. Or, maybe that's not the right way to put it. We all hear and listen to music in some way. But, a lot of people don't pay attention to, or focus on what makes their favourite song good.
If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know I love the music history. And there's no better way to learn about music than listen to it. If you're an aspiring singer, songwriter, musician, be sure to put in some time learning about where the music came from. I find a lot of new bands/artists tend to think they need to be original and try something that's never been done before. You're not going to re-invent the wheel. The greatest song ever has already been written. You just need to make your own version of it.
And check out the website http://www.radiostar.ca/ for more info about the National Songwriting Competition. You have until December 11th to get your entries in.
