Our 3rd Annual Songcraft Concert!

Event: Songcraft Mini-Concert ‘09 “Originally Yours”
Date: 21st Nov ‘09
Time: 730pm-930pm
Venue: Play Den@Arts House

What can I say?

Another annual Songcraft concert (our 3rd one so far), another highly-memorable event.

Now I am quite an easily-satisfied person, but in all honesty…I really felt that everything went PERFECT tonight.

From the moment I stepped into the Play Den at 4:55pm, and I saw all 3 mics set up nicely on 3 mic stands with 3 accompanying music stands, I knew it was going to be a good night.

(That was exactly what I had requested for from the Arts House folks.)

My biggest worry was the turnout, cos I was worried about both overcrowding and undercrowding. (You can never predict how many people will turn up for something like this, cos it is not a ticketed event.)

But it turned out beautifully…cos the Play Den was filled just nice for the entire night.

Amazing.

A lot has to be said about the beautiful venue, i.e. the Play Den.

I thought it was a pleasant upgrade from the Choral Studio at the YMS.

Not to say the Choral Studio was inferior…but it probably didn’t suit our needs as well as the Play Den did.

The atmosphere in the Play Den was remarkable.

The lighting was great, and ambience was cosy, and the acoustics were fantastic.

I really think a lot of the success of tonight’s concert could be attributed to the venue.

And of course, the stars of the show were the 20 songs by the various songwriters…and they certainly didn’t disappoint.

We were treated to songs of various genres and themes, but all beautiful nonetheless.

At the end of the day, we’ve not lost our focus – it’s always about the songs.

It is a showcase of original songs…songs written by your average joes living in Singapore, people like you and me.

Songs written by people who love music enough to pick up the guitar or go to the piano to create an original song of our own.

It is really an honour to know of so many wonderful, gifted and passionate songwriters in Singapore.

*P.S. Thank you to all who are reading this who turned up for the mini-concert tonight. Really appreciate your show of support!

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Future?

Songcraft has been around for almost 3 full years, and we’ve gone through 3 annual concerts.

We’ve certainly come quite a way.

It has been a most magical journey.

(When music is involved…it’s always going to be magical.)

What does the future hold? Will there be a 4th concert?

Nobody knows. It’s hard to look too far in the future sometimes.

I guess we will have to wait and see what the future holds.

We can’t be too sure of tomorrow.

But what we can be sure of is that the memories of yesterday were certainly great.

One big happy group of songwriters

The Emotional Connection

I can’t speak for all songwriters, but when I’m trying to write songs the most important thing to me is that the songs should establish an “emotional connection” with the listener.

And the earlier in the song that the emotional connection can be established, the better.

The method doesn’t really matter – you could be using just three chords throughout, or you could be playing in the simple key of C major, or you could be using very elementary lyrics…it doesn’t really matter.

It’s the effect that matters.

Conversely, it doesn’t matter if you’re using complex harmonies and chord progressions, or complex rhyming schemes…if there is no connection, then I personally feel that the song did not achieve its intended effect.

How then, does a song establish an emotional connection? How does it “speak” to the listener?

Well, this is a hard one to answer. I wish I knew the answer to that too.

I personally think it’s just a matter of putting yourself in the shoes of the listener and imagining what the listener would like to hear.

But of course, everyone wants to hear different things, so I just focus on a particular type of listener in my mind that I want the song to “speak” to. (In business jargon, I think it’s called knowing your “target market”.)

So as long as my song can establish an emotional connection with the people I would like to establish an emotional connection with, I’m very happy.

E Flat Major

I think I’m falling in love with Eb major.

Have been writing (or trying to write) a few songs in this key lately.

It’s not a conscious effort thingy, it’s just that I somehow like to gravitate towards starting in this key.

(I somehow tend to prefer keys with flats rather than sharps. Dunno why also.)

It’s a combination of things.

Firstly, I think it’s quite easy to play Eb major and its family of chords. It suits my fingers well on the piano, for some strange reason.

(However, I’m quite sure a guitarist would never tell you his favourite key to write in is Eb major…cos I think it’s quite a pain to play in Eb major on the guitar. Unless you tune 1/2 down, that is.)

Also, I think Eb major’s got quite a nice quality to it.

I know it’s silly to describe the “character” of a key, but I’ll try anyway:

Eb major is slightly darker, richer and more romantic than its adjacent neighbour E major, which I feel has a very bright tone to it. (E major can be overly bright at times, to be honest. But it definitely has its very good uses.)

Eb major is the key you go to when you want to write a wistful, reflective, emotive song.

If a musical needs a soliloquy kind of song, a song where the character says “why did this happen to me?” or “tell me what I should do now?” or “will we ever be together again?”…then I think Eb major would be a decent choice to start it in.

Not to say that Eb major is extremely dark. It’s not. It still has its share of brightness to it.

Just that I feel that it might be a slightly more emotive alternative to E major.

These are just my crazy views on keys.

As some of you might know, I have my views on many of the keys. (E.g. D major is romantic, A major is anthemic, C major is plain, etc.)

To me, many of the keys have their own special character…their special “colour”, if you will.

(See this post for a more detailed write-up.)

I always believe that a key is very important to a song.

It’s not just a matter of settling on a key that fits the singer’s range.

I believe that there is such a thing as a “right key” for every song.

But that’s just me lah.

p.s. If you have the time, listen through Chopin’s 24 preludes. They were written in every single major and minor key (hence the 24 pieces). Hearing them all at one listening would give you a pretty good idea of the subtle differences in colour between each key.

Songcraft Turns 2!

(Photo courtesy of B)

Songcraft turned 2 last week, and I thought it’d be appropriate for me to share my thoughts:

It was a great event at the Earshot Cafe, though it was a pity that a few of our regulars couldn’t join us that night.

Anyhow, the entire night went great and I have to thank everyone for making it possible.

Listening to all the wonderful songs and the great performances, I couldn’t help but notice how high the level of songwriting was.

And many of them not only could write good songs, they could deliver the songs really well too.

Negative Stereotypes

I’d like to think that Songcraft has achieved what I would have hoped it would achieve in the last 2 years, and more.

Basically, I wanted to create an environment whereby it was OK for one to share one’s original songs.

That was the main gist of Songcraft.

It was a subtle movement to make the art of songwriting more acceptable and accessible to people.

This might be something we take for granted now, but trust me, 2 years ago I barely had the nerve to tell any of my friends (or even my sibling) that I wrote songs, much less share the songs with them.

I don’t know about other people’s circle of friends, but where I came from, friends and siblings didn’t really take to original songs that well. They viewed original songs with a bit of aversion. (People still do now, I suppose…but to a lesser extent.)

It’s funny. When you tell people you do poetry, or prose, or art, or design, or crafts…it’s quite OK. But when you tell them you write songs, you can see them recoil a little bit with that “Say what?” look.

It was kind of an embarrassing thing to let someone know that you dabbled in songwriting, and if you were to share your song with them, chances were that they’d politely listen through it…but you’d probably be able to sense that it was awkward for them.

I guess over the last 2 years a number of my friends have found out that I actually run a little songwriting circle, and some of them have even heard some of my songs. And they’ve slowly started to accept it.

I’d like to think that in the last 2 years, Songcraft has helped break down negative stereotypes in Singapore when it comes to writing original songs.

(“Leaders of the Band”, as B calls it…)

Doing Justice To Songs

I have never been comfortable with the fact that great original songs did not get the attention they deserve.

One of our favourite terms in Songcraft is to “do justice to the songs”, meaning the song should get the proper recognition it deserves.

Nothing pains me more to see a great song being written, but it never gets to see the light of day because there is no one interested enough to listen to it.

Hence, another reason that Songcraft existed was to give songwriters an avenue to share their songs, to let their songs be heard.

And boy have we heard many wonderful songs over the past 2 years!

Personally, the last 2 years have been 2 of the most musically enriching years of my life. And I’m not trying to exaggerate here.

It’s fortunate that Songcraft was able to somehow attract like-minded musician-songwriters in Singapore to come together on a regular basis to share new songs with one another, as well as to exchange views on the topics we were so passionate about – music and songwriting.

Inspiring One Another

I think one aspect which we seldom talk about in Songcraft is the fact that hearing one another’s songs does in some ways inspire ourselves to write better songs too.

(Kinda like the McCartney-Lennon dynamic, haha!)

But yeah, I’d like to think that in the last 2 years, Songcraft has inspired a number of songwriters to write many wonderful songs, and in the process, it has also raised their level of songcraft too.

And in that sense, I’d like to think that Songcraft has played it’s own small part in contributing to the arts scene here in Singapore, by inspiring local songwriters to write wonderful songs.

Conclusion

The fact remains that Songcraft was started on a whim, over one weekend.

There wasn’t any thorough blueprint drawn up, nor were there any lengthy discussions conducted with subject matter experts or anything like that.

There wasn’t a committee set up to look into the feasibility of starting such a group.

There also wasn’t any financial planning or pro forma P/L projections being forecast with regards to the group’s finances (with explains the big hole in my pocket, ha!).

I just decided to do it because I felt that I wanted to do it.

It was something I felt strongly for, and I just decided to go ahead…and if it fails, it fails.

But luckily, it didn’t!

Thank you all for making Songcraft what it is today.

(“See you at our year end Mini-Concert!”)

Write Songs While Driving!

(This post is taken from Jeremy’s blog.)

Photo (“Car Free Festival (21 of 1)”) by airchinapilot

I realise that I write most of my songs in two types of instances: Whilst driving in my car, or whilst staring at a computer screen.

It’s weird, yes, I know…but that’s how the majority of my songs are constructed.

It kinda works for me.

While I would like to give you the impression that I write in the classic songwriter manner, which is whilst seated at the piano with a yellow pencil in wedged between the lips and a manuscript paper in front of me, or whilst sitting on the bed with a guitar…sadly that isn’t the case for me.

I let my songs germinate mostly when I’m driving, cos well…maybe that’s when I have absolute peace and quiet for maybe 15-20mins at one go, and I can just keep singing parts of the song to myself till I find something that I like and build on from it.

Yes, I am a firm believer that a song has to sing well. Meaning it is important first and foremost that the song can actually be sung, that it comes off the lips nicely. I don’t really know how to fully explain this, but I hope you get what I mean.

It’s no point if the song the song plays well on piano, or has a great riff, or has great chord changes, but it can’t really be sung properly.

Well, at least that’s my philosophy lah.

So anyway, it’s quite amazing how much of a song I can actually construct whilst driving in my car.

And I also mentioned staring at a computer screen – that’s when I get most of my lyrics done. Typing the lyrics out in front of me allows me to see the lyrical structure better, as well as the rhyming structure. And with rhymezone.com just a click away, I’m never at a loss for rhymes.

Yup, so that’s how the lyrics part gets done – in front of a computer screen.

…

So when does the piano come in?

The piano comes in when I need to suss out the chords and actually hear the song “in the flesh” for the first time. (It’s like when you conceive a play in your mind, and then you actually get to see it being staged in the flesh by actors and all that…that’s what I liken it to.)

It’s always quite exciting to try a musical idea out on the piano for the first time.

Sometimes the song plays better than what I thought it would sound like in my head…sometimes it plays worse.

Also, the piano can offer some much needed inspiration when ideas run dry. Sometimes you just let your fingers run wild, playing all kinds of weird chords and stuff…and occasionally you just might pick up some interesting ideas which you can then work with.

…

I used to think that a song should be written fully on the piano…but then after awhile I realised that it was not advisable in my case.

I tend to prefer getting the song done away from the piano most of the time (hence the “writing in the car” thing), because I realised that it’s better to compose melodies by singing them rather than playing them.

Because, as mentioned above, my personal philosophy is that a song must first sing well.

At the piano, sometimes the fingers tend to want to gravitate towards a few predictable patterns, and hence the melodies composed would tend to sound uninspired after awhile.

However, if I try to compose melodies via singing them out, I find that it gives me much more freedom and flexibility, and I am able to come up with more varied tunes.

So there you have it – some of my personal philosophies toward songwriting.

2nd Annual Songcraft Mini-Concert: Perfect!

Tonight’s 2nd annual Songcraft mini-concert at the YMS Arts Centre was simply perfect!

Sometimes I need to pinch myself to see if all this is real. Everything seems to go so perfectly when it comes to Songcraft.

It is truly an immense joy to know so many wonderful and gifted songwriters here in Singapore. I never imagined all this when I first started the Songcraft Songwriting Circle. I feel truly blessed to have had the privilege of knowing them.

The audience at tonight’s mini-concert was noticeably larger than last year’s, and that was a very encouraging sign. Many friends and relatives of the songwriters took precious time to come attend.

I received quite a bit of feedback from fellow friends who attended tonight’s mini-concert, and they were generally highly positive. Many even commented that this year’s concert was even better than last year’s.

Overall, I couldn’t have dreamed of a better mini-concert than tonight’s. Who knows if there will be another one next year? Not me.

But at the end of the day, it’s memories like tonight’s which I will cherish with me for a long time to come.

Here’s looking forward to more good times ahead for Songcraft!

…

Many thanks to:

- All the songwriters and performers for such an enthusiastic effort.

- Alicia, who designed the cover of this year’s programme booklet (above).

- All of you who took precious time to come attend our mini-concert this evening.

“Hear” The Music

Photo (“Music Man”) by chelseajg

How does an artist paint a picture?

Well, first I believe he decides what subject he wants to paint.

Then he’ll start to conceive the entire painting in his mind, and think about aspects such as perspective, composition, colour and perhaps brush techniques.

In other words, the artist has the entire picture all planned out before actually painting it out.

What about songwriters? How does a songwriter write a song?

I guess most of us tend to “grasp for tunes from the air”, so to speak. Or perhaps sometimes we bang it out on the piano or guitar until we hit upon something that we like, and then we work from there.

Recently in my songwriting, I’ve been trying out a new approach, and that is to “hear” the music before attempting to write it out. And it’s been working out pretty well for me.

Yes, I know it sounds weird…but hear me out.

What I’m doing is that I’m actually trying to envision the song in my mind. I have a somewhat nebulous idea of what I want to achieve, and what direction I want to take. I have a vague concept of the feel of the song and the shape of the melody. I roughly know where the song is supposed to go at what point.

And after that, what happens is I merely “flesh” it out on the piano or guitar. As in, fill in the actual notes and the chords.

Yes, it’s weird…but hey, if artists can envision what they want to paint before doing it, why can’t songwriters do it with their musical creations as well?

I think a big part of songwriting is having a firm idea of what your song is going to be about, and being able to take the song where you want it to go.

You might want to try it next time you write a song. Try to “hear” the song in your mind, the song you want to write. Then once you manage to hear the music…then you write it out.

Who knows, it just might work for you.

Next Songcraft Session On 19th Sept ‘08 – “Jazz Night”

Photo (“No Exit Cafe, Chicago, 1989″) by Genial23

Our next Songcraft session will be held on Friday 730pm, 19th Sept ‘08 at the YMS Arts Centre.

The theme for that night will be “Jazz”, so everyone is encouraged to write a jazz song and come share it with the rest of us that night.

Jazz can mean a lot of things to a lot of people, as it encompasses a wide range of styles…but not to worry – As long as you think it’s “jazz”, we want to hear it!

But of course, all regular non-jazz songs are still very much welcomed.

See you next Friday!

Practice Makes Perfect

Photo (“Writer’s block”) by Incessant Flux

Songwriting is a craft just like any other.

Which means it is unlikely that you will master it overnight, in the same way one is unlikely to become a great poet or a great writer overnight.

You have to work at your craft, and it will improve over time.

When I first started the Songcraft Songwriting Circle, I had barely written two songs in my entire life till then. But I started to try my hand at writing songs, one song at a time.

The first few songs were (in my opinion now that I look back at them) bad. They were weak. But as I wrote more and more songs, I found that I became a bit more satisfied with my songs. They weren’t necessarily great songs, but at least I could sense some improvement in my songwriting.

You see, reading all the songwriting books in the world won’t make you a good songwriter if you don’t try your own hand at songwriting. I’ve probably read through dozens of books on songwriting in the past, but I feel that all that doesn’t make up for picking up the pen and just trying your hand at writing that one song.

If you want to become a good songwriter, my advice would be to just keep writing songs (thoughtfully, of course). And the more you write, the more you find out for yourself what works well and what doesn’t work so well. You’ll experiment with different ideas, techniques, devices, structures, etc…and over time, you’ll gain a much better understanding of the craft of songwriting, and you’ll become more adept at writing songs.

I’ve certainly gained much from my songwriting experiences.

I used to have major problems coming up with even one song. I used to sit at the piano for a long time and not be able to come up with anything. But as I persevered, I started to gain more experience in songwriting, and discovered a few ins and outs of the craft…and nowadays I find that songs come to me a little more easily.

And I find that once you gain experience writing your first few songs, you’ll start to have the confidence to want to explore newer things. You’ll start to want to push the boundaries, such as experimenting with different structures, or rhyme schemes, or harmonic progressions, or subject matter, etc. And that’s when you develop and evolve as a songwriter, the way Lennon, McCartney and all the other great songwriters/composers did.

So to conclude, when it comes to songwriting – practice makes perfect.

Songcraft Stuff

Firstly, let me just announce that after almost 16 months of existence, we finally have a Facebook group! (Many thanks to Jerron for setting it up, cos I wouldn’t have done it on my own.)

Songcraft Facebook Group

If anyone were to ask me “What do you cherish most about having started Songcraft?”

My answer to that would be: “Two things, in order – One, is the friendships that I’ve made with fellow songwriters. A close second, would be the songs. The wonderful songs that were created as a result of Songcraft.”

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Logo

The Songcraft Logo

We’ve adopted our official Songcraft logo!

Many many thanks to Barffie for designing what is in my opinion an exceedingly beautiful and meaningful logo.

When I invited Songcrafters to design the official Songcraft logo, I never expected that the response would be so overwhelming. But after much careful consideration, I decided that I had to pick Barffie’s logo because it was simply ingenious.

The black letter “S” and the red “C”, which stand for the word “Songcraft”, resemble a treble and bass clef respectively. And this whole “music” theme fits in so perfectly with what Songcraft is all about.

It’s just a remarkable piece of work.

I am deeply grateful to Barffie and will always remember to credit her for this design whenever it is being used.

Thanks Barffie!

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More Songwriting Groups

In the last few months, I’ve come to know of a number of new songwriting-based groups and showcases in Singapore, both virtually (i.e. on Facebook) and physically.

I think it’s a really great sign, and it bodes well for the state of amateur songwriting in Singapore.

The various groups have their various focuses. Some of these groups aim to simply help local songwriters network and get to know one another better. Some of these groups aim to organise monthly showcases whereby they will get certain established singer-songwriters to formally present their songs in a cafe kind of setting.

I always remark to my Songcraft friends that if I had known of any other songwriting group in Singapore early last year, I would have simply joined them and not have to have started Songcraft.

But anyway, it’s really great to know that the art of songwriting is gaining more and more attention in Singapore.

And I’m glad that the Songcraft Songwriting Circle is doing its small little part in helping to contribute to the growth and development of songwriting in Singapore!