I’ve sung songs my whole life.
Looking back to identify what my “playtime” was as a child, I had a hard time remembering what that looked like. The only firm memory was dancing and singing while my sister played piano. She took piano lessons for a dozen years, during my whole childhood. I took lessons for 3 months in 3rd grade. I hated the practicing piano. So she played and I sang.
I loved singing.
Singing never felt like practicing; not until later in life when I would periodically alter techniques for different kinds of singing. Even learning new music didn’t feel like practicing. Choir practice could be singing the same two pages for an hour, and I didn’t mind; it was still singing.
Some of you know I had a little existential crisis last year when I had one of those weeks (or few months!) questioning everything in my life and came up with:
Do I even LIKE music?
You might imagine how this freaked me out. I’ve built a career training singers, am a professional singer and I’m writing a book on how Singing Saved Me!
Let me not leave you in suspense.
Short answer: Yes, I like music.
AND still, not as much as solely melody singing.
Humming anything - made up melody, melody of any song that pops in my head, feels good. This brings me Peace. I just got my first tattoo. It was a looooong session. Guess how I endured? I hummed; a lot!
Music can be inspiring, can make me excited, can get my hips a-wiggling, can bring tears to my eyes out of joy and sorrow, and it can also make me want to tear the ears off my head. There are SO many different kinds of music.
Songs.
Songs are melody and words. That’s what we copyright. That’s our claim on creation.
Then there are the chords, the harmonic accompaniment, from 3-chords on the guitar/piano, to the parts of the band, to each part of an entire orchestra or the computer program. All together this is music in song.
Songwriting appeared in my life right when I needed it; when I’d been making big changes. Songwriting gave me an outlet to create my own melodies, to write my own stories. The accompanying music has been the framework to hold it.
I love taking songwriting classes. I can tinker with lyric, melody and chords for hours with my guitar. It rarely feels like practicing. And, when it is just that, I like the practicing. I’m vibrating my stories over and over. It feels powerful.
I realized I’ve painted that picture that songwriting came out of nowhere. In fact, people had been bugging me about it for years. I didn’t warm to the idea of trying songwriting until I was 40 years old. Maybe like many of you who don’t write songs, I thought, “I can’t do that.” It was a quick gut instinct; the kind I now recognize as fear of the unknown.
And, when I took a little time to consider it , it just seemed unnecessary. There are so many wonderful songs in the world, and I get to sing them. That was satisfying and fulfilling enough.
One year I made a CD of Christmas songs to give as gifts to my family. My Dad asked me if I could make a bunch and sell them. I explained that I would have to pay some royalties since I didn’t write them. He said, “well, write your own then!” I just rolled my eyes. I think I was 30 at the time. After a few months of bugging me, realizing I wasn’t going to write songs, my Dad decided to take the task on. He started taking piano and songwriting lessons; he was 62.
Then, there were the years when several women (near retirement) came to me for voice lessons. They all met in a local songwriting community, taking guitar lessons. They were new to the craft. Started doing it for fun, and songwriting became a meaningful part of their lives. They would tell me about the songwriting camp they’d go to in the summer and encouraged me to join them. Again, not for me.
A client of mine who became a good friend (nearer my age) went to that songwriting summer camp, and said, “Julie! You gotta do this with me next year.” That was THE year. The year I was seeking change in my life. Shrugged my shoulders, and decided, well, I’m trying a lot of other new things this year that are super uncomfortable, why not try songwriting now?
Have you written songs? Poetry? Have you thought about it and quickly put it out of your mind for fear of creating something ‘not good enough’. We all have stories to share. Each of us even have our own unique take on love and heartbreak.
What stories to you have in you? What experiences have you had that you could turn into song? Playing an instrument can be helpful, but not necessary.
Come explore Songwriting with me Nov 8, 15 & 29.
Tuesdays 7pm EST