Day 15: Song Works!

Okay, so this is more than a snippet. LOL

I am currently taking a class on Coursera (thanks to Berklee College of Music) called Modern Musician. It is a 4 week Capstone project, where you learn (or improve upon) your songwriting, music theory and production skills to prepare you for opportunities to work in the industry.

The first week we had to write a song and make a simple recording of that song. At first I was so excited about this challenge. For years I have written songs, so I thought it would be easy.

Only to find out that I was wrong. Oh, so very wrong!

What I have been doing all this time is just writing my feelings down – making poems at best. Which is cool and all, but I won’t make the mistake of saying that I have been songwriting again.

From my prospective, there are a few more layers to consider when writing a song than when I am working on a piece. Yeah, the writing process can start out the same, but then you have to structure a song musically with you overall message.

Making sure to get that right sound to showcase or enhance your intended feelings for that song is hard. Especially if the only instrument you’ve ever been somewhat good at is your voice (like me). My guitar and piano playing skills are still at the basic learning stages and that made it even more challenging.

And at the end of week one, this is what I produced. My first original song, titled ‘Watch Me‘. I wanted to write something that was pro body positive and being cool, comfortable, and confident with yourself.

My first attempt  at this, I had this cool funky loop that I used that went well with the feelings that I wanted to get across. A fun and upbeat sample, without too much going on in the background. But I had gotten that loop from another course and didn’t think it would okay to use it for this class. Which lead to me making my first ever chord chart to a new song!

It isn’t the best, but I was content with it and submitted it. This time I got the message of the song out loud and clear. The problem I’m running into is how do I combine these 2 elements on this song?

For the past few days I have been looking and listening to Royalty-Free samples to find something that could help me out. I still haven’t found a DAW yet either. Also, I want to eventually collaborate with someone in the future 🙂

So I come to ya’ll for feedback and suggestions! If you have a (free) DAW that you swear by – let me know and why. Or if you could listen to the tracks and share your thoughts, that would be great too.

Thank you in advance, and I’ll be sure to post an update soon 🙂

Stay inspiring my Muses!

-Soprano Musings