Writing My First Song - How it all Began

Songwriting is "the" first step in music production. Before any fancy recording techniques, mixing secrets, or mastering magic can be applied, there has to be an actual song to work on. There was a time I was so focused on building my own "home studio" and reading audio forums that I forgot the fact that the most important thing wasn't the shiny equipment or the expensive plugins, it was the Music.

Inspiration

The first time I ever tried to stick music and words together was during my freshman year in high school. We were tasked to compose a song for our music class. We only needed to write the first verse plus the chorus and sing it in front of the teacher before the end of class. That gave us around 45 minutes to finish.

During that time I was actually still pretty upset about going to a different school as my best friends from elementary school. It may not sound like a big deal now but it felt like the end of the world to me and never really got to say goodbye, because I didn't even know I was transferring until a few days before the start of the school year. It was for good reasons though, but I was still pretty crushed.

Writing Process

For that song, I just started humming a random melody in my head until I could follow it up with some words. I already established what I was writing about, I was gonna write a sad farewell song addressed to my dear friends. I also established that it was to be written in the first person. So coming up with the words was just like writing a poetic letter.

So in a way, the music and the lyrics came to me at the same time. I only had less than an hour so I just went with whatever works. After writing down each set of rhymes (because I like to rhyme) I'd backtrack to make adjustments whenever it sounded weird, didn't really rhyme, had too many syllables, or just didn't make sense anymore. In around 30 minutes I had a solid verse and chorus.

My First Song

I didn't really keep the paper afterwards, all I remember clearly is the chorus part. Anyways the song's chorus went like this:

" I'll see you soon my friend

Our friendship will never end

I'll see your face again in a place

other than the internet

I'll see you soon my friend

Our friendship forever stands

But for now I have to say these words

Goodbye to you my friend. "

Reflection

Looking back at this experience has reminded me of an important concept known as "Parkinson's Law" which states that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion". This concept is mentioned a lot in one of my favorite blogs to look for mixing and recording advice, therecordingrevolution.com (you should go check it out, lots of great content!).

There are times when it takes me forever to finish writing a song, and most of the time it's simply because I didn't commit myself to a deadline. I'd go around in circles just looking for the "perfect lyric" to fit in or the "perfect hook" to establish and I'd never be satisfied. Ultimately giving up on the song altogether and trashing the project. This has happened too many times.

Going back to my first song ever written, it only took me a little more than 30 minutes to finish the verse and chorus. Then sang it to my teacher and aced it! No more going back and forth looking for the "greatest song ever written", I just wrote what I felt and gave it my best. All because I was focused and committed to a time limit. By setting a time limit, I prevented my work from "expanding to fill the time available for its completion".

It's a pretty neat concept and you can apply it to ANY type of work. I should remember this when working on my next project. How about you? How was your first time songwriting? Leave a comment below and lets share our experiences!

- Peter Clark