What I Did At Songwriting Camp

Dear Pen Pal,

I just got back from songwriting camp. Yes, songwriting camp… Don’t laugh, it was a blast and we had pizza and pillow fights and ghosts stories and… well maybe not ghost stories, but it was a lot of fun and man did I learn a ton of new stuff about writing good songs and making my songs even better. I’ll send you a new mp3 when I make one, OK?

First of all Pen Pal, the camp was organized by this guy named Bill Pere and his wife Kay Pere. They’re two famous people I guess, but they seemed really nice and all so it wasn’t like they were movie stars or the Jonas Brothers. You could talk to them and they talked to you too! Way cool.

I went there to get help with my lyric writing mainly. You know, lyrics are the words to songs and stuff and when I write them it feels like my head is going to explode and I get confused and my lyrics end up sounding stupid. I wanted to learn how to write more easily and with some purpose and I think I got some good ways of doing that. There sure was a lot to write down and talk about!

So you laugh about going away to a camp (or songcrafters’ retreat as Bill and Kay called it) to write songs. But actually it’s a great idea because we were really isolated from everything else – you know – school, the Mall, boyfriends, girlfriends, and we had to really concentrate on writing songs. Bill and Kay sure know their stuff too. It’s a humbling experience (and you know how humble I am Pen Pal – psyche) to play a song in front of a bunch of strangers and then, AND THEN have it dissected and analyzed. But that’s what I went there for. Mom and Dad paid good money so I could get good advice and not to have someone say – Great Job – I can get that from Grandma plus a pinch on the cheek.

The other kids at camp were great too and there was a wide range of experience there. Some kids were just writing their first songs! And there were kids like me that have been writing for a while. Weird thing was that I learned a lot from hearing the inexperienced kids’ songs. I kept thinking – Hey I do that still! Maybe I should jot down some notes! – All of the kids had wonderful talents and there were a few that knocked me out with their songs and voices. Good thing we exchanged addresses – don’t worry Pen Pal, I’ll always write to you!

Bill was a great teacher (you should check out his book Pen Pal it’s called The Songcrafters’ Coloring Book – I love coloring!) and he taught us cool ideas like prosody, semantics and phonetics. I don’t have time to explain them, so go look them up yourself or buy the book! I never really think about a lot of this stuff when I sit down to write a song and it’s probably why my head feels like it’s gonna explode when I am trying to finish a song. But I sure will use it now because it really makes sense and I hate feeling like I’m looking for something in a dark closet when I’m writing (ha that’s funny, a dark closet…).

There were some things I disagreed on with Bill. Like when he said that we should use perfect rhymes as much as possible or that songs that don’t rhyme (which I have some) are a challenge for the audience to listen to. He did add that it depended on your audience make up. Oh yeah, Bill talked a lot about personality types and how that can play into how you write your songs and how an audience digs your songs (or not…). Another thing I never really thought about – the psychology of a song.

I also got a cool vocal lesson from Kay (Bill’s wife). I think I need to go back and get her to teach me more of her stuff. I need to learn how to really make my words be understood and she had some fool-proof techniques for making the words come out right!

Anyways Pen Pal, it was a weekend well spent – new friends, new ideas, new songs to come!

As always – Keep Keepin’ It Real

DG

ps We also did some collaboration which was fun – want to do more…
pps Oh yeah – I’m a member of the CSA, no I’m not a confederate… The Connecticut Songwriter’s Association – check ‘em out!