3 Tips for Catching a Song

So, you’d like to write a song. Here are just a few tips to get you going.

1. Sing to your pet, plant or baby

What you need to begin is an uncritical audience. For me it’s my cat, Talisman. I often sing to him when I get up in the morning. Sometimes there are words. Sometimes it’s nonsense syllables, and sometimes just sounds. I call this “noodling”. I mess around with melody, not really trying to accomplish anything. Research on creativity shows that separating idea generation and idea critique leads to ideas that are more plentiful and more original. Your pet, houseplant or infant is not going to be critical about the sounds you make, so these are some of the best audiences for the initial exploration.

Another benefit is that most people use a different kind of voice when talking to babies and baby-substitutes. Psychologists termed this “mother-ese” when they first studied it. Try saying this aloud; “There’s a good boy! Do you want a treat? Does Pooky want to treaty-poo?” and notice how your voice sounds. The cool thing about this kind of communication is that it is vocally free and ultra-expressive. If you have trouble just plunging into melody, you can use parenting speech to begin. It’s a short step from its large swings in pitch into actually singing.

Of course, many of my songs are born in some other way. Still, some of the time when I noodle to the cat, something comes out that I kind of like. Then, the next step is crucial: not losing it.

2. Have a capturing device handy.

How many song ideas are gone forever because no recording was made of them? Back in the day, I would call my land line answering machine (or an understanding friend’s) and sing my song idea into it after the beep. I no longer have a land line or answering machine. These days, I use a little handheld voice recorder. Mine is an Olympus VN-541PC. I like that it’s very simple, and it’s easy to transfer files from it onto my computer or the cloud.

If your cell phone is always with you, learn how to use its recording function. If it’s hard to use, doesn’t record for long enough, or doesn’t store the files so you can find them easily, choose one of the dozens of voice recorder apps and download one to your phone.

In the comments below, I invite you to give your own tips for capturing music. How do you grab onto your ideas before they evaporate like Beltane morning dew?

So, you’ve got a fragment of a song. Maybe it started with words, maybe it started with melody. What next?

3. Commit to this song.

Yes, you need to take yourself seriously as a creative person and take this song seriously, too. Develop a friendly relationship with the song as it coalesces. It won’t grow into a complete song if you don’t nurture it.

You’ll want to fill in the gaps in the tune and words. I like to start a file on my computer with tentative lyrics. I play the melody on the piano to try out different versions. I’m a terrible pianist, but I can plunk out a melody. If you play any kind of instrument, even poorly, you will learn more about your song by playing it. I try not to get to the final version of the song too quickly. Sometimes the most interesting aspect of a song will emerge later in the process if I keep an open mind. I also notice that if there’s a part of the song I have trouble singing or remembering, it is probably weak in some way. So, I try out different solutions.

Gradually your song will solidify. It will have a melody and lyrics. I find that there’s always a point when it seems like the song decides it is done. After that it won’t “let” me change it anymore in any fundamental way. It’s as if the song now exists outside of me. Then, it’s ready to use in my spiritual practice, to teach to others, or maybe even take to the Crow Women for rehearsing and eventually recording on one of our albums.

And it all began by singing to the cat!

I invite you to use the comments section to share your ideas for creating a song, and for capturing it before it gets away.

For more information about the Crow Women pagan choir, and access to all the blog posts by Alane and the other 9 crowsingers who have written for Pagan Song, you can visit the Crow Women author page here on Pagan Song.

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