PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Songwriting Songwriting suggestions

A couple of years ago I was at an educational event with students providing the entertainment. One band was made up of students from a School For Specific Purposes. Each member of the band had, as was required by the enrolment system, multiple areas of developmental & physical complications.
The band was great fun and the repertoire was mainly covers but they acquitted themselves well.

I made it a standard right of passage for the class leaving primary/elementary school to do a musical performance at their grad assembly. Usually I had them write a piece for that performance. One year was rap, another metal whilst the last one was a rock song. They created the melody, I found the chords, we workshopped the lyrics. They recorded a backing to play along to, (there's always someone who doesn't turn up on the day despite being crucial to the piece), and it was fab. Reading ages for that bunch of 12 years olds ranged from four years to 18. They all participated, created and performed. My fave performance from the rap year was from one little fellow who's impassioned stanza was "I'm Jack, yeah Jack. I'm leaving this place and I ain't coming back". He was a hoot - taught him for two years. He did come back to visit me and his learning aid & I ran into him at a gig by a local yet internationally well regarded band when he was old enough to go to pub gigs.

Tuned percussion & pentatonic C is the gate way to writing songs for kids.

Well I have a psych degree too, and did me some fancy peer reviewed research so I know the answer.

To post a typical reply on the forum takes an IQ of 40, to post a reply that makes at least some sense in a general but lopsided way takes an IQ of 115, and to keep your mouth shut and avoid the bait takes a genius level.

To use the word "retarded" in the year 2023 means your IQ is zero.

That's all I have.

Carry on.

David,
I was the director of a large developmental disabilities residential facility in the 70’s during which time we dropped that terminology as did hundreds of other programs across the nation. We had a wonderful music therapy department that brought joy and learning of new skills to our clients. I can hardly imagine what an asset BiaB would’ve been to that program.

Bud

Yep, yep & yeppp.
That's the GREAT subtext of BIAB & PGMusic: ENABLING - providing different tools that enable all levels of interest, ability, physicality, different sensory focused and differently able.

Couple of days ago a relative (teacher) hosted a virtual musical recital for piano students. While some kids performed very advanced stuff, one girl with autism gave a super performance. Very different and unique. That was a display of talent or a gift if you prefer.

IQ.. judging by my tunes, I am a neandertal. Doesn't stop me

I've had a psych evaluation. But it's been a while. Does that count?

Yes.

But trust me, Herb

You don't want to know the results.

P.S.

Stuart Smalley wants you to remember that you're not a licensed therapist but you are an active member of several twelve step programs.

Well that's interesting: two participants in this thread haven't posted in almost a week.

I can see that keeping one's head down after a misstep is sensible though an acknowledgement of the miss would probably be even more useful.
One took the opportunity to respond directly to me via message which is handy though it was, as seems a trend of late, to lay out a C.V. as proof of opinion as well as to give notice that they would be roll up their swag and move on.

I offer opinions.
I sometimes challenge opinions.
I should be prepared for my opinions to be challenged.
I should be open to having my opinion changed.

That passive-aggressive schtick gets old fast, ray.

Sometimes people don't continue posting because they don't see the point - they recognize that it's simply a matter of "agree to disagree" and move on.

But by all means, please carry on with your virtue signaling.

Hey Roger,

I think I know what everyone is saying in common and I'm going to take a stab at this, because it seems to me that beneath the surface people are actually agreeing on certain things unless I missed something.

In order not to inflame tensions I will not speak about the music world but speak about the book publishing world in which I have a lot of knowledge. But I think there is some crossover.

Back in the good old days, if you wanted to have a book published it actually had to be good, you needed to know how to write, you had to find an agent and then the agent had to sell your book to a publisher. I am among those who jumped through all of those hoops and had some success in that area.

Today no matter where I look either in the work of world of traditional publishers or on Amazon where tens of thousands of books are being dropped every day I can't find anything or hardly anything that shows the slightest resemblance to what I would call good writing. It's absolutely horrendous.

Because of Kindle samples you can read the first three chapters of anything that's being published and I can tell you that when I take a peek at things, 99.99% of what I look at is just purely unreadable.

But even the big major publishers are no longer considering the quality and content. It's all about social issues and political correctness and certain types of identities and so on and so forth and it has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of writing. There's some vague idea of what being trendy means and what "appropriate" is but the writing that's attached to all of these trendy books is for the most part just atrocious.

I think there are some parallels to the music industry but I won't get into that.

However, in the world of writing books, I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that talent is only 1% of the process, and that the grueling work of writing and rewriting and then rewriting again and then rewriting on top of that and mastering hundreds of technical skills that have to be learned is 99% of it and most people are too lazy or unwilling to learn those skills.

It's not fun.

When people ask me how it is to write a book I say I would rather drive a screwdriver through my head.

I like seeing something end up on a bookshelf but really I would rather poke myself in the eye with a needle than go through the process but it's just something that you have to do.

I do think that there is some resemblance of this phenomenon in the world of writing songs where it does take some talent yes, but without an incredible amount of dedication and work and application of process I don't think people actually write great songs.

Anyone can write a piece of crap that will get on the radio for reasons that have nothing to do with quality, but that is not the same thing as writing a great song, I don't think.

I think that ties into some things that people were saying and I believe there is overlap in that area with what everyone was saying.

Now a few observations on forum decorum.

**

It is true that sometimes people come on the forum and they don't feel like coming back. I myself have blocked certain characters because it's just sickening to read their responses.

For the most part, these types of forum discussions are not truly collegiate and they should be. But they are usually childish, and it would be too much to say that they sound like Middle School conversations because they sound more like Elementary School fights.

In a collegiate conversation, professionals listen to the opinions of others and usually find something to encourage while politely offering a different perspective from their point of view.

But not here.

As I read these forums I see that much of the time the person speaking is the world's foremost and only subject matter expert on the issue at hand and everyone else is an idiot.

Everyone is trying so hard to prove that they're right and everyone else is wrong that the conversation completely unravels at the seams and it leaves you with sort of a pit in your stomach.

I think that if people only listened to some of the nuggets of wisdom that come from virtually everyone and politely added in different perspectives, and ceased to use the expression "you're wrong", then people would like to spend more time here.

But the tone and the level of conversation that I see here a lot of the time makes me feel like I've walked into a toxic waste dump.

I shut it down immediately and go back to my music workstation where you will in fact usually find me trying to advance my level at some new skill, or attempting to upgrade an old skill.

Thank you for your feedback and let's continue the dialogue everyone if we can.

The YouTube video, uploaded two weeks ago, generated 12K views from 38K subscribers of the channel.

What a loser.

I didn't know this was even possible here. How do I do this?

For me, you have to hack in and insert this line of code:

^^^^^666666666666666^^^^^^^^^^^¥¥¥¥¥666666666666πππ}{=π√666yyl}

For whatever reason, we all must like this forum because we are all often here.

David Snyder occasionally posts some gibberish nonsense, but I believe he is correct about things becoming continuous and uncomfortable at times.

I guess we are all guilty of occasionally making comments that can be construed as unfriendly.

We come from different backgrounds, different countries, different cultures, different educational levels, and, yes, different IQ levels. What a desperately mundane world it would be if we were all the same.

I believe this is a valuable forum that, hopefully, we can endeavor to keep civil.

I personally think it is better to be inclusive than exclusive.

This is a big house, and all should be welcome here. It is "our" house. No need to take off your shoes, but we would appreciate it if you wipe your feet before you come in the door.

Billy

Thanks Rog but I'm not a wearer of schtick stick.

There's really nothing "passive aggressive" in my post. I was explaining that you'd informed me you'd be "disengaging"/ leaving. I wanted other participants to know you'd removed yourself in case they pondered at you not having followed up.
The fact that you communicated via private message, that you started out suggesting it was a discussion but turned it into written sophistry was stated and that you didn't want to exchange views was offered as it was, in my mind, in line with the vibe of your posted opinion.
I don't care enough about your comment to adopt a passive aggressive approach.
Perhaps "passive aggression" is your assumption of any person who challenges your opinion. I don't know - that's just a guess not an assumption.
Personally I disagreed with your opinion, & you with mine.
I can take that sort of knock.
It doesn't wound me enough to disengage to the level you suggested you would.

Virtue signalling...isn't that the pejorative replaced by woke in the post Trump era?
It had a lot of currency but lacked veracity.

Aye.

and different styles of humour. Irony in particular can look aggressive.
Almost anything written in a post rather than spoken face-to-face can be misinterpreted ... it's easy to underestimate how much influence body language has on our understanding of what's said.

Absolutely. Particularly since irony is a fast fading mode. Well, not so much irony fading but the true understanding of what it is, how it's used and what it communicates.
Emojis are a ham fisted attempt at filling in for the missing expression, body language and interpretive skills as well as compensating for the words left out in the post twitter world of brevity.
I find that accusations of "passive aggressive" behaviour often come from those more inclined toward emphatic speech and homilies.
It is a charge frequently laid upon responses that are calm and reasoned.

Billy,

Let us get one thing straight.

Your best lyrics come from my nonsensical gibberish and you have admitted to stealing my gibberish.

You owe me an apology right now.

And you should get down on your hands and knees and thank the Lord Jesus for my gibberish every night. My gibberish is country gold and you know it.

Finally, on the last blues song you did, you stole my chords and you stole my opening riff.

That is mine.

I wrote that.

... and the meaning/interpretation of emojis changes with the wind; Or maybe tide.
Even a plain old smiley can now be seen as passive-aggressive. What hope has anyone? (emoji omitted for sanity).

There is a long tradition of stealing blues licks and lyrics amount us real blues players!

You, Mr. Snyder, are the one that should thank your lucky stars that I hold you in high enough regard to be stealing stuff from you! You should be thankful that I actually like gibberish and am somewhat enamored of your particular style of gibberish.

Now, after all that, if you still feel abused and downhearted and have the blues over the theft of your so-called possessions. I say "so-called" because you being a blues guy; I know you stole them from one of our mutual acquaintances.

Even so, I will say down on bended knees I am very sorry for my sins and hope you will forgive me. To try to ease the pain, I will give you a # 10 Blackdimond string for the guitar you have missing the E string, and a bottle of hair grease next time I see you.

Also, I am aware that right behind your house on Billy Goat Hill, them laws took the girl and the whiskey still. I bribed the cops to sell me the still so I will have it back in operation in time for your next house rent party.

Best regards,

Billy B, The Blues Boy From Bar'B'Que Texas.