/// how I write a song ///

I've been getting this question A LOT and as we near closer to the release of my next album PAST LIVES ... I thought I'd try to give some insights into my creative process

For me ... there are 4 stages of creation that I continually switch back and forth from ... seeing this in real life would be pretty messy and most likely confusing to witness, so I decided to separate them and showcase each separately

First stage ... Sketching (the one-inch picture frame) ... I spend most of my time here ... this is the brainstorming stage ... it consists of me usually sitting at the piano (sometimes on the bass) ... noodeling around - staring off into space - drinking coffee ... my goal isn't to 'write a song', it is simply to capture ONE COHERENT MUSICAL IDEA ... as Anne Lamott says 'looking at a scene through a one-inch picture frame' ... once I have my idea, I write it down or record it ... I do this A LOT and most of these ideas never become songs ... there is an old saying ... 'it takes 10 songs to write one song'

Second Stage ... scaffolding (connecting and/or expanding small ideas) ... once I have a bunch of small ideas, I try to connect some ... or expand on the ones that are speaking to me ... I know if they are speaking to me if they get stuck in my head ... I often listen back to old recordings to see what jumps out at me ... at any given time I have hundreds (maybe even thousands) of small ideas, and again most of them don't get used, but when they do, by the end of this stage ... I usually have a song

Third Stage ... sculpting (arranging) ... once I have the song, I need to make lots of decisions ... which instruments will play it ... is there an intro, and interlude, what is the feel, what is the tempo, how does it end ? all these questions are in the realm of arrangement ... also, this is where I write horn harmonies (if applicable), string parts, or auxiliary percussion ... this is the polish ... by the end of this stage, I have a song ready for the real world

Fourth Stage ... road test (bringing it to the real world) ... at this stage I start playing the song live or in rehearsals ... live is better, because I can see how audiences react to it and how the musicians feel about performing it ... once a song is put into the world, it starts to take on a life of its own, possibilities come up that I never considered and some final edits are made, if needed. By the end of this stage, I have a song ready for recording !

This is how I create my compositions ... however, keep in mind that all these stages are all happening all the time, all at once ... I constantly shift back and forth from each stage and sometimes the songs do as well ... it is a messy process, but it is really fun too ... it is truly a journey !

PS … I’m thinking of doing sketching sessions like this via Livestream … would this be interesting to you ? let me know :)