SOS Episode #53: PLEASE and THANK YOU (Streamlining Your Creative Process Down To Two Essential Expressions of Music and Life)
Saturday, December 27th, 2008When you were a child, you were probably taught to say please when asking for something and thank you after receiving it.
In fact, please and thank you are such basic human expressions, that they can be applied to a wide variety of situations, both as a songwriter and as a listener:
Please and thank you can be used simply as meditations or prayers:
Try starting your day by asking for exactly what you want and ending it with a moment of gratitude for everything you received. Notice how doing so affects the flow of your creativity.Please and thank you can serve as songwriting guidelines:
Write a quick draft of a song expressing dissatisfaction or desire (based on the emotion of please) or a song of gratitude or celebration (based on the emotion of thank you).Please and thank you can also serve as filters through which you can get at the heart of what others are trying to say through their words or music:
Listen to random song. Is the basic emotion, underneath the specific lyrics and melody, some version of either the artist’s unfulfilled desire or their thankfulness for what they have? Can you hear how much of what is expressed through music often boils down to some form of asking for something that’s missing or celebrating what is already there?
Listen to this SOS podcast to get the skinny on slimming down your musical (and personal) communication style to the bare essentials–thereby allowing you to connect with your audience more quickly and deeply.
