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anything. When Miss Burke finally walked over to me and observed the scribblings I had made all over the page, she would reach over with her pencil and use all of my mistakes to make incredible little sketches. She could turn my scribblings into beautiful birds nests, or wild animals, cartoon figures, or landscapes. She could use every last mark that I put on the page and see it in such away that she could build around it because she had the ability to see things from a variety of different perspectives.
Sometimes my musical noodlings don’t sound like much initially. I usually write everything down and record it even if the idea is only a few notes. If I don’t see a way to develop an idea straight away, I may put it on the shelf for a while and come back to it later. Sometimes the song takes longer to reveal itself, but more and more I have become determined to bring every idea to a completion and explore it as fully as I can. There comes a point too where I have to decide that I’m finished the song and just let it go...otherwise I’d never finish anything.
Raw ideas (like the block a sculptor starts with) can always be tweaked, edited, and moulded and that’s what many people miss. One seemingly insignificant idea can become the foundation for an entire piece. Having a strong working knowledge of the musical language is also very helpful. Knowing how to harmonize and reharmonize melodies for example is a great tool for developing a song further. Having devices available for linking ideas together is also an invaluable tool. While there is no secret formula for doing this, what I do find is that when I know some options available to me to get to the next section, I have a place to start.
I recognize this is just part of my own (current) philosophy on writing. What makes a great piece to me will obviously be entirely different to someone else. For me, I want my songs to have a certain amount of melodic/harmonic precision and .to make every idea as strong as possible. Other writers might be more concerned about the emotional content of the song and how it’s delivered, and maybe a little less on the musical mechanics. Many great songs are
