by Harriet Schock Have you ever submitted a song only to hear nothing back? Did you just assume either they heard it and didn’t like it, or they never heard it? Songwriters and actors get rejected more often than drunk guys with hackneyed pick-up lines. It’s just what...
by Harriet Schock I tell my songwriting students this often. I tell myself this often. Songs are small things. Unlike a play or screenplay, songs can’t have a large cast or a bunch of subplots. If the idea of the song is “You are so beautiful to me…” then you simply...
by Harriet Schock There’s a line between art and commerce and for some people, it’s wide enough to walk. Finding a way to do it is an art in itself. I know some of the best songwriters walking the earth but you might not know their names. That doesn’t mean they’re not...
by Harriet Schock In my songwriting course, I cover melody and chords as well as lyrics. I’ve learned so much about songwriters this way. Melodies don’t always reflect the actual personality of the composer the way handwriting might, but it certainly stays within a...
As a panelist at a songwriting conference recently, I wandered into a nearby panel after mine was over. I heard an absolutely gorgeous song with the hook at the end of each verse. The panelist interrogated the writer harshly, “Where’s the chorus?!” I desperately...
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