Beginning singing and songwriting

Singing and playing piano were very important to me in my childhood and adolescent years. Being somewhat unsure of myself, I shied away from performance though. While I continued to play piano as an escape as I grew older, somewhere along the line, I stopped singing. I don’t want to analyze what silenced me. That was all a long time ago.

I am now, at the time of writing, 68 years old. A couple of years ago, I had the urge to sing again. I searched the internet and discovered a community choir that met a mere 100 meters from my office! I joined but at first I was a little hesitant, not quite sure what would come of it. I would likely be the oldest in the group. There are much bigger and powerful voices than mine. But then, once I started singing freely, I also found that giving voice was a form of expression that I had not allowed myself to engage in for so many years. It felt good.

Some five or six months or so after joining the choir, I enrolled in a one day song writing workshop run by the choir master, Richard. A week or two before the workshop, we were given a song writing exercise. I was conscientious. However to my surprise, I was the only one in the group to complete the assignment. I had not only written a song to meet the requirement of the exercise set, but had also written another and had recorded both, singing the song and with an instrumental accompaniment. I discovered that songwriting was a form of expression that complimented the expression in singing the song. Giving voice to feeling is powerful and liberating. I am so grateful for having discovered this.

Since that time I have written several songs, generally expressing whatever I was feeling at the time. Some of the songs are explicit. I understand however, that complex personal emotions are not easily comprehended by the listener and there is no real need to be explicit. Articulating every complex feeling would likely be beyond my writing ability anyway and not the point of songwriting for me. The lyrics can be a powerful catharsis for me without being explicit or articulate. One song I have written that comes to mind can only be understood by the listener as romantic but there was no romance in my impetus to write it. In fact, I was motivated by sadness. Putting pen to paper and writing in metaphors is enough for me. Alluding to something can be more effective than spelling it out. I think that ideas can also sometimes be more simply and powerfully presented in song.

Up till now, I have allowed the lyrics to lead. I write them as some sort of poem and then tailor the music to suit, editing the lyrics till I get a match with the melody. Other songwriters will have different approaches. Perhaps the melody or a riff or a chord progression or rhythm will be the leading influence. I recall listening to a radio interview with the great lyricist, Sammy Cahn, in which he was asked “what comes first, the words or the music?” He answered laconically that what comes first is the telephone call. Some are also talented enough to be able to write songs to order! I am a beginner. As I begin to explore other ways of writing I am so grateful that there is so much to learn. Knowing it all would probably be boring.

Very recently I uploaded my first track to Soundcloud, “River Wide, River Deep”. I hope it will be the first of more to come. In River Wide, I sing and play the virtual instruments (guitar, piano and electric bass) and am joined by Ellen and Christina, two girls from my singing group, on backing vocals. The song was written in response to all the conflict I was witnessing in the world.

It expresses the observation that once people are threatened, and I am no different by the way, they protect themselves by separating themselves from their perceived enemies. I’m not condemning or condoning this behaviour. Separation can sometimes be the only practical thing to do. The other side is equally aggrieved, rightly or wrongly, and also throws up barriers. Eventually, so much is invested in separation, that a dialogue between the sides becomes impossible, each side having characterized the other as some sort of stereotyped image, as semi-human or not even human at all. The two sides can no longer see or understand each other. That stance is great for conflict but is not so great for understanding or conflict resolution. In the song, the river is a metaphor for the separation barriers thrown up. Once you understand that, the song is relatively easy to comprehend. Here is the Soundcloud link:

https://soundcloud.com/jakobwolf/river-wide-river-deep