Music

For a few months last winter, I was stuck having to take the regional “GO” transit to get to work.  I found it strange that so much of my schedule was now much more dictated by train schedules, and the associated stress of getting to the station on time, and frequent delays. At the time, [...]

This song resulted from a webinar with songwriting coach Alex Forbes. Alex presented a method for writing, and attendees were supposed to follow her step-by-step instructions to formulate their own song. Her method centered around taking a stand on something you believe in, have a deep thought about, or a topic or phrase upon which you [...]

I wanted to write a song about society’s obsession with gadgets and technology. This is not a new idea, I realized.  A good lyric writing trick for me is to adopt the point of view of a made up character. That gives me the freedom to be silly and quirky, while at the same time [...]

The verse lyrics were actually written several years ago, after I was talking to a psychology student about the paradoxes that can exist in people’s internal thinking. As I decided to paint a few vignettes about different life scenarios, the use of haiku poetry seemed somehow fitting, as well an interesting lyrical and melodic challenge. [...]

I was fortunate enough to be a special guest on Song Talk Radio, a streaming program where songwriters talk to other songwriters about the craft of songwriting. OK, I'm also a co-host of the show, so perhaps it's not so surprising that I got to be a guest, too. I spoke with Phil, Bruce, and [...]

Michael Gee is a musical chum I met at the Songwriter's Cafe meetup group. He had an idea for a parody of Walking in a Winter Wonderland, entitled Working With a Wookie on a Plan.  He brought along a karaoke track where the only singing present was the part starting "Later on, we'll conspire..." which, [...]

There's nothing like devastating emotions to spur on a new song. After going through some recent hard times, the lyrics for the bridge came to me several days after the incident, and certainly they reflect the exact state of my inner experience at the time. From there, the title came to me, and then the [...]

As part of our "hosts as guests" series on Song Talk Radio, I had my turn to present one of my own songs and get some feedback from my co-hosts Phil and Bruce.  I presented Telepathic Androids, and we talked about odd time signatures (9/4 in this case), changing up your rhyme scheme, and how [...]

Having been in the middle of moving in December, most of my studio was packed away, including my microphones, my keyboard and my drum pad controller. All I had to play with was my software. So I thought, "What kind of song could I do without any musical instruments?" I dug into Sonar's provided loop [...]