Thoughts on songs.
Trying, again, to be less hypocritical and to keep dates with myself.
Last Thursday, I sat on Zoom with 13 Graduate students from Temple University. We were wrapping up our last synchronous class: “Songwriting and Composition for the Music Educator.”
After four weeks of writing songs, learning more about the creative process, creating lesson plans, reading, learning, and collecting ideas, we reflected on the experience.
We used my favorite group feedback and reflection prompts from this book to discuss the past four weeks.
What did you notice about your creative practice?
What do you wish for your creative practice?
What do you wonder about your creative practice?
One of the concepts that stuck with me most was about habit. So many students said they wished they could make creativity a habit. They wished they could keep writing, and keep making music.
Some said they noticed that songwriting gave their life purpose (!), others said they noticed how it helped them process hard things (!); all of the students agreed that the benefits of songwriting were immense.
But knowing the benefit of something and actually sitting your butt down or clearing your mind to do the thing is a different story.
I had to laugh when one of my students asked, “How do you make creative practice a habit?”
I thought back to the day before when I had promised myself I WAS GOING TO FINISH THESE DANG SONG DEMOS so help me. I lugged my keyboard five blocks home from the elementary school after play practice, brought it downstairs to my studio, unzipped the case, and cleared my afternoon to record.
Did I do it?
No.
I checked email and ate potato chips.
I was honest with my students—that I struggle, too, to do the things I love and that I want to do. This is why accountability and collaboration are so powerful. It’s also why learning to create despite constraints is so crucial. There are a million reasons to not do the thing. We have to find compelling options in the other direction.
I’m happy to say that I finally finished my demos this week. I not only unzipped my keyboard case, I set up my recording equipment, turned off my phone, and did the work.
It’s the final stage of the creative process that’s the hardest for most of us. Shiny, new ideas are the best! Anything is possible! Then, we get to the messy middle and there are a million reasons to quit. (Sometimes, we should quit.) Other times, that nagging feeling that the work might resonate with someone is what keeps us forging ahead.
This collection of songs will make up my first solo (original) album. It’s a collection of stories about love, loss, and what it means to be human, told from different perspectives. Some of the songs were written over five years ago, while another was just penned this past May.
The most recent one, “Branches,” came to me because I had space to think and dream.
We were away at a lake house for a few days, and I snuck away to a quiet room surrounded by windows framing trees dripping from fresh rain. The air was still. My kids were happy, playing. Brandon was spending time with his best friend. For all of the times when life has felt hard, impossible, confusing—this was a time of peace.
I thought about how often I try to find the struggle in what I’m doing, how I try to find what’s wrong and what could be better, instead of sitting in what’s right - thriving plants, a family that's safe and whole, and opportunities to create. “How’s it going?” a friend texted. My response: “I can’t say anything bad about this place.”
Branches
I can’t say anything bad about last week
Not the way the earth absorbed the sky, the way my shoulders loosened right about the time I did remember
This is our only stay
So show up
I can’t say anything bad about my skin
Not the way it holds emotions in, the way it carries memories, it’s easy to believe the lies:
“Youth is our only chance.
You’ll grow up.”
I can’t say anything bad about this place
Not the way the branches take up space, the way the light, it soldiers on, it’s never worried about the storm
There are so many chances
So many chances
So many chances
So show up
Inspiration
🎧 This whole parenting series on The Happiness Lab. The whole thing!
🎧 It’s the kids’ last week of school, and I’m getting ready for our favorite weekly tradition: Monday visits to the library to get a weekly book stack. Each week, we take out a stack of books for lazy afternoons and some rooftop reading. Philadelphia libraries have a reading incentive for kids. Highly recommend checking it out!
Creative
🌟 In my class, I talked about capturing “seeds” for songs. Now that my demoing is finished (for now), I want to revisit some of the seeds I’ve captured over the past few years and see what’s worth nurturing.
🌟 I’m teaching two more Grad classes this summer on songwriting (surprise surprise) and a new class on “Building Your Educator Brand” (aka entrepreneurship for music educators). There is still space in both classes! Learn more here.
Thanks for subscribing and reading. I hope you have some good things to say.
Connect with my work elsewhere:
🎧 listen to my podcast with Kimberly McGlonn
💻 order my children’s book, Rosie Rocks!
📚 visit my fair-pay publishing company, F-flat Books.
🎤 get songwriting support through Songwriting for M.E.
🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻