SONG STRUCTURE / LYRIC FEEDBACK

-A FRESH PAIR OF EYES (AND EARS) TO HELP YOU WHEN YOUR FEELING STUCK!-

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ‘SONG FEEDBACK’ & ‘CO-WRITING’?

SONG FEEDBACK IS PROVIDED VIA EMAIL.

It’s taken me a while to settle on the simplest format for provide song detailed early song feedback to those who would like it but this simple ‘over-email’ approach I’ve found to be the easiest and most straight forward for people.

STEP 1: You send me your typed out lyrics alongside notation of chords and a recording or you singing/playing the song as well so I can get an idea of the melody and style.

STEP 2: Give me a few days to think and then I’ll respond with a printed and marked up lyric/song sheet of structural ideas and lyric suggestions, typed up suggestions and an mp3 recording or me either explaining my thoughts & humming, singing out or strumming some musical or lyric ideas for you to consider. A lot of the focus of feedback is on strengthening the structure, best parts or core idea of a song idea and giving you ideas of what areas that might need tightening or or more focus, often I’ll look at both ‘Big Picture’ structural ideas. If I think your song is strong but could benefit from specific lyrical, line-by-line, rhyme or phrase strengthening it might be more nuanced, detailed of specific ideas to maybe think about. In this return email you’ll find an invoice for $30AUD (per song)

[Because this is a ‘paid service’ there is absolutely no expectation for you to share songwriting credit with me for ideas you do or don’t take onboard - and for extra peace-of-mind, each ‘return’ email comes with a footer/signature releasing my claim to copyright of ideas suggested- of course your always welcome to should you take on substantial ideas but there is no expectation or need to.

CO-WRITING

I love co-writing! I love the unexpected moments of shared inspiration—whether they emerge in songwriting workshops or through fluid, one-on-one back-and-forth with another person. It’s the respectful, passionate arguing it through: “What if we tried this?” “Or what if it goes there instead?” Thinking out loud, thinking fast, pulling ideas apart, pushing back, letting go, and working through uncertainty until something new appears. Often, it’s a song neither of us could have arrived at alone.

The key difference is simple:

• Song feedback is a paid service with no expectation of songwriting credit.

• Co-writing is a shared creative process with an expectation of fairly shared credit.

If we haven’t worked together one-on-one on a few songs before I always suggest starting with getting some ‘song feedback’, seeing if my you find my ideas and contributions helpful and getting to know each other a bit more that way first. :)