The reason I ask is that I recently heard a songwriter suggest that it isn’t. He argued that because ideas—particularly good ones—often appear randomly, songwriting isn’t a craft. A craft, he said, implies something more deliberate and considered.
He has a point. Idea generation is unpredictable and chaotic. But it takes a huge number of bad ideas to find the good ones—and a lot of good ones to find the great ones. Sifting through them involves an element of craft.
But the real work, which I’d call craftsmanship, begins once you’ve selected the ideas you want to complete. Only through steely patience, persistence, and even a little pain can you bring the embryo of a great song to life and nurture it into something fully formed—something that can literally outlive you.
Inevitably, there will always be an elusive final line, word, melody, or chord change that refuses to reveal itself. You have to graft and graft until it does.
Recently, I came across a book used in the design world called Problem Seeking. I love the concept. We always think in terms of problem-solving but seldom look for problems. I thought this could be helpful when writing songs.
Look for and expect problems. Overcoming them is how you grow, and finishing something worth sharing always requires persistence.
Don’t be daunted. This is a natural part of the creative process. Be a craftsman. Persist. Keep working. Keep learning. Push through.
That’s when you’ll experience the payoff of completing a song—one that brings a deeper satisfaction than the fleeting elation of a new idea.
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