#13 Why Do I Need Scales? I'm Not A Fish!
Entry posted by Kel
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In the past, I came up with melodies using my keyboard, or on rare occasions, my guitar. Never in my wildest dreams would I think of singing to work out a melody. Why? Because I was horrible. When talents were being handed out, I was out in the back yard building a billy cart.
As a non performing songwriter I didn't pay much attention to the melody line, figuring a "singer" would be able to sing what I wrote. I wasn't a singer I told myself, but a real one could do it. In time past I barely even gave them time to take a breath between phrases, if they were any good they'd manage it, I reasoned.
Then one day I decided to record something. It was awful! Not, it was horrible! No, it was... worse!!!
However, a few people here on Songstuff offered support rather than derision and made a few suggestions, in particular HoboSage and Tunesmithth if my memory serves me. The few tips offered that day changed my songwriting attitude. I no longer considered a singer an instrument on two legs who would probably smokes and drinks too much and worse, offers an opinion on the master melody I was presenting him or her. I began to concentrate on phrasing, on melodies that made sense, that added meaning to the lyric. And I began to practice singing.
Now I'm not going to type away about my singing prowess, far from it. What I want to get across though, is that as songwriters, we need to know how to provide an example for the vocalist. Not everyone can read music, especially musicians! If we can't sing to save our lives, how are we going to save our songs from some scrapheap? We need to provide a workable example for a "real vocalist" to follow. It is also way cheaper to sing our own rough demos than paying a session singer to do it. Save the money for the good songs, right?
As songwriters we don't need to be able to nail every note and enrapture a theatre full of music lovers, but as I've just found out, life is better with a little singing. So sing a little, and let it guide your writing, and who knows what possibilities may present themselves down the track?
Till next time,
Kel
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