Giving Critique

[john]

hey Gang

 

I was reading a post by @Shipreck (I hope you don't mind me quoting you here) where they mentioned how they felt about giving critique:

 

"Critiques are hard, I do like receiving them and reviewing them. I do critique songs in my head all the time, but sharing them with the artist is hard. I don’t want to discourage anyone from being creative. This attitude makes everything come across as fluff and only positive notes. That being said, I’ll do best on giving a honest critique."

 

I just wanted to pick up on this, without taking away from the critique topic it was in. For me, the answer is to offer constructive critique. It's not about saying positive things. It's about the intent and how that intent manifests.

 

By that I mean, be honest, but try to be useful, so that your words are taken constructively because they are offered constructively.

 

True it will not get around someone intent on taking your comments as a negative criticism. Members should not be here for back-patting. They should be here looking to improve their skills. They should be building confidence by improving those skills. As people offering critique, we can help build confidence in writers, yet again, by offering constructive critique.

 

Critique is about a few simple steps:

 

• Observation
• Analysis
• Suggestion
• Discussion

 

Out of interest, you can improve your own songwriting skills by exercising all 3 of these critique skills.

 

Observation

 

The ability to observe techniques, constructs, phrases, word choice, etc. objectively.

 

Analysis

 

The ability to deconstruct and understand a song, to understand the likely consequences of the choices made by the writer/composer

 

Suggestion

 

Offering alternatives (not pushing them), projecting them forward for likely impact, and comparing that with making no change.

 

Discussion

 

As it sounds, it is an opportunity for the writer and the reviewer(s) to chew over the various possibilities. They are, however the writer's decisions. Whatever your advice, whatever the reaction, walk away and leave it behind you.

 

You might find this article of use too:

 

Lyric Critique For Songwriters

 

there's a whole bunch of useful articles here:

 

Songwriting Articles

 

One last point, it is always important to remember that:

 

We offer opinions. We are not songwriting Gods, offering absolutes from on high. They are the writers. They have to live with the consequences of their decisions, we do not. In all honesty, by observing analyzing, suggesting, and discussing you have exercised your skills, and given them a good workout. At this point, you have no more skin in the game. Don't beat writers over the head with your opinion. The end stage is discussion. It is not "Give a speech".

 

Having a framework for how you approach critique will help.

 

Cheers

 

John