While TV Cameras Portray Stories of War and Violence More People are Turning to Meaningful Songs for Emotional and Spiritual Relief

A New Breed of Aspiring Songwriters Is In The Making. What are the Sacrifices of the Solo Singer Songwriter in Todays Changing Culture?

(PRWEB) March 16, 2005 -- David La Motte and Michael Alan are performing musicians who share their experiences and insights about the hard work required to earning a livelihood in the music business. It seems everyday is filled with frequent questions and emails from aspiring songwriters from all around the country who want to know how to get started as a singer songwriter.

Clarification
The first question David and Michael would ask when folks approach them with a myriad of questions is "Do you mean getting started as a writer of songs or getting started as a playing musician for a living?" The two activities are very different from each other and the first should come before the second both chronologically and in terms of importance.

Most songwriters believe that a well crafted song, a harmonious blend of music and poetic lyrics, can change the world by influencing the way we think about each other. The emotional input of delicately crafting words and music together can help heal a writers sorrow and may even help in the healing of others. This could only be considered a sacred thing and worth pursuing.

However; making money with music is altogether another issue which leads us to consider many other important questions. In todays music environment only a hand full of songwriters earn a livelihood as published songwriters. The income from royalties, which a writer relies on, is subject to negotiation and continuing changes in music industry.    

The Art of Songwriting
Where do ideas come from? Where does inspiration come from? For time tested songwriters the hard part isn't having ideas for songs, but keeping track of them long enough to scribble them down into a personal journal and coming back to them later. There are many ways to approach song writing and just about every songwriter does it a little different.

Warming Up: Free Writes
In her excellent book "The Artist's Way," Julia Cameron notes that runners warm up every day. No serious runner goes out for a run and blows off the warm up because they warmed up yesterday. Writing, she argues, is no different.

Julia recommends that every writer fill three blank pages in a notebook every morning. The warm up writing does not need to be compelling, well-reasoned or insightful. The only rule with morning pages" is that you can't let the pen stop moving.

One caution, though; don't be disappointed if you're not swimming in song ideas at the end of this. Most of you will find that for the rest of the day you'll be in the creative side of your head, and this is the whole point of the discipline.

Music as a vocation: Should I quit my day job?
The word "vocation" literally means "calling." In order to play music as your job, I think you have to feel some sense that this is what you are supposed to do with your life. Otherwise it makes no sense. Long hours and hard work and lots of time away from family and friends balance against....well, very little money.

On the other hand, if you stick with it long enough and work hard and things go well, you may get to see a lot of interesting people and visit some amazing places as part of your work. Some performers have been able to support themselves with their music, which is a privilege, though not without its sacrifices.

An important point about the day job" question is that there is no superiority implied by not having one. Some of the best songwriters work construction, wait tables, etc. There's no shame in earning a steady paycheck. Its been said that Mary Chapin Carpenter didn't quit her secretarial work in DC until after her first Grammy award.

The most foolish thing that someone can do if they're trying to get a music career going is to quit their day job to soon. The time to quit is when you've got no time to do it, and there's enough money coming in from your performances to support yourself.

The simple rule is to consider your music your primary job. Work at another job until the music is consumming all of your time and paying you enough to let the second job go. If you quit your day job prematurely, you're likely to be short on the money you'll need to get your career started.

Editor: Michael Alan, Visit at - www.MichaelAlanMusic.com
Author: David La Motte, Visit at - www.DavidLaMotte.com

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