Every now and then I've had a lyrical idea that I tried to turn into a song. Somehow it never gets more than a few bars.(*) The words mostly come out OK, but the music in my head bores even me. Matching somebody else's tune is one thing, but making a competent tune of my own is hard. And there's a vast difference between competent and good, and I don't have a good feel for what makes that difference.(**)
Is this something one can learn, or is composing something you need a gift for?
(*) There's a story that a fan once approached a radio comic (Fred Allen?) with a great idea for a gag. The pro heard the setup and gag, and then encouragingly replied "What happens next?"
(**) Perhaps even the great ones don't--of the different peices in the same work one may be great and another just good.
2 comments:
I haven't written any songs for years, but I wrote many while i was still in a band and few years thereafter. About 300 from 1966-1976. Most of them were crap. The tunes came more easily, and the lyrics took work.
Anything worth doing is worth doing badly." — G. K. Chesterton
I'm not anywhere near Shakespeare, but I write poetry for my wife.
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