Feeling Blue? Get Creative!
It dawns on me, during unprecedented times, we might need help trudging forward until we see the light again. I am here to offer one way to move closer to that light: creative writing improves your mood. My students, friends, family, and co-workers prove time and time again that using their creativity, like writing a song, is super helpful in easing a little bit of pain or anxiety in your life. So I took my own advice and realized that the songs I’ve written during the pandemic truly helped me find a smile from within when other ways had failed,
I take you back to a time before COVID-19, when it was easy to escape for a few minutes to answer a friend’s call to “just catch up” because you knew you just might be needed. Nowadays, you may need the escape yet don’t want to burden others who are feeling similar anxiety. The following story is a quick reminder that music and creativity are two ways we can all escape.
It is Christmas time in 2018. I have written a song called “Sunset” about my parents. This song was about growing up in a picture-perfect family with backyard birthday parties, homemade skating rinks, and a tiny (but epic) postage stamp of a ski house in North Conway. This is a ski house at which literally hundreds of friends have come to ski, read by the fire, drink red wine, play charades, and conduct countless cooking contests over five decades.
We All Have A Song In Us
I can see the snow falling rapidly outside the one small foggy window in the music studio, and I am clumsily strumming away to a song I decided to record for posterity. I give Doug, my talented studio producer, a one minute introduction to this new original song. I tell him how hard it was to see my dad age so quickly. I tell him it’s about the passage of time and the circle of life. I tell him to prepare for what would be my first and only attempt at writing a sad song. Mostly because I am in the habit of seeing only the good in the people and the things around me … a “chronic complimenter,” as my kids call me.
The last note of the final chorus of my “sad song” fades on my guitar, the drumbeat softens to a whisper, the last word has been sung, perhaps off key. I peer through the door frame at John, the drummer, who is smiling ear to ear and signals with his thumb up: “This is THE TAKE!” I shift my gaze to Doug, who says with a puckish grin, “Um, so this is your sad song, Ellen? … with the adorable CATCHY and UPBEAT chorus about how awesome your childhood was?” I smile knowingly. Doug continues, “I kind of wanna go back in a time machine and get just one day on that hockey rink your Dad watered every night at midnight for you and your siblings.” “I kind of do, too,” I whisper to myself.
Doug puts his lyric and chords sheet down, looks through the glass at me, bends toward the mic for one last piece of feedback for the amateur songwriter. He smiles and says, “You don’t have a sad song in you, Ellen.” I smile because I know it was simply a song about a time in my life that I wanted to stretch on forever, like a perfect sunset.
Tell Your Truth Through Songwriting
For those of you searching desperately for a smile today or tomorrow … do not forget that your creative self is always in there, beneath your sad but real thoughts about your world and what you are going through right now, or in the past. Music is with us from a very early age. Consider writing a song as a canvas worth painting with your own unique brush strokes. Go find your creativity … and your music … it doesn’t matter what instrument you play, just write your song. Even if you only spend ten minutes during a difficult day. I guarantee it will improve your mood, and maybe, just maybe, make you smile.
Top 5 Tips for Writing a Song:
- Go on a walk by yourself and think about 3 times in your life that would make for a good movie scene because they provide a good VISUAL backdrop. If these “moments in time” could be in a movie, then they could very well be featured in your first song. Hint: the time you almost lost your footing at the Grand Canyon while your siblings watched on (or didn’t!) in horror is probably a better visual than writing about the time you got stuck in an elevator with no other people.
- Choose 1 out of these 3 potential scenes that has the greatest potential to appeal to most people you know. Choose the one most relatable. Hint: this is why “love songs” are so popular. The songwriter knew exactly what he/she was doing. And you know I am talking to you, Paul McCartney.
- When you get home, jot down as many things as you can about this time in your life, using the 5 senses: hearing, tasting, touching, smelling, seeing. Next, add words that describe how you felt. Keep in mind, it will be a lot easier to remember your song lyrics if you use YOUR authentic voice. Hint: Most friends would rather hear a song that appealed to all 5 senses than one that only described how an apple tastes.
- If this is your first song or poem since your 3rd grade Haiku, do not get bogged down by song structure at this stage. There are no rules for writing your first song. If you have one or two words that rhyme at the end of some of the verse lines and chorus lines, then you are on your way! Hint: Feel free to simply follow the most common song format: Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus, Verse 3, Chorus. As you might have guessed, the Chorus is repeated each time.
- When you decide to record your song (hello, GarageBand), do not write more than two pages, no matter what. Hint: If you print out the pages and set them side by side on a music stand, you will quickly see why most musicians do not exceed two pages … not only would the song exceed the popular 3 minute mark, but most music stands simply can’t hold that third page of lyrics.
In the end, creative songwriting just makes you feel better. Want to jump start your song? Find us at www.mywritecoach.com
