When good players with different musical backgrounds and personalities gather together to make music, an environment thriving with ideas and inspiration soon transpires. By "jamming", these ideas are sorted, assembled, and arranged into masterpieces bearing a certain "sound" or "band chemistry". In a perfect world this would be a fairly painless progression, but more often than not, when dealing with a group of artists who feel passionate about their contribution to a particular project, a serious conflict of egos can arise.
In a collaborative songwriting effort, the obvious main importance is that the band members respect each other's ideas. Although each musician is normally responsible for writing his/her own parts for their instrument(s), it's not unusual for any given player to bring in a part for an instrument other than his/her own. For example, a bassist may bring in guitar ideas, or a drummer may come up with keyboard parts, resulting in an abundance of different ideas that can work nicely in a song. The question is - how do you choose the right part for the song without offending anyone? After all, an artist's creative input is something that is very close to his own heart. It is a piece of him/her that represents his/her talents and abilities.
As a band, make an effort to sit down and listen to each individual idea and make a democratic decision as to which one fits the context of the song or the genre in which the song will be marketed. Each player's idea should receive due consideration. Open discussions can relieve any underlying creative tension that may exist within the group. If the source of the tension is not dealt with promptly, it will only be a matter of time before the band breaks up citing irreconcilable artistic differences. There was an incident in one of my former bands where it had escalated so much over time that a couple of my band-mates ended up actually writhing around on the floor trying to punch each other out. One of the guys stumbled to his feet, exchanged some niceties with the rest of us, and stormed out of the rehearsal spot. That was several years ago and the last time I ever saw him. If your idea happens not to be the chosen one, try to keep a thick skin. Chances are that you'll use it later, anyway - maybe in a side project.
The other area of importance that needs to be discussed with your band-mates, before you start writing as a collective, is how song ownership will be split up. Usually, there will be one or two members of the band who take the ideas (musical or lyrical) and build the skeletons of the songs. They will undoubtedly feel they are entitled to a larger percentage, which is only fair. However, when song structures are created and arranged on the spot, each member should receive an equal share. Whatever the case, always be reasonable to each other. The songwriting portion of the workload required to make your band successful is just the tip of the iceberg. The trials and tribulations of spending endless months touring across the country (for not much else than a bag of carrots and a jar of peanut butter a day) in support of album sales warrant each player their fair share of the pie.
Although the advice in this column seems to be just a whole lot of common sense, we all know how easily emotions can overcome civility in certain types of situations. Collaborative songwriting can result in the birth of some of the most magical, original music, but it shouldn't leave your band a casualty of the "too many cooks in the kitchen" syndrome.
Andrew Wyse is a Toronto-based songwriter/keyboardist/saxophonist and can be reached by e-mail at range@netcom.ca.
Surviving the process of collaborationWhen good players with different musical backgrounds and personalities gather together to make music, an environment thriving with ideas and inspiration soon transpires. By "jamming", these ideas are sorted, assembled, and arranged into masterpieces bearing a certain "sound" or "band chemistry". In a perfect world this would be a fairly painless progression, but more often than not, when dealing with a group of artists who feel passionate about their contribution to a particular project, a serious conflict of egos can arise.
In a collaborative songwriting effort, the obvious main importance is that the band members respect each other's ideas. Although each musician is normally …
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