A song a week: My 2016 Challenge

Yup. That’s my personal challenge. By the end of 2016 I will have 52 original songs. They may all be crap, but right now I got zero songs. 52 of something is way better than what I have now, nothing.

52 songs in 52 weeks. You wanna join me?

I am a bit of an organizer/systems freak. I discovered this later in life through opening and building my business (Brooklyn Music Factory), a music program that currently serves 265 families in Brooklyn NY. Starting a business is bitch. It’s full of new hurdles every day and requires vast amounts of knowledge that takes time to acquire. Problem is, no one tells you this when you start out. Everyone just says that they think you’d be ‘really good at business if you just gave it a try.’ Well, I discovered that the only thing I was really good at was working too much. Until, that is, I read a book all about systems called, Working the System. A light went off and I realized that instead of doing everything myself, I needed to spend that energy on documenting a repeatable system for running every facet of the school. That was a massive paradigm shift for me…and frankly, totally revelatory. Anyhow, from that point forward, I am a total convert to mapping out systems for anything I want to try and do repeatedly.

So, here is my system for writing a song a week. Feel free to adopt it in your own songwriting life if it seems valuable. Keep in mind, though, that it isn’t tested yet and as with all good systems, they are living breathing things…this will change (and I’ll post updates and tweaks.) For now, though, here is what I’ve got:

Monday: Song Topic Brainstorm/Free Lyric Writing #1
Tuesday: Chord Sketch/Free Lyric Writing #2
Wednesday: Word Chords/Attach Lyrics to Chords
Thursday: Record 1st Draft: Verse 1 + Chorus/Free Lyric Writing #3
Friday: Review Recording/Edit Lyrics
Saturday: Record Final Song
Sunday: Post Song on SongWriteDaily.com & Share song on FB/IG

One thing I’m gonna keep in mind, though, is that many of my favorite instrumental compositions I have written in the past happened in 10-20 minutes. 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration is a real thing. The initial idea flows and then fine tuning and generating a finished, ready to present, piece of music actually is the bulk of the work. So, bottom line, the above schedule may actually be changed week by week…but at least I have a clear road map. I know what I am obligated to get done by Thursday and Friday…end of the week. I know myself pretty well and my biggest challenge is holding onto the clear road map and following through.

Follow through can be ruff for me, so I always need two things in place:

1-Crystal clear task list (my daily road map)
2-Accountability (SongWriteDaily.com & friends on social media)

Wanna join me with this (maybe crazy) goal? Go ahead and start by building your weekly songwriting road map. And then share it in the comments section.

And remember, this may feel like work, but it’s also entirely for you and supposed to be a journey of discovery (that’s really fun and a little scary…). Make it yours and make it super fun.