I Feel Good

I am so excited to tell you about how I had the privilege of having Jacob Lutrell listen to two of my original compositions and give me feedback on what he heard.  Jacob Lutrell is a songwriter who has worked with well known artists such as Justin Bieber and Enrique Eglasius (this mispelling makes me laugh...this is how I thought it was spelled before I looked it up).  The song that I am most familiar with, that he wrote, is "Fall" sung by Justin Beiber.

I was a little nervous to have Jacob listen to my songs because I wasn't sure if my music was something he would be able to connect with, but after much pondering I knew he was the person I wanted to share my songs with.  I suppose some of my nerves came from performing it live in front of him as well.  It was such a rush to be able to do that.  He was very complimentary.  He liked the way the lyrics were so conversational and, my personal favorite, he said the song just made him "feel good".  This also, by the way, was my number one goal in sharing the song with Jacob.  It was so rewarding to hear him say how he felt when he didn't even know that I wanted to touch him and his life even more than I wanted his feedback.  

Jacob also had some valuable ideas that I have tried to incorporate into my writing.  He suggested to change some of the lyrics, because although they were very conversational some words were not very "singable".  AND, he thought that I could rework my chorus so that I could develop more of a hook.  SO AWESOME, Jacob!!  Thank you.

The song I have worked on the most, since Saturday, is "My Better Half".  What I decided to focus on the most is developing a better hook.  As a result I have changed the name of the song to "We Will Always Be".  I am pretty excited about the changes.  I, of course ran over to my sister's house, who happens to live next door, to get her feedback first.  She was awesome as always and helped me eliminate any remaining unnecessary lyrics.  Once I finished there I came back home and was able to play it for the piano tuner who just happened to be working on my piano.  I asked him if he could identify the HOOK after listening to it one time... and he did.  WOOHOOO!!!  Mission accomplished.  He also suggested I get it copyrighted right away.  SO, I will be doing that first before I put the recording on my blog.

That is all I have time for right now.  Stay tuned for more songwriting conference details.........

Adventuring

I went to a songwriting conference at Refinement Records in Draper, Utah, over the weekend, and have so many different topics to cover about songwriting I think I will divide my thoughts into several different posts. But, first and foremost, I will start with a little personal introspection.

I found that this experience of preparing for and then attending the Refinement Records event caused me to dig deep and define who I am as a songwriter and why I do it.  The answers I came up with were surprisingly rewarding and valuable.  I am a songwriter because I have felt my God-given talents to creatively write words AND my love of music in all forms come together within me in such a powerful way that I felt it was my duty to share what I have with others.  More than just my duty, it is one of the purposes for my life to develop and share these things.  This process of sharing is not only for the enjoyment of others, but for the development and growth within myself.  I love that.  It causes me to feel such gratitude to God for giving me the life that he has.  The joy I get from each creative step is hard to put into words.  I think the title of this blog captures the idea well, though.  Songwriting is truly an adventure.

As much as I am enjoying my adventure, I equally enjoy hearing others' adventures as well.  So, I have a questions for any of you who read my blog.  Are you a songwriter?  If so why do you write music?  If you don't write music do you have some other creative outlet that just brings you joy and fulfillment and purpose?  Please comment on this post so I can hear about you.