To celebrate Pride in Toronto this week, we brought in five LGBTQ-themed songs to play and talk about. The songs spanned from 1983 to 2017, and included a diverse range of songwriters and topics. Musical book writer Stephen Witkin joined us for the show. Special thank you’s to Hema for handling our social media, and @SharonRose2012 for …
pop
Pop songwriting with feeling with Lora Ryan
Pop singer-songwriter Lora Ryan joined us with her guitarist Andrew Scott to share two songs and talk about her songwriting process. Singer/songwriter Lora Ryan is poised to make some noise in the independent music scene. Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, she recently relocated to the Hollywood of Canada: Toronto, Ontario. Lora draws on personal experience …
Commanding pop songwriting with the Command Sisters
Young pop sensations the Command Sisters (Charlotte and Sarah) joined us to talk about writing as a sibling duo and working with producers. Patrick Ballantyne filled in for Bruce. We also talked about: how to write a 2-chord song the musical Book of Mormon whether to repeat lyrics in each chorus the challenge of writing …
Movies have songs too. Here’s our favourites.
This week we picked our favourite songs from movies. We talked about: La La Land (the movie) People bursting into song for no reason vs. singing in sensible places in the story The Big Chill Movie Musicals key modulation Quentin Tarantino’s unique approach to picking songs for his movies Listen to the show: Our selections:
Jacob Moon a song writing star
With 10 albums over a 20-year career, Canadian singer/songwriter/guitarist Jacob Moon dropped into the studio to share a wealth of helpful tips and clear insights. “Live a Little” is a truly exceptional tune, a perfect marriage of lyrics, melody, theme and variation. “Is That All You Got” is a gutsy rocker that looks at calamity with defiance …
Super girl with a heart of armor – Jules
Singer songwriter Jules delivers three powerful tunes live in the studio. She’s just 14 and yet is well on her way along the road as a professional. Jules has been writing songs since she was 10. Some stuff we talked about: Robyn Dell’Unto her songwriting coach Karen Kosowski Her new EP Heart of Armor The benefits …
Working remotely with producers: Getting a Global Groove on with Dokter Nomi
Old friend of the show Dokter Nomi came by and we talked about his unique way of writing songs, working with producers and amassing over 42,000 twitter followers! Some stuff we talked about: Writing music with a global flare Working with producers including our own Neel Modi Mikey Dorje Loopsy Dazy Richard Citroen Lola Dutronic Mason …
Top tips on Songwriting Collaborations w/ Patrick Ballantyne
Its a special Collaborating Show as Northwood Records artist Patrick Ballantyne stops by and we get into all the details about collaborating: how to share the royalties (evenly) and general best practices for successful experiences. Patrick has co-written with lots of folks and has tracks by artist’s like Big Sugar, Merideth Shaw and a ton more. …