For our first draft game show since the “before times” we flashed back to the 2000s for our favourite songs with female artists. We invited Susan Cattaneo (check out her Instagram for awesome songwriting tips), Sherry Jacoby, and Vanessa Vreeland to play along.… Read the rest
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Our 2023 songwriting challenge is to write a song using an unusual mode, or a mode you don’t normally use. For our first episode on this subject, composer and songwriter Jeff Alan Greenway joined us to talk about two specific modes – Dorian and Lydian.… Read the rest
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For our first episode of 2023, Phil and Neel hung out to talk about a bunch of things on our minds.
We talked about:
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Allister Bradley, Canadian singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and technical director of the Song Studio Songwriter’s Workshop in Toronto, and co-host of the Hooks & Ladders youTube show with Blair Packham, joined us to talk about three songs with great bridges.
We talked about:
- How the bridge differs from the verse and chorus
- How a good bridge changes the viewpoint, the key signature, or uses something you haven’t used in the song yet
- How do you know if a song needs a bridge or not?
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Singer-songwriter and music educator Susan Cattaneo joined us once again, this time to talk about tips for overcoming writer’s block for songwriters. We talked about:
- writing in a different mode, on purpose
- a great video on understanding modes – The Modes Ranked by Brightness – YouTube
- lists of contemporary songs using modes, courtesy of Susan and her Berklee colleague Sarah Brindell:
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We welcomed the return of our ex-co-host Michael Proudfoot, joining us to review our updated answers to the 2022 Songwriting Challenge.
We talked about:
- Our new Songwriting Challenge webpage, featuring the original versions of our songs, plus listener song episodes
- The Song Talk Meetup
- Mashing up various styles and instruments
- Reaching out to other songwriters to help make sure every lyric lands with the most impact (Neel would like to thank Sarah Peterson for her review of his lyrics and her great suggestions!)
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Neel explains his journey in writing his response to our 2022 Song Talk Radio Songwriting Challenge: a song with the title “Why Do You Cry”.
Lyrics for Why Do You Cry – sketch 2
Lyrics for Why Do You Cry – sketch 6… Read the rest
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For the past 25+ years, Eric Alper has been at the forefront of the Canadian entertainment industry – making the Public in Public Relations his business. His enthusiasm, encyclopedic knowledge of the past and present have made him the go-to for music in Canada.… Read the rest
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