Kara Johnstad - office berlin
Transforming Lives Through the Power of the Human Voice

[Volume 3, Issue 26, June 26, 2013]
 
Kara and Fabrizio Pigliucci in Rome
 
Greetings!  

  

Aah, what a week this has been!

The mastering of our very recent orchestral recordings are well underway.

We finished 5 new songs available in sheet music form, Love Never Fails, Message Of Hope, Thank you, Let Go And Trust 

And, all of Berlin was in a frenzy of activity while President Obama visited. 

To speak with Obama's words, "We are more free when all people can pursue their own happiness. And as long as walls exist in our hearts to separate us from those who don't look like us, or think like us, or worship as we do, then we're going to have to work harder, together, to bring those walls of division down. Peace with justice means free enterprise that unleashes the talents and creativity that reside in each of us ..."
 

And, to be a great songwriter you have to accept your right to be "you." 

 
Today's article continues with part 2 of a 7 part series on Songwriting. I'll share with you 5 ideas to play with when you are composing and learning to innovate instead of imitate.  

 

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ENJOY TODAY'S FEATURE ARTICLE

SONGWRITING
INNOVATE DON'T IMITATE

  

 

  

 

 

Stay Gold

Kara

 

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D'bi Young "What's Next"

TEDxToronto - D'bi Young - 9/10/09
TEDxToronto - D'bi Young - 9/10/09

D'bi Young, a Dubpoet opens TEDxToronto with a passionate interpretation of What's Next.
 
TED Ideas worth spreading


�ber TEDTalks

http://www.ted.com TEDTalks shares the best ideas from the TED Conference with the world, for free: trusted voices and convention-breaking mavericks, icons and geniuses, all giving the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. We post a fresh TEDTalk every weekday

article
  

 

 

SONGWRITING 
INNOVATE DON'T IMITATE
  

by Kara Johnstad

 

 

To be a great songwriter you have to accept your right to be "you."


Be original. Innovate and don't imitate. Although we can not re-invent the wheel and a love song will normally have two people falling in or out of love, it is important that you tell the story through your eyes and your experience and use your words to express what moves you.


Trees are trees. Flowers are flowers, and we are all stuck on this planet together; yet fact is, everyone has similar experiences and everyone is divinely unique.

 

You start to die as an artist

when you try to be someone you are not.


hibiscus flower

"I began by tinkering around with some old tunes I knew. Then, just to try something different, I set to putting some music to the rhythm that I used in jerking ice-cream sodas at the Poodle Dog. I fooled around with the tune more and more until at last, lo and behold,  I had completed my first piece of finished music." 
Duke Ellington

 


"She dropped pieces of herself along the wayside and fed the small morning birds from her soul." Kara Johnstad

 


So in songwriting you are looking for striking a balance between forms and colors your audience is familiar with and adding your unique signature. The familiarity makes it easier for your listeners to appreciate your uniqueness.


Think of it like this, when you meet someone who is wonderfully hip or a misfit, even though their clothes may be wild and their ideas out in left field, they still do have a nose, two eyes, ears, and a smile.  This makes them one of a kind and one of us.


"There is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost." Martha Graham

 

If you create enough points in your song that your audience feels comfortable and familiar with, they will be open and curious to experience your unique twist on things.
 
writing desk

Dancers like Twyla Tharp and Martha Graham still choreograph new pieces using pli� and relev�, painters like Pablo Picasso and Paul C�zanne still use canvas and paint to create art and songwriters like Pat Metheny and Phil Collins originally from Genesis, still used scales and rhyme and familiar elements of songwriting while creating new styles of music.


Here are 5 ideas to play with
when you are composing and learning to innovate instead of imitate. 


SONG INTRO

 

Grab your audiences attention by adding an innovative song intro. Experiment with sound effects, percussive sounds, speaking and so forth. Intros to Pop songs are generally 4-5 seconds. Don't be worried about being too bold or too experimental. It will catch people's attention and the few seconds will pass quickly.


One of my favorite song intros is Laurie Anderson's Superman. I never forgot it. One example of a long song intro is Sting's Brand New World.


INSTRUMENTATION


Be daring and add an instrument that your audience might not expect. Synthesizers have a zillion of sounds to try out, but you can also try adding acoustic instruments that are more rare to the pop music scene. What about a hung drum or adding an oboe or doing the bass line with a tuba. Try bagpipes or adding of  xylophone. In my song Carousell I added an accordionMake a statement with innovative instrumentation.


SONG FORMS


Most pop songs are written with a verse - chorus - bridge design. Having songs with unrelated sections or verses with varied melodies can be interesting.


I remember being in studio for my song "Searching for An Angel"; the song has 4 parts. The studio engineer and a producer I was working with at the time said that I had to cut one of the parts to make it more radio friendly.


I took out the ax and cut out a big section of the song. Then I recorded it. I felt like I had amputated a part of my body. One limb less I walked out of the studio with my recording.  After two sleepless nights and a week of mobbing, I let go of the producer and went back into studio.

 

 

single: Searching For An Angel
  

 

"Searching for an Angel" is now released on my current Naked Thoughts Album Series, in its full original glory of 4 parts, and I am happy to say, it just got finished being dressed with strings for the upcoming fully orchestrated Moon in Capricorn Album.

ODD TIME SIGNATURES

 

Most of the songs that we know use 4/4 time. Sometimes we have a waltz in � time. But what if we tried using 5/4 - like the famous Jazz Standard Take Five, or think about Peter Gabriel's Solsbury Hill where he alternated between � and 4/4. Play with the time signature and your song might just gain a whole new facet.


LYRICS

 

Take your lyrics to another level by adding another language, or odd rhymes and phrases. In my song Journey Me Home, I was inspired to incorporate Pig Latin, in other songs such as Adel's Pluck, she adds a bit of French. If you really don't know where to go, and know that your melody is powerful and the song form is working well, you can always work in a great collaboration team.

 

Message Of Hope was created in this way, Fabrizio Pigliucci composed the music and I wrote the lyrics. Also my song Song Of India was a collaborative work.

 

I love working in a powerful team. 

 

Voice Your Essence Podcast by Kara Johnstad
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Finding a great lyricist
is a way to add a new sound to your music.


"Dreamers are mocked as impractical. The truth is they are the most practical, as their innovations lead to progress and a better way of life for all of us." Robin S. Sharma

 


Remember.

Don't kill yourself by trying to appeal to everyone.

Live yourself,

learn, work hard and be real.


The mere fact that you exist means that the universe wanted to create something exactly like you. Nobody else. There is room for a zillion artists. And the thought of it makes me dizzy with happiness.


You arrived on earth against all odds. Innovate and leave your mark on this world.

 

Much love,

Kara

 

 

P.S. Share with us your experience, and feel free to join the Voice Your Essence™ Community over on Facebook: www.facebook.com/voiceyouressence. I'm really excited to hear what you have to say.
 
Thank you, as always, for tuning in, reading and contributing.

 

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Kara Johnstad is a creative visionary, transformational catalyst and a powerful voice in the time and age of transition. She is a singer / songwriter, founder of the Voice Your Essence Community  and creator of the Voice Your Essence™  and Voice Your Biz™ Programs.  If you are ready to take your voice and your world to the next level, you can sign up for a F.R.E.E. subscription of her weekly eZine, at www.karajohnstad.com     
 
 


 
Kara Sutras
  
 "She dropped pieces of herself along the wayside
and fed the small morning birds from her soul
." 
 
Kara Johnstad



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Kara Johnstad is creative visionary, transformational catalyst and a powerfuvoice in the time and age of transition.
 
She is an acclaimed singer/songwriter with more than 100 songs written - all of which she has produced and published under her own indie label, creator of the Voice Your Essence™ Artist Development Program and founder of the 
Voice Your Essence™ Community.
 

  

Leading change agents, healers, personal development speakers and others recognize her as being a unique source of powerful truth and wisdom. As a top voice expert she has helped thousands with her "break-through" voice techniques and shares with us the secrets behind this powerful instrument and the role the human voice plays in fine tuning our mind-body-spirit systems.

Kara connects each and every week with subscribers from around the world via her 
Voice Your Essence™ eZine 

  

If you liked today's issue, you'll also enjoy listening to Kara's soulful music as part of your daily ritual of reconnecting to source or jump onto the next level and experience personally the power of your true authentic voice with Kara Johnstad's 
Voice Your Essence™ Programs.
 
Images of Kara by Joerg Grosse-Geldermann
Video:  "TEDxToronto - D'bi Young - 9/10/09" by TED talks / www.ted.com