Your Gem Collection

Every once in a while, your creative mind comes up with really wonderful stuff. These are the teeny sparkly song bits that stand out and get you noticed, whether they are made up of words, musical notes or both. Here are a few ideas of where to look for these gems, how to recognize them when you come across the little fellas, and some suggestions of how to store the tidbits so they will be where you can retrieve them when the need arises.

LOOKING FOR GEMS

Song gems are everywhere once you bother to start searching for them. Advertising campaigns are worked around catch phrases and jingles, and hooks are no different. You should be able to just look on the Web for short, pithy quotes, or just tune in to what people are saying in regular conversation and you will quickly find some statement that captures your attention and sticks in your head. Even the notes the voices take, or the pattern of the syllables in any quote have an inherent music to them. Many musicians can imitate not only a generic car horn sound on their instrument, but can do an impression of their own vehicle's horn as well--why not try finding out what a horn on a Jaguar sounds like? Can you come up with a one-measure solo that can be instantly recognizable as California 70's rock? As a lyricist or a composer, try to at least know several good sources for material like this so you can gather something within a day's notice, just like a good rockhound knows a good local source of agates if asked to find some. You may be asked to come up with a surfer-sounding song any time, so why not know where to at least find an easy piano version you can be inspired by to write a similar chord progression with just a teeny notice?

RECOGNIZING A GEM

You should instantly know a songwriting gem when you find one. Does it sparkle? Does it turn heads? Does it make you remember it, or worse yet, stick in your brain like glue and irritate you because you can't forget it? You find these everyday, vexing though they might be. Why not see these as potential money makers, and not just distractions? Hey, if they bug you, you KNOW they will get to other people, so remember to record these when you do run into them. If you really hate some of the obnoxious ways recent popular cartoon characters sound for example, why not come up with a hook that captures their voice tone or a short line of how much they really grate on your nerves? You can be specific if you get permission, but usually simply saying something in passing so your audience will know what you're talking about without actually naming names is okay.

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