Find Your Own, Unique Songwriting Voice
When the music industry refers to a musician as having an original style, it’s usually because that person has distinguished themselves by daring to be different, by consciously trying not to sound like any other musician, and by working hard to let their talent develop naturally. As a songwriter, if you really want to be successful or at the very least, musically appreciated, you should take it upon yourself to consciously try to be original.
“Being original” in songwriting can mean anything from writing totally “off the wall” songs, to merely having a knack for amazing rhymes and wordplay, to having a certain cool vibe among so many other possibilities. There are literally an infinite number of possibilities to make yourself a unique songwriter. In other words, you can have your own “signature sound” by learning songwriting, and allowing yourself to develop naturally while searching for your unique voice.
With a little patience and persistence, it’s fairly easy for anyone to learn songwriting basics and apply them quickly to your own original compositions. Regardless of the songwriting genre you prefer, whether it be Pop, R&B, Dance or otherwise, once you have the basics down, at some point you’ll probably wonder “if, when, and how” you will develop your own, original style.
To set yourself apart from the rest of the bunch it’s absolutely imperative that your songs stand out far above the rest. It’s important to realize there are many great songwriters competing with you either locally or nationally, and that those songwriters are your direct competitors. As a musician, I prefer to think of them as “friendly competition.”
Songwriters who are your friendly competition hold so much valuable information in their heads and most of them are willing to share their knowledge through workshops and while networking through local and regional songwriting organizations just to name a few. This is why it’s important to get out there and show your work and exchange tips and ideas through whatever type of worthwhile medium you can find. The more influences and information you have, the easier it will be to find your own, unique songwriting style.
All songwriters have what I call a unique perspective of music, therefore they naturally and instinctively have their own inner music voice. We all develop different “likes” and “dislikes“ when we first begin to hear music during our childhood years. What happens? Here’s what happens as your musical taste evolves; the music you know and love (likes) is absorbed into your brain and becomes an integral part of your being, whether consciously or subconsciously, and your mind filters out music you don’t like (dislikes).
Then, when you begin learning about songwriting, your musical tastes and influences become splattered into your songwriting like paint to a wall! Oh, it might be a little messy at first but as you keep working hard on your craft the mess soon appears to become an actual work of original art!
One last, important point to remember; every musician on this planet has been influenced by another musician before them. The key to eventually being original lies in using those influences to help guide you into new, undiscovered territory!
