Can You Teach Songwriting?

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Would you or someone you know like to go on a songwriting retreat with industry professionals? Visit SongbirdCamp.com for more details!

The Unteachable

This is an excerpt from an entrepreneurship book I'm reading (I'm There For You, Baby; The Entrepreneur s Guide to the Galaxy, by Neil Senturia). Like entrepreneurship, it's hard to teach someone to be a great songwriter.



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Would you or someone you know like to go on a songwriting retreat with industry professionals? Visit SongbirdCamp.com for more details!

The Knife Maker

Pardon the language...

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Would you or someone you know like to go on a songwriting retreat with industry professionals? Visit SongbirdCamp.com for more details!

Bootstrapping

When it comes to being your own boss, it's important to use every resource you have to its full potential. Take this blog for example. To this day, what you see has only cost me a total of about $12.

I registered the domain address on GoDaddy.com: $12.
I registered the Blogspot address thesongbirdproject.blogspot.com: Free.
I registered the Gmail address thesongbirdproject@gmail.com: Free.
I designed the header myself on pixlr.com: Free.
I painted the bird logo myself: Free.
I take pictures using iPhone's Instagram app: Free.
I record videos and post them to YouTube: Free.
I post links to photos from Picassa (Google's Flickr-like service): Free.
With permission, I use photos from Flickr's Creative Commons: Free.
To post songs, I've used a service called OpenDrive: Free.
To back up Word documents of lyrics, I use Dropbox: Free.
The blog is supported by Google and Amazon adds that can earn me money: Free Money.

Really, the main cost is the time and effort it takes to post. 

When it comes to songwriting, this means there are ways to find inspiration without letting it hurt your wallet. I was flipping through Wired Magazine a few months ago and came across an interesting photo by Caleb Charland. The first thing I did was Google his name, click "images" and all of the sudden I had hundreds of his photos there in front of me. And what did it cost me? Nothing. Also, the public library is an incredible resource for free books and movies (as long as you remember to return them on time). It's also common to work out trades with other creative friends for recording time, press photos, design work, etc.

Recently, Dr. Jeff Cornwall (head of Belmont University's Entrepreneurship major) featured The Songbird Project on his blog. Read it here.

Keep writing (and bootstrapping),

Ben

P.S. - I literally bought these $200 boots from Goodwill for $3.99. How's that for literal bootstrapping?

One Man Band

To be a songwriter is to be an entrepreneur. Each of us is sort of a one man band, playing the part of both the creator and critic. Also, no one (not even a publisher) can make us create art. Nor can any outside force sense when the soul needs rest, or when an idea must come out. No one else can get us past any fear that may be blocking us from creating. When all the parts are working as they should, there's a beautiful outcome: music.

Keep writing,

Ben

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Would you or someone you know like to go on a songwriting retreat with industry professionals? Visit SongbirdCamp.com for more details!

Inspired by Nature

My friend Caleb, who is a biology teacher here in Tennessee, pointed me to this video as a follow up to the recent "Who Made This Cabbage?" post. It's amazing to realize that, as advanced as technology is, the best designs are often found in nature.

Keep writing (and noticing),

Ben

Caliente!

Yesterday my family had lunch at a little Cuban restaurant in Fort Wayne called "Caliente!" It boasts some amazing sandwiches and was started by a couple from Cuba. Halfway through the meal my mom basically said, "Did you know that the husband is a former journalist who was thrown in jail for what he wrote?"

It was a healthy reminder that I too often take freedom for granted. I can blog or write a song about pretty much anything I want to, without any fear of police showing up at my door. Like good health, we often don't notice it until it's gone.

Keep writing (and be thankful),

Ben