Karen Shirer is a real songwriter, who sings, plays seven instruments, and believes anyone can learn to write a song - and should. Photo by Phil Houseal

Details:
Karen Shirer can be reached at kshirer@hctc.net. She will teach a Songwriting class on Tuesdays 7:40 pm - 8:40 pm; 6 sessions starting February 21, 2012. The final session includes time in a recording studio to put your song on a CD. To sign up, visit www.clubed.net.

webmaster: phil@fullhouseproductions.net

Songwriting for the love of the song

by Phil Houseal
Feb 1, 2012

A while back I wrote a facetious column on how to write a song. It was filled with reckless advice such as “pick a title that starts with the letter ‘A’” and “co-write with Willie Nelson.”

While my musical insight was offered tongue in cheek, the feedback I received indicated there are many readers out there who are or want to become serious songwriters. So - in penance - I decided to pass along better advice from a real songwriter who teaches the craft.

Karen Shirer has written and performs around 50 of her own songs. She has attended songwriting workshops, plays seven instruments, sings, and is Assistant Music Director at the Kerrville First United Methodist Church, which boasts an extensive Music Ministry. She also teaches guitar, and this spring will teach a Songwriting class for Club Ed.

She knows what she is doing.

“The primary reason for writing a song is personal expression,” Shirer told me. “Everyone has something to say, whether it is pathos, humor, or a sentiment for a special occasion like an anniversary.

Shirer acknowledges you can express ideas in a poem or story, but she believes the power of original music is overwhelming. “People can grasp more from your three-minute song than from a 30-minute sermon,” she said. “A song seems to distill the experience.”

As for the steps of putting a song together, those are as varied as there are wannabe writers. Some people are great lyricists; others are composers first. For Shirer, the melody and words come simultaneously. She likes to teach all three approaches, since all are but different paths that lead to the same creation.

Now for the fun stuff. What, I asked, is the most common fault of bad songs? “Trite rhymes,” she answered without hesitation. “That’s a hard one to get away from, even for me.”

I, too, have been guilty of dishing out my share of cringe-inducing offenders:love/above, Texas/solar plexus, all/Pepto-Bismal. How do you purge triteness? Shirer suggests using a rhyming dictionary. Even better, try brainstorming and free form writing to come up with every possible rhyming candidate. Then choose the best one. Still can’t find a suitable rhyme for, say, “cornucopia?”

“Sometimes you just have to rearrange the phrase to get a different word at the end.” (That, an idea, is a heck of a.)

The real beginning of the creative process is capturing those warble worthy words in some sort of organized manner. If you look between the front seats of my red van, you’ll find snippets of songs scribbled on napkins, dry cleaning receipts, and toilet paper tubes. Shirer recommends setting up a three-ring binder, with tabs for songs in each stage of the construction process. By the time an idea makes it to the back of her notebook, it has become a song.

“Inspiration strikes everywhere,” she said. “You may be in line at the bank, but you have to be willing to catch things then work them out. Being creative takes time - there is no way to get around it.”

Shirer wants songwriters to realize the power of song, even if there is no chance of it ever being pumped out on KHIT-AM. She encourages beginning songwriters to put together a song for someone special - a child, a spouse, a baby, a grandchild.

“An original song is an incredible gift,” she said. “My favorite song I wrote was about my Dad’s naval career - called High Flying Hero. I sent it to him on Fathers Day. For the first time in his 90 years he was speechless - I still have his response on my answering machine.”

So if you want to write a song, write a song. But don’t do it for glory and gravy; write for the love of it.

“There will always be songs with trite rhymes and boring tunes,” Shirer said. “But when it is written for someone, that song is every bit as valid as any Top Ten hit, because it is a gift.”