This month we're talking all about melody - how to create them, how to craft them, how to connect them to lyrics - and how melody can affect us in more ways than we might know.

To that end, I've been thinking a lot about how melody plays a role in my memories. Like how I remember, vividly,...

I can still remember the first time I recorded music on a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). I was in college and had recently purchased a Mac. I had written a handful of children's songs and wanted to make a CD for the parents of a program I ran. 

I could record songs on my computer...

Co-writing can be a really fun and engaging way to expand skills, get to know more people and expand your collaborative network, but it can also be really hard. Especially when you get into a situation when you feel you're not being heard. I find this happens a lot more frequently when...

Self-doubt and Creativity

This past week, I was reading The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin. Gifted to me by a dear colleague, this book has been one that I've come back to time and time again when I feel creatively stuck or in need of inspiration. 

As I was preparing to...

I just did an interview where I was asked why so many people dislike holiday music. In preparation for the chat, I sat down and thought about this and found some interesting anecdotes that I'd like to share.

There are a few things I came up with - some relating to emotions and others relating to...

For whatever reason, lyrics seem to be both the easiest way into songwriting as well as the most challenging. Easy because they access language that we already have - no need for harmonic or melodic vocabulary - but hard because there just isn't a lot of real estate to say everything you...

I can't read those three words without thinking of I want it that way by the Backstreet Boys. At songwriting for M.E. this month, we've been focusing our energies on this simple phrase: "Tell. Me. Why." 

In a world full of "whats," "hows," and "whens," it can be easy to forget our...

Welcome to the SFME Blog. Here is where we'll be curating content about the topics we're most excited about in connection with all things songwriting and creativity!