Song Writing

I need to write a song. I have no idea how to approach writing a song. But I have a number of diddles, and I have recordings of my diddles, so I've been listening to my recordings, and I think I have some ideas on how to put the diddles together. The most basic, ghostly outline of the structure has been roughly sketched-out/suggested to me. So now it should be easy, right?

Do you know what I need in order to write a song? Time to write it in. But you know what I'm discovering lately? The less time I have, the more productive I am. I knocked out a nice rough draft of a Mokuyobi solo last weekend. I thought we'd work on it on Sunday (but we didn't. Oh but who cares?) Coming up with a Mokuyobi solo has been popping up on my list of to-do for like a year now. No, wait. More than a year. I kinda like what I came up with. I'd like to have this New Song in a week or two. I think I can do that.

Tonight I had my first Tai Chi class of the year. I like the class. One of the nice things about the class is that after the deep breathing and all the excercises we do to get in touch with our bodies, you can kind of get a feel of what your body is really thinking. It's like you live in your body and move along through the world and your life in it, but you don't really get to feel what it's saying. I mean, not unless you injure it, but then it's too late. But after class I was listening to my body, and it said, I think that if you don't write your Mokuyobi solo and your Song and come up with a solid syllabus and long-term plans for your class, OH! and review all those songs we've already worked on, then we're going to have a nice ULCER. In college, when I was stressed out and over-caffienating myself, I developed what the doctor called a "pre-ulcer." A "pre-ulcer" is painful. A pre-ulcer had me doubled over with a bottle of the pink stuff in one hand and a telephone with my Mama on it in the other. Tonight my stomach was like: Listen to me, yo. Do the work and it will be ok. If not, then we'll be in touch again, are you (nudge nudge, wink wink) listening to me?? I believe my tummy.

A friend of mine told me that writing a song is a matter of trust (with yourself), and that I had to let myself relax into the creative process. Yes, this is probably true. But I think there is more going on here. I think I thrive a little off the stress. If I'm not creating these lofty and slightly out-of-reach goals for myself, then I won't do the work. So yes, all these tasks are TOTALLY out of reach (nudge nudge, wink wink).

But I can do it. I know it.