Throughout this course we’ll be talking to established musicians and songwriters to gain an insight into their songwriting process. In the first of these videos we hear from Jon McClure, Sheffield songwriter and lead singer of the band Reverend and the Makers.
Reverend and the Makers formed in 2005 and have released four studio and two live albums, supported Oasis and the Arctic Monkeys and have performed numerous sold-out tours. Fiercely proud of their Sheffield heritage, the band are known for their energetic and innovative live shows, as well as a revolving line-up of band members and differing recording styles. Jon and bassist Ed Cosens are the central songwriters of the band, and in this video Jon discusses how their relationship works.
Here are some key things to take away from this video:
- Ideas for songs can come to you at any time
- try carrying a notebook around with you or better still, use a sound recorder on your phone to note down ideas.
- Songs can take shape from different starting points
- you may have an idea for the rhythm or you might start with the melody. If one element isn’t working for you, try starting with another.
- Listen to other songs for inspiration.
- Knowledge of music can take many forms and conceptual understanding is only one of the ways that we can hope to get better at musical activities such as songwriting.
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