This composition exercise that I am going to show you is a great example of a powerful technique called brainstorming.
Brainstorming is power Spontaneously come up with ideas about a certain topic or problem at hand., but in this case we want to fill a page full of possible song titles.
The task is not to write a song, but to propose possible titles for a song. I try to do this at least twice a week. I have pages and pages of possible titles so you can look back.
To start the exercise, write the the first thing that comes to mind and then using that phrase, start writing song titles making sure the next phrase is derived from the first phrase.
Here is a brief example:
Baby cry
Baby Do not Cry
Don’t cry for me baby
Do not Cry
Why so sad?
I’m very sad
I’m leaving today
(I hope you understand my drift here)
Remember, because you are brainstorming, you can write anything down, go whatever tangent you want, and not worry about whether you will use it in the future or not.
By the way, your critical inner voice hates this type of exercise as you have no control over what you are doing.
In fact, when you are doing this exercise, don’t even think about what you are writing about. Be automatic and spontaneous. Have fun with it.
Set a goal for doing this by 30 minutes, two or three times a week and create a set of possible song titles.
After a couple of weeks, take a look at what you have written. Pay close attention to the rhythm of the words and I’m sure something will catch your eye and BINGO! You have the beginnings of a new song.
Looking back at what you have written can be a very interesting experience in itself. It’s amazing what you write when you stop judging what you write.
In the meantime, give it a try and see what happens.
Personally, I use brainstorming a lot to get my songwriting ideas. It’s a great way to break free in be in the now when I write.
If you are going to try the “possible song titles” exercise, I suggest you write as blindly as you can and try to make your word associations quick.
Write the first thing that comes to mind. Do it for thirty minutes and see where spontaneity takes you.