Motif Manifesto

Motif, the Genre, and its Friend the Mockingbird

I’m not a fan of the cookie-cutter mold. It’s never quite fit me and I never cared why not. I guess you could say I’m a “free spirit” or maybe just strange, but something about “supposed to” doesn’t click with my brain.
Like, you’re supposed to be a normal person once you become an adult; I [...]

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Read While Popping the Chill Pill, Because Your Song Won’t Happen Without You

There’s hardly an instance of stillness in our busy, busy culture. In all the madness, my frustration distracts me from writing because I get worn out. My personality resists processing so much stimulation. In a heavy-traffic lifestyle, it’s vital to stop and catch up with ourselves.

You’ll never appreciate what happens in a moment, and therefore never accurately describe it, if you never experience your own moments. Taking time to be still, breathe, and control your thoughts is essential to writing, focusing your mind and body on the moment’s task.

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Getting the Message: Using Metaphor to Explain Ideas

Chances are you know what it’s like to have a favorite color; you buy clothes, paint walls, and choose products in that color because you love it and you can’t get enough. Right?
So if I’m talking about a person being my favorite color, I’m making a pretty strong statement without coming right out and saying “I like you best” (boring!).

In the world of language and literature, we call this type of statement “metaphor”. Metaphor is a tool used to explain ideas using experiences others can understand or relate to. Sometimes literal explanations are just uninteresting, or perhaps too confusing for the reader; in these cases, we use figurative language like metaphor.

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Song’s Big Muscles in Pop Culture

“Let me write the songs of a nation. I don’t care who writes its laws.”
Andrew Fletcher’s (the Scottish writer, not of Depeche Mode) bold statement is evidence that song is a powerful force of communication.
Looking at our culture, music is an accurate indicator of where people’s heads are at, even moreso than the stories selling [...]

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Songwriting Lingo: Bridging the Lost in Translation

Ever eavesdrop on a folks who speak another language than you? Sounds like hogwash right? You might be able to get an idea if the conversation is funny, sad, or angry, but you’ll miss the specifics by a long shot.
To avoid that bewilderment in our discussions of music and songwriting, we need a common vocabulary.
Lyrics [...]

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Origin of Song: Stop, Ooo, What’s that Sound?

Ever listened to the tribal chants on National Geographic? Pretty unfamiliar, huh?
But when you consider the sound of these chants, it’s not hard to find their similarity with cries of pain, excitement, or mourning. That’s because chanting is for expressing passionate emotion.

Song is an expression of sounds that have a beginning and end, and it still communicates emotion. What we consider “song” today traveled a long road, from ancient times when people listened and sang to nature, through strict religious purposes, to entertainment (and its business) as we know it today.

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Contest for Contacts: Spread the Word!

Hey you motif-heads!
Time to spread the love around! Since free stuff motivates us all, we’ll be giving away a free LP for your efforts…
Here’s how to win:
Forward our Songs, Thoughts, and Motif Music email to your contact list. Let us know about it by commenting on this post and we’ll drop your name in the [...]

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Motif, the Genre, and its Friend the Mockingbird

Read While Popping the Chill Pill, Because Your Song Won’t Happen Without You

Getting the Message: Using Metaphor to Explain Ideas

Song’s Big Muscles in Pop Culture

Songwriting Lingo: Bridging the Lost in Translation

Origin of Song: Stop, Ooo, What’s that Sound?

Contest for Contacts: Spread the Word!

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