let's

write a
song.
WRITE A SONG IN LESS THAN
30 MINS AND HAVE FUN DOING IT!

by Gary Grundei
goldenlotusstudio.com
what you
need to
start...
PEN AND PAPER
A SIMPLE RECORDING DEVICE LIKE A
SMARTPHONE
A TIMER
THE DESIRE TO WRITE A SONG RIGHT NOW, EVEN
IF IT'S THE WORST SONG THAT'S EVER BEEN
WRITTEN.
step 1.
SET YOUR TIMER FOR 5 MINS.

When I say “go,” start the timer and keep your pen moving
the whole time. Fill your page with as many new song titles
as you can. These will be new ideas for titles of songs that
haven't been written yet. These titles don't have to be any
good. They don't even have to make any sense. In fact,
because you are going to keep your pen moving without
stopping to ponder the ideas that are going to come out,
many of the titles will just be stream of consciousness
thoughts or things you see in your environment. Don't worry
about it.

Write as many song titles as you can in 5 minutes. Set your

timer...

Go.
step 2.
TAKE A DEEP BREATH.
YOU'RE DOING GREAT!

The next step is to go down the page you just filled with titles
and read each one to yourself and pause. In the pause, I
want you to let your gut-instinct, your felt sense answer the
following question for each title: “Is this a song that I think
would be fun or interesting to write right now?” If the answer
in your intuition is yes, put a star by it. If the answer is no, go
on to the next one without marking anything. Don't get
bogged down in analyzing each one or in trying to figure out
HOW you would write each song. Also, don't get stuck in
self-critical thoughts like, “agh, these titles suck!” If thoughts
like this arise, simply take a deep breath and return to the
task of letting your gut decide: star or no, and then on to the
next title.

Go.
step 2
&
a half.
Pick one of the titles with a Star next to it. Don't dwell on this,
just arbitrarily pick the one that draws you in. This is the title
of the song we’re going to write in step 3.
step 3.
HOW ABOUT ANOTHER DEEP
BREATH? YOU GOT THIS.

Set your timer for 15 minutes. When I say go, you're going to
start the timer and also start your voice recorder. You're
going to write the whole song in just 15 minutes. You know
that this is a completely impossible, ridiculous task, right? So
you might as well have fun and throw yourself completely into
it. You have permission to write the worst crap in the whole
world. Use whatever you have at your disposal. Sing the
lines as they occur to you. Don't edit. Your first thought is
your best thought. Write it down. Sing it. Let another one
come out next.

but first...
Let's start with the idea that you might write 4 lines that would
be the first verse. Then, you could make a catchy chorus that
is either 4 lines long or 1 line that repeats a few times. Then
write 4 lines that follow the same form as the first 4 lines.
This is verse 2, sung to the same melody as verse 1. After
that, continue as is, and then you'll repeat the chorus you
already wrote. If you have extra time, make a bridge that is
somehow different and then sing the chorus again. Presto, a
song. Not necessarily a good song, but a complete song.

Use an instrument if you want, but your voice is plenty for

these purposes. I don't care if you've never written a song
before and have never really thought even about the
concepts of verse and chorus. You have grown up your
whole life listening to songs, so you speak the language. It's
already in your bloodstream. I don't care if you've written a
hundred songs and have a Grammy and this is not how you
write songs. What have you got to lose by giving it a try? It
doesn't have to be a good song, just a done song. Start your
timer and recorder.

Go.
step 4.
ANOTHER BREATH, OF COURSE.

Stop your recorder. Start your recorder again and sing your best
performance of the song. This is it. Don’t redo this recording over
and over. Go with your best first take. There is more brilliance that
may happen in improvising the finishing touches on how you think
this song goes.

Go.

Call this song finished for now.

let's
touch
base.
WHAT JUST HAPPENED.

Why did we record the 15 minutes of us clumsily making the

song in step 3? In case something happened that we can’t
recall. Like, "oh, what did I just sing? That was so good!”
Rewind, teach yourself that line or just come back and listen
to that later. If nothing like this happened in step 3, then you
can discard that 15 minute recording. Make sure to keep the
recording of the performance of the song you made in step 4.
what were
the surprises?
Are there parts of the song that you find yourself suddenly
attached to? Or are you interested in seeing how or if this
could develop into a more crafted song?

how do you feel?

Exhilarated? Emotional? Confused? Exhausted? Inspired?
Most of the time, when I play this game, I mainly feel delight
that such a miracle is possible. A new little gem of strange
music exists that didn't exist 15 minutes ago. I'm often just
grateful that I showed up for this exercise. And I often want to
do it again. I mean, you probably have other song titles on
your list there with stars by them...
Now what?
Share it!
But wait. That’s not all. I’ve also set up a kind of a magical
platform where you can share this little recording of your
brand new infant song with other folks who are playing this
game right alongside you. And it’s totally FREE. Point your
browser to https://goldenlotusstudio.com/community right
now and make a free account and share your song with the
community there. Check out what strange and wonderful
things some other people made in just 15 minutes. Do it now
before you lose the magic of this creative moment. And while
you’re there, check out the other courses and innovative
kinds of support we offer to songmakers like you.

thank you for your brave work!

goldenlotusstudio.com