Everybody has entire universes inside. In order to give them shape to share them with others, we learn and develop creative and artistic skills. Some are straightforward and easy to picture in your mind. For example, we know that, to play a song on a musical instrument, you first have to learn how to produce sound in said instrument.

Other skills may be a little less clear for outsiders. Music production, about which I recently took a wonderful course with Xylo Aria, is one of them. Another, which may come as a surprise for some people, is songwriting. There are a lot of elements involved into writing good lyrics. It isn’t a matter of letting yourself be guided by the muses; the structures and characteristics of spoken language and music don’t just magically connect.

To improve my songwriting skills, I enrolled in another course, which is led by Keppie Coutts and Benny Romalis. They are fantastic teachers! We went beyond the basics of how to write lyrics and delved into how to make them memorable and impactful. The course allowed me to bring out a lot of ideas that were spinning in my mind for a while, and turn them into something we can hear and play with.

What I learned of music production has come in handy. I can compose full instrumentals (percussion, harmonies and melodies) for the exercises proposed in class. Having the ability to do so has been rewarding, and it has given me room to challenge myself further.

This is the beginning of a new journey to write and produce original songs, something I have not done in many years. I am looking forward to sharing some of my creations very soon. When the day comes, I hope you will like them!