The Month of Musical Frenzy

For those unlucky people who don't know (which included me until the first day of February in the two-thousand-and-eleventh year of our Lord), it is the last day of February Album Writing Month. Or FAWM, as FAWM-ers affectionately call it. Defined as 28 days of scrambling to compose 14 songs–an album. I've never done this (obviously), but I was determined to make it through my very first one flawlessly. I mean really. Only 14 songs. In a luxurious 28 days. Couldn't be easier.

Lies! I started out very strong with 3 songs finished in my first week (One Juliet, Harder Things, and Where Did Summer Go?), but after that, Failure took hold of the rudder. And stole my gum, too. Forcing lyrical inspiration is so hard. Poetic inspiration, not a problem for me, so you'd think lyrically I'd be capable. Apparently not. My five-stringed guitar and I had it rough. Not even a piano could ease the difficulty.

However, during this process, I learned quite a bit about myself. For attention-span reasons, I shall only mention three. First, when something is on my mind, it tends to be what all my songs are about. It's amazing because I don't repeat anything. The songs are only alike in theme, yet come from the same experiences and thoughts. Second, I write most of my songs late at night, right before I fall asleep. My explanation for this is that the more tired you get, the more honest you are with others or even just yourself. Why? Because frankly, you don't care what people think about you: all you want is a gosh darn pillow! Nothing else matters! And that comes out in songs as well. Third, the brutally honest i.e. scary songs are always my favorites. There's something in human nature that loves the revelation of truth, even while cringing upon its release.

So let's now conclude. I've only finished eight songs. I'm working on two others, but most likely one of those won't get finished for probably years or something vague like that. Basically, I fail, but not epically, which is distinctly different! So I'm only slightly bothered. My evaluation of the experience is this: hard, but awesome. For any musicians, this is a great way to mine out some creativity from your coal-filled subconscious. And even if you don't classify yourself as a musician, it can still be fun. You don't have to write the music if you don't feel so inclined, or you can just skip over lyrics completely if they've offended you. Do what you want with it! The challenge of a deadline is great drive for growth. Just look what school's done to you. But if you like music more than school, FAWM is a much better choice.

For those who'd like to check it out and/or participate next year, visit: www.fawm.org

In parting, I will offer only a brief farewell–I still have 16 hours of songwriting left! Can't waste time!

Awesome_