What's in a Song

Scarlet Keys

This is a weekly podcast about the craft of songwriting hosted by Berklee College of Music Professor Scarlet Keys. She takes deep dive into the craft, technique and art of songwriting in conversations with eminent songwriters, producers, and other creatives asking questions only a songwriting professor would ask so listeners can walk away inspired and armed with clear and actionable tools and techniques they can apply to their songwriting. read less
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Episodes

Aidan Laprete on finding your sound and gibberish as a lyric writing process
Jan 2 2024
Aidan Laprete on finding your sound and gibberish as a lyric writing process
In this Episode I talk with singer/songwriter/producer/actor Aidan Laprete aboutVoice lessons, finding your sound, and producing.He walks us through writing melody takes - gibberish to find melodies, turning mumbles into words and making it make sense and shares guitar voicings to help you out of sonic ruts.Aidan is from Hawaii and was first known for his ukulele playing at age 8.  He has been in film and tv such as "Hawaii Five-O" and "The Wilds" and performs and dissects several of his newly released songs sharing his process.More on Aidan:http://www.instagram.com/aidanlapretehttps://open.spotify.com/artist/2odS5igGjEJRondDXWBy0K?si=Dcy6AVQgTd6IZxZqW-iAXwhttp://www.twitter.com/aidanlapretehttp://www.facebook.com/aidanlapreteMixed by Peter Sykes: https://www.petersykesmusic.com/Otto Gross: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMnxx19QD-vxD4wnYGTn3JwScarlet's website:https://www.scarletkeys.comScarlet's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scarletkeysofficial/Scarlet's website:https://www.scarletkeys.comScarlet's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scarletkeysofficial/Scarlet's website: https://www.scarletkeys.comScarlet's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scarletkeysofficial/To purchase Scarlet Keys' book "The Craft of Songwriting:https://www.amazon.com/Craft-Songwriting-Music-Meaning-Emotion/dp/0876391927/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2PP55NU6E9ST6&keywords=the+craft+of+songwriting&qid=1659573139&sprefix=the+craft+of+songwritin%2Caps%2C153&sr=8-1
Paula Cole on her writing process, the books that have inspired her and what writing teaches her
Jun 17 2023
Paula Cole on her writing process, the books that have inspired her and what writing teaches her
Grammy-winning artst Paula Cole has released seven solo albums of original songs. Cole has performed with icons in many genres of music, from Peter Gabriel to Dolly Parton, Herbie Hancock to Emmylou Harris, and Amy Lee of Evanescence to Burt Bacharach. Cole’s emotionally deep performances and her poetic, intelligent writing makes her stand out from the masses of contemporary music. Her compositions have been covered by a diverse range of artists—including Hancock, Annie Lennox, Katherine McPhee, and JoJo—and she has sold approximately 3 million albums. As the first woman in history to solely produce and receive the Best Producer Grammy nomination for her album This Fire, Cole has broken boundaries with a searcher’s spirit. From her top 10 hits of the 1990s to her more recent, critically acclaimed albums, Cole continues to write, produce, record, and perform heartfelt, meaningful, lasting music that defies categorization.In this episode, Paula shares her writing process, prompts she gives her students and what she's learned from journaling and writing.  She talks about how she found her sound as an artist and the artists who have inspired her.  How walking helps her write.Singer/songwriter Sam Robbins' song about his father from one of Paula's prompts: https://open.spotify.com/track/6R1NtDvc6i24t7pZROFaED?si=44837935583f449chttps://www.petersykesmusic.com/Scarlet's website: https://www.scarletkeys.comScarlet's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scarletkeysofficial/To purchase Scarlet Keys' book "The Craft of Songwriting:https://www.amazon.com/Craft-Songwriting-Music-Meaning-Emotion/dp/0876391927/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2PP55NU6E9ST6&keywords=the+craft+of+songwriting&qid=1659573139&sprefix=the+craft+of+songwritin%2Caps%2C153&sr=8-1
Forensic musicologist Joe Bennett breaks down "If I were a fish" and talks about what constitutes copyright infringement
May 28 2023
Forensic musicologist Joe Bennett breaks down "If I were a fish" and talks about what constitutes copyright infringement
In this episode, I talk with Dr. Joe BennettFirst, we talk about what constitutes copyright infringement from the point of view of a forensic musicologist.Then, Joe dives into the analysis of "If I were a Fish" (pun intended) leaving everyone with some great new ideas to spark their songwriting.Dr. Bennett has been analysing and transcribing popular music for international publication since 1994. He has written 30 books, including transcription, teaching and reference works (published worldwide by Music Sales Group), and more than 300 academic and media articles, relating to song analysis, guitar techniques, music similarity, music copyright law, and songwriting. He is currently a professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston USA, and the resident musicologist for TIDAL magazine. As an academic Joe’s primary area of research expertise is the psychology of songwriting https://joebennett.net/Podcast engineer Peter Sykes music:https://open.spotify.com/artist/41llpsdBBIDlQixP0VHVA8?si=LhMf9SylS_6k6rjfWf2DawThis is Apple Musichttps://music.apple.com/us/artist/peter-j-sykes/1599264277For info on Otto Gross:The show's theme song "What's in a Song" was co-written with Otto GrossRecorded and performed by Otto Gross: @OttoGrossProduction (instagram)@OttoGrossMusic (Youtube, facebook, TikTok)https://biglink.to/ottogrossmusic Scarlet's website: https://www.scarletkeys.comScarlet's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scarletkeysofficial/Scarlet's website: https://www.scarletkeys.comScarlet's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scarletkeysofficial/To purchase Scarlet Keys' book "The Craft of Songwriting:https://www.amazon.com/Craft-Songwriting-Music-Meaning-Emotion/dp/0876391927/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2PP55NU6E9ST6&keywords=the+craft+of+songwriting&qid=1659573139&sprefix=the+craft+of+songwritin%2Caps%2C153&sr=8-1