Things to know about being a composer

Your songs are your treasures.

Nobody can tell you that they and deserved to be blotted from the memories of your listeners; but people can tell you what they think about it - good or otherwise. Nobody can tell you that you do not deserve the chance to be a composer; but others can tell you that you could try harder and improve. Although people may criticize your work; some do out of love and care.

No matter what, never ever stop singing the new song of your heart and soul. They are your treasures.

Seek not to conform to what they say; seek to speak what your heart tells you to.

However, knowing this, never stop improving. Never stop seeking ways to write better lyrics (although the quality of lyrics - unless under a set of strict measurable standard rules - will vary from one to another) and never stop learning chord progressions to improve your songs.

There is never a bad composer; only a lazy composer.

Someone's Watching Over Me

Someone's Watching Over Me
Hilary Duff

I found myself today
Oh, I found myself and ran away
But something pulled me back
A voice of reason, I forgot I had
All I know is you're not here to say
What you always used to say
But it’s written in the sky tonight

[Chorus:]
So I won’t give up
No, I won’t break down
Sooner than it seems life turns around
And I will be strong
Even if it all goes wrong
When I’m standing in the dark I’ll still believe
Someone’s watching over me

I’ve seen that ray of light
And it’s shining on my destiny
Shining all the time
And I won’t be afraid
To follow everywhere it’s taking me
All I know is yesterday is gone
And right now I belong
To this moment, to my dreams

[Chorus]

It doesn’t matter what people say
And it doesn’t matter how long it takes
Believe in yourself
And you’ll fly high
And it only matters how true you are
Be true to yourself and follow your heart

So I won’t give up
No I won’t break down
Sooner than it seems life turns around
And I will be strong
Even if it all goes wrong
When I’m standing in the dark I’ll still believe...

That I won’t give up
No I won’t break down
Sooner than it seems life turns around
And I will be strong
Even when it all goes wrong
When I’m standing in the dark I’ll still believe...

That someone’s watching over,
Someone's watching over,
Someone's watching over me
(Yeah yeah, oh oh...)
Someone's watching over me

Jottings:
It's 4.30am now as I type this. I've just finished a major portion of my heavy assignments. Though it seems as if I'm done, I have to admit that the journey of frustrations and mental blockage has just begun.

But just as I was listening to some songs while doing up my assignment, this song just caught my attention. No doubt, the melody was catchy; but what made me search for the lyrics was the bits and pieces I hear in the song. Inspiring it is.

I just realized that in every person, be they strong or weak emotionally, there will always be a part within that desires companionship. Though many mask this need (which I don't think it foolish, for it is a defensive mechanism), they fail to experience the care and love they desperately need.

Yet, should they do otherwise, there will be a huge possibility they be hurt; and should such continue, they would withdraw to self-pity, solitude...

We need somebody to love. We need somebody to care. We need somebody to continually tell us that we are loved and treasured - no matter how rusted we are.

But face the truth, nobody out there will specially do such a benevolent philanthropic thing for us, because they are experiencing the same thing too.

At the end of the day, it boils down to this: how much do we love ourselves. If we knew how to cherish ourselves, if we knew how to love ourselves, if we knew how important we are to ourselves, then we wouldn't first seek comfort from others; we would be assured that we are loved, because we first love ourselves.

Love, then, begins from ourselves.

Let us conquer our worse enemies - ourselves.

Composing a song is very simple when you have the idea, the words, the melody, the harmony, and the skill. But when you lack any one of them, you are basically... stuck.

I have been downloading a lot of music lately, primary to feed my ears for more music. I find myself in a state of stagnance. No matter what I hit on the keyboard... it seems as if all are similar. And trust me, that is not something you would want to happen to you.

I need to write one more song to fill up my EP, but I have no idea how is it going to sound like, what will be the words, what will the message be.

There are times when I sit back and question myself the purpose of composing. Do I want to please myself, prove to myself that I can compose? Or do I want to use the messages I have within me to impact the audience?

That is when striking the balance is needed.

So there I was, sitting at the piano and these words came to me. I have no idea why these words, and I have totally no idea how will they turn out to sound like. But anyways, here are the words:

We had laughed at each other's jokes
Smiled at each other's looks
We had learnt to care to share
Though many times, unintentionally
We hurt
Each other with our words
We learn to accept
To understand

But things do change
That's the way life is
Don't you know that change can't be eluded
So why do you look away
When it is me who is near
Why do you cast a frown
When it is me who is near

This is just an idea. It has not materialized into a song. But looking at the direction of the words are going, I don't think this tentative song will be suitable for the EP.

I still need inspiration.

Perhaps it is due to the many months of composing songs for Entangled, the Music that had paled my ability to write songs.

Inspiration, where art thou?

Change

Music has taken it's toll on me.

No more writing Christianized songs; my songs are evolving in terms of lyrics and music feel. I begin showing more emotions in my lyrics and music. I suppose that as I changed in my environment, my style of writing songs change too.

More songs to come. I hope I am able to write more songs. But that is also in itself a risk to me. Because in order for me to write songs well, I have to experience a rush of emotions or I've to experience something bad, that often triggers my resentful past.

I hope that writing songs need not go through such difficulty.

What am I ranting about? Sigh.