“What Is Music?” According To Tony Levin

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Corey Stewart

Now that Mad March and of course Easter are out of the way, I can get back to doing what I love… Songwriting and Blogging.

I just love this video of my favourite bass player Tony Levin explaining in his own way, what music is and what it means to him.

Tony Levin: What is Music?

He mentions that music communicates to all of us in ways that words don’t and that it fill up the gaps left in our vocabulary. It’s a beautifully eloquent tribute to the power of music and something that us musicians need to remind ourselves from time to time.

This is one of the reasons why I do what I do.

Peace,

Corey

SongDare Is Back Baby

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Corey Stewart

It was a long time coming but I’ve finally put out another SongDare. This time I attempt to do a cover of “My Mistake” by Split Enz as requested by Jordan Beinke.

For those of you not familiar with the SongDare concept, it goes a little bit like this:

“You request a song, and I mean any song, no matter how bizarre or beautiful it may be, and if I can play it just by using my voice and an acoustic guitar, I’ll video it and put it up on YouTube and embed the video on this blog.”

Jordan, good things come to those that wait… Enjoy

SongDare #5 – My Mistake (Split Enz)

In Australia, it is said that any brilliant band from New Zealand we adopt as one of our own and Split Enz is one of those bands.

Written by Tim Finn and Eddie Raynor and released in 1977 on their “Dizrythmia” album, “My Mistake” was not one of those songs that I took much notice of until I started to work out how to play it.

The song makes beautiful use of diminished chords however, the main challenge in playing this song was to find a suitable ending as the angular orchestral outro in the original version was just way too difficult to play.

I’m hoping what I’ve done is a good compromise.

Remember, if you have a SongDare that you’d like me to tackle, just contact me and I’ll see what I can do for you

Peace,

Corey

GarageBand + My iPad = AWESOME!

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Corey Stewart

A couple of days ago I downloaded the GarageBand app for my iPad and I’ve really fallen in love with it. I think I just found my songwriting idea creation tool of choice.

I’ve always thought that because it was so ahead of its time, the iPad was the tool that you acquired first and worked out how to use it later but now, after playing around with GarageBand, I can see how this will totally revolutionise how I use my iPad.

At the moment I am still at the “mucking around with it” stage but even so, I composed a short piece to celebrate my GarageBand app acquisition. I call this piece GB on the IP and you can find it below.

It’s only an 8 bar phrase repeated twice but hey, it’s a start.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

I can assure you that more songwriting ideas will be coming…

Peace,

Corey

Garage Band for iPad: Using the app to show off the device (tuaw.com)
App Review: GarageBand for iPad (techland.time.com)
Some Quick Thoughts on GarageBand for iPad (technologizer.com)

Never Again Will I Be Afraid Of Words

Posted on March 6, 2011 by Corey Stewart

One of my primary songwriting goals of 2011 is to never be afraid of words again.

Ideally, what this means for me is that by conquering my fear of words or, more accurately, the fear of my words (and therefore me, as a person) being judged by others, I will be able to increase my songwriting output by finishing all of my half completed songwriting ideas because at the moment a distinct lack of lyrical material is what is standing in the way of me completing my current batch of songwriting ideas.

I have no real idea how I came to the conclusion that writing lyrics is not one of my strong points but that is how I was seeing myself as a musician first and a lyricist (a very distant) second.

I know that the above statement is not true however, I have said it to myself so many times now that my subconscious believes it. It’s like I’m fulfilling some sort of prophesy about my (lack of) songwriting process.

The biggest problem I have with my with lyric writing process is that I self censor far too early in the piece. I need to give myself the permission to put down on paper whatever comes to me, to write what is inside of me no matter whether I consider it crap or not and no matter how bad it might look on paper.

For some reason I’ve succumbed to the belief that I have nothing of value to say to the world through my lyrics. What a way to sabotage my songwriting and my creativity as a whole.

Yes, I’m pretty good at that.

Even though words have the power to change things and therefore, need to be treated with the respect they deserve, they can’t hurt me and my so called fear of them should not silence me.

The best thing I can do is to roll up my sleeves and just write. I know that by doing this I will conquer my fear of words.

One song at a time…

Peace,

Corey

Happy New Year 2011

Posted on January 1, 2011 by Corey Stewart

The start of a new year is always an exciting time for me.

It’s a chance to wipe the slate clean and start again, to promise oneself that you’ll do more of this and less of that and make plans to ensure that this year will be better than the last.

You see, I’m the type of person that likes to make resolutions. I love the feeling of working towards changing my life for the better. Of course most of the resolutions I make for myself fall by the wayside but some do stick, I mean, it’s how I gave up smoking many years ago.

2010 was a year of many changes and challenges both in my work and in my health. Now, I don’t need to go on and on about as I’ve already documented most of what has happened through past blog posts however, I want 2011 to be a year of consolidation and reclaiming.

2011 will be the year that I stop bookmarking information to read “at a later date” and actually do something with it. It will be the year that I finish the things that I start (like my ever expanding backlog of songwriting ideas for instance)

It will also be the year that I reclaim the essence of what it is to be me, through my music, through creativity, through life balance and through loving and taking care of myself.

I also want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a wonderful 2011. I hope this year is everything you want it to be and a whole lot more.

Now that the first day of 2011 is slowly coming to a close, all I can say now is…

BRING IT ON!

Peace,

Corey

CD Project Update #13 – More Vocals Please!

Posted on December 7, 2010 by Corey Stewart

Last week Darren and I completed the electric guitar overdubs for “Girl Like You” and today I’m hopeful that I finish the vocal tracks for the rest of the songs:

Don’t Turn To Me Now
Don’t Want To Let You Go
Jigsaw
Just One Kiss
Nothing Stands In Your Way
Seeing Stars
We Can’t Be Together Anymore
What Have We Got To Lose?

Another thing that I’ve started to do now is to keep track of what parts and/or what songs have been completed in the recording process.

At the moment I’m using a crudely drawn graph (as shown below) but I know that the neatness monster inside will force me to create a graph in Open Office or something like that.

After today I’m going to need to start thinking about getting Victor, the keyboard player in to do his tracks but first I’ll need to work out what songs need keys recorded before electric guitar.

An example of a song needing this process would be “Missing You Already” as my vision for the song dictates that it’s to be primarily a piano piece, similar to something that The Whitlams would do.

I’ve had a little bit of a head cold for the last few days so I’m hoping that my voice is ready for today. It feels good but getting the voice recorded can be a different beast altogether.

A few hours after I finish in the studio I’ll be doing a 20-30 minute guest spot at the Night Voices Open Mic at The Garage which starts at 7pm. If anything my voice will be nicely warmed up for that.

Now I’m off to get ready for the day ahead, wish me luck.

Peace,

Corey

Songwriting – It Doesn’t Matter Where You Start, As Long As You Start Somewhere

Posted on October 28, 2010 by Corey Stewart

As I’m preparing for the SCALA Open Mic Network Showcase gig at Higher Ground today, I remind myself that writing songs is sometimes:

A linear experience
You come across a possible song title that jumps out at you and after writing the first line of the first verse, a first draft is suddenly completed from start to finish.

A puzzle solving exercise
You take a piece here, a song title there, a bit of a verse here and a half written phrase there and, after discovering the common thread that connects everything, a song is eventually completed.

Like incubating an egg
You finish writing a chorus but find you can’t go any further however, after leaving the half finished song for a period of time something triggers in your mind and the song magically completes itself.

Sometimes you start writing a song from the beginning and work forwards, sometimes you start a song from the middle and work outwards and sometimes you start writing at the end and work backwards.

It doesn’t matter where you start, as long as you start somewhere.

Peace,

Corey

SongDare #4 – I Predict A Riot (Kaiser Chiefs)

Posted on October 11, 2010 by Corey Stewart

Yes, it’s another SongDare. This time I do the Kaiser Chiefs song “I Predict A Riot”

This song was requested by Joel Stibbard.

I must say, I knew very little about this song and the Kaiser Chiefs before I took on this SongDare but I’m glad I learnt this tune because it’s an absolute ripper of a song.

Embedded in the English punkiness of the tune is a serious message about a generation (or even a society) of people who have lost their way and because of this, tensions rise to breaking point. The chorus in the original make you want to shout “OI, OI, OI”

Love it…

Peace,

Corey

SongDare – Chords And Lyrics To Download

Posted on October 7, 2010 by Corey Stewart

First of all I just wanted to say a big THANKYOU to everybody who has sent in their SongDare’s to me so far. I’ve been surprised by the response and the encouraging feedback.

I’ve been really, really impressed with the quality of songs requested.

It’s quite a refreshing change from the standard crap that drunk punters request during my cover gigs.

What I’m discovering though is that finding time to do the videos is the hardest part of the SongDare process hence, the lack of videos lately but I’ll be rectifying that very soon.

I’ve already had some people ask me for the charts of the songs that I’ve been “dared” to do. In response to this I’ve put up a SongDare page where I’ve embedded the YouTube videos and also put the chords and lyrics of the songs as a PDF on there as well.

Here are the download links to the three SongDare song charts so far.

Waiting For A Girl Like You (Foreigner)
Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden)
Exit Music For A Film (Radiohead)

Remember, if you want to participate in the SongDare project then contact me. For more information please go to the SongDare page.

Peace,

Corey

My First Concert – Sting, Memorial Drive 1985

Posted on September 20, 2010 by Corey Stewart

: Image via Wikipedia

I remember the Dream Of The Blue Turtles concert as it was yesterday.

A group of about 5 of us stayed over a friends place who lived close to the venue the night before to ensure that we got a good position in the lineup. As it turned out, at 8am the next day we were the second group in the line.

The whole day was full of taking in turns going into the city and hanging out listening to music on a cassette player (now I’m showing my age here). The air of anticipation became thicker and thicker the closer we got to showtime.

When the gates eventually opened there was a mad rush to the front. I managed to position myself front and centre of the stage… It couldn’t get any better than that.

Hunters and Collectors were the support band for that night and they had just released their landmark album “Human Frailty” that same year. They were fantastic but of course all eyes and ears were waiting for the main act. Sting and his band of Jazzmen.

When it was time for Sting to start there was a roar of applause from the capacity crowd and by this time anyone who was sitting on the ground were standing.

First to appear on stage was drummer Omar Hakim who kicked things off with an incredible drum solo that seemed to last forever but it was probably around 10 minutes at the most. WOW!

Then, Sting and the rest of band graced the Memorial Drive stage and proceeded to blow everybody away for the next 2 hours. At this stage any thoughts I had in my mind that music wasn’t going to be a permanent part of my life were gone.

For me this concert represented the closest thing I have come to a religious experience and after the final note was played I knew exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life and today I’m still doing that.

Peace,

Corey