UPC's Songwriting Showcase

I went to UPC’s Songwriting Showcase on February 25. It was a student competition, judged by Teddy Geiger, professional songwriter and singer. Students had submitted their songs, and the top eight were selected to perform them.

I found that their songs shared many characteristics of creative writing, from form to word choice and other stylistic elements. For example, their songs followed an outline similar to the inverted check mark we follow. They always began slow, addressing some source of conflict, and built up to the chorus, which acted as the climax. The end of the song slowed down, acting as the resolution. Like in a short story, there is a structure to the song that leaves the listener feeling satisfied. The best example of this was Sarah Colvin’s “It’s Not Over.” She sang about being in love and her and her partner overcoming obstacles (which she didn’t specify) to be together.

I also noticed that the themes in the songs greatly resembled themes often seen in creative writing. There were a few songs that dealt with love and loss, and how to find oneself after a breakup. One song discussed the need to slow down and enjoy life, and another was about battling depression. Like we have many characters and voices in a story, in a song the instruments act as those voices. They help to convey the feeling of sadness, of happiness or joy. A certain note or end of a verse can foreshadow a coming event in the song. The instruments give a song its character. The human voice can only go so far, but the choice of the instrument and how it is tuned can have a huge impact on the tone of the song. For example, Jarret Roland and Jaden Beard’s “Rain” was a punk rock song about depression. Their guitars produced more of a wailing sound, and the lead singer sometimes screamed into the microphone, changing the tone of the song. If they had sung it acoustically, it would have sounded like a totally different song.

Word choice is also extremely important in songwriting. One wrong or misplaced word can ruin the entire work, making it sound awkward. Like in poetry or short fiction, words carrying a heavy weight with many meanings. One word can mean many different things, giving the work a deeper complexity.

Through this Songwriting Showcase, I learned how connected each of the creative arts are. Poetry, fiction and songwriting have the same stylistic barriers and guidelines, but more importantly, their similarities in theme showcase the human condition and emotions that every writer has in common.