https://mattgerbermusic.hearnow.com/the-most-beautiful-corner

I had a chance to be interviewed on the Ryerson radio program Song Talk Radio on October 4th, 2016.  I had a chance to play a recording of "Every Dog Has Its Day" from my upcoming Kids Album, and also played "Mr. Furious" live.

http://www.songtalk.ca/shows/writing-humour-songs-not-novelty-songs-matt-gerber/

Collaborations!

This week I had a wonderful experience co-writing with two wonderful musicians.  I was able to do some Skype chatting with both Scott Perrie and Kimberley Beyea. 

Scott sent me a really cool mandolin track with some melody ideas.  I had some lyrics that I thought would suit the music and so sent them to Scott.  He added a great chorus and some some other instrumental magic to the mix. 

LADY OF THE WOODS (https://soundcloud.com/scottperriemusic/lady-of-the-woods)

(Scott Perrie & Matt…

This week’s challenge:
Over the course of the next five days, spend at least 10 minutes (or until your hands get tired) writing from your stream of consciousness.  At the end of the week, review what you have written and look for at least 5 ideas that could become songs.  Choose one to bring to fruition.

The 5 Ideas I came up with:

1) Poking holes in ourselves

2) Looking at trees

3) Every thought is a universe

4) Diamonds in a dog's mouth

5) Not enough hours in the day (for me to waste)

I decided to…

This week we’re going to look inside the box by examining how to Rock The Cliché.

Songwriters are a restless lot. We get bored easily and sometimes abandon things too quickly, perhaps leaving behind some good ideas. We also have a love/hate relationship with clichés. They can sound tired and shopworn or tried and true, depending on the circumstances and how lazy we feel. In this segment, one of the best-loved songwriters of all time weighs in on not avoiding the obvious.

Pick 10 clichés and brainstorm…

This was the challenge;

"It’s easy to get caught up in using the age-old forms when writing a song – Verse/Chorus/Verse/Chorus/Bridge/Chorus. Yes, it works, but sometimes you can freshen up your writing and find yourself going down new pathways if you mix it up a bit. Something as simple as starting with the chorus like so many Beatle songs did (‘Cant Buy Me Love’, ‘Please Please Me’) and like Maroon 5 do in ‘Payphone’, can pull a listener in very quickly because they don’t have to wait for the big hook.

…

This is the end of Week 2 of a 6 week S.A.C. (Songwriters Association of Canada) songwriting challenge guided by Christopher Ward.

I decided early on that the idea "Cranes in the sky" had some meaning to me.  I could use it as a concept of death and rebirth in every part of the world, the natural and the man made.  The idea of a town/city living and dying as an organic entity had a some interest to me.  I wrote the chorus first, and came up with a melody for it, as well as a rhythmic guitar picking…

The last day of the observation portion part of the assignment.  Now to writing!

Friday morning, at work, discussing politics (Titles/Ideas/Themes/Lyrics):

- The last fall of Hazel

- puppets and strings

- I'm just a monkey in search of an organ grinder

- the once and future Hazel McCalion (sort of like the Dread Pirate Roberts from the Princess Bride)

- pigs in the mud

- thy binder overfloweth

- helping ourselves because no one else can (quia nullus alius can succorro nos)

- not enough knuckles in the…

Thursday morning, hanging out at a Second Cup at Eglinton and Mt. Pleasant (Titles/Ideas/Themes/Lyrics):

(yep, it was a cold morning!)

- Too cold outside

- too cold to wait

-  Late is bad, but latte is good

-  impatient drivers

- tinned music

- too cold to cry

- the dirtiest snow

- even hope freezes

- the morning light jackhammers my eyes

- better latte then never

- it's all right if you're dressed for it

Wednesday Evening, TSG meeting (Titles/Ideas/Themes/Lyrics):

- Flowers on your boots

- the old wicker basket

- wooden chair leg scraping on the floor

- square pillar, round world

- irons in the fire

- the best of dust

- I'll row the boat, you just watch out for stuff

- fingernails in search of a chalk board (a pest)

Let me paint you a story,

Let the colours bleed into your ears,

I may lay the truth on thickly,

Or so thin it disappears.

Your eyes are mugged by the suns brightness,

The air robs your…