The Songwriters Idea Book: 40 Strategies to Excite Your Imagination, Help You Design Distinctive Songs, and Keep Your Creative Flow

See Larger Image	List Price: $19.99 Our Price: $13.59 Your Save: $ 6.40 ( 32% ) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Manufacturer: Writer's Digest Books / F & W Publications Written By: Sheila Davis Average Customer Rating:


Binding: Hardcover Dewey Decimal Number: 808.066782 EAN: 9780898795196 ISBN: 0898795192 Label: Writer's Digest Books / F & W Publications Manufacturer: Writer's Digest Books / F & W Publications Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 250 Publication Date: 1992-01-01 Publisher: Writer's Digest Books / F & W Publications Studio: Writer's Digest Books / F & W Publications
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Editorial Reviews: This book reveals the inherent relationship between personality type, brain function and writing style. Includes 40 proven songwriting strategies - guaranteed to spark songwriters' imaginations. 240 pages. 6x9.
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Good for the money Comment: I hear this book is some kind of industry standard book for other musicians, and I enjoyed it. Like the other reviews said though, the 40 strategies are really 40 different types of songs you could write. i.e. "the childrens song" "breaking up" "the christmas song" The first couple of chapters describe what she calls "whole brain writing", and is actually very clever. This book helped me immensly, I just knocked a star off b/c of the bad title and I think it's too short. For the money though, you absolutely cannot go wrong! Customer Rating: Summary: The cure for writer's block Comment: Ever had writer's block? This book is the cure! Along with Davis' THE CRAFT OF LYRIC WRITING and SUCCESSFUL LYRIC WRITING, THE SONGWRITERS IDEA BOOK forms a brilliant trilogy that is essential for the person who wants to write lyrics. I'm rather surprised by reading some of the negative comments below. My guess is that those people merely leafed through the book without actually reading it. This book is NOT an easy read. It is not something that can be scanned. It must be read and studied very carefully. It is very important to understand part 2 of the book (pages 15 through 34) before moving ahead. This is the section wherein Davis analyzes the different types of the creative mind. In only a few short pages Davis introduces a lot of important concepts that need to be understood. The reader must take her tests and figure out which type he is. Then and only then is the book of value. I had to read part two several times before I really understood it. But once I had a firm grasp of those ideas, I found the book to be extremely valuable. Davis basically says that when one is blocked, that he needs to come at it from the other side of the brain. She then proceeds to give exercises that make it easy to access the unused part of the brain. While ostensibly for the lyricist, I think the principles can be adapted for any kind of writing. I think this is a great book and I am grateful to Sheila Davis for writing it. Customer Rating: Summary: Title is misleading Comment: Pro: Excellent catalog of types of lyrics. Also good coverage of different elements that make hit songs. Con: The title is misleading. The "40 strategies" is really no more than a catalog of 40 general types of lyrics, i.e. people get hit songs from: a holiday, a place, a town, a love lost, love gained, etc. Some useful ideas, but I was hoping for something more like writing or brainstorming exercise to open the imagination. This book was not at all useful for me. Customer Rating: Summary: Excellent for identifying your mind as well as song ideas Comment: I refer to this book weekly and have owned it for 4 years. I spoke the author in 1997 and thanked her for her contribution to this subject. Her 3 books are 3 volumes of my songwriting bible. It is her books that finally gave me the ability to be happy with my own songwriting for the first time in my timespan of over ten years of not liking my lyrics. In this book, the author helps you identify your style of work and how it affects your first drafts. This info also has helped me in other parts of my thinking process. No other author, so far, has been as complete and detailed in their presentation of the songwriting process as Sheila Davis. Brilliant. Customer Rating: Summary: An Utter Waste of TIme and Money Comment: I bought this book with great expectations from it, having heard just wonderful things about the author regarding her earlier work. Needless to say, I could not find anything of use in it whatsoever. It was an extremely hard read, besides (like a physics text). The only thing I got out of it was "alliteration." I think you should consider buying her earlier book, "The Craft of Lyric Writing". More Reviews