Jackson Foote 19 Jeffrey Lane, 25 Union Square West, NY, Chappaqua NY, 10514
Instruments:Audio Recording, Composition, Ear Training, Electronic, Film Scoring, Music Business, Piano, Recording, Theory, Voice
Styles:Electronic, Other
Levels:Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
Experience:4 years
Rate:$60 / hr
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Personal Statement
Universal Music Group signed songwriter/producer now accepting private students. Recently graduated from SUNY Purchase with a Bachelors of Music, majoring in studio production. My compositions are currently being shopped to top 40 artists all over the world.
The opportunity to share my passion with another person who is eager to learn is truly a blessing. Upon working with clients, peer and students found I enjoyed sharing my knowledge as much as the actual creation process itself.
My Thesis on Music education and songwriting
The Craft Behind the Artistry
Confidence is a prerequisite for success. Equipping yourself with the right tools will help you build the confidence you need. In turn, establishing confidence will fuel your desire to utilize these tools and succeed.
In this piece I will address my approach to successful songwriting broken down into three components.
Psychological Tools
Establishing short and long term goals- It is important to always be working towards a set of goals. Succeeding in your short term goals will help you maintain the desire and confidence you need to pursue your longterm goals. As longterm goals are many times comprised of short term goals, they will grow and transition along side you from visions to reality.
Inspirational Triggers-
Triggering inspiration and desire to work is a skill that can be learned. Find out what your inspirational triggers are. For many people, everyday activities are a good way to get your mind thinking freely. Things like exercise, cleaning, showering, driving, cooking, ect. For two weeks, write down in a notebook what you were doing when you began to feel inspired. Compile a list and refer to it when needed. Listening to the right music is also a great approach to drawing inspiration. The same methods can be used with this approach. Compile a list of what artists, songs, and albums spark inspiration.
Patience and Trust in your Vision- Crafting high quality songs can take an extraordinary amount of time and patience. Through this process it is important to maintain trust that the finished product will be good. Otherwise an idea with lots potential may never come to fruition. Confidence and patience are key because they allow you to push through creative slumps, and droughts. Many times, inspiration will not last through the entire creation process. The only thing more damaging than loosing trust in a short term goal, is loosing trust in a longterm goal.
Desire to Succeed- If you genuinely believe that working harder than your competitors will yield success, these desires will come naturally. This believe does not come naturally for everyone, but with the right approach and tools, it can be gained.
Utilizing Tools- For all the times when the natural spark and inspiration doesn’t carry you through the creative process, understanding how to enable yourself is extremely important.
Hands on Tools
Crafting High Quality Lyrics
If you are not working with another person when composing lyrics, it is important to think out loud, as well as document your thoughts so you can refer back to them. It can take a while to phrase something poetically. Because of this, an idea is often lost before it comes to fruition. Just because an idea does not immediately sound poetic or lyrical, does not mean it lacks potential. Write down the idea in its most raw form when it comes to you, and worry about the phrasing afterwords. It is the emotion behind the statment that counts. After you have your ideas down, pick them apart word by word and try
to find a poetic way to phrase them. Use a thesaurus. This is another situation where it is helpful to have another mind in the room.
When inspiration is not flowing as much as you would like, referring to more technical tools can help get things rolling . Crafting lyrics can be broken down into steps. During this process, it is very important focus only on the few immediate steps in front of you, rather than the entire project. Large tasks will feel much more accomplishable when broken down into smaller tasks. Be patient, take it piece by piece, and again and above all, trust that the end product will be good. First, write down a list of emotions that you feel at the time. They don’t need to be worded or phrased poetically yet. From this list, structure and overall thesis for your song. Post this at the top of your word document and refer to it throughout the creation process to help keep yourself on topic. As mentioned previously, the wording can be very straight forward.
The best writers have mastered the craft of addressing something that they are feeling and presenting it to their audience in an accessible and relatable manner. Many times, ideas and feelings need to be more clear cut than you may figure. This is because as the composer, you know exactly what you are talking about. The chances are your audience has experienced the same feeling or situation that you are addressing. Now it is just about presenting it in a way that resonates with your audience. Here is a list of bullet-point steps.
-Record your thoughts
-Develop a thesis
-Re sculpt you wording and phrasing
-Make sure it is presented in a relatable manner
Branding/Marketing
The Importance of the Viral Market and Social Media Platforms
The viral market is the most honest critique of all. People will either listen to your music and feel inclined to share it, or they will not. Since an online audience will likely have no personal connection to you, their reaction is unbiased and extremely valuable. This is why releasing music is very important. For many writers and artists, releasing music to an online community can help gain a perspective on how competitive the industry is. Releasing music online and getting very little or no traction is just as valuable a lesson as watching a product succeed. As somebody who has had both successful and unsuccessful products in a controlled environment, I have learned If your product is right, it will do the promotional work for itself. Promotion or can be very helpful, but will not make or break a product.
The most valuable form of promotion is the word of mouth. Think for example how seriously you would consider a music suggestion that is coming from a friend as opposed to an advertisement or somebody you do not know. Consumers will always take the word of a friend over an unknown source. Your product must be good enough to make a listener inclined to show their friends. Posting you material to blogs, webpages, and social media will never hurt you, but if your material does not have this share factor, self promotion will not get you far at all. On the other hand, if you product does have this factor, promotion can only be beneficial. Say your material does have the share factor, but is geared towards a very specific sub genre and audience. Its possible that only a one or two people in your social circle like this type of music, and even if they love your material, it’s still only two people. In situations like this, promotion your music in the right place can be helpful.
Building a Brand/ Identity
Although branding is an important part of establishing yourself, it will always come second to content. While having a brand without content is useless, having strong content with no brand can only hurt you in the sense that you are putting yourself at a disadvantage by not utilizing something that most of you competitors will. Having the confidence to believe that you fans want to be let in to your everyday life is very important. If people are interested in you music, it is likely they also interested in you. With this factor in play, it is important to keep constant stream of content and material flowing to your fans. This does not only include music and news, but small details that let your audience a glimpse into your everyday life. Contents that you would not consider interesting are the types of things that fans will enjoy viewing because it makes them feel more involved. Think about a handful of your favorite artists that you may follow on social media. Much of the contents being shared are just normal parts of their everyday life. To you as the consumer they may be interesting. Keep in mind that your fans have the same desire. You must play the part to be the part.
When it comes to creating and identity, playing it safe does not help you stand out. Its better to push yourself out of your comfort zone than stay inside it. Emphasize your individual qualities and what will make you unique. Although theses things may seem too personal, they are what will separate your identity from the rest of the pack. Think again of a handful of your favorite artists. Their distinguishing traits dont seem strange to you because you are accustomed to them. They are what complies this artists personality and image.
Closing Thoughts
Equipping yourself with the right Psychological approach in combination with right hands on tools is a clear cut path to success. Belief in your long and short term goals will fuel inspiration and hard work, Inspiration and hard work will yield success. It is a choice. Enable yourself.