You: Whoa, seriously?? A short Sunday post?
Me: Yes… (don’t faint)
BUT: I have a new song coming out soon. I’ve got it pegged to be out by mid-June. I actually have several new songs planned for release. But it’ll start in June. 😊
Ok, that’s it for now. More next week.
🙏🎶🎤
I could write on and on about the stock market crash (which is kind of what it was last week… $6 trillion lost in two days), but I’ll leave that alone. Needless to say, I’m not a fan and neither is my 401K.
A couple of weeks back, I thought I would try an experiment with an A.I. like Suno. The idea was that I would input some ideas for a song and then collaborate with the A.I. for a song arrangement. I’d heard other people’s songs using this tool. I thought, why not?
Except:
I read the fine print on the agreement. If I’m using the free version, I don’t actually own the song. Suno’s management does. I could use it for personal sharing only. I could never release it as one of my own songs even where I might come up with the lyrics, the melody and possibly the chord changes.
Let’s say I inputted the lyrics alone? Suno would still own it, reuse it, post it, do this in perpetuity.
If, on the other hand, I PAID for a subscription? I could then use it for my own releases. But, so could they… in perpetuity.
It’s not a great tool for collaboration. Not really. Input a notion and throw it at Suno? Sure. Have fun. Write a song WITH IT? Uh uh.
The terms are way too exploitative. I doubt I’d ever write a hit with it. But others could, might. And then what? The person who came with the notion makes next-to-nothing (because they didn’t have a paid subscription), and the Suno team makes their $$ off the A.I.’s output and someone ELSE’s idea. The A.I., strange enough, is also being exploited. (One could argue it needs to work for the programmers and the energy to run it — i.e., earn its keep.)
Even if I did come up with something to use it for and work with it, there’s no way to export parts or an arrangement of it. There’s no isolation of parts. It’s not a true collaboration in any sense. It’s a prompt to an A.I. and some generated output for a moment in time. And what it comes up with is pretty derivative of what other (humans) have written. It’s not exactly “original.”
And in a business sense, true collaborations involve deals with respect to monetary payout. For instance, if I came up with all the lyrics but the A.I. does the rest? We’d negotiate how much of that financial pie is mine vs. the collaborator’s. Any release and money would follow that formula. Maybe I’d get 40% and it’d get 60%. And each time it would be streamed or used, we’d split it together.
But even then, at this point? It’s not ready for collaboration. It’s just a fun tool to throw some ideas at and get an output.
I’m sure there are other true collaboration A.I. tools either out there in the marketplace or being developed. But Suno isn’t one of them yet.
I’ll keep looking.
👀
I’m writing this in Hawaii as I sit in a rented apartment having spent nine days here. In the olden days of yore, I might have had a two week vacation. Pfft! Not anymore. These days, I feel more obligated to get back to work sooner. Vacations are taken at shorter periods. I don’t think I’m in any way special. This has become the norm. (And for those of you thinking, “You got a vacation???” That’s how strange the world has become…)
But I read a NY Times article this morning about the Gen-X’ers who’ve had to live through very uncertain times. It’s here:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/28/style/gen-x-creative-work.html
And this statement rings very, very true:
I am at the very end of the boomer generation, and, frankly, NEVER felt like one. I identify far more as an X-er. Their reality has been mine, especially in anything creative.
If I talked to musicians 10 years (or more) older than I, they would regale with stories of live performances and fun times. I got to do some of that in the 1990s. But the main gig I wanted to do (become a professor of music in oboe) dried up WHILE I WAS IN SCHOOL. The ground was essentially shifting the entire way through. There were fewer and fewer opportunities, more competition, cities and small towns I couldn’t move to… The entire university and college systems were remaking their models away from educational institutions and toward profit models. So becoming an oboe professor was not realistic. It wasn’t impossible. But it wasn’t exactly viable either — not with a spouse who didn’t want to move wherever “there” was.
He’s not to blame. I wouldn’t want to move wherever “there” was either. For any position, though, there were at least 300 applicants for an associate position that paid crap and didn’t come with any sort of benefits. It didn’t call itself a “gig” job at that point, but that’s what it was.
Orchestra jobs were also in high demand for the musicians who wanted one. If you were a string player, your odds were better. As an oboist (and/or English Hornist), there are only 2 to 3 of us in any given orchestra (not 20 or 30). Through the 1980s and into the 1990s a lot of orchestras struggled and folded. Funding dried up. Audiences (who were largely elderly) were literally dying. Support dimmed. Any seat that opened for an orchestra job was met with hundreds of applicants.
This is not a pity party. It’s an “I can relate” party. But I shifted in the 1990s and went off to do something more lucrative. I am pointing out that these shifts in our economy didn’t start in the 2000s. They were in motion years before that.
And they continue to be in motion. There’s an old adage: “The only thing you can count on is change.” The X-generation has been living through that watching all these creative endeavors getting eaten up by technology for a public that doesn’t know the difference.
Sure, the owners and higher ups make more by eliminating the workforce in favor of the technology. But the tech is only as good as the input it gets. The tech needs the human input (at least at this point) to continue thriving. Eventually, the human input might not matter anymore. This is true. I’m more troubled by the widespread acceptance of the exploitative models than anything. Since when did the mighty dollar become so important? Answer: Decades ago in everything from education to career choices. (If we want to go back in history, we can probably go all the way back to the Bronze Age, but that’s a different article.)
The Boomers are mostly to blame for this shift, I gotta admit. They became overly concerned with their profits and didn’t care much about shared cultural activities.
And now, we’re living the results.
The only way to get the creative jobs back is to CARE. Care that it’s a live, real musician. Care that it’s an actual photographer. Care that there’s a physical, thinking writer behind the article, book or manual. Care and buy from actual, bonafide people.
The only way to combat this behavior is to support the human element. Buy responsibly. Do what you can.
🙏
Yesterday, I was in a conversation with some friends (one of which is also a songwriter and had a band in the 70s for a while), and we got on the subject of A.I. and songwriting. I had heard a recent song a colleague at work was sharing from a tool called Suno. I was expecting it to sound pretty trashy and forgettable. It wasn’t. It was a touching ode to a friend that had left work to pursue a life-long dream of hiking the Appalachian trail. The production? As good as any other song on the radio. The vocal? Reminiscent of any male folk singer-songwriter in rotation. It was pleasant, touching even. With a loose idea, some prompts, and some time you can create a song you could post to Spotify. In one way, it’s chilling for anyone who writes songs. In another way, it begs the question: Where’s the human in this?
Humans? We are flawed. We can’t sing perfect all the time. Our playing can be scrappy. I’m sure you could ask an A.I. to try to sound a little scrappy — maybe mimic someone like Bob Dylan. But there’s a little something extra in a human performance. Call it charisma or attitude or sex appeal, but A.I. ain’t got it yet. It’s getting there, though. Ever hear of this A.I. singer-songwriter? Anna Indiana: https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/ai-singer-songwriter-launches-first-song-to-mixed-reactions-2400842/
“She” has a kind of generic Kelsea Ballerini approach (especially that song “Front Row Seat”). But this is the kind of thing any non-musician who just wants to hear some songs might like. There’s nothing particularly wrong with it. It might be a bit boring. There are no background vocals. It’s too “in the pocket” of radio-friendly arrangements. I suppose it mostly lacks a thing we call “heart” and another thing called “originality.” But it’s not incompetent. It’s just run-of-the-mill. However, this is the first stab at creating an A.I. artist. It’s only up-hill from here.
But is this some clarion call to give it all up and move on to other creative endeavors? Let’s say you’d rather write novels? Well, no, that’s been invaded by A.I. as well with similar feedback. What about poetry? Again, A.I. is there as well. Anything basically “written,” A.I.’s got us covered.
Is it any good? Yes and no. It’s polished. In fact, some people have serious difficulty differentiating the A.I. poem from an actual poet. But these A.I. train on huge amounts of data. They are basically mimicking, copying and then spewing forth similar prose. They become imitations of someone else as a result — some might say even “pale” imitations of someone else.
Is it copyright infringement? This is where the law is woefully behind. If I write a song and put it out in circulation, it becomes A.I. territory. I could be imitated at any moment… if the A.I. can find me! It would not take my lyrics or sounds or melody specifically. That would be plagiarism and would definitely violate copyright laws. But it could write “in the style of” and come up with something remarkably close. The A.I. is only as good (in a way) as the material it can feed on.
And this where a different question gets asked: Is it ethical? The A.I. train left the station years ago before anybody was able to clarify an answer. One could argue that the human singer-songwriter is writing “in the style of” other artists ALL THE TIME. We train on other singer-songwriters, right? We are a sum total of our influences. An A.I. is no different. No one’s music exists in some vacuum in space somewhere. Some might try — Bjork anyone? But we are social animals with influences and expectations and all kinds of rules all over the place. A.I. is just trying to learn.
It might sound like I’m defending A.I.? But I see this debate in shades of grays not black and whites. I think an A.I. assistant for a human singer-songwriter could be a brilliant and liberating tool. But it’s a tool just like a hammer 🔨 or a blender. It’s not taking over, not yet. What I think needs to happen is a collaboration between a favorite A.I. helper, your own mind, and your own experiences. An A.I. doesn’t have the emotional tapestry of a human. It’s a predictive model, a landscape of 0’s and 1’s. With some collaboration, though, we could end up with songs that have both a soul and an attractive production in a half hour, not three months. I suppose if we’re looking for speed and efficiency, this might be the answer.
Does it cheapen the result, though? 🤔 I wonder. Production is ALSO quite an art. For instance:
These are all part of the creative stew as well. And if I use an A.I., I’m leaning on it to define those sounds for me. It’s hallucination becomes MY production. My guess is that I’ll find it generic and boring. With some training on what I do, though? It could get spookily close.
So as an experiment 🧪 (in April), I’m going to take a scratch pad of a song I’ve written and see what Suno does with it. I’m curious.
More to come in future posts.
🎹🎶🎸
Hello!
So the 100 Days of Songwriting had its kick-off last weekend. And I actually had two songs fall out of my head in 2 days. Things were looking creative. I went through Monday, fine. But then Tuesday came. Apparently, I was dehydrated to an alarming rate. I’ll admit I hadn’t been drinking enough water. Coffee? ☕️ Yes. Water? 💦 Not so much. But it caused a weird thing to happen: I felt my heart ❤️ racing, dizziness, weakness, nausea, a bit of chest pain. I thought I was having a heart attack. Something was very strange, very off.
But then anxiety kicked in, the amygdala took over and I had — 😲 — a PANIC ATTACK.
I’ve had these before. They are benign. You only THINK you’re dying. You’re not. The amygdala hijacks the body, though, and you feel like you’re either having a stroke, a heart attack or a combination of the two.
So I wound up in an ER for about seven hours getting checked out. That was a fun 🤨 time. But it put me in touch with our current medical system. What I found was a bunch of stressed medical workers who are spread thin and doing their best to handle the volume. But due to COVID, a lot of doctors, nurses, and staff all quit. They burned out. And hospitals are having a terrible time replacing them. Of course, it might help if the medical organizations paid a fair wage. Some hospitals administrations around this area I live in tend to manipulate, undercut and underpay. If you put that together with burn-out, you get a perfect storm.
Because one poor man, brought in by ambulance and in need of surgery, had to wait over 9 hours in a wheelchair in a waiting room to be treated. Another patient had been waiting over 8 hours for a follow-up to get discharged. One man, who was clearly having symptoms of heart attack, was triaged, and made to wait in a waiting room for an hour for further treatment.
The way this worked? The staff was triaging everyone first. If you were in a life threatening condition, you were treated immediately. If you were not, you were put in a waiting room and treated in the order people had come in.
I showed up around 5:15 in the afternoon. I wasn’t out until 12:15 AM. I think I was one of the lucky ones.
Oh, and there were no ⛔️ beds 🛌 available. They were all already taken.
QUESTION: Is the medical system actually working?
ANSWER: If you what you have isn’t life threatening, it kinda is. If what you have IS life threatening, maybe. 🤔
I have NEVER been a fan of for-profit, capitalist medical systems. I think they are (at the root of it) unethical. There is no such thing as a sale on kidney transplants. What if you have a gallstone and need a cholecystectomy (gall bladder removed)? The price tag varies widely depending on which medical group you’re in and where you’re located. One operation for it might run $15K. Another could run $40K. And it’s not known up front. You have no idea when you go in how much any of it will cost — especially NOT in an emergency.
Medicine is one of those fields that really needs to sit in a category until itself — e.g., as a service field for all involved. I believe it needs to focus on preventative care for the patient and the doctors. This is just good advice. But it needs to be a lot more humanitarian when it comes to treatment. Accidents happen. People have maladies. Almost everyone ends up in an ER at least once in their lives. But Lord help you if you don’t have medical insurance.
Right now, we’ve got a predatory, profiteering medical system that under-values medical staff, looks at bottom lines, keeps raising prices (without telling anyone in any overt way), and relies on large insurance claims (with some fraud here and there) to generate profits. (Don’t even get me started on pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies…)
I grew up within a medical extended-family. I know that nurses, doctors tend to get into the field because they find life sciences fascinating, and they want to help people. It’s not all about the money. In fact, they can incur tremendous debt to get their degrees. It’s not them (though I’m sure there are people in it for the money). It’s the medical organizations they are a part of that lie at the root of the problem — i.e., the heads, the boards, the high-level administrations. And underneath that lies a culture of greed and exploitation. When you’re suffering from something potentially life threatening, it’s not like you have a number of choices. Unless you’re in a bigger urban area, you’re limited. And if you’re having a stroke or a heart attack, you need to GO immediately. You can’t sit around comparing hospital costs and assessing the cheapest option.
So, no, I’m not a fan of our current medical system. It’s not the greatest medical system in the world. It ranks LAST when compared to other high-earning countries:
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/best-healthcare-in-the-world
We’ve fallen far, and we can’t seem to get up. We have been in a death-spiral of worsening treatment and higher costs. And we, as patients, don’t get much for the money we pay.
If this were a different government, I’d think we (as citizens) could rally for a different medical system. Certainly, some have tried. But change always gets stuck in Congress in a fight of words over “communism” and “freedom.” These are the typical types of buzzwords. If you’re for medicine as more of a regulated service, you’re a communist. If you’re for the FREEDOM to pick your hospital and your doctor, you’re an American. 🇺🇸
What we really get is exploited, bankrupt and treated poorly for HUGE price tags. There’s nothing FREE about that.
😒
👋
Today’s post is kinda short??? 😱 Yes, it’s true. I have tons I could write, but seeing how I’ve written tons the past couple of weeks, it seems a shorter post is in order. And this one is actually ABOUT music. 🎶🎹🎶
I have joined this endeavor in order to give myself a deadline for getting this next release mostly done.
Why?
Answer: I got picky on myself. And I’d like to get some of these songs out NOW (as they seem timely). Besides, I’m on the fence about the other two and I’d rather write more material.
So, I’m off to do more writing…
✍️
(For those who don’t care about political events or just want happy songwriting news, this ain’t the week for that…)
Lest anyone think songwriters aren’t affected by current events? Think again. Yeah, I could sit here and write happy entries about songs and songwriting. But we’re living in extremely strange times right now, and I don’t just mean the U.S. Is it just me or does the world seem a bit off?
We appear to be normalizing and condoning conduct that even twenty years ago would have led to resignations and firings. How did we get here? Why?
I’ve been reading and listening and watching (podcasts, articles, news’ish — or what passes for TV news now), and it’s clear we have re-entered the age of the “Ruler.” It’s an ancient concept. Some dude (and it’s usually a DUDE) convinces everyone he’s in charge. And then sets about to take over all the assets, money, power and control he can. He’ll kill for it. Life of underlings doesn’t matter all that much. He seeks acolytes and obedience. This is as old as Ancient Egypt and before.
Call them dictators, kings, monarchs, prime ministers, plutocrats, presidents, whatever word you want, they are still the same types. They will sacrifice all the people at the bottom of their pyramid (as they see it) to gain more control, more adherence, more territory, more, more, more. They win. Everyone else loses.
They also do whatever is necessary to gain that control. Intimidation is an everyday occurrence. So is lying. Lying serves the purpose of swaying and convincing those who are low-information types of the legitimacy of the actions the leader is taking. Only it never is what they SAY they’re doing. They’re doing something else. And we (the lowly) get sacrificed for the outcome.
To any of my friends (and family) who voted for our current president, you were duped. I think you know that now that it’s too late. The changes you wanted? Reduction in inflation? No, the opposite will happen (tariffs anyone?). The war in Gaza over? Maybe, but at what cost and is it really over? Government spending down? Oy! Not by much yet and is it worth it? (Good luck going to a national park this year.)
But the things that get me the most riled up, lately, are the notions of expansionism and our dwindling allies. It took just three months to go from aligned with Ukraine to aligned with Russia? WTH? And Republican representatives are all right with this? Since when? The Republicans of old would NEVER, EVER, EVER have gone along with this. And yet, here we are with a bunch of republicans out there trying to sell the public on the idea. (It hasn’t been going very well for them.)
Provided we’re still a democratic republic in two years, I would think the following will happen:
Meanwhile, it’s up to the courts and our enforcement of the judgements that come down from them to keep the country sane.
I’ve have gone to Europe many, many times now. I’ve probably been to France the most. There have been times when I’ve gone and felt extremely apologetic for our president(s) — whoever is at the helm at the time. They have seen our country become increasingly unpredictable and unreliable. They are NOT wrong.
I still want to go back to France. And someday I will. But not now. Trying to explain what’s happening to a bunch of French, German, Swiss, English people? I wouldn’t know what to say. “I did not vote for this.” “This is no reflection on what I think or stand for.” Those would be starters. Maybe they NEED to hear that from millions of us?
Heck, even Canada and Mexico could stand to hear those words.
But I would simply say this: The government, and it’s people are not the same now. We have moved to a different and upsetting model. Realize over 70 million of its citizens are horrified and would not support current actions. Do I know this for a fact? Only if I decide to trust recent polling and the last election results — which I do.
So, no… I’m not going to Europe right now. I figure I might give it a year and see how awful things get. But if anyone from Europe is wondering if people like me are OK with recent events, my reaction is: “no, no, no, no, no, no, no…”.
I love Europe. I want to go back one day. Here’s to hoping you’ll let a lot of us visit in the future once the present is the past and things have stabilized.
☹️
PS: I’m with Zelensky. He did NOT start that war. WTH? 🤦♀️ I love that he spoke truth to falsehoods. And he’s said thank you hundreds of times. I’ve heard him say it. I don’t need the news to tell me. I’ve heard it with ears and a brain. To anyone buying the idea he’s a dictator, never said thank you, or started the war? Please get a BRAIN, too.
Each week, something stranger than the prior week appears to happen in our country. Anything from a screwy remark (like Canada should become the 51st State) to firing half the US government in a hatchet plan has become reality. It’s like watching someone playing darts with a rifle. Sure, the US has a deficit. It’s bad. Sure, $56,000 dollar toilets are ridiculous. That kind of fiscal abuse should be evaluated and revised. But millions of us (both sides, not just Dems or ‘Pubs’) are NOT agreeing with the way this is being handled. I suspect more than complacent acceptance shortly. Resistance is fomenting.
There’s that little thing in the U.S. we’re known for — i.e., Conscientious objection and civil disobedience. It may not be a giant movement of millions parading on Washington, yet, although I won’t be surprised if that happens. It’ll be states objecting and ignoring the direction. It’ll be citizens showing up and yelling at representatives. It’ll be voting in hordes when the chance comes.
I’ve read articles with quotes from independents (who voted for the current president in 2024) lamenting their choice now they see what’s happening. True believers will not be dissuaded. But people who gave the current administration “a chance” (based on the rhetoric they’d heard in election season coupled with the way they wanted to hear it) sound angry now. They regret their choice. They regret the comments about privatizing the postal system. They regret the dismantling of the parks systems. That’s NOT what they signed up for.
This is the sort of stuff that fuels the themes that turn into songs. Like that Canada remark? That’s a song begging to happen. Title: The Fifty-First State. Maybe I’ll write it.
I’ve got FIVE songs arranged now. Two more to go and then on to vocals, finalizing, mixing, mastering, and ultimately releasing. It’s a bit like having a root canal. It takes a long time (sitting in that dentist chair) and there are multiple visits. I’ve had at least two of those. I know whereof I speak. (Perhaps this why I avoid the dentist…)
🦷
Good Day All!
So far, this year, I have posted every Sunday (like I said I would at the top of year). This is a milestone for an ADHD’er. I have yet to get distracted, forget and not post. Of course, we’re six weeks into the new year. Give it some time!
I now have four out of six songs mostly arranged. I did have a seventh song in mind, but I’m not sold on it. I’ll save that one for some other project in the distant future (if it gets realized at all).
When I note “mostly arranged,” I’m not referring to all the vocals done. I mean the instrumental aspects — e.g., that the song is far enough along to add the vocals. I’m one of those who likes to arrange the “band” first and THEN sing to it. There are those who like it the other way around — i.e., they show up with a guitar and voice to record, AND then the arrangement is built around that. Yeah… not me.
When I sing in the shower 🚿, I hear a band 🎸in my head backing me up. Drums 🥁, bass 🎸, accompaniment, the whole shebang. When I actually get to building the arrangement, that ephemeral band in my head surrenders to the actual sounds I find. Besides, there’s fun in discovering something other than what I originally conceived. The whole process becomes a kind of hide and seek with the sound modules as a song is born.
This is where I’m at lately: Discovery mode. It’s one thing to write the song. It’s quite another to arrange it. Arranging can be a little like rewriting the song. I consider a form of editing, though. It’s just building on the ideas that feed on each other from one layer to another.
All this to note: Things are coming along.
For any songwriters out there reading this, I have found a home group to help stay on track. Every couple of months, they have a goal of going 100 days committed to something you’re doing with your songs. It can be anything from creating an album (a lofty task) to simply cleaning up your lyrics folder. But it’s something you do for 100 days.
I’ve joined them a couple of times now. And I’ll be joining again in March. This will actually help to get this latest release out. My specific goal is to have all arrangements and vocals done by the end of it.
There’s this whole other thing called mixing and mastering and releasing. That’ll happen AFTER it, in the summer. It’s too ambitious to believe the entire release would be done by the time June rolls around. Prior experience has proven that. But to have it ready for mixing and mastering? That’s a realistic goal.
This group is out here (on the web): https://100daysofsongwriting.com
If you’re writing in your room somewhere (quietly writing some songs) and want to join a group of friendly, similar people, this might be for you!
🎵🎹🎵
👋
It’s Sunday and time for ranting about something. I notice in the past couple of weeks, though, I have been rambling on about the climate and fires and doing something (even if it’s small) to help. And there’s been nothing since the beginning of the year about music, of all things.
This is a music site, right? I should likely write about it.
(By the way, I felt so awful noting I’d been eating chicken 🐔 recently. I’ve gone back to being a vegetarian 🥗. I went through about 3 weeks there of losing my way. But I’m back now. I feel better, thanks for asking.)
I have been working on arrangements. I have three about ready for vocals, and I’ve started arranging another one to add to the pile. At the pace I’m going, I’ll have all six done by April (probably mid-April). I would record vocals next. Then there’s mixing, mastering… (🤔 thinking). So, the release wouldn’t be out until June. Hmm, that’s rosy. Let’s be more realistic and say July.
This is, of course, in the event that I continue to work on it and not get distracted by about anything else. Fireflies?? ❤️🔥 They’re pretty. A sunny day? ☀️ Let’s walk. The moon full? 🌕. Let’s look at it. Did you say trip? 🧳 Where’re we goin’?
I have a brain equivalent to a moth. Ever seen a moth fly? They’re kind of chaotic. When they do finally zone in on something (like a light 💡 ), they remain obsessed with it until they literally burn out trying to merge with it.
This is like my approach to songs at times. I can get obsessed and hyper-focused on it. I’m either working on them feverishly or completely ignoring the process. This is also why any release of mine can take five years to get out the door.
I AM A MOTH.
My hope is this year, I’m a happy and less obsessed moth. Oh, I’ll still be a moth. But maybe my flight pattern will be a little more direct, and I won’t be burning up by the light.💡
🎵🎹🎵