j.Po Thots: Songs are like Ecosystems

Yep, still thinking. I had a conversation with my Red Leaf guitar prof Kevin (who rocks the world) the other day about how songs are like mini-ecosystems. He's a deep guy. I played him my newest song and we've been examining it and prepping it for the adult world with a bit of editing and tightening up of form. Now, in college I lived with Beth the Biology Major for almost 4 years. We got along swimmingly and still do (now she's Beth the Med School Student), and she would tell me interesting things about biology and cells and science that I would promptly forget. I would tell her how I hated writing 20 page papers about the civil rights movement, but it sure beat chemical equations in my book. Point being, I am not exceptionally science-y. Beth in study mode. Some of us still wonder how she got into med school, hehheh. However, I am in the process of deciding what to do with the bridge of this song, and Kevin and I were discussing the merits of keeping it, modifying it, or taking it out all together. All viable options, really. There aren't really any rules, but you do need to be careful. Kevin pointed out a song is like a mini-ecosystem. It's got a LOT of parts going on in its 3-5 minute little lifespan, and being careless with the placement of any of those parts and drastically modify the song's effect on the outside world. This bridge in this song (it's called "Blonde on Blue" for future reference, because it WILL be on the next album) is a lot like...oh, maybe an ant species or perhaps a...bit of wildflower growing in a field. Sometimes, you can remove something from the system and it's ok...for whatever reason. The ecosystem will adapt and grow. Sometimes, though...if you take a species (or a bridge) out of the system/song carelessly...you train wreck. Something is missing. Things fall apart and break down. Then you're stuck. Point being...writing bridges is not for pansies, and I am learning more and more to appreciate each segment of a song that seems to flow into the next so seamlessly. A scenic view is made up of thousands of pieces of a system all pieced together and working in tandem, just like a verse-chorus-bridge progression. Nice. Maybe all of Beth's learnin' taught me something after all.