Writing Your Truth

The title of this article is an adaptation of a phrase one of my vocal coaches during my tour with the USAF's Tops in Blue. Tracy Wright, also a prior Tops in Blue member and now professional vocal coach, used to say this to me all the time: "Sing your truth, Gregg. Sing your truth". When she felt I was just going through the motions and not staying true to the contextual meaning of a piece, she would always stop me and remind me of this. The same is true of songwriting. It's not that I wasn't providing the sound she was looking for, or that I had pitch problems or other issues, in fact it sounded just fine, except there was not that element of truth there that would draw anyone in any closer to listen to what I was singing about-Just pleasant sounding music without conviction. Who wants that? I certainly do not.

So how do we get there? It differs from person to person, but you have to, sometimes, just stomp the little monster under your desk that wants to bite at your ankles the whole time while you're writing. Sometimes, when we know we're tackling a subject that is personal and close to our hearts, there is a physically manifestation in our bodies. Pick a subject that you feel would deeply affect you if you were to write in a song, i.e., the birth of your firstborn child, your first kiss, a near death experience, and you will notice that your shoulders may be a little more tense, your breathing may become shallow or you may be holding your breath all together!

Take a deep breath and really feel the air enter your lungs and expel from your nostrils. Allow your body to completely relax. I prefer to sit at your desk and try to create an atmosphere that is soothing, quiet and free of distractions. Lighting a candle on your desk is also very soothing. These simple things well help so much. Focusing on your own body and remaining calm will allow the words to flow so much easier. There are times when apprehension and tension are appropriate for what you are writing about, but that doesn't mean that you have to feel apprehension and tension in your body while you write.

Let the truth of your life spill into your work. Sometimes, we allow our emotions to build dams that block out creativity-we cannot allow this to happen. If you're writing about one thing and your heart and mind is in a totally different place, go to the place where your pain and apprehension lies and express those emotions first. When you feel a release, go back to what you were originally writing about. After a while, you'll notice you are mindful of this things all the time and your private writing sessions are getting easier and easier. Chris and Carol Beaty, professional vocal coaches and owners of Vocal Coach use this quote frequently in their books and rehearsal CD's: "Muscles have memory". Just like the human voice's ability to remind us of how a certain pitch or note "feels" after careful practice and repetition, we also begin, after becoming more mindful of our own bodies, emotional state and environment, to become better at communicating our own truth.


Try this exercise: Use this line to begin the exercise-"The night we first met..."

Gregg Butler-Fells