Page 9 - Song Maps - A New System to Write Your Best Lyrics - Simon Hawkins

Much of this book contains new material. This is because, while I enjoyed building a firm foundation of knowledge about the craft from the songwriting programs at Berklee Music School and other sources, I discovered Song Maps afterwards, from my experience as a professional songwriter, writing either on my own or in the writing rooms of Nashville.
This book is for those who are tired of writing ideas that, despite being good in concept, end up being flat when finally written. Or those who find it difficult to know how to develop their songs to give them the emotional punch they originally had in mind when they first had the idea. It's for those searching hard for that elusive "aha" moment when trying to develop their lyric writing craft to pro-standard, rather than wasting years trying to work it out by themselves.
Having been signed as a staff songwriter at Universal Music Publishing in Nashville, being nominated and winning awards for my songs including Grammys, Doves and hymn-writing awards, and after spending many years studying thousands of techniques and developing them in my own songwriting and in the writing room, I've had the privilege of teaching the material in this book to hundreds of songwriters and seeing a step change in their writing. I have been blessed to watch them find their authentic voice in writing ideas to their full potential, helping them achieve their dream to move from writing flat 2D lyrics to fabulous High Definition full-color 3D lyrics.
Known by many as the guy who teaches lyric strategies, I've explored and analyzed thousands of song lyrics in many genres, studying what makes them work and what lets them down. I've also critiqued hundreds of lyrics given to me by students of songwriting.
Through the lessons in this book, you'll gain a whole new set of tools that will help you simply and swiftly deal with the ups and downs of writing lyrics so they will deliver the emotional punch you are looking for, tools that will make your songs stand out in the marketplace and help you achieve your potential and calling as a songwriter.
Whether you're looking to better manage the idea flow of your lyrics, increase your bank of writable ideas, walk into a pro co-write with confidence or look at your lyrics afresh and make them *** SHINE *** you will find this book essential reading.
Sue C Smith, five-time Dove-award winning songwriter, staff writer with Capitol CMG and founder of the Write About Jesus seminar for Christian songwriters, says:
"Simon Hawkins is a gifted problem-solver, and so much of songwriting calls for just that. In Song Maps – A New System To Write Your Best Lyrics, Simon has shared the methods he has developed to catapult his own songwriting career and offered them to songwriters everywhere. It's going to revolutionize and illuminate the process for so many. What a wonderful, generous gift to the songwriting community!"
Let this book help you transform your lyric writing by using Song Maps in your songwriting workflow and take your song ideas to their ultimate potential. Find out how you might be compromising the quality of your lyric writing by not seeing the full range of possibilities. Take action to quickly screen out un-writable ideas, the titles that suck your time away from writing your best, truly golden, spectacular songs.
Andrea Stolpe, instructor at Berklee Music School, multi-platinum recorded songwriter, artist and author says: