A Client with many Stories

Hannah is my long-term client. In roughly 5 years we’ve crafted many songs, drafted lots of ideas and had loads of laughs. Hannah and her mum came knocking on my door, and I’m sure neither of us knew what to expect.

When her mum told me, Hannah has CP (Cerebral Palsy) and had gone through a rough time recently, the one thing that went through my mind was that songwriting sessions can be a therapeutic and cathartic experience for someone who has a story to tell. But Hannah didn’t have a story to tell… she had many!

Hannah tells stories through her lyric writing drawing upon her own life’s experiences—they are both awe-inspiring and traumatic. Composing songs together has helped her reflect and move past negative memories that were affecting her deeply.

The Songwriting Process with Hannah

GATHERING INSPIRATION

Our sessions start with incredibly detailed stories of a dramatic event, sprinkled with a frosting of a Stranger Things episode or a killer parody she’s found on YouTube. All of which I find super inspiring when searching for the mood and genre we’re going to create.

WRITING LYRICS

Then Hannah might send me several pages of lyrics to choose from her iPad, or she’ll go right ahead and write straight from that fantastical world that lies beneath her head, then hand it over to me to focus on the music and vocal melody.

SETTING THE SCENE

We have a 2-hour window, and much of that is spent on setting the scene for the song. She’ll go back in time, and describe incredibly frightening moments in her life. It often makes us really angry and sad, but when we process it through the medium of songwriting, the burden feels somewhat lifted.

FINDING THE VIBE

Hannah’s lyrics are so complex, often full of very dark analogies and references to her latest TV/movie viewing vices. All of this plays into the creation of the song. I’ll ask her what sort of vibe she would like, or sometimes I’d offer up a suggestion. But we’d have to agree that her lyric writing and my vocal melody and music writing come so quick, that the base of the song is often written in minutes.

THE TECHNOLOGY

At the moment, I’m using Soundtrap online software to record and utilise their library of sounds and beats. It’s usually best when I start by writing on acoustic guitar, then I’ll record it, and bring in the other elements. The format is simple for me to share with Hannah if she wants to add anything or work on something new. It’s a collaborative tool, so although we’ve used it primarily during our physical sessions, we can run sessions online and at home, for her safety during the pandemic.

Dream Collaborator

I absolutely love working with Hannah, she’s a dream collaborator. When I say, ‘hey we need a bridge now’ – she’s already writing it. Hannah has a lifetime of stories to tell, and there’s a song that can be written for every one of them to help her lift the weight and create positive change. This is the mātāpuna, the wellspring and source from which Hannah can overcome her challenges. I’m so grateful to have played a part in it.