Writing Original Ukulele Music
159 views · Published 25 June 2017 · 4:45 · Indexed 27 October 2026
Channel: Life The Basic Manual · 2017 · Education
Nick Cody, of the internationally-renowned band, The Small Change Diaries, shares some fascinating insights into the process of writing original music. He focuses his discussion on the creation of a specific song, which began life in the notoriously crowded environs of Rainbow Records, East Village, New York. This store was the kingdom of a man known to all as “Birdman’ - a legendary figure among the music-loving community of the city. Rainbow Records was a heaped treasure trove of CD’s, videos and audio cassettes. At one point, its owner estimated that there were around a quarter of a million CD’s stacked in no discernible order on its shelves. It was while Nick was browsing in Rainbow Records that the initial line of his track came to him - “Elvis crashes into Madona”. He noted the line in his faithful Moleskine notebook. This line was the seed of the song grew from it. He took the line, and the riff that it inspired, into the studio with his band, and it became the track ‘Birdman’, which then found a place on their acclaimed album, Adam Blames Eve. They then uploaded the track to the BBC Introducing site for new and independent artists, and much to their delight heard it played by the BBC that very Saturday night. Nick also commissioned some artwork from artist Max Wotton inspired by the track, and a wonderful portrait of Birdman, aka Bill Kaspar, became a part of the on-going creative momentum of that very first line, jotted down in Rainbow Records. Nick’s suggest to anyone looking to create original music is to carry a notebook, maybe have an audio capture app on your phone, and make sure you capture ideas, sounds, inspirations as they emerge. They can be fleeting, but if you manage to keep hold of their energy, they can gain momentum, and become a fully-formed song. For more information on The Small Change Diaries, original ukulele music or ukuleles in general, please see below. http://www.nickcody.com http://www.originalukulelesongs.com http://www.smallchangediaries.com SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE VIDEOS https://www.youtube.com/c/lifethebasicmanual?sub_confirmation=1 FIND LIFE THE BASIC MANUAL HERE http://lifethebasicmanual.com http://www.facebook.com/lifethebasicmanual http://instagram.com/lifethebasicmanual http://twitter.com/BasicManual
