Australian Tales
Australia
Tales is the title of theme album that I have been working on for ages. It would
include the songs like 'Sitting in a Car' which is about travelling in Australia
by Car, 'Katherine Gorge' about an experience at the Gorge, 'Karri Tree' is
about a famous tree in south west Australia, 'Walkabout' and 'Barrier Reef'
which is an instrumental. I also have another song called 'Call Australia home',
but I never finished the lyrics. The music would be based on live performance
with my brothers.
Made in Greece
Most of the songs on this concept
album I wrote on a Casio keyboard. I used the auto-accompaniment feature
with the left hand and played the lead with the right. I recorded the songs on a
walkman. I have also written Greek Songs in Greek language, but they are not
included in this album concept. Songs in this concept album include 'How does
your Heart Feel', 'Rain Song', 'In the Name of Justice', 'You got me going'
which was influenced by the Patras Carnival and lots more songs. The Greek
Language songs were written on bouzouki, however, I have not come up with any
ideas because the song styles vary alot.
Abbey Road Revisited
This concept album idea came about when I was living in London. I used to visit
the Abbey Road area alot and it gave me the inspiration to write lots of great
songs at the time. Also at the time I discovered the 'Sergeant Peppers' album at
that time and that gave me lots of influence. Songs include 'Everybody's got a
new way of walking', 'Stars of 45', 'Love and Hate' and lots more. I wrote the
songs on an acoustic guitar and recorded them on a walkman.
Profound Thought
This is an instrumental album concept. The idea originated when I used to
experiment on a Tascam Portastudio 244 and use different synths like Roland Juno
60, Roland SH101, Korg Poly 800, an old Casio and Roland Tr-505 drum machine. I
used to use a Space Echo for Fx and a Boss Digital Delay Guitar pedal. Tunes
include: 'Rat Dance' which I wrote using a Casio, 'Atmosphere' using Juno 60. To
this day I do not have tune titles for some of the tunes I wrote.
Getting Ideas
Getting Musical Ideas for lyrics or the music, ain't easy. Here are some ideas
in how I come up with them:
1. Based on Experience
I find most of the stuff I have written is based on some experience I had or
even some experience I imagined someone else had. You can write positive songs
which mainly start in a major key or negative songs which mainly start in a
minor key. Think about school, work, family or even inspiration from watching a
tv show or movie.
2. Based on a Riff
If you play guitar, either come up with a rythum pattern or chord pattern. If
you really cant think of any ideas, then look for some inspiration. Play along
with your favourite song, turn it off and continue trying to write something,
perhaps a nice idea might come out of it.
3. Use a Scrapbook
Collect various articles from newspapers, magazine and perhaps use them as a
point of inspiration.
4. Collaborate with other Musicians/Lyric Writers
If you find your forte is writing music, but you feel you lyric stills arentn up
to scratch, then try to find some one who can write good lyrics. Perhaps you
might have a friend that writes great poems and with their permission you could
add music to them.
5. Using Auto-Accompaniment
Try software like Band in the Box or use say a Casio as Auto-Accompaniment and
perhaps you might develop some nice musical ideas.
6. Record and Experiment
Record your music to a computer or hardware recorder and experiment with the
mixes and structures and perhaps some nice ideas might evolve.
7. Try Different Time Signatures
Listen to some
Greek Music and you might get some inspiration. Greek Beats include
7/8, 9/8 and 6/8. They seem complex, but once you get a feel for them, they are
easy to play. Note: the song can be based on say 4/4, but say the chorus could
use exotic time signature like 7/8.
Here are some themes you could use for inspiration. Try to write a
song around the theme:
1.
People
2.
Perception
3. Best Moment
4. Falling in Love for the First Time
5. Exile
6. Isolation
7. Lonely
8. Refugee
9. Your First Kiss
10. Holiday / Vacation
Good luck on your ideas!
Vic Stathopoulos
