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Music by Mark Simos ~ Devachan Publishing

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New Berklee Today Article (Spring '19)

An excerpt from Songwriting in Practice

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Several years ago I had an excerpt from my first Berklee Press book, Songwriting Strategies, featured in the “Woodshed” column of Berklee Today, a forum for music and musicians published by Berklee College of Music that goes out to 53,000 readers worldwide. I'm happy to announce a new excerpt from my new Berklee Press book, Songwriting in Practice: Notebooks, Journals, Logs, Lists, in the Spring 2019 edition of Berklee Today. It's in the Intervals section (intervals, get it musicians?) and it's about one of the practices I discuss in the book: making Appointments with Inspiration. I know it sounds kinda woo-woo and touchy-feely, but it's actually very specific, actionable, and productive. Check out the excerpt!

(By the way - thanks to long-time Berklee Today editor Mark Small, who is stepping down from his role. He's been a great supporter and advocate for Berklee faculty for many years - we'll miss him!)

Audio Files for Songwriting Strategies

Hey readers of Songwriting Strategies!

Did you know that there are downloadable audio MP3s available for every example and exercise in the book?

Many readers are not particularly comfortable with formal music notation. I also use some non-standard notations in the book, such as Nashville chord charts, notations for rhythmic settings of lyrics, and so forth. I wanted to make it as easy as possible to follow along with the book, for all readers. But - since the book is structured around lots of very small examples rather than whole songs, it didn't make sense to include a CD in the original version of the book (which is outdated tech now anyway - a CD is something too big for a coaster, too small for a frisbee...) Instead - I had some outstanding student performers create lovely renditions of every example and exercise. These are available as a downloadable zip file of MP3s here at 360Songwriting.com.

Unfortunately - many readers didn't find out about these files. (For the record - I did mention this in the foreword to the book - but who reads forewords?) Please spread the word to your regular weekly meeting of Friends Who Love Songwriting Strategies!

Mark's first book, Songwriting Strategies

Songwriting Strategies: A 360º Approach
(Berklee Press/Hal Leonard, 2014) is available at:


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