It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year...For Learning Songwriting

When people see me borrowing Christmas sheet music books from the library in the summer, naturally they assume I'm getting ready for playing music this time of year.

My real reason for doing that shocks them. 

You see, it's not so I can knock people off their feet with my wonderful rendition of O Come All Ye Faithful (my favorite Christmas song, by the way). 

It's to learn about songwriting.

I realized early on in my songwriting that Christmas music is an amazing way to learn how to write songs. 

Most Christmas music sounds great on a classical guitar, which I play, so it's good for learning guitar. The melodies lend themselves to the acoustic/soft rock/indie style I write in, and the lyrics, while a bit sappy at times, tell a story: the birth of Christ, people gathering together, falling in love around Christmastime, the heartbreak of not being with the ones you love, ripping into presents your materialistic little heart wanted, Grandma having a "vehicular incident" with reindeer...if you want to learn how to tell a story with lyrics, Christmas music is one-stop shopping.

And the vocals are usually gorgeous, so they make you step up your game vocally. O Holy Night? More like O Holy Cow in many cases, but it does make you try harder.

My taste in Christmas music tends to be songs from the mid-1800s to about the early 1950s. These songs have lasted, and proven to have a timeless appeal. Most modern Christmas songs make me all Scroogey, honestly. But if Mariah Carey singing "All I Want For Christmas Is You" fills your heart with holiday cheer, have at it.

I did have a little fun with Christmas music in 2011 - well before I got into songwriting. I had major surgery on my left foot right after Thanksgiving, so I was on crutches during the season. So "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas" became "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Crutches..."

I know. I'm horrible. But it made people laugh! 

So there ya have it: my secret weapon for learning songwriting. If one of my songs sounds like Silent Night...well, the author can't come after me now!