Ben Folds rocking the keys

I picked up the November issue of Keyboard Magazine the other day. I don’t consider myself a keyboardist by any stretch of the imagination, but Ben Folds was on the cover talking about songwriting, so I sort of felt myself morally obligated.

His recent album, Way to Normal, sort of threw me a loop when I got it a couple of weeks ago. Anyone expecting a straight line progression from Rockin’ the Suburbs and Songs for Silverman is in for a bit of a surprise to say the least. For one thing, Mr. Folds is intentionally scaling back his flashy technique, choosing instead to use more primal, cathartic and driving rhythms to get his message across. For another, the tunes that used to be textbook examples of contemplative composition now seem to have transmogrified into something completely different.

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In part 3 of this column, we look at three aspects of songwriting heavy dependent upon the number three. Kind of cool the way that works out, eh? Truth be told, I’ve been trying to work it out for weeks, so hopefully you dig it.

#1 - The three minute rule

I know there are a lot of very successful musicians who will fight me on this point, but that’s okay with me. You know, prog rock and all that. Truth be told, I’m just not that into them.

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» Love it loud «

I took in this songwriters’ workshop a few weeks ago, sponsored by Canadian Music Week, the Songwriters’ Association of Canada and just about anyone else who doesn’t want our aspiring talent to go stateside. The highlight of the day was a lecture by Blair Packham, who used to be in the Jitters. He played a yet-to-be-recorded track called “Funny How” that just slayed me.

Anyway, I was just looking through my notes from that day, and I thought I’d share some of the more insightful points here.

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   » My poor classical guitar just can't hold a D-string «

Where’s my soapbox?

It’s time for a new column, gang. I’m going to start dropping science about my favourite topic; the fine art of writing songs. I’m just spouting off about my particular approach to tune-smithing, so take it all with a grain of salt, but I hope someone somewhere will find something here useful.

Rule #1: The rules are sort of more like guidelines, really

Back in the day, they used to say you had to learn the rules before you could break them. They likely still say that; I’ve stopped listening.

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