In this segment, we're going to start looking at some applications of the various things that we've been working on. And looking at over the past several weeks. I introduced in the, in, in the last segment the little metaphor that I had been dealing with. The Hobo Wind. And so, let's just explore what the next steps are to taking a look at a title like that. Whatever title it is, whatever idea it is that you have, take a look at this one looking at the wind as a hobo and see how the various aspects that we've been dealing with can come into play as we start brainstorming that idea. Now, of course, it would be possible and often this is how it works. It would be possible just to go to your guitar and start playing some chords, and singing hobo. and do that sort of thing to come up with a, come up with a chord pattern. A perfectly legitimate way to work. and, or just to start writing and see where it goes. Again, a perfectly legitimate way to work. But for me at least, not a very effective one. Remember, early on, we talked about the boxes. The movement of the ideas with an ever enlarging or weightier concept evolving as we move through the ideas. So, in terms of this whole concept of hobo wind, the wind as a traveler, the wind as somebody who hops box cars, the wind as somebody who's constantly in motion. [COUGH] how would that move through the boxes? Well, as I said, I I got this idea as I was simply listening to the wind from my room, and so that might be a place to start. you know the first box might be summarized as, oh, hello wind. wow. What a traveler you are. And perhaps, the next box might be a little bit more, I don't know, maybe philosophical, or a little bit more wondering. You know gosh where, where, where do you, where do you come from? where have you been? where are you going? and so this sense of widening from my bedroom, out to the places that the wind has been and what the wind might have seen. and then finally the last box seems to me maybe something like man, I wish I were going with you, or take me with you, or I want to get out of here, or something like that. And that seems to move through those ideas and as a sort of tentative place to start which is, you know, nothing in stone of course, but as a tentative place to start. Box number one, hello wind. Box number two where you been, where you're going. And box number three sort of take me with you. [COUGH] why do I want to go with you? Well, maybe where I am, I feel kind of stuck. maybe you, O wind, I guess I'm talking to the wind. Hmm, maybe, maybe you, O wind are a metaphor or a symbol for this thing inside of me that wants to get unstuck, that wants to keep moving, that wants to have new experiences. And for some reason, I'm not having those. So, that it seems to me like a fairly practical and believable sort of progression of ideas. And so, we can just start there. And now that we sort of have what the boxes are doing, perhaps we can just go right inside the boxes and start developing those ideas. Now, [COUGH] one of the first questions that I want to ask is in this song, how in general would I be feeling? Would I be feeling stable, or would I be feeling unstable? It feels like if I have this sense of, oh, I wish that I could travel. This sense of longing, this sense of in the second box wondering, and this sort of awe that I feel in the first box, feels to me like it's on the unstable side of things. So that in working through the various tools, the various areas that we've covered, probably we're going to want to look at the less stable rather than the more stable tools that we have. Or more accurately, to look at the tools that we have with them in constructing something that's a little on the less stable side. So, that's going to bring a lot of things into play that might be fairly interesting. Now that we have our boxes, what's the next step? Well again, we could just start writing and see where it goes. But, I've found that there's a probably better way, although it takes a little bit more time and you don't get to rush right in and start writing. it takes a little bit more time but is is a pretty efficient way to start thinking about the ideas. And I call this a Worksheet. Now, the concept of worksheet, that is doing something in advance of doing your writing is something that that many writers have used and continue to use. two primary examples of people who use this worksheet concept, Stephen Sondheim. A great Broadway writer who, when he gets an idea for a song immediately starts exploring the key elements that might be relevant idea. And by the way, in doing that, he relies on his thesaurus. He just takes whatever the concept is, goes to the thesaurus to find the various neighbors that idea has, and then takes those ideas and goes to his rhyming dictionary. And uses the rhyming dictionary, not to find rhymes, although he's finding rhymes. But not to use rhyme, find rhymes, but rather to find what ideas might be there. That is he's using the rhyming dictionary in order to ex, in order to explore what the idea might have in common. He's sort of playing tennis with his rhyming dictionary. He'll look up a word and and then there'll be several rhymes for it. And each one of those will be an audition, will be a suggestion saying, hey, if I were in this song, here's what I'd do. I could bring in this kind of idea or this kind of idea and Stephen Sondheim will say wow, okay, I never would have thought of that other than I found it in the rhyming dictionary. And if by the way he finds a really good idea in the rhyming dictionary, then not only does he have a good idea, but he has an idea that also works sonically with other ideas that he's already approved of. So that you're working by using a rhyming dictionary is a brainstorming tool, as a search engine for ideas. You're using your rhyming dictionary to compose or to brainstorm on two levels simultaneously, the level of ideas. And by the way, the level of sound. So that if you find something in your rhyming dictionary, you're getting two things rather than one. As opposed to if you simply start, let's see, what could this mean, what could this mean. and find ideas, then you're probably going to end up writing your line and then saying, okay, now I need something that rhymes with this. But if you already have a series of sonically related ideas, then you're in a position to choose from among his ideas. Then, you'll have something that already rhymes so it's a much more efficient way to look. So, Stephen Sondheim, there he is, writing Broadway. I don't know how many of you want to write Broadway stuff. But there it is. So, should all Broadway writers do it? I don't know. Should all writers do it even if you don't want to write Broadway? Well, look at one other writer who does that sort of thing. Eminem. If you take a look at Eminem's movie 8 Mile, there is a scene in the movie where he's writing Lose Yourself. And he's on the bus, headphones on. And the track for Lose Yourself is, is is playing. And he's got this legal pad, a yellow legal pad. And the camera at one point comes around and you get to see the legal pad just for a second. Pause the DVD right there. And take a look at that very, very messy yellow legal pad. Because what it is, is a series of rhyme columns. And in fact, that is the piece of paper that he actually used in the composition of Lose Yourself as he was working through the movie. So that using sound, using a series of rhymes as a search engine for ideas is not new news. So, why don't we take a look at this idea, hobo wind. And let's see what we can find that might fill out, flush out, this whole idea of hobo wind that might work through the boxes. And give us ideas that perhaps we normally wouldn't have gotten, simply by thinking, simply by going inside, but using the various suggestions that the rhyming dictionary makes to go from the inside out. Say, what does that word give to me? And in the process of doing this, we're going to put into play, all of the work that we've already done on rhyme times. And so, get prepared for the next segment where we are going to be looking at rhyme types as they evolve from the keywords that we'll be using to explore this concept of hobo wind. And I, by the way, mean keywords, almost musically. In the key of, in the key of wind. In the key of hobo. So, it's going to be some technical work. But as you will see, all of these various exercises that you've been doing on rhyme types are going to come into play and be very fruitful as we move forward.
