Writing Songs.. The Creative Process

“De, just curious, in your mini album, did you write one of the songs for me?” he suddenly asked out of nowhere. Shoot! I was only share about the muse of my songs to my best friend, Ruby Fonna (I believe her more then I believe myself!).  I kinda have a silly principle not to tell my muses (the male one) on how they have inspired me :p (its related to my big ego, though). Long story short, in order to avoid his continuous questions, I finally explained about all my songs and the creative process; about whom, what, including the true story behind; both sad and happy ones. And just fyi, I hardly admitted that he was one of the muses in my song :p

Anyway, back to the main idea, to write a song is one of the ways for me to change/reform the negative energy I have inside; biar nggak mubazir jadi energi destruktif :) Pouring the ideas, developing the story from both sad and happy experiences, arranging words by words and make it flow in the melody. The process has it's own amusement :) Writing song for me is like writing a story for a novelist, carving wood/stone for a sculptor, and painting beautiful colors to the canvas for artists.. All of those have the same goal: to share what they have in heart and mind-sometimes to reduce the burden and pain even spread the happiness by changing it to different forms (IMHO).

The Muse and the story behind. So, who or what is the inspiration behind the songs? Usually, those are based on my own experiences in life; about my feeling, what I have been experiencing or about what I am up to.  In my mini album “Color of My Rainbow” there are 3 songs which is related to each other; “Tell Me Why” which tells the time I realize that the one I loved has someone else in his heart; the story then continue with “Terdiam” which talks about inside conflict for me to keep on going in uncertainty or walking away.. and finally the story ends with the song “Forever One and Only” which tells about finding someone (with a big brown eyes!) who has helped me through the pain  (sumpah ni lagu gombhal bhuangeedd dah! Heran kog aku bisa ya nulis yang beginian.. #eaaaaaa pokoknyaaa,,). Aside of that, sometimes, I put additional words-lyric based on my friends' experience; even more, I could develop it broader like a fiction novel- I choose the ending as I want.

The Melody and Words. Though my mood is (again) taking the lead on this part, habitually I find the melody first. When I hum the melody, most of the time I have decided the theme for the song; for instance falling in love, broken heart, universal love, etc. And I record it as soon as I have a chance (secara pemalas kaga mau susah baca-nulis partitur. Daaaann.. ini sebabnya panik banget kalo handphone ilang, karena proses kreatif disimpen disono semuwa.. hehehee). Words will come easier after. I write the songs in both Bahasa and English to have broader listener :) *go international mimpinyah. Woohooo... 
And I would like to share one other experience; mas Harry Toledo (who took me to the professional singing world) has made additional melody to my songs and asked me to find the words. The thing was, I wrote it several years ago; I need to put the same feeling-the same touch on it. Sometimes it took more then a day to be able to capture the whole energy of the song. Pff.. whatta experience!

 

Timing and Time Frame. On behalf of the timing and the duration of writing process, I should say that it totally depends on my mood. It could be during the nap time (when I failed to), in class room (when I was in medical school class - bete karena dosennya ngebosenin plus galak. Maap, Dok :p). Even more, I wrote the song “Sejiwa” for my soulmate Ruby Fonna, when I was riding my kebo otw to the office :) 
The whole writing process from the melody, the words, which will harmonized in to a song is taking various time frame. For instance, “Biarkan Ku Pergi” (I wrote it on Sunday afternoon 3pm with my acoustic guitar); for both lyric and melody has finished only in 15 minutes. In contrary, another song which I wrote when I was playing the piano, “Terdiam” took sometimes - mmm.. 2 days (I think) before it became a full song. 

What else? Mmm.. I think that's all. As you may see from the story above, yes, my mood is the big boss!! :)))  I guess I really need to manage it gently :p Though I think I have developed my ability on song writing, yet I need to enhance my skill to play the piano for better-wider range of harmony.. Having said that, I need to find a nice-kindhearted piano teacher, who is willing to teach me without any partitur involved (mungkin ga ya? Hehehe).. I have a dream that one day I can harmonize the melody and words in to beautiful everlasting song..

And my memory flies to the moment when he was closing his eyes while listening to me singing his song “..Biarkan ku pergi.. Sejenak tuk menata hati, mungkin aku kan kembali lagi.. Jangan engkau nanti.. Biarkan ku sendiri, kan kutemukan jalan tuk pulang..”

Jakarta, my cozy room, March 15, 2012