JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Songwriter Message Forum hello !! ummm, i have lyrics... who has music ?

hey, im a song writer. not to sure if my lyrics are great, or if they suck. How ever, i write them, but i cannot sing... i play no type of instrument, and im looking for the next move.... ne one wanna help ?

Stasis

Hi Stasis,

Once again a problem as common as the cold. There are plenty of people here that can possibly help you, but if you don't have any takers check out this website, it was conceived with people just like you in mind.

www.songwriterservices.biz

Welcome Ron!

Post your lyrics in one of the "Lyric Feedback Forums".

Best, John

Welcome Ron. John has given you a good advice. Good luck.
Nadia

Hey guys,

I am seeing several things on these threads and it confuses me a bit. I have not been here a long time but can I ask if everyone is expecting critiques or is this some kind of requirement to be on JPF? The reason I ask is it seems there are people here that might not understand etticate or process on these type of sites.
It is not a given in any situation that people have to respond to your songs. If you post them in a lyric or other specific forum, and people respond to it, fine, but if someone doesn't I don't get how anyone can complain about that. People may be busy, involved in their own lives or just might not feel comfortable giving critiques.
I would say that the purpose of these forums are to make friends. Like all things in music, if you do that, then it becomes easier to ask people to listen to your music or review your lyrics. That, to me would seem to be the first step in any relationship.
Now, if I am reading something wrong in this, please let me know, but if people don't say anything on your music or lyrics, it might simply be they can't cover anything. Stasis, if you want me to look over what you have, send me a message on my site mail or MBarne4908@aol.com. I am usually paid for my services, but try to give a few for JPF members or other sites I belong to.

MAB

I am aware of fruitful collaborations that have arisen thru this and another music site I frequent. One of these was trans-Atlantic, in fact. So physical distance is not really an impediment. However, all of these web-born collaborations began when people posted their work for the the purposes of a) discovering the current level of their skill or craft, and b) learning what they could do to improve. Your screen name doesn't inspire confidence on point 'b', BTW... When people are exposed to your work and, more importantly, your attitude and work ethic, you'll be likely to find some willing collaborators. MAB has generously offered to give you a pro-level critique despite that this is your first post, but since you say you haven't really put any work out there, I think just posting your work in the review forums, and giving some thorough, honest feedback on other people's work, will reap great dividends for you.

Andrew,

Thank you for that. I am hoping to make some of these sites as responsive as we can for newcomers. I envision a day when we and other sites can be a destination for artists trying to find material and i hope that we will all look out for newcomers.

MAB

Hi all,
I have been posting here since '02. The way it has always been done(most effectively) is to post one of your own songs( on one of the lyric boards), offer opinions on other peoples work and those people will reciprocate. So if you give 5 critiques, usually you will get 5 critiques.
Rick

I agree. I joined because I want to be a part of this group of people. My goal is to respond to others' posts more than I actually post my own things. I have already learned so much here by reading just about everything I can. It is quite impressive to see how much knowledge and expertise many of the people have here. I feel blessed to have been told about this site.

And Marc, yes, I agree, offering to critique his lyrics was extremely generous of you.

The MP3 and Lyric boards 1, 2 and 3 are set up to allow peer to peer critiquing of lyrics and/or music and lyrics together. It is "expected" that if you want critiques, then you should be critiquing others. It is not a requirement, but it makes sense to keep the discussions flowing. Of course, since the majority of us are not professionals or have had "cuts" our peer-to-peer critiques need to be taken with a "grain of salt".

Kevin

The site where I do most of my critiquing has a stated requirement that you post 3 reviews of other peoples' work for each lyric of your own that you post. Mods and forum regulars will call newbies on that if someone comes along and posts a bunch of lyrics without doing reviews. But as busy as JPF is, it's still kind of a de facto requirement just because people have limited time and don't want to waste it on someone who's only looking for warm fuzzies and not otherwise contributing to the discussion.
For myself, I can say that I've gotten a lot more benefit from giving thorough, sincere reviews of other peoples' work than I have from the comments others have made on my work, and I don't attribute this to other's inexperience, but to the fact that I consciously approach each review with the thought of how it will make me a better writer. I guess I'm selfish like that, but I think if I notice something that can help me it might be of value to someone else as well.

I think it's important to listen to music and lyrics which has been posted. I personally feel that I'm happy to post my review if I like someone's work. I don't read and hear everything posted but when I like what I hear I'm happy to let the creator know about it. If I don't, I wouldn't do it. If someone is posting their work and asks for the comments and suggestions and I don't like what I hear but I feel they need as much opinion as they can get, I would send PM. I don't think it's nice to put something really negative but I haven't come across it here at all. I'm grateful to everyone who takes their time to listen and post a comment on my songs. Have a great Easter weekend.
Nadia

I think if you're reviewing somebody's work and you notice something specific and concrete that bothers you about it you're doing that person a disservice by not pointing it out. Preferably, you would offer a suggestion for improvement as well... I think it's equally important to point out something that you think works really well at the same time. As a reviewer you have a responsibility to make constructive comments, especially if it's about something that you think is an issue. If you're offering work for critique you owe it to yourself to take all comments on board, realizing that everyone's opinion is subjective, not to take things personally, and engage reviewers in discussion that will hopefully be of benefit to all involved. After all, nobody in the real world is going to care enough give us a review if they don't like what we're laying down, they're just going to stop listening...

Good point, Andrew. Thank you.
Nadia

I'd like to add to Andrew's statement that not only do we learn from receiving and giving critiques but others who read the posts also learn from them. If the people offering critiques are skillful and constructive in their approach, they also serve as positive role models in that area.