Here are 5 things to start your music-making week!

1 - Jeff Leisawitz on the Magical Impact of Storytelling

Jeff Leisawitz is a musician, producer, coach, college songwriting professor, and author. His new book The Magical Impact of Storytelling explores how creatives can connect with their audiences and produce more meaningful work with effective storytelling.

Talking to Jeff again on the Music Production Podcast really got me thinking about the importance of storytelling in our music. I think this conversation might give you some great ideas about creating an intriguing story around your music.

Jeff Leisawitz on the Music Production Podcast

Just want a short taste of the conversation? Watch this and this.

2 - Steven Tyler's Sugar Packets and Broken Vibraslap on "Sweet Emotion"

Here's a short clip of Steven Tyler telling Howard Stern some fun stories about the recording of "Sweet Emotion." It's a great example of how the stories behind our art bring it to life.

Steven Tyler's "Sweet Emotion" Stories

3 - Why Storytelling in our Songs is So Important!

Rick Beato recently interviewed musician and futurist Ted Gioia about what AI means for music creation. To me, this emphasizes the importance of bringing humanity and storytelling into our music-making. This interview is funny, scary, and eye-opening!

Ted Gioia and Rick Beato

4 - Weekly Music Mission #11

All of this talk about storytelling leads us to the new Weekly Music Mission!

Weekly Music Mission #11: Create as many stories as you can around the creation of your song.

Watch the Video Instructions!

Interpret the prompt however you like. Use it to start or finish songs. If you stray from the prompt, who cares?! The point is to make music and have fun!

If you are part of the Music Production Club, share your work in our Discord! Otherwise, let me know what you've created!

Listen to the Weekly Music Mission SoundCloud Playlist.

5 - Ableton Live 12 Keyboard Shortcuts PDF

Madeleine of Sonic Bloom put together a great set of videos and a free PDF of the new keyboard shortcuts in Ableton Live 12. There's a lot of them and I'm trying to learn them as fast as possible. This PDF is making it a lot easier!

Ableton Live 12 Keyboard Shortcuts

Check out my conversation with Madeleine of Sonic Bloom on the Music Production Podcast!

Thanks for reading!

Find anything inspiring this week? Let me know!

Best,

Brian Funk

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