UK Amazon Kindle Forum discussion

Read a nice interview with an author/editor/songwriter who compares the different disciplines (full interview here, worth it)

"People think skill in musicianship comes with practice and dexterity, but skill in creative writing? Like art, they believe it’s a gift. The reality is they’re the same.”

He also draws a parallel between the two industries. What's your take on it? Similarities/differences?

I think they are both "art". I also think you have to have some natural talent for any art. You cant teach inspiration, feel etc. You can teach grammar, chords etc that can develop the talent.

I think anybody who creates something that communicates a mood or scene is using a form of "art". Whether you can directly equate skills in one art to another ... I'm not sure. What Jamie said is true, "You cant teach inspiration, feel etc. You can teach grammar, chords etc that can develop the talent". My take on that, is that either without the other is useless.

Speaking from my own experience, they may not be the same, but they're closely related. And in the case of lyrics, they come from the same place as poetry and prose.

You need the basic building block, grammar or musical knowledge then have a talent, after that it is just practice.

Reedsy again?

Yes indeed. Sounds like a general discussion but the link shows it isn't. Or am I an auld cynic?

If you are, then that makes two auld cynics! Somehow reminiscent of a discussion about cover designers in a not too distant place.

Wangsplat :(

Ah well. We're not being taken in by the spamming, so no harm done. Except perhaps to Reedsy's reputation.

Andrew. Stop splatting your wang. You'll go blind!

I'm gonna have to work that word into a conversation.

Patti (baconater) wrote: "Ah well. We're not being taken in by the spamming, so no harm done. Except perhaps to Reedsy's reputation."

Well, and slightly my sister-in-law's reputation, elsewhere. :(

I know a lot of doctors who are good musicians (jazz, particularly, seems to be their thing) but their handwriting is rubbish ;)

Wouldn't be so bad if the OP joined in on the discussion.

Apart from that, I hope they're not the same, as I'm tone deaf.

Nobody's tone deaf, David. They just haven't been taught to listen. ;)

Kath wrote: "Nobody's tone deaf, David. They just haven't been taught to listen. ;)"

My wife once told me I had selective herring, and she was right. I didn't 'alf end up with a gippy tum, but she was absolutely fine, same fish an' everything. ;-)

Kath wrote: "Nobody's tone deaf, David. They just haven't been taught to listen. ;)"

I managed to be the only boy in our year who wasn't in the school choir!

At the Grammar school when I went the music master at the time was big on choral music. He used to have big school choirs (and won prizes)
To get sound balance (and an opportunity to train them) the entire first year was effectively conscripted into the choir.

At your first music lesson at the school he was have each boy stand by the piano and sing a scale. The master would then assign you to part of the choir.

I'd been playing the piano for a few years by then so knew music. When he played, I sang every note as the same note. He tried me with a different scale, but I stuck to my note and feigned utter ignorance

I was the one boy in our year he just abandoned hope in :-)

Jim wrote: "I managed to be the only boy in our year who wasn't in the school choir!..."

When we were living in Vienna, my wife got us tickets to see Die Wiener Saengerknaben in concert at St. Stephens. I thought this was strange but didn't say anything and just went along. We both took German. That said, there's no shame in not recognizing Saengerknaben as "boys choir." Even so, they're a Vienna institution, so I just assumed my wife decided she wanted to attend one of their concerts--despite the fact that she finds boys choirs about as entertaining as fingernails on a blackboard. And she sat politely through the entire concert and waited until we were walking home to note, "Obviously I didn't understand what I was getting us tickets for."

So you'd have made her proud!

Love it, my compliments to the lady

My son and my wife both sing in choirs. I sing in the shower. Tom Jones and Elvis Presley mostly.

My singing sounds great to me. My Delilah in particular is the stuff of legend. Although I have to admit that I don't know all the words. Or any of the notes. Or the choon. But I like to think that my cover version makes up for that with the gusto of the performance.

The Mem and Best Boy in the World have other opinions.

Being serious for a second, I do believe that there is a certain level of ability in almost any discipline that can be taught. It usually isn't a "gift" - it's the result of a lot of hard work and practice, whether that is singing, writing or kicking a pig's bladder around a muddy field.

There is a difference between music and writing in that music uses physical muscles, where writing is almost entirely a mental activity. Both can be taught, but the process of teaching will be different. Writers don't need to hone muscle memory in the same way as someone who practises a more physical activity.

Jim wrote: "Kath wrote: "Nobody's tone deaf, David. They just haven't been taught to listen. ;)"

I managed to be the only boy in our year who wasn't in the school choir!

At the Grammar school when I went the..."

I was once cast as the lead in a school play called Pedro's Revenge, of which photos still unfortunately exist. I was cast for my acting, but the play was also a full-on musical and I was centre stage for pretty much every song.

So the music teacher, despairing, told me to just mime along while the rest of the cast sang the chorus numbers.

I wasn't particularly happy about that, to be honest, but through sheer shame I did as I was told...

... until the dress rehearsal, when the "director" (and also the deputy head and my classroom teacher) noticed I was miming and bawled me out on it in front of the entire year group. The music teacher denied any knowledge of having told me to mime.

Um, yeah, I learned a lot that day.