I’ll jump right in.  Once we’ve got a melody, lyrics, and basic structure to the song, we then see if it needs adjusting or arranging.  We like to record it on our phones or computers and then listen back.  It helps give us a little more perspective and objectivity.

Let’s take Jenny’s song “Through Your Eyes” for example.

While we were in the process of finishing this song, Jenny had written three verses with a refrain “No one else has to know” at the end of each of the verses.  The verses are introspective and quite dark.  The song felt like it was crying for some offer of hope.  That was when we began to craft a new section, which eventually became the bridge.  We thought Foy Vance’s song “If only you could see yourself like I see you” said it perfectly, so it became our model.  As Picasso (may have) once said, “Good artists borrow, great artists steal.”

Foy’s song has one phrase (the title) that repeats a few times during the chorus, with a melodic vocal run on “ah” at the end.  We put a vocal run at the beginning and did a similar thing, repeating “I want to see myself through your eyes.”  We knew the song was getting close to completion.

We had three verses, a refrain, and a bridge!  It was time to start arranging.  We decided that the bridge was worthy of hinting at, so we made it a musical interlude to create some variety between the second and third verses.

Here are the list of tools we use to make the adjustments:

Melodic/Harmonic Tools

Harmony – most examples are in vocal parts, some instrumentals

• Unison (creates texture, ex. end of each verse of The Sound of Silence, 39s, “within the” & “of silence”
• 2nds (makes vibey if used wisely, ex. “words” on “there are no words for this” in Skyline Hill)
• 3rds (our default harmony, beautiful ex. “the gap between the rich and poor” in Faint Not at 36s)
• 4th (strong and medieval, ex. “on” of “walked on” before the vocal slide in This Isn’t a Dream at 40s)
• 5ths (strong and medieval, power chords in pop/punk/rock music)
• 6ths (like 3rds though not as tight, still beautiful, ex. Holding on to Hope, 2:10s)
• 7ths (crunchy, used in the intro/verse guitar part in Incubis “I miss you“)
• Octaves (adds strength, ex. verses on Song For You, first verse of See The Conqueror)
• 9ths (open & interesting, ex. guitar parts in Dave Matthew’s Satellite)
• 10ths (pretty, ex. guitar part in Blackbird)

Harmonic motion

• Parallel (moving with each other, ex. “Dawn breaks” in Skyline Hill, 2s)
• Contrary (moving opposite each other, ex “weeping” in See The Conqueror at 1:56)
• Oblique (one part moves and the other stays on one or two notes, ex. Little Balloon, 50s

Rhythmic Tools

• Tempo changes (slow down or speed up like in The Legend of John Henry’s Hammer, 4:32-5:32
• Metric changes 1. 3/4 to 4/4 in Lucy in The Sky, 50s, or 4/4 to 3/4 in Roll Away Your Stone, 2:53
  2. Changing from 4/4 to 3/4 within phrases like in Strawberry Fields Forever, 41s

Dynamic/Miscellaneous Tools

• A’cappella – just the voices, no instruments, Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes, intro
• Use of harmony – only singing on some parts of phrases, Roll Away Your Stone, 3:05
• Falsetto – in a male voice, the head voice, Levi Weaver’s cover of Idioteque, 1:10
• Octave jumps – can be pretty or powerful, Bring Him Home, opening line
• Sliding notes – sliding up or down, engaging if not overused, Shane & Shane’s Vision of You, 3:41
• Vocal runs – putting in lots of notes, engaging if not overused, Adele’s Rolling in The Deep, “fire”
• Swells – going from soft to loud while holding a note, Civil Wars Poison & Wine, 1:00
• Whistle, kazoo, trumpet mouth, Bobby McFerrin’s Don’t Worry Be Happy
• Beat box, Ed Scheeran You Need Me, I Don’t Need You
• Suspensions 4/3, 9/8, 6/5 Politik at 4:00
• Trading phrases, sections, words with lead vocals, Brooke Fraser Who Are We Fooling, 2:23
• Speaking, Laura Marling’s Muse, 23s
• Operatic, Calexico with Iron & Wine’s He Lays in the Reins
• Claps, Violent Femmes’ Blister in the Sun
• Snaps, Muse’ Time is Running Out
• Staccato, Regina Spektor’s Fidelty, vs Civil Wars’ Legato (long held out notes)
• Strum (Mumford) vs finger-pick (Paul Simon) thumb strum (Andy Davis)
• Instrument harmonics (Mumford, 2:49 of Roll Away Your Stone)
• Instrumental melodies and harmonies (Mumford, intro of Roll Away Your Stone)
• Key – every key carries with it a different tone, feeling, mood, we usually choose according to how they fit with our voices though.
• Tempo – we typically tap the tempo that seems right to us after writing a song and stick with that
• Key change – can be cheesy or highly effective/striking (3:33, John Mayer’s Bold As Love is a good example)
• Tempo & meter change –  JJ Heller If You Fall, 3/4 & 4/4 on verses, 4/4 on chorus
• Adding/Subtracting beats on the end of a measure (Toadies Possum Kingdom 3:12 1 measures of 4/4, then 1 of 3/4 then 2 measures of 4/4)
• Time signature – 3/4, 4/4, etc
• Time signature change - Mumford, 4/4 until 2:53, then 6/8 or 3/4 in Roll Away Your Stone,
• Chord substitution – keeps listener on their toes, Holding on to Hope, minor 3 to major 3 at 3:14
• Dynamics – really soft(pp), soft(p), medium(mf), loud(f), really loud(ff)
• Instrumentation – adding & subtract throughout to keep listener’s interest
• Golden section – .62 (62% through the song, usually the biggest or most important part of the song, the pinnacle) – Read on wiki, here are some works that use the Golden Mean.
• Half-sections (Mumford I Will Wait – first chorus twice as short as second & third choruses )
• Double-sections (repeating choruses usually)
• Repeated phrases, words – “My, my, my” in This Is Just So Beautiful
• Dropped phrases, words -
• Foreign Accents – Glen Hansard “misunderstood”
• Vowels a ‘uh’ or ‘aih’ – Adele “There’s a fire” or Milk Carton Kids, “There’s a light”
• Repeated consonants – Matt Wertz “Somebody New”

Alrighty.  That’s the list off the top of my head.  If you can think of any examples of things I’ve missed, please tweet us (http://twitter.com/jennyandtyler) or comment below or on Facebook with a YouTube video link and the tool being demonstrated.

I will leave you with what my composer/jazz pianist/organists/choir director dad, Wilson Somers, says is one of the most important musical concepts:

Five Principles of Music

Contrast – this applies to everything from dynamics, to meter, instrumentation, and any of the following. Contrast, possibly above everything else, allows for engaging music.  Lose contrast and you’ve got monotony.
Voicing – this primarily has to do with instrumentation, that is, where you’re putting the notes within the instruments themselves (the voice is definitely included in this).
Rhythm – the backbone of music
Breath – music often needs space in order to speak the most naturally and powerfully it can.  Breath is vital to us humans.  It’s vital to good music too.
Variety – Mix it up.  Form helps with this.  AABA is a classic example.

That’s it.  Let me know if you’ve got some questions by commenting below, tweeting us (@jennyandtyler) or commenting on Facebook.

Peace!

Tyler

Meet Bob:

And Oscar:

We’d canceled our show that evening due to illness and meeting them was a nice pick me up on a sad day.

My sister’s husband’s family lives in Annapolis, MD, so she happened to be there visiting from California. I miss my sister desperately pretty much everyday. Annapolis is only about an hour and a half from Wilmington, DE, so we spent a day and half together. It was so nice. I’m always sad when she leaves, mostly because I know that sisters aren’t meant to be apart and that it’s very likely that we always will be. Her husband is an officer in the navy and they move every couple of years. Here we are together. Isn’t she beautiful?

I thought I had a picture or two of us with Tyler’s family, but apparently they are still on our camera and Tyler’s phone, neither of which are with me currently. I’ll give you a picture of Skyline Hill in the morning fog instead:

Oh how I love this place.

We returned home to Nashville a couple of days after Christmas. My parents drove up from Ft. Worth, TX for a few days and my grandparents came down from New York. We are such a scattered family. It was so nice to be with them for a bit. Tyler and I rent a basement apartment from my brother and sister-in-law. They have 8 month old twin boys, so most of our time was spent playing with and marveling at the little guys. In a world full of negativity they bring me so much hope.

Now, here we are in Nashville, recovering from a busy fall. We’re spending most of our days writing songs and answering emails. It’s so good to rest. We will be announcing new shows pretty soon. We’re looking forward to seeing many of you out on the road starting in February.

How was your Christmas?

Just like last time, we’ve got the entire set to ourselves, which means we should have plenty of time for stories, requests, hanging out afterward, etc. And also just like last time, we’re recording the night, possibly to release as a live EP. We’re really looking forward to this!

If you don’t know about Eddie’s Attic, it’s an intimate listening room just outside of Atlanta, renown among singer/songwriters. It has a tendency to fill up pretty quickly, so you may want to get tickets in advance.

Here are the details:

Date: Sunday, December 9th
Location: Eddie’s Attic | 515-B North McDonough St. Decatur, GA 30030
Time: 5p Doors | 6p Show
Tickets: $10 at the door | $50 table of 4 | Purchase in advance: http://bit.ly/jtEddies

For free music, go to http://jennyandtyler.com/free or click the “FREE” link at the top right of the page. Enjoy!

Here is a cheesy Eiffel Tower photo for you:

Eiffel Tower!!

We returned from France and jumped right back into touring. We spent a couple of weekends at Windy Gap Young Life camp. Fall in the mountains of North Carolina is stunning and the second weekend was particularly beautiful. The trees were electric. We made our way through Indiana when camp was over and the colors became even more saturated and intense. The golden/marigold hue that many of the trees turn is probably my favorite color of all time. You just can’t recreate it apart from nature.

Our week in Chicago was ridiculously fun and a bit of a blur. I think that my favorite show was the night we played in the city at a really sweet old church. There’s something especially magical about playing in old churches. It’s powerful to play in a place where generations before us have worshiped. The power went out just as doors opened and we found candles to line the stage with. Thankfully the power came back on in time for the show. While I’m glad that it did for sound purposes, it was almost a bit of a let down. It would’ve been pretty awesome to play in that space by candlelight.

Last night we finished our short run of shows with Sara Groves and Bebo Norman. We had a really wonderful time. These artists are so inspiring. It’s life giving to be on the road with people we admire so much. We had the great honor of singing with Sara each evening. She is such a great songwriter. Tyler and I have listened to her records many times and said to each other, “How do you write a song like that?!”

I found this video today of us playing “See The Conqueror” at last night’s show. Sara and band were kind enough to back us up. We haven’t played with a full band in probably 5 years. We were giddy with excitement.

Tonight we fly home to Nashville for a day before we head to Mississippi. We still have shows in Columbus, OH, Huntington, IL, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Greensboro, NC, Champaign, IL, Fredericksburg, MD, Washington, DC, and Newtown Square, PA before the year is out. I think there may have left out a couple of places. You can get all of the details here.

Hope to see you soon.

When I started writing songs, I didn’t have a clue about music theory; sometimes I still wish I didn’t. The danger of music theory is that it has the ability to constrain or limit artistry when used incorrectly. For example, you could be hearing a beautiful/powerful/sweet chord progression or melody in your head that according to the basic rules of theory (derived from J.S. Bach) shouldn’t work. The rules are there, sometimes to follow and sometimes to break. Had Kurt Cobain followed the rules, Smells Like Teen Spirit would not exist (it uses parallel fifths in the chord progression – for you theory buffs out there).

Standard Chord Progression

In conventional American pop music, the standard chord progression is (in the key of C): C, G, Am, F. If you put that in terms of chords numbers, that’s 1, 5, 6 (minor), and 4. Go here for examples of pop songs with that progression:

In conventional American pop music, the standard chord progression is (in the key of C): C, G, Am, F. If you put that in terms of chords numbers, that’s 1, 5, 6 (minor), and 4. Go here for examples of pop songs with that progression: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I. You can start on any of the chords in the progression and keep going around. For example, if you start on the Am, the progression would be Am, F, C, G. If you start on the G, the progression would be G, Am, F, C.

Let’s think of all the following pop songs in the key of C:

Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” starts on the C and goes C, G, Am, F or 1, 5, 6, 4
Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” (chorus) starts on the G and goes G, Am, F, C or 5, 6, 4, 1
Coldplay’s “The Scientist” starts on the Am and goes Am, F, C, G or 6, 4, 1, 5
The Band Perry’s “If I Die Young“ starts on the F and goes F, C, G, Am or 4, 1, 5, 6

In our own music, again thinking in the key of C:
Song For You (on the chorus) and As Long As Our Hearts Are Beating go C, G, Am, F or 1, 5, 6, 4
Through Your Eyes (in the bridge) goes Am, F, C, G or 6, 4, 1, 5
Faint Not, Holding on to Hope (on the chorus), and Abide (verses) go F, C, G, Am or 1, 5, 6, 4

Variations & Substitutions

Because our ears are so used to the standard chord progression, it’s nice to vary it up sometimes. When we do, we usually only substitute one chord in the four chord progression, on occasion two. Here’s an example of chord substitution using the standard chord progression (again thinking in the key of C):

This Is Just So Beautiful goes C, Em, Am, F instead of C, G, Am, F. As you can see, Em (minor 3 chord) is substituted for G (the 5 chord).  Carry Me (in the verse) goes Am, F, C, Em. The substitution in Carry Me is identical to the one in This Is Just So Beautiful; the minor 3 (Em) is replacing the 5 (G).

Below is chart I put together of possible chord substitutions; think of this as a color palette. You’ll want to use these substitutions wisely, according to what the song demands. For example, if it’s a powerful lyric with a minor melody, you probably want to substitute a minor chord for a major one, so if we are using the standard chord progression as a template, it might look like this: C, G, Am, Fm or C, G, Am, Dm. On the other hand, if it’s a happy lyric with a light, celebratory melody, you’ll probably want to substitute major for minor, so C, G, C, F.

*Please note. A capital letter by itself, like C, D, E, F, and G, almost always means a major chord. If it has a lowercase ‘m’ next to it, it means minor. The exception is if it’s a 6, then it’s almost always minor, even if there’s no ‘m’ next to it. I’ve got usual substitutes (what you commonly hear in most music) and occasional substitutes (what you really don’t hear much at all but can sometimes be really cool).

Chord Substituions: Key of C Major

Original Chord:                   C – - – - – Dm – - – - - Em – - – - -  F - – - – - - G – - – - – - A
Usual Substitution:            Am - – - – F – - – - – - – G – - – - - - Dm - – - – - Em – - – - – C
Occasional Substitution:  A - – -  D or Fm – - E or Gm – D or Fm – - E or Gm – - A or Cm

Adding Chords to a Melody

For us, songs usually start in one of three ways.
1) A melody comes to me or Jenny without words
2) Words come without a melody
3) Both words and melody come at the same time

In any of the cases above, we almost always have to add chords.

Certain notes fit with certain chords.  Here’s a chart for that.

Notes in Pop Chord Progressions: Key of C Major

Note     Solfège    Number    Common Chords             Uncommon Chords
C – - – - – Do – - – - – 1  - – - - - – - – C, F, Am - – - - – - – Gsus4, Fm, Dm7, D7,
D - - – - – Re - - – - -  2  - – - - - – - -Dm, G - – - - – - – - – C, D, Em7, F6,
E - - – - – Mi - - – - – 3 - – - - - – - – Em, C, Am - – - - – - E, Fmaj7, D9, A
F - - – - – Fa - - – - – 4  - – - - - – - -F, Dm, G7 - – - - – -  Fm, Am6
G - - – - – So - - – - – 5  - – - - - – - -G, C, Em - – - - – - –  Dm, F, Fm, Am
A - - – - – La - - – - – 6  - – - - - – - -Am, F, Dm - – - - – - D, C6
B - - – - – Ti - - – - -  7  - – - - - – - -G, Em - – - - – - – - –  C, Dm, D, E, F, Fm

For the most part, we try to make our lyrics, melodies, and chord progressions cohesive. For a powerful song, we use a mix of major and minor chords. For a dark song, we use mostly minor chords. For a lighter song, we use mostly major chords.  Sometimes we put dark lyrics with a lighter melody, feel, and chord progression. I like to call this the Bob Marley effect. Bob sang about some heavy stuff (slavery, poverty, etc.), but the music, the feel, and the energy of the songs is always bright. Sometimes to make a more neutral lyric go deeper, or help facilitate contemplation, we combine it with a minor chord. Similarly, to make an already deep lyric more accessible, we might place it with a major chord.

Finding a Melody

When words come without a melody, we need to find one. Theory is pretty good for that. To find a melody, I usually play a chord progression and start to hum along until I find something I like.

Let’s say there are three types of lyrics: deep, dark, and light. Again, we usually want the melody, chords, and lyrics to be cohesive, so we match a deep lyric with a deep melody, carried along by a deep chord progression.

Deep – I take the standard chord progression above and maybe substitute one chord here and there. Let’s say the verse is darker and the chorus is lighter. I might start on a minor chord (remember 6 is minor) in the verses 6, 4, 1, 5 and go to a major chord in the chorus 1, 5, 6, 4 or 4, 1, 5, 6.

Dark – I use mostly minor chords, usually starting on the 6 and using the 2m and 3m when it feels right.

Light - I use mostly major chords, usually starting on the 1.

That’s it for now.  In my next entry, I’m planning on listing the tools we use to make songs more interesting.

We like Texas, a lot. My parents moved to the Ft. Worth area about 4 years ago; up until then, I’d never been to TX, ever.  But over the years, we’ve come to thoroughly enjoy it. My(Jenny) amazing parents have an beautiful home with a big pool. We’ve spent many an afternoon sitting by that pool, playing water-volleyball, listening to either bluegrass or Irish folk music, and simply enjoying one another’s company.  Throw my old cat Stewart into the equation (the one-eyed  cat; the one I gave up for Tyler), and BAAM, you’ve got a recipe for good memories.

Fried chicken you ask?  Why yes.  There just happens to be a place not far from Fort Worth that my dad loves.  My mom usually only allows my dad to go to when we’re in town.  Tyler, wanting me to be healthy, also usually only allows me to eat fried chicken when we’re visiting Texas.  So both me and dad win, in a sense.

We’ve been playing house shows at my parent’s place for the past couple of years. Last time we had about 75 people and Stewart got pretty freaked out, so we’ve decided that it’s probably time to try out a Fort Worth venue (see below).

Waco people! Remember that time when it was 95 degrees out even after the sun had set and Tyler and I were playing under super hot lights and Tyler looked like he’d literally jumped in a pool by the end of the show? That was fun. No seriously, I’m not being sarcastic, it really was.  And looking out at your beautiful faces singing along to the music, what a memory.  We’re looking forward to seeing y’all again!

The first time we played in Dallas was three years ago with our friends Dewveall.  It was little coffee shop called White Rock and six people came; two of them were my parents. Fast forward to our show in Garland (a suburb of Dallas) two months ago and we played to an enthusiastic crowd of 175. It’s incredible to watch the music grow, a true honor.

We’ve never been to Tyler, TX, but we like the town already because it bears one of our names.

The Texas Tour:

Wed, Sept 19 | LifePointe Church | Fort Worth, TX | Tickets 
Thu, Sept 20 | Common Grounds | Waco, TX | Tickets 
Sat, Sept 22 | The Opening Bell | Dallas, TX | Venue
Sun, Sept 23 | Bethel Bible Church Downtown at Broadway | Tyler, TX | Tickets

Come out and see us!

Jenny & Tyler

We spent the past year touring and traveling. We explored big cities and small towns, and made lots of new friends along the way.

And we were met with indescribable beauty. From the electric pinks and oranges of a sunset on the West coast to the cool, refreshing waters on the coast of Maine, we found ourselves gazing in awe at the beauty around us, wondering at our privilege of being allowed to take it in, all the while knowing that we’d only scratched the surface of what the world has to offer.

And we filmed some of it. And we wrote a song. And created a music video.

The Skyline Hill music video is essentially a compilation of some footage from our travels. The images are simple and relaxed. We filmed everything and edited it ourselves, so it has a bit of a “home video” feel. It’s authentic and easy. And that’s the way the song itself was meant to be.

We are releasing it at midnight on Sunday (technically Monday, Sept. 17th).

Here is a screen shot:

Get ready for Sunday!

Once again I apologize for my less than faithful writing. I hope to make up for it with this post. Get prepared to discover some fantastic new music.

About a year and a half ago we played a show at Grace Church in Dover, DE. An acoustic trio of siblings opened the evening for us and we found ourselves sitting on the edge of our seats, breathless, and completely stunned by the beauty of their set. Their voices blended perfectly, the lyrics pulled at our heartstrings, and the peaceful melodies they sang made my whole body ache with a hope for something more.

Their music literally moved me to tears. That doesn’t happen often. In fact I can only think of a few times that I’ve cried at a concert, one being at a Mumford and Sons show a couple of years ago and another when I heard Audrey Assad sing Bridge Over Troubled Water when we toured with her last fall. There was something so sincere and authentic about Salvage Kin’s live show. We fell in love.

Salvage Kin, comprised of sisters Audrey Moore and Tracy Peters and Tracy’s husband Matt Peters, recently released an EP that Tyler had the privilege of recording and producing. The EP is completely live and was recorded in the sanctuary at Grace Church in one 12 hour day. The acoustics in the room are wonderful and the sparse production really lets the voices of Audrey, Tracy, and Matt shine.

I requested an interview with Salvage Kin recently and they were kind enough to oblige. Tracy Peters took the time to answer my questions. If you don’t have time to read through the interview, go check out their music over at their Facebook Page.

Without further ado, allow me to introduce you to Salvage Kin:

L to R: Matt, Audrey, and Tracy

TP: Audrey and I are sisters, so we grew up playing music together. We started out singing worship songs and bits from disney movies and musicals like The Sound of Music and The Lion King. Someone was always singing something while riding in the car, washing dishes, or doing laundry. We eventually learned piano and guitar and spent time learning to play anything from hymns to Elvis Presley. Our parents always encouraged us to pursue music, and they would bring their friends home for us to sing or play piano for them. Most of our experience with music came through the church, because we always got involved with choirs and worship teams. But we never really tried to write our own songs.

My husband Matt and I began writing music together in 2008 while we were dating, and did a couple of rough recordings. We never really played for anyone but a few close friends after we were married in 2009.

Salvage Kin was formed in 2010 after Matt and I moved to Delaware from Colorado. Matt and I would occasionally play at home and Audrey began adding harmonies and background vocals. A good friend of ours signed us up for a coffeehouse with Delaware Friends of Folk and after that we began playing at different small venues in our area. People started calling us “Peters and Moore” (our last names) which we didn’t necessarily like. . .so we decided to come up with a real band name. It took us a lot of thinking. . .but we eventually decided on Salvage Kin.

 J: Is there a story behind the band’s name?

TP: The name Salvage Kin holds a lot of depth for all of us and contains a few levels of meaning. We have endured a lot of family hardships together over the years, so we wanted our name to describe how our family has been salvaged or restored from disarray. In addition to representing the physical state of our family, Salvage Kin is also meant to represent the spiritual state of man. Because of man’s sin, we are all broken or fallen, but because of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have been redeemed and are now being used for new purposes within the body of Christ. We have been salvaged by grace, and are now kin to the Savior.

TP: Our song writing process has changed a lot over time. At first, Matt and I primarily would write the songs and then all three of us would make changes and add vocal layers. Audrey then started bringing some of her finished songs to the table for us to perform as a trio. The latest songs have been more of a group effort as we present our ideas to each other and collectively sit down and write lyrics and melodies together. Writing alone and writing as a group are entirely different ball games. It took some time for us to reach that level of comfort with each other that allows us to feel free enough to present ideas to each other in the initial stages, rather than perfecting or finishing them before bringing them to the group. We’re still working on this.

J: What/who inspires you? 

TP: The majority of our inspiration for lyrical content comes from our life experiences; hardships, joys, tragedies, amusements, or just plain old observations. When something happens, good or bad, which teaches us something about life or God, we often write about it. A common theme that we often seem to return to is contentment. Finding peace in whatever situation God has placed us in. Our lyrics contain a lot of Biblical allusions, because the Bible has been a huge part of our upbringing and has greatly influenced the way we view our lives. We seek to create music that honestly portrays the way we feel, but that also speaks the absolute truth. Our feelings are often in disagreement with the truth regarding a certain situation, but it is important to be honest and express both. And that is the beauty of music. It can be used to express our deep emotions, or it can be used to send a message of truth. We try to do both.

Musically. . .its hard to say. We have been exposed to so many different styles of music its difficult to tell if we draw from one group more than another. I really love classical jazz, blues, and swing, Matt enjoys mellow acoustic artists, and Audrey primarily listens to alternative folk. If you listen, you can hear all of those influences in the music we create.

TP: We often say this at our shows, but if listeners get nothing else out of our music, we hope that for a few minutes, at least, they can experience peace. We experience the joy and peace of Christ when we play music together, and it is ultimately our hope that we can draw others into that when they hear us, even if its just for a season. We cannot fix this broken world, heal the wounds, or fill the unmet needs. But we do have the peaceful hope that one day all things will be made new. We want you to have a piece of that.

You can find Salvage Kin on Facebook, Twitter, and iTunes.

We’ve got the entire set to ourselves, so we imagine we’ll have plenty of time for things like storytelling, taking requests, meeting/greeting, you know, the good stuff.  Also, we may be recording the night to release as our next live EP.  We’re really looking forward to this!
If you don’t know about Eddie’s Attic, it’s an intimate listening room just outside of Atlanta, renown among singer/songwriters.  It has a tendency to fill up pretty quickly, so you may want to get tickets in advance.

Here are the details:

Date: Wednesday, August 29th
Location: Eddie’s Attic | 25 North McDonough St. Decatur, GA 30030
Time: 6:30 Doors | 7:30p Show
Tickets: $10 at the door | Purchase in advance: http://bit.ly/jteddie

For free music, go to http://jennyandtyler.com/free or click the “FREE” link at the top right of the page.  Enjoy!

Tyler and I often receive emails from aspiring songwriters asking how we go about writing. While we try to answer each email, it is difficult to give every one the attention it deserves. I’ve decided to address the question here.

Let me begin by saying that we definitely do not have this whole songwriting thing figured out or mastered in any way, nor will we ever. Songwriting is a craft, and the more you do it, the better you get. We frequently write songs that are duds. A lot of the songs we write are never recorded or heard by anyone but the two of us. But that’s okay. Sometimes you just need to write a song to help you process something that’s going on in your heart or help you get through a situation. It can be very healing.

With all of that in mind, I’d like to share some of the tools we use when we write.

Critiquing

Tyler and I have very different styles of writing and we go about the process differently. Most of the time one of us writes the majority of a song. We then bring the song to each other to finish it. It’s incredibly helpful to have an extra set of ears and eyes when writing. I’m not much of a guitar player, so I especially need Tyler’s help to make the chords in my songs interesting. I’ve said it before, but I really would write a lot of predictable country songs if it weren’t for Tyler. We’ve learned to critique each other in a healthy way. It was difficult at first. It’s hard to hear criticism from your spouse and not take it personally. We’ve learned that we have a professional relationship as well as a personal one.

Jenny’s Process

I’ve kept journals since I was about 10 years old. I have each one lined up on a book shelf in our bedroom. It’s really wonderful to be able to read through them and remember what I was feeling and thinking at the time.  I try to be a faithful writer. When I’m writing a song I often flip through my current journal or one from the past year or so and look for thoughts or phrases that I think are interesting or memorable. A good example of this is the song Skyline Hill. I was flipping through my journal and noticed the line, “There are no words for this.” Originally that line was written about a very painful situation, but I didn’t feel like writing a sad song this time. I decided to flip it around and write about beauty. I started brainstorming the beautiful things in my life, and came up with creation, Tyler, and grace. I try to write very visually, so I wanted to create scenes that the listener could really see and be a part of.

I tried to write with imagery again in Little Balloon. The images in that song are meant to evoke feelings of failure – trying to catch a balloon that is just out of reach, giving up when it gets too hard to climb a tree, growing weary while running through an endless field. In the bridge I tried to communicate the idea of resting in the Lord’s hands instead of striving to do things on my own.

I tend to write lyrics and melodies at the same time. I’m not really sure how to explain this. It sort of feels like it just happens. This isn’t always the case, but I feel like my best songs are written this way.

Tyler’s Process

Tyler writes very differently. He frequently has a melody or lyric stirring within him and leaves himself lots of messages on his phone. Tyler writes about relationships, his heart, our culture, books he is reading, etc. He manages to write about what he observes in the world around him in a powerful way that isn’t cliche or preachy. Tyler is really honest and often writes about the depravity of his own heart. He writes a lot of songs to his own soul, sort of the way David did in the Psalms. Abide is an example of this sort of song. He’s essentially saying, “Hey Tyler, get with it!”

Tyler also writes directly from the Bible. Tyler wrote Kingdom of Heaven and Psalm 86 on Open Your Doors – both of which come from from the Scriptures. I still remember the day he played the beginnings of Kingdom of Heaven and Fear Thou Not for me. I looked at him, amazed, and said, “Where did that come from?!”

Tyler often writes music and lyrics separately. Sometimes he writes lyrics to fit a melody, and sometimes it’s the other way around. Sometimes a melody or lyric will sit unused for quite a while. Psalm 86 is a good example of this. It took a  year to complete. Tyler wrote the chorus first and left it alone for a while. He wrote the lyrics to the verses next and then I helped him put a melody to those lyrics much later. That’s how it happens sometimes. You can’t rush a song.

Well, that’s essentially how songwriting works for us. I’m sure it works very differently for others. I will leave you with a few tips you might employ while writing. Of course their are exceptions to all of these little tips.

Tips 

1. If you’re having a hard time finding a melody, try playing a chord progression over and over and humming to it. You might find something you like. Record the melody to your phone or computer immediately.

2. Focus on variety/contrast. You probably don’t want the chorus and verses to start on the same note. Think about dynamics. Songs that stay the same throughout – even with an awesome melody – can get boring.

3. Think about time signatures. See The Conqueror from Open Your Doors began in 4/4 and was changed to 6/8. I think 6/8 makes the song much more powerful.

4. Rhythm is really important. Don’t strum the guitar the same way on every song. You might switch up the strum pattern on the verses and chorus within a song.

5. If your bridge doesn’t say something new or add to the song in a powerful way, don’t use it. There are quite a few songs on Open Your Doors that do not have bridges. A bridge didn’t seem to fit Kingdom of Heaven. On Fear Thou Not we kept the bridge instrumental – it serves as more of an interlude. Do not feel like you have to write verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus. Feel free to explore. However, if you feel that the song really needs a bridge, work until you get it right. We wrote 5 bridges for Little Balloon before settling on the right one.

6. Study your favorite songs. What do you like about them? How do they make you feel? Think about the form and structure of those songs. How many notes are in the melodies? How much repetition is used? Obviously you do not want to copy the songs, but its okay to use them as a guide.

We hope this is helpful. Tyler plans to write more of a music theory approach to songwriting within the next week or so. Stay tuned!