Site Meter Musician’s Notebook » Blog Archive » Themed Collections - the album as art

Themed Collections - the album as art

by Joel Falconer

Most musicians look at the individual song as a piece of art and the album as a means of distributing a collection of songs conveniently. But the album can be so much more than a means of mass distribution! It requires a small shift in viewpoint, but if you learn to see the album itself as a work of cohesive art, made up of songs that form a larger whole just like words form sentences, you can create something more powerful for the listener and fulfilling for you.

This is done by theming your albums and collections. If you start with songs, you end up with a mish-mash by the end, but if you determine the theme of your album and then work on songwriting and repertoire, you’ll have formed the basis for that cohesive themed work.

Begin by shifting viewpoint and seeing the album as the work of art, and then you can take the next step - determining the theme that’ll work best for you.


Posted in Songwriting on September 24th, 2007

Link to this Entry

Recent Posts

Related Posts

4 Responses to “Themed Collections - the album as art”

  1. Enn Says:
    September 27th, 2007 at 8:19 pm

    Good article. Like to know more about how you’d go about selecting and crafting a theme. Can you expand on this idea?

  2. Musician’s Notebook » Blog Archive » Themed Collections - choosing thematic subjects Says:
    September 28th, 2007 at 6:01 pm

    […] Collections - choosing thematic subjects by Joel Falconer Building on yesterday’s post about themed collections, it’s important to choose strong themes that you know you believe […]

  3. Tori Amos » Blog Archive » Six hours and counting until I see Tori tonight! Says:
    November 13th, 2007 at 12:40 pm

    […] portrays each posse member in concert. Fascinating reading! This is also an iinteresting 451 Press post on themed music collections, such as […]

  4. Enn Says:
    November 27th, 2007 at 2:06 pm

    Definitely like to know more about how you decide on and create material on a theme.

    What are some of the things you need to consider?

    How do you get the band to buy in thos this idea of the concept album?

    What are some of the liabilities of concepts and themes, and how do you go about offsetting those? What are the pros?

Leave a Reply


About Musician’s Notebook

Do you know which essential questions to ask yourself when starting a band? What is your strategy for reaching an audience? Which tactics are you using to promote? Can you answer in 4 seconds or less what the strongest theme of your music is? Most musicians answer these questions with a shrug and glazed-over eyes, but they're just a few of the things a musician must know to create exposure and audience. Read Musician's Notebook with Joel Falconer and discover how to make your music sharp, focused and successful.

Musician’s Notebook Author(s)
    » Damian-C

NAVIGATE

LINKS

CATEGORIES

TOP COMMENTERS

RECENT COMMENTS

SUBSCRIBE

ARCHIVES

Blogging Flair

Earn $$ with WidgetBucks!

WidgetBucks - Trend Watch - WidgetBucks.com

 

Entertainment & Music Channel Posts

  • This Week In Pop Culture: A Haiku
    THE DAVIDS BATTLE ON AMERICAN IDOL DOES ANYONE CARE? [...]
  • Davina McCall Denies Quitting Big Brother - Big Brother 9 Eye Logo Revealed
    Last week it was reported that Davina McCall was planning to quit being presenter of Big Brother after the forthcoming ninth series had finished. She's now come out to deny this, and claim that she'd [...]
  • The Great Debate?
    Well, this is weird. A biopic of George W. Bush? While he's still in office? That's got to be some kind of a first. I dearly hope we get some kind of (minor) media coverage here. Please tell me [...]
  • Music Video Flashbacks
    TONY! TONI! TONE! - "FEELS GOOD" (1990) SKID ROW - "18 & LIFE" (1989) RICHARD MARX - "HAZARD" (1991) BETTY BOO - "WHERE ARE YOU BABY?" (1990) [...]
  • The "Blindness" Movie Trailer Is Trippy
    TAKEN FROM WIKIPEDIA "Blindness" is an upcoming dramatic thriller film that is an adaptation of the 1995 novel "Blindness" by José Saramago about a society suffering an epidemic of blindness. [...]
  • The "X-Files: I Want To Believe" Movie Trailer Is Awesome!
    FROM WIKIPEDIA.COM "The X-Files: I Want to Believe" is the second feature film based on the TV series The X-Files, following the 1998 film. The sequel is directed by the television series [...]
  • Moms, Blogs, Ethics, and the Old Madonna versus Whore Dichotomy
    More than anything else, the availability of blogging can reinforce the truth that we human beings do not all think alike. More than just cultural differences, which can be vast, the variations we [...]
  • Eurovision Boss Critical Of Terry Wogan
    The Eurovision Song Contest is a once yearly music (if you can call it that) competition between various countries who are active members of the European Broadcasting Union. Outside of Europe it's [...]
  • Favorite Music Jukebox #7
    LISTEN TO A NON-STOP MIX OF OVER 100 OF MY FAVORITE TUNES WITH NO REPEATS! GREAT FOR CLEANING HOUSE, FOR WORK AND SURFING THE NET! GET READY TO HEAR SOME SONGS YOU HAVEN’T HEARD IN A [...]
  • For the little ones
    I've been trying to hold off making too much fun of What Happens in Vegas..., which came in second at the box office this weekend. I mean, does it look terrible? It does. Am I soured on the [...]

 

Hot Off The Press

  • Vote for Your Favorite Kitty Blog!
    I only took over the reins of writing for this site about a week ago, and have already met with such a positive response! I love feedback from all of you cat lovers out there, so if there's something [...]
  • Weekly Forecast: What’s the Buzz? Signs and Portents That We Are Over Stimulated
    May 16, 2008 Week of May 16 to May 22 We don’t have to always look to the stars for certain signs and portents. We have concrete signs that we are over stimulated by media overload and [...]
  • At the Library...
    Face-to-Face With the Civil War Saturday May 17 2008 from 10:00 am until 1:00 pm This event will be held at Hardesty Regional Library. Event Description: Come face-to-face with the [...]
  • Tykelight
    Bed time is a interesting time in this household. I really can't complain too much my kids actually are good sleepers, besides my son nicknamed, The Rooster, waking up at the crack of dawn every [...]
  • Panasonic Gets It Right The Second Time Around
    Panasonic DMP-BD30 - sleek, compact, and snappy! One of the problems of almost all ( well, every one I saw) of the first generation Blu-ray players was the excruciatingly long start time from disc [...]
  • Tom Cruise to be President Of US
      Tom Cruise is going to be the President of the United States, but no not for real. Tom Cruise was rumored a while back to be running for presidency but it seems it was all for a movies. I [...]
  • Official Smackdown Preview: Chasing the title
    Although SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero stripped Undertaker of the World Heavyweight Championship, The Deadman has the opportunity to regain the gold in a title match with Edge at [...]
  • Friday Feast
    Thank goodness it's Friday! Phew. Another exhausting week has gone by and I am ever thankful for the weekend. I hope you all wish me luck as I wait to hear if I have an interview with the company [...]
  • Recap delay...
    I thought I was gonna crying a whole bunch in last night's episode. But as it turns out, I did cry because of my crappy internet connection. Be right back with the recaps, photos and reactions [...]
  • Lately I Just Use Skype/Pamela
    One of the most common questions people ask about getting started in podcasting is 'How do you record a telephone call?' Back in my early years as an internet radio show host, I tried every [...]