Veteran songwriter, author, and Berklee alumnus Billy Seidman reflects on the many experiences he’s had in the songwriting world. In this three-part series, Billy shares some of that hard-earned wisdom.
By Billy Seidman ’72
With years of song cowrites to reflect on, scenes such as the following have been a reminder for me to go with the flow, but having a backup plan can also save the day. Consider this scenario, inspired by my own experiences:
Taylor the “Pop Shark” was stalking an idea, pacing in a circle doing his usual routine; speak-singing nonsense syllables trying to tease out a melody.
Jordan had been lobbing titles at Taylor and me for 45 minutes; “How about ‘Too little, too late,’ or ‘The Wheel’,” he said hoping one would click and stick.
The clock was coming up on an hour and 15 minutes since the three of us settled into BMG’s NYC writing room and…nada.
Read More
Image by Noam Galai
By Tali Rubinstein B.M. ’14
I don’t particularly like goodbyes.
When the time comes to part, maybe it’s better to forget and move on. Thinking about the past is agonizing in so many ways; reminiscing about what we lost (which is, effectively, all that’s in the past) is an empty rabbit hole.
Read More
Image by Noam Galai
By Tali Rubinstein B.M. ’14
I guess I’ve been having too much fun with this blog, because after writing the last one, I got sick and was mostly in bed, or complaining about not being in bed. I practiced the well-known routine of chicken soup, tea with lemon and ginger, and Amazon Prime movies with 4 stars ratings and above, which only disappointed me half of the times. For the other half, I felt much worse after, and promised myself to never again watch another Amazon movie when I’m sick (I’m quite certain that some actively raised my fever).
Failing film-recuperation, I figured I might as well write my next blog while I’m in bed, but unfortunately the muse didn’t strike me. You would think that being sick and all, I would be inspired to write some serious profound observations, but all I could come up with was a few topics from episode 6: “Shingles. Israel. Floriana. Billiard. Mona’s”. And then: nothing.
Read More
Image by Noam Galai
By Tali Rubinstein B.M. ’14
Well, it just so happened to be Valentine’s Day while we were shooting episode 5 of Tali Jams New York a year ago. I’ve never actually celebrated Valentine’s before, being the secular Jew that I am (still figuring out what that is—more about religions that contain people who are not religious in my upcoming article about the lesser-known mathematical statement, “Russell’s Jewish Paradox”).
Whoops, just lost 20 readers there! (and there were only 15 to begin with).
What?!
*confused emoji*
Read More
Image by Noam Galai
By Tali Rubinstein B.M. ’14
Hello, good people! Thanks for joining me again on my weekly diary.
For those who are just joining—I am writing about the documentary series about my life as a musician in NYC, which is actually me giving an interpretation of the interpretation of my own life. Feeling confused? So am I.
Read More
With years of song cowrites to reflect on, scenes such as the following have been a reminder for me to go with the flow, but having a backup plan can also save the day. Consider this scenario, inspired by my own experiences: