Songlab

A Songwriting Playbook for Teens

By: Alex Forbes

Narrated by: Alex Forbes

Length: 3 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's Summary

Created exclusively with and for teen musicians, this hands-on, step-by-step program uses insight, enthusiasm, and humor to teach teens how to brainstorm ideas, craft effective lyrics, and put those lyrics to music.

An award-winning and Billboard-charting songwriter and teacher, Alex Forbes has taught dozens of teens via her Manhattan workshops and coaching sessions how to turn their thoughts and feelings into incisive, evocative songs. Her music has also been heard in feature films and on television shows like MTV’s smash teen docudrama The Hills.

Chapter by chapter, Alex goes through the basic elements of the craft, including song form and dynamics, lyrics and melodies, chord construction, and killer hooks. Filled with lots of fun exercises to strengthen your abilities and your confidence, Songlab is the ideal teen’s guide to making your songwriting dreams come true!

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2013 Alex Forbes (P)2013 AudioGO

Pay Attention: PDF workbook not provided

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

This is a great audiobook, BUT what makes it only 1 star is that the workbook PDF mentioned time and time again during the different chapters and exercises IS NOT included in the Audible audiobook edition. So when the narrator keeps referring to the PDF exercises and sheets, the listener has to imagine it all.
That makes the whole difference; from being a potential instructional and inspirational audiobook with clear and concise call-to-actions it becomes a couple of hours of mere entertainment. That's to bad...

What was one of the most memorable moments of Songlab?

There are very good moments of motivation and brainstorming ideas, and good analytics tools as well.

What about Alex Forbes’s performance did you like?

The narrator is very engaged in the performance.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Songlab?

The last part about the music business and how to make money on songwriting is a bit to superficial and becomes obsolete; the mission of the book is more to get the audience to crank up their creative songwriting. When first the songs get rolling, the businiss part is its own project.

Any additional comments?

It remains a mystery to me - in this age of digital distribution - that a content provider is not able to provide essential - digital - content (a PDF) being of great importance to the audiobook...

Not just for teenagers or beginners!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. I know numerous songwriters and people who aspire to be. The book has some brilliant suggestions on how to get ideas down on paper, developing them, and even advice on how to tackle the inner voice of discouragement that can plague songwriters who are over critical of their work.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Songlab?

For me it had to be the suggestions on getting songs ideas down. I'm a professional songwriter but have hit a wall of writer's block that I really needed to get over. I tried the techniques in this book, which are different to my normal methods, and things started to flow again.

Have you listened to any of Alex Forbes’s other performances? How does this one compare?

No.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Nothing really emotional about it other than getting excited about trying out some of the ideas and techniques. Songwriting is a passion.

Any additional comments?

Great for beginners and professionals looking for some new ideas or just getting back to basics. Well written and very well presented. Not too long or complicated. A great springboard into the world of songwriting :)