Work Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
6-7-2018
Department
Professional Music; Songwriting
Keywords
songwriting; creativity; digital audio workstation; composition; case studies
Abstract
This chapter investigates the interrelationship between songwriting process and product, focusing on two digital tools that became available to songwriters toward the end of the twentieth century: the digital audio workstation (DAW) and broadband internet connectivity. Two songwriter case studies are used—a “digital immigrant” who began to write songs professionally before either of these tools were available, and a “digital native” who has always used DAWs and an internet connection in his songwriting. The participants were asked to describe their creative processes in detail, and to reflect on how these tools may have influenced their decision making and artistic direction. From these and other studies the author attempts to describe behaviors and affordances engendered by digitally enabled songwriters and to speculate regarding these tools’ influence on the creative product.
Recommended Citation
Bennett, Joe, 'Songwriting, Digital Audio Workstations, and the Internet', in Nicolas Donin (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the Creative Process in Music (online edn, Oxford Academic, 8 May 2018), https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190636197.013.28.
Comments
This is a draft of a chapter that was accepted by Oxford University Press in the The Oxford Handbook of the Creative Process in Music, edited by Nicolas Doninin and published in 2018.