Adventures in song writing: Part one

Sandra Talty

For the first post in my series of chats with music and sound artists about song writing and creative process, I was lucky enough to get the chance to chat with Sandra Talty, a jazz drummer and vocalist in Melbourne.

Sandra has played with many of Australia's well renowned jazz musicians and bands in Melbourne and at various jazz festivals around Australia. Sandra currently plays regularly with The Sweet Lowdowns, Michael McQuaid's Red Hot Rhythmakers and the Dancehall Racketeers.

Sandra is an experienced musician with a vast knowledge of jazz and it certainly shows in this interview. I enjoyed talking with her about music and song writing in particular and hope that you get as much out of this interview as I did.



If you want to find out more about Sandra, you can check out the Sweet Lowdowns, who were winners of the 2008 Australian Jazz Bell Award for Best Australian Classic Jazz Album.

You can also listen to the song  'Busy Baby' which Sandra co wrote and performs with Michael McQuaid's Red Hot Rhythmakers.

When I write a song, am I doing it wrong?

This is a question I ask myself often. What is my song writing style? Do I have one? Do I even need one? When I make a track I tend to start with a beat and go from there. I rarely begin with a clear idea of what kind of song I want to make. Sometimes I wonder if this is because I'm a novice songwriter. Maybe with time and experience I'll develop a creative process that is more structured and less fluid. Or maybe I won't. Maybe that's just not how I work.

In an effort to find out, I plan to do a series of blog posts dedicated to exploring song writing and the creative process. I will be talking to a variety of music artists about their creative processes. If you have any burning questions about song writing, or are a musician who would be willing to talk to me about your creative process, please post a comment below.

Anyone for chiptunes?