LOOP COMMUNITY
SONGWRITING TIPS W / KRISTIAN STANFILL | Matt McCoy
Kristian Stanfill from Passion joined Matt McCoy to talk about songwriting , worship leading and his new solo album Make It Out Alive .
CREATING SPACE
[ Matt ] Is there a time of day that you reserve for songwriting ?
[ Kristian ] Usually in the morning . Once it gets past lunch time I ’ ve learned that my creative output tends to drop . My kids go to school around 7:15 in the morning and about then to lunch time I ’ ll do some reading , I might go on a run , and just create space to free myself from technology or any other distraction , just to receive . Sometimes I ’ m just journaling , writing down ideas , or I ’ ll sit down at the piano or grab a guitar . I try to make space for things to flow through . Be available to the ideas . Be available to the melodies and lyrics . The more that I do that and create that space , the more the ideas flow through .
[ Matt ] Is that every weekday ?
[ Kristian ] Not every weekday , but most . I ’ m making space to create most days . I released Make It Out Alive in November , and we just had Passion 2023 happen . There was a lot of creative output for both of those projects . So , I feel like right now I ’ m in more of a time when I have my eyes open and my hands open and I ’ m observing . I ’ m writing down a lot of ideas , capturing a little bit of melody stuff , but I ’ m not trying to finish anything right now . I ’ m just observing and collecting ideas . Then eventually , probably in March or April , those will start to take a cohesive shape and become a song .
[ Matt ] It really does take intentionality to carve out the time to write . Turn your phone off , and maybe use the best hours of your day to do it . Do the mindless tasks in the afternoon , and in the morning when your brain is fresh with the most ideas , use that time for the intentionality .”
[ Kristian ] I was talking with another songwriter about it and it ’ s like stoking a fire . Sometimes it ’ s not blazing out of control , but you always want to be feeding the fire and keeping the embers hot . So , whenever it comes time to write the song or you get in a room with people , you already stoked that fire and you can bring something to the table . I ’ ve learned to give myself a break . I used to beat myself up and think ‘ oh I didn ’ t write anything today ’ or ‘ I didn ’ t learn anything today ’. But what I ’ ve learned is all of that leads to something . Keep showing up . Keep writing . Write 100 bad songs . You ’ re going to write a lot of bad songs that no one will hear , but then two or three may come out that really touch somebody .
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here to watch the full interview and hear more songwriting tips and the story behind Kristian ’ s solo album .