beth nielsen chapman they know the secret - yamaha …€¦ · according to nashville tunesmith...

According to Nashville tunesmith Beth Nielsen Chapman, oneof the best songwriting techniques is to avoid technique. “I try to stay as much as possible in the unconscious place

where real creativity comes from,” says Chapman, whosesongs have been performed by Faith Hill, Bonnie Raitt, TanyaTucker, Elton John, Trisha Yearwood, Willie Nelson, LorrieMorgan and many others. “I try to remove my intellect fromthe process and just get into the childlike joy of creating, likestringing beads or making mud pies.”

Regardless of whether she’s writing for one of her ownalbums or for another artist, Chapman strives for the samefree-associative approach. “I start by just hitting a chord ona guitar or a keyboard,” she says. “The sound of that chordwill subliminally suggest a melody line, which will then suggesta specific vowel sound. Usually I just sing nonsense syllablesthat fit the vowels I hear, though the final version of the songoften winds up with the exact vowel sounds I started with.Eventually I have to tighten the song up and look at it from anintellectual angle, but not until after I’ve let the idea growand mutate and become what it wants to be.”

Some of Chapman’s most successful songs were writtenon inexpensive Yamaha keyboards. “I love how those key-boards are totally accessible,” she says. “If I’m in a creativesongwriting mode, the worst thing for me would be to have toread a manual to figure out how to make a drum loop work.The song would never get written! But on the Yamaha key-boards, you just push a button, and you have a basic beat.You can just throw them in your car and take them to thebeach.” In fact, the beach is where Chapman and her collabo-rators wrote the Faith Hill mega-hit “This Kiss” on a Yamahabattery powered PSR keyboard.

“I’ve been using a PSR730,” says Chapman, “but I’m alsogoing to get a PSR8000 or 9000. They’re all fantastic writingtools. Like guitars, they have songs inside them. The songs arealready perfectly written-some of us are just lucky enough tobe in the right place at the right time to download them.”Chapman pauses, then chuckles. “Seeing it that way gets meoff the hook when I’m having a bad writing day. I can just say,‘I must be standing in the wrong place.’”

Making Music & Mud Pies

Yamaha all access20

Beth Nielsen Chapman

PSR SeriesPhil Vasser

ASCAP’s songwriterof the year

9Yamaha all access

The WilkinsonsGRAMMY® nominated

family trio with hitsincluding “Don’t I

have a Heart”, “26cents” and “Jimmy’s

got a Girlfriend”

AnnieRoboffTrishaYearwood,MartinaMcBride andFaith Hill, toname just afew, have allenjoyedhuge hitswritten byAnnie

Deborah AllenWith her signaturesong, “Baby I Lied”,Deborah Allen hasgone on to make hermark as a remarkablesolo and songwritingtalent

Jon Vezner:ACM & CMASong of the Yearwinner andGRAMMY®

winner for BestCountry Song

Kathy Mattea:Sixteen top tenhits, Five CMA’s,Four ACM’s, TwoGRAMMY®

award’s andshe’s still goingstrong

Tom ShapiroAs a song-writer he’senjoyed 13#1 hits and

counting,Tom is also a

3 time win-ner of BMI’s

CountrySongwriterof the Year

Delbert McClintonOne of the Planet’sgreatest roadhouserockers

Gary ChapmanTV Host, multiple Dove Award winner and GRAMMY®

nominee

Kenny GreenbergGRAMMY®

winning Producer(Edwin McCain,

Pam Tillis, AshleyCleveland, Joan

Baez) and Guitarist(The Indigo Girls,

Wynonna, MichaelBolton, Trisha

Yearwood). He’spenned hit songs

for Amy Grant andSHeDAISY

Gary NicholsonFrom BB King toGeorge Jones, BonnieRaitt to Wynonna,Waylon Jennings toNeil Diamond, he’swritten for them all

They Know the Secret