As a songwriter, reflective practice is a vital part of my development as a musician, as it allows me to create freely whilst honing the successful elements of my creative process. The creative activity which is most important to my craft is writing and arranging lyrics, which is usually the first step of my songwriting process. I begin writing lyrics whenever inspiration strikes me, which I often write down through ‘stream of consciousness’ writing or in the form of poetry. Once I have emptied my mind from emotions and feelings, I reflect over my writing and identify lines which I feel have potential as lyrics. I then rewrite or tweak the lines I have selected, so that they work cohesively in terms of rhyme scheme, the number of syllables, phrasing and rhythm. After writing a couple of verses through this process, the rest of the lyrics usually fall onto the page during my creative flow. Finally, I experiment with different arrangements of said lyrics and aim to create a more concrete structure to place them within.

One of my key learning goals for songwriting is to be more open minded when developing a new concept and not placing pressure on myself to create a finished project within one session. This is an important goal as sometimes this pressure can halt my creative flow, so I am eager to learn to accept all ideas as beneficial to my creative process.This goal is linked hand in hand with learning to leave behind perfectionist tendencies. The desire for perfection often hinders my work, as I feel that a project must be perfect from the beginning or it is not worth developing. To progress as a songwriter, I must learn to accept that all work involves imperfections and a project should not be deemed a failure just because it has not developed in the direction first expected. I am also eager to improve on confronting writer’s block and moments of low motivation, as I have previously struggled to write lyrics during times where I feel my creativity is not flowing. This is a vital goal to work towards, as throughout my career in songwriting I will have to write music regardless of how much inspiration I may be feeling, especially during co-writing sessions and when working to a deadline. Thus, it is key to my success as a songwriter to learn how to work through writer’s block and still be able to write music despite such creative setbacks. 

A model of reflective practice which I feel would be beneficial to achieving these goals is Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory, as the stages of reflection identified by Kolb work cohesively with my current songwriting process¹. Kolb’s cycle begins with ‘concrete experience’ which is active involvement in an activity, such as my continuous flow writing when I begin working on a new project. This is followed by ‘reflective observation’ which involves taking a break from developing ideas, reviewing your work and processing your thoughts. For example, after writing down lyrical ideas, I might spend time reading over them, considering the emotions they have evoked. The following stage is ‘abstract conceptualisation’ which involves interpreting the events of your creative activity and understanding the connections between the different things you have written. This may lead to a change in direction due to observing one’s work from a distance and comprehending the themes which have appeared. The final stage is ‘active experimentation’ where you apply the knowledge you have learnt from reflecting over your work, both amending it and refining your process for future activities. For instance, I might reflect that my lyrics have covered too broad of an area and alter them to describe a more specific story. I have begun to implement Kolb’s learning cycle in my songwriting process to create work which is more carefully considered and refined.

The first stage of Kolb’s learning cycle is ‘concrete experience’, or simply ‘doing’ an activity. My initial concrete experience whilst songwriting is always creating lyrics, for which I prefer to use a notebook and a pen. I start by thinking of a topic to write about – usually a strong emotional feeling or reaction which has been affecting me recently. I then allow my thoughts to stream out of my head onto the paper, often writing in continuous flow, with no structure or punctuation. However, depending on the day, my thoughts sometimes develop in the form of poetry and are more metaphorical and abstract. Once I have emptied out all my thoughts onto the page, I look back at what I have written and try to identify rhyme patterns, or lines with similar amounts of syllables which could work cohesively. For example, I might change the last word of a line to better fit the rhyme scheme of the adjacent lines. Although, sometimes I simply allow an emotional surge to command my writing, through which lyrics flow out directly from my brain into lyrical form, without much need to alter them afterwards. Regardless of the method in which I have written lyrics, my next step is always to aim to establish a rough structure for the song. I usually find it quickly becomes clear which lyrics work cohesively as a section, along with their appropriate placement within the song. However, I have a tendency to only write lyrics suitable for verses and sometimes find it difficult to identify lyrics that I can use in the chorus. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the chorus must contain the key message of the song, yet this is usually discovered at a later point of my writing process, therefore the chorus does not always slot into place immediately. Nevertheless, despite such setbacks I normally aim to finish writing a song’s lyrics completely before thinking about melodies or instrumentation. 

The following stage of Kolb’s cycle is ‘reflective observation’ which involves taking time away from writing lyrics and reflecting over them and any feelings that have arisen. I often feel more clear headed after writing down lyrics as this activity acts as an emotional outlet. By writing down my true and deeply personal thoughts, I free the emotions previously trapped inside my mind. Writing lyrics also forces me to reflect on situations or feelings which I may have been avoiding, as they become inescapable when written down on paper. Directly confronting these feelings through reading my lyrics can help me to understand them with greater clarity. For instance, sometimes after I have written down lyrics concerning a personal situation such as an argument, I learn it has affected me in a much deeper way than previously realised. The honesty and vulnerability required to write meaningful lyrics pushes me to be more reflective of my personal experiences. Reflecting over these emotions whilst in the process of writing a song is now an important part of my creative process because a better understanding of my feelings helps me to write more accurate and expressive lyrics. Furthermore, taking time to reflect over my lyrics and understand my emotions creates more opportunity for imagining new lyrics which may add significantly to the meaning of the song. This improved understanding of the song’s themes may also lead to the song changing direction or gaining a narrower focus on an individual topic. 

After spending time reflecting over my initial lyrics and gaining a deeper understanding of my feelings, I begin to analyse my work and think critically about what areas need to be revised. This is the ‘Abstract Conceptualisation’ stage of Kolb’s cycle which involves devising new ideas or theories on how to improve both your creative process and your work. I start by reading my lyrics again and highlighting any which particularly stand out to me or summarise my feelings well. I then conceptualise how to refine or develop these lyrics further, for example using metaphorical language to make the song more evocative. I often rethink word choices or sentence structure to create more impactful lyrics, writing down different potential revisions to choose between later on. At this point of the writing stage, I typically reflect over the arrangement of the lyrics, as the initial structure is often no longer the best fit to communicate the message of the song. I try to improve the arrangement through trial and error, switching around the verses or changing the lyrics in the chorus to better convey the song’s themes. In addition to this, I try to think critically about creating contrast within the song in order to keep the listener engaged throughout. I often experiment with creating contrast in different ways, such as slightly changing the lyrics for each chorus or introducing another lyrical form. For instance, if the verse contains long and wordy phrases, I might add a bridge with single words and more instrumentation to create a varying atmosphere. This is also a key moment to reflect on how well my creative process has worked so far. After developing a deeper understanding of my own feelings, I critique whether my lyrics still successfully communicate them. Since using reflective practice, I have sometimes found during this stage that my initial lyrics are no longer representative of my true feelings. I also contemplate whether I could have done anything differently during my initial writing session. For instance, I may reflect that my writing process could be more efficient by deciding on a specific theme before beginning to write. 

The final stage of Kolb’s cycle is ‘active experimentation’ which is putting what you have learnt into practice and revising both your work and your creative process. At this point I gather everything I have learnt from my initial draft, the emotions experienced and my critical analysis, channelling this new knowledge into refining my lyrics. This firstly involves reading over my ideas for improvements and any parts of the song where I may have listed alternative options for structure, word choices or arrangement. I then utilise the knowledge I have learnt throughout the reflection process to make decisions on these improvements. For instance, selecting a more expressive adjective to better describe the feeling I am trying to communicate. With a clearer idea of the song’s defining message, which has been gradually discovered throughout the writing process, I can also now solidify the arrangement of my lyrics. This includes creating a compelling emotional arc from beginning to end and finalising the focus of the chorus. By having a deeper understanding of the messages I wish the song to convey and the areas of the song which aren’t currently working successfully, I can make better informed decisions on revisions to the song. However, as with any learning process, Kolb’s cycle is iterative. Once these revisions have been completed, it is important to return to the ‘concrete experience’ stage again, either by writing new lyrics or refining the existing ones. I implement this element of repetition in my creative process through going back to the drawing board multiple times whilst writing a song. Although I may feel satisfied by the majority of the lyrics, there are usually small gaps or lines within a song which I discover don’t work well later on. This forces me to repeat the cycle, carefully crafting new lyrics through my learned experiences which help to elevate the final product. Kolb’s cycle helps me to develop as a lyricist by encouraging me to learn from each individual stage of songwriting and apply this learning to my future efforts.

To conclude, using reflective practice as part of my creative process has been vital to my development as a songwriter. Before reflective practice, I often struggled to remain tuned in to my creativity, becoming hindered by perfectionism and the pressure to always create a finished product. The methods of reflective practice, such as those used in Kolb’s cycle, have allowed me to deepen my understanding of my craft and continuously improve my ability to write lyrics. I have particularly benefited from spending more time reflecting over my work whilst it is still in progress and gaining a deeper understanding of the emotions surrounding my lyrics. In the past, I typically became blinded by the pressure to finish a song as quickly as possible, not stopping to reflect over my work or feelings at all. However, adding more reflection into my creative process has helped me to write more carefully considered lyrics which better communicate my true feelings. In the future I aim to place increased importance on reflecting throughout my creative process in order to create work which is truly reflective of my ability as a songwriter. In addition to this, I intend to use Kolb’s cycle to further streamline my creative process, as this will help me to write songs with greater efficiency and positivity in the future.

1. Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. 
   
   
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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.