I am proud to announce that on January 18th I will be sharing selections from a new song cycle entitled Missed Connections. This showcase is being put together by the Squeaky Wheel Theatre Project in Orlando. Tickets can be purchased here.
Missed Connections is a song cycle that deals with the classified ads that bear the same name. They are funny and cute, but also reveal the deep desire for human connection that each of us have.
Enjoy a new Thanksgiving Carol from Double Click Drama!
A silly song I wrote a few years back. Enjoy.
Take a listen to some of the tracks from Understudies – A New Musical
I was recently watching a master class with Jason Robert Brown and The Dramatists Guild of America. Therein Brown said something that struck me (this was said in conversation – don’t judge the grammar too harshly):
“Structure is our whole deal – structure is the whole game. That’s all we’ve got really, as composers. Everybody’s got notes. All we can do it to arrange those notes within a certain structure.”
Wow. This is huge. I mean, it must be true – he does have three names and all…Continue reading
Understudies is now entering rehearsals. It is both exhilarating and a little scary. The book writer and collaborator, Craig Sobel, has written a great piece on his blog that touches on sending your art out into the world.
It is really scary. I want to grow thick skin, but I know that some folks negative reception will cut deep – but I also really want feed back. My greatest fear is that no one will tell me that my songs are just “ok”.
Right now I am excited for Understudies to move forward. Soon I hope to have some recordings available on the website as well as sheet music for a couple songs. Break a leg Corbett Prep!
There is a book of poetry on the shelf next to our dining room that my daughter will bring to me sometime during dinner that I might read a few verses after dinner. Yes, it does sound like something out of Little House on the Prairie.
The book is the collected poems of William Blake. Within it there is an almost chronological progression of his poetry moving for the songs of innocence to songs of experience to much more epic content.
There is one poem that, in typical Conley fashion, I have become really obsessed with a poem that has struck me because of both its form and content. Take a look:Continue reading
Over the past few months I have been reading quite a bit about different perspectives concerning writing musical theater lyrics. There is a large body of text out there on the subject as well as actual lyrics to be studied and dissected. One concept that is harped on over and over again is the idea of simplicity.
Perhaps it goes without saying, but theater lyrics exist within a show – they are heard once and often in quick rhythm. Therefore it is important not to overload the lyric with too many words or words that are difficult to understand when sung. In other words, keep it simple…stupid.
The first time I heard this I got pretty defensive.
In 1971 Stephen Sondheim gave a lecture concerning the writing of lyrics. Originally, Sondheim thought it was going to be a Q&A, but when he realized this wasn’t the case he quickly cobbled together his thoughts and what came out has become one of the most poignant discourses on musical theater lyrics. As soon as I learned of it’s existence, I sought out to find a copy for study.
The talk was quickly written down and published in The Dramatists Guild Quarterly in autumn 1973. Finding a copy was difficult for me. Local libraries don’t stock back issues of the journal, and, not being a member, I wasn’t privy to the online content. It was, however, re-published in a 1974 book compiled and edited by Otis L. Guernsey: Playwrights Lyricists Composers On Theater. The local library didn’t have a copy but amazon was able to sell and ship me a used copy for $4 even.
The piece by Sondheim is amazing. I feel like I have learned as much as I would in a semester long class at Pace University. What’s crazy is that his prowess with the lyric is already so apparent even before the output of Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park and Into the Woods.
If you are interested in hearing an abridged recording (not even a third of the content, but still very good) it can be found on the Dramatists Guild Website.
There are many nuggets of joy and simple takeaways in the essay, but I was especially struck by a tidbit that Oscar Hammerstein shared with a young Sondheim many years ago: “Say what you feel, not what other song writers feel”