You’ve taken the first step. You realize that there is a problem. So hopefully, we can work together and help you explore your creative talents and support you on that journey. You will get a sense of your health and wellbeing becoming more manageable as you release trapped emotions in a constructive way.
Our mission is to provide help and support for our Armed Forces suffering from mental health and other service-related conditions. We aim to support you along with your family, through the power of music and song writing, digital media, and artistic expression, in any form you prefer, It could be writing poetry, or drawing doodles, painting or photography.
We will provide help, advice and support, so that you are not just “Left To Get On With It”, and hopefully your life will benefit from the momentum of exploring your creative ideas and dreams, and being an artist within your chosen field. By offering group workshops, retreats, and specialized courses where possible, we hope that you will find something suitable for you!
The idea behind the MVCA is simple: we will find the appropriate support to guide you, over a minimum period of six weeks, where you will work on creating a finished piece or pieces. This could, for example, be a song that starts from a set of lyrics and becomes a produced single. It could also be a set of poems or a piece of art or craft.
Why music therapy can be effective in treating mental health conditions:
Distraction – allows the release of trapped emotional trauma.
Abdominal breathing can be calming. Can regulate breathing (singing.
Listening to rhythms can strengthen neurons by making them fire simultaneously.
Activates reward, pleasure and emotional processing brain structures.
Stimulates brain chemical.
Encourages neuroplasticity.
Sense of achievement/satisfaction/feel proud for producing something.
Rapport/camaraderie.
Songwriting Stages
Sometimes it can be challenging to describe to others how you are feeling. Flashbacks to traumatic events aren’t easy to verbalise, and it can be re-traumatising going into the details of the event/s. Songwriting enables one to take control of expressing their thoughts and emotions creatively. Learning how to become a songwriter to completing a recording – creates a sense of accomplishment.
Music therapy was a significant resource during World War I and World War II in our recent history. Nurses and patients noticed a difference in veterans and the wounded when local musicians visited the hospital and performed to them. They noted improvement in their outlook and feeling less pain.
How to create an entirely produced song and what Military Veterans Creative Arts can do for you.
- Words – We will discuss the different ways of putting your words down on paper. If you have written a poem, we can either create a song or put it to voice and music sounds.
- Lyric – The military veterans’ creative arts will then sculpture those into a lyric and song structure with rhythm and rhyme to create song dynamics. These will go back and forwards to the veteran many times to ensure they are aware of any changes made and the reason behind that if they so choose to participate at that level. Some veterans and their family members have attended one-to-one and group lyric writing sessions with various songwriting tutors.
It has sections: like an intro, verse, build-up, chorus, breakdown, drop, and outro.
There are various song structures I tend to use ABABCB mainly. Verse (A) intro beginning of the story. It should capture the audience. The verse tells the story. A pre-chorus is a step leading into the chorus (B), a few lines to heighten the impact of the chorus, which is a summary of what the song is about; it tends to be the catchiest part. The bridge (C)usually only happens once and changes both musically and lyrically in the song. The outro indicates that the song is coming to an end; usually, the chorus is repeated and slowed down.
- Melody/Chord structure – Once the lyric has been sculptured, melody and chord progressions are formed. A melody is created using a group of musical notes that work together. For this reason, the melody must carry a heavy load to make one song distinct from another. The melody carries the song and making it stand out. The chord progression fits around the melody.
Chord progressions are considered building blocks like Lego blocks. There are billions of songs created using the ‘same’ chord progression. For that reason, you cannot copyright a chord progression. What is copyrightable is the melody and the lyrics and the recording and total production.
Creative exploration to find a vocal melody can be rewarding and fun. Songwriting is a personal process, and no two songwriters approach writing melodies in the same way. We have as yet not worked with a veteran on this next stage of creating their own melody.
We look forward to those that would like to move on to this.
- Recording – Once the demo song is completed and the musicians and singers have thoroughly rehearsed, a recording studio is arranged. We will choose a studio with the right equipment to capture the vocals and instruments. The producer will usually direct what’s required and attend the recording session. Mics used and techniques are essential to ensure the captured sound fits the desired outcome.
- Arranging – This is where the fun comes in with transitions, build-ups, and creating tension for that full frequency release. The arrangement is one of the most important skills to cultivate as a producer because it covers everything from mixdown to how you arrive at the idea that initially inspired you. Arranging, mixing, and mastering can be explained as finding the centrepiece and building around that and ensuring that it doesn’t get lost on all the other elements of the song. There are structural, Instrumental and spatial arrangements to consider. Whilst the song arrangement starts before the vocals and instruments have been recorded, we will organise those parts and ensure that all elements work well together, including making sure the vocal and rhythm are cohesive. Deciding what to keep or leave out can be challenging. We’ve gone back to re-record a few times, which isn’t often as studio recording time is costly.
Elements of music: Rhythm, Melody, Harmony, Timbre, Dynamics, Texture, and Form.
- Mixing, Mastering and Editing – Once all recordings and the arrangements are finished, the parts go to the next stage to be edited, mixed and mastered. Edits to recordings and balancing the individual instruments, so each has its own frequency space. This is where we start to see all the hard work come together as a whole, and the quality and the feel of the song is finally completed.
Role of the producer.
Taking the raw material of an artist’s song and transforming it into a finished recording.
A music producer holds many roles; they may be a songwriter, musician, recording engineer, mixing and mastering engineer. They arrange the budgeting and scheduling, have musical knowledge, and effective project management and leadership skills.
The producer oversees the whole project; they will be aware of what’s needed and required at each stage of creating a song. The producer decides the parts that will be recorded and who plays them and is responsible for approving those relevant parts and making the final decision.
The Military Veterans creative Arts have produced more than eighty songs and poems that have been put to music. Some of which we have also produced a music video.