Andy Petranek Podcast

I’ve often wondered how a song becomes a song. The process seems mysterious and, frankly, impossible for a “normal” person like myself. What comes first — the title, tune, chords, or words? How do you put them together? How do you write the lyrics? And what about the structure? It’s all overwhelming to me and completely outside my comfort zone. And then I read Peter Himmelman’s book, Let Me Out: Unlock Your Creative Mind and Bring Your Ideas to Life. Peter is my guest this week on the podcast, and my intention in having him on was to talk about creativity, since he’s mastered it in his life and has written a book full of exercises to help others learn to foster it in theirs. The final exercise in Peter’s book is a simplified step-by-step guide for writing a song. According to the book, the process takes less than fifteen minutes. I’m going to let you in on a little secret now: I hardly ever do exercise like this in a book, but this time I felt compelled to give it a shot. Why? I’ve always had a secret desire