An Open Letter to Jason Mraz

A while back I got the chance to meet one of my favorite songwriters, Jason Mraz. When he learned I taught songwriting, his response was a skeptical “Hmm…I didn’t know you could teach songwriting.” This post is my response…my rebuttal, if you will.

Consider it an open letter to Jason Mraz.


Dear Mr. Mraz,

You are awesome.

When we met in Seattle you questioned whether songwriting could be taught. I’ll admit I was a little star-struck at the time. My words abandoned the ship of my brain, and looked on from their lifeboats as it rolled on its side and sank. As is so often the case, it was some time later when I thought of what I should have said. I would like to say it now.

I think I can explain my point best by comparing songwriting to painting. Envision painters in an art class. There they will learn the rules of perspective, the rules of light. Of color. Of composition. Such things are the ideas and techniques that form the foundation of their understanding.

Understanding can be taught. But…

You cannot teach them to be M.C. Escher, who took his understanding of perspective and turned it into art that only he could have created. His perspective-bending works were not accidents. He understood perspective. Deeply.

You cannot teach them to be Pablo Picasso, who took his understanding of form and turned it into art only he could have created. His form-altering works were not the product of chance. He understood form. Intimately.

You cannot teach them to be Claude Monet, who took his understanding of color and turned it into art only he could have created. His impressionist works were not random dabs. He understood color. Profoundly.

So, can songwriting be taught? Yes. You can teach someone the rules of rhyme, alliteration, and prosody. You can teach them about song form, and what the function of a verse, chorus, and bridge are. You can teach them how to write a sing-able melody. You can give them understanding.

But...

...you cannot teach them to be Paul McCartney and John Lennon. You cannot teach them to be Tim Rice. You cannot teach them to be Elton John, Desmond Child, Cole Porter, Barry Manilow, or Jason Mraz. Each person has to gain an understanding, and then use it to find the art that exists inside themselves…the art no one else can make.

As children we are taught to write cursive by following a template, but as our understanding grows our handwriting becomes uniquely our own. So it should be with songwriting.

And though we may disagree on this, I still think you are awesome.

Love,
Aaron