Stages
Idea
Seeds, fragments, prompts and the salvage pile. Everything before there is a song to argue about.
The idea stage is where most songs are lost, and almost never because the idea was bad. They are lost because the fragment was never written down in a form anyone could work on later — a voice memo with no words, a title on a receipt, a chord shape nobody labelled. The entries here are about making a fragment survive the week.
Nothing in this stage is judged on quality. A three-note seed that you can still hum on Thursday is worth more than a finished verse you cannot remember writing. Write it down badly and completely rather than well and partially.
entries in Idea
- IdeaBreakdownTwo-Chord Seed: A Song Built on Em-C, and Where It Needed a Third
两和弦种子：一首建立在 Em-C 上的歌，以及它在哪里需要第三个和弦
E minor (Em–C), capo 4 to put the melody between D4 and B4 · ABCB
- IdeaTechniqueVoice Memo Triage: Turning Four Hundred Fragments Into a Short List
语音备忘分诊：把四百个碎片变成一张短清单
n/a — this is a cataloguing method · n/a
- IdeaExerciseWalk and Hum: A Forty-Minute Filter With No Phone
边走边哼：四十分钟不带手机的筛选
No instrument — find the key at home afterward · none enforced
- IdeaTechniqueMelody Before Words: Writing a Tune on a Neutral Syllable
先旋律后歌词：在中性音节上写一条旋律
F major, sung on 'da' throughout the first pass · decided after the melody, not before
- IdeaBreakdownBorrowed First Line: What a Public-Domain Lift Costs a Song
借来的第一句：从公有领域借一句要付出什么
A minor (Am–F–C–G) — the borrowed line forced a minor reading · ABAB with an unrhymed closing couplet
- IdeaExerciseThe False-Start Log: Fifteen Minutes That Salvages a Dead Idea
废稿日志：十五分钟救活一个死掉的动机
No key required — this is a text-only drill · none enforced
- IdeaTechniqueTitle-First Writing: Let the Hook Line Pick the Song's Job
先写标题：让钩子句决定这首歌的任务
D major (D–A–Bm–G), capo 2 for a softer verse · AABA on verses, free on chorus
- IdeaExerciseObject Prompt: Write a Song About the Thing in Your Pocket
物件命题：写一首关于你口袋里那件东西的歌
Any — pick the key after the third line lands · ABCB
- IdeaTechniqueThe Three-Note Seed: Starting a Song From a Fragment You Can Actually Remember
三音种子：用一段你真正记得住的碎片起手写歌
C major, no capo (test in G and D before committing) · ABAB