Here's another take on the songwriting workshop.
"I would say I usually start with a chorus or a first verse, or a verse," she said. "I really try to be my own best editor."
Asked if she likes to collaborate on writing songs, Merritt said she doesn't because she's "such a stubborn person."
"The most personal thing I do is go off and write music by myself. (Collaborating) feels like having to go on a very unusual date," she said.
She uses a computer with recording software to record her song ideas. Merritt said she used to use a 4-track cassette recorder to preserve her ideas, and then jokingly asked her mostly student-aged audience: "Do you guys know what that is?"
She won't share a song even with her band until she feels it's ready. "I'm so protective of that moment of origin," she said, adding that responses to a song too early in the songwriting process can taint that spark. |