by Mike Errico | Jun 15, 2022 | Free, Lessons, Music Lyrics and Life, Teaching
Mike Errico Tapped to Teach GRAMMY® Museum’s Inaugural NYC Songwriting Sessions The GRAMMY® Summer Sessions are part of a series of programs in partnership with the City of New York Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. Summer Session will be taught by NYU lecturing professor Mike Errico and hosted by the CUNY Graduate Center Office of Academic Initiatives and Strategic Innovation. “I’ve been teaching for years at universities that, let’s face it, are very expensive. Access to a broad range of students has always weighed on me—it’s part of the reason I wrote my book, and it’s definitely why I’m so excited to teach these free sessions to up-and-coming high schoolers. See you there!”—Mike Errico SESSION #1: Tuesday, July 12 to Saturday, July 16, 2022 SESSION #2: Tuesday, July 19 to Saturday, July 23, 2022 TO APPLY, CLICK HERE The GRAMMY Museum’s Summer Session program is a FREE five-day non-residential songwriting workshop for students currently enrolled in High School. The program provides valuable resources to help build a solid foundation in songwriting. Additionally, instruction places a focus on skills that are beneficial in workforce development across many careers in, and out of music.This activity is part of a suite of education programs that take place throughout the year under the GRAMMY In The Schools umbrella. About Mike Errico: Mike Errico is a recording artist, author, and songwriting professor at Yale, the New School, and NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. In additions to his performing and teaching careers, Errico’s opinions and insights have appeared in publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, and CNN....
by Mike Errico | Mar 2, 2021 | audio, Free
“Daylight,” and the instrumental “karaoke” track, are available on Bandcamp for the first time. DAYLIGHT KARAOKE OFFER: Send your video karaoke version, and you can have any one thing in the Bandcamp store…for free. Just let me post a short clip so others can join. Daylight by Mike Errico REMEMBER: KARAOKE DOES NOT ALWAYS MEAN SINGING… You wanna play drums along with it? GREAT. GUITAR? GREAT. Got a sax solo you always wanted to hear over it? GREAT. Pig bladder you’ve attached to a car muffler? GREAT. HIT IT, then HIT SEND to INFO AT ERRICO DOT COM. I hope you’re all well, safe, and looking forward. Let’s do this, M PS: To review… Daylight © Mike Errico (Sky Blue Coupe De Ville Music, ASCAP)Love songs to you are just flowers in my tomb but it’s all right I think of this as you walk into the room and I check myself twice And your new piece of cheese looks suspiciously like me I guess my worst qualities Were the ones that you liked but I knew that Yes I knew that But I won’t ask you to sympathizeEverything is all right I’m finally getting some sleep at night And when I open my eyes I’m finally getting some daylightYou got my sweater and a couple of CD’s but it’s all right Your darkest secrets sit here right in front of me I know what you smell like And if my life were a movie, you’d be buried in the credits You’d be “Woman #2 with her head up her ass” And it’s too late, yes, it’s too late...
by Mike Errico | Sep 25, 2015 | Free, So Good, Uncategorized
Don’t know if this is apocryphal, but I have heard parts of it quoted to me enough times that I’m willing to assume that most of it is 90% true. Yogi Berra Explains Jazz Interviewer: Can you explain jazz? Yogi: I can’t, but I will. 90% of all jazz is half improvisation. The other half is the part people play while others are playing something they never played with anyone who played that part. So if you play the wrong part, its right. If you play the right part, it might be right if you play it wrong enough. But if you play it too right, it’s wrong. Interviewer: I don’t understand. Yogi: Anyone who understands jazz knows that you can’t understand it. It’s too complicated. That’s what’s so simple about it. Interviewer: Do you understand it? Yogi: No. That’s why I can explain it. If I understood it, I wouldn’t know anything about it. Interviewer: Are there any great jazz players alive today? Yogi: No. All the great jazz players alive today are dead. Except for the ones that are still alive. But so many of them are dead, that the ones that are still alive are dying to be like the ones that are dead. Some would kill for it. Interviewer: What is syncopation? Yogi: That’s when the note that you should hear now happens either before or after you hear it. In jazz, you don’t hear notes when they happen because that would be some other type of music. Other types of music can be jazz, but only if they’re the same as something different from...
by Mike Errico | Mar 12, 2015 | audio, Free, Podcast, Stories, Teaching
In the new Design Observer podcast, The Observatory, Jessica Helfand and Michael Beirut discuss highlights from the “What Design Sounds Like” symposium. My contribution was “Dancing About Architecture” – the interplay between sound, architecture, composition and meaning. I spoke and spun J.S.Bach, AC/DC and FKA Twigs. I think it made sense. Other stories include: • It’s Nice That’s Rob Alderson on TED and Design Indaba • Roy Choi • Sindiso Khumalo • Interactive videos by Yoni Bloch: Like a Rolling Stone; Pretend to Be Happy • The Christmas party scene from Kramer vs. Kramer • CBC on Spocking the Canadian $5 bill Bonus: Check out Lena Dunham’s concept for a graphic design web series featuring Jessica and...
by Mike Errico | Oct 28, 2013 | audio, Free, So Good
I had a great time being part of The Acoustic Guitar Project, in which participants are given a guitar, a mic, and a week to write a song. This is what happened. The song is done (I’m already thinking of revisions, of course), and the guitar is signed and passed onward. Thanks Matt Beck for handing it to me, and good luck to Osei Essed this coming week… “The People You Never Really Trusted” (first draft) © Mike Errico Did you know You tell a lot and never show You talk too fast and listen slow Did you know Are you mad The shiny things you never had It’s a drug, and it’s easy to go bad Are you mad And I wonder how you ever got so angry The gratitude you missed with your swinging wild fist You’ll take my time enough to finally blame me For the moment we first kissed and I wound up on your list Of the people you never really trusted Do you care The cage you’re in is made of air And nothing real is really fair Do you care And I wonder how we ever get so blinded By what we think we need, what it looks like to succeed But do you even want to be reminded That no matter what the speed, you’re not close to breaking free From the people you never really trusted Line ‘em up against the wall And tell everybody else for once and for all You know your secret’s safe with someone new If only you could hold on to the strength you need...
by Mike Errico | Apr 29, 2013 | audio, Free
I talked a lot about my students this semester. WANNA HEAR ‘EM? They put a Soundcloud page together and several students uploaded some of their work. I would point out ones I personally enjoyed, but feel that’s not sporting. I will say that the class cranked out over 100 songs (not counting the revisions), collaborated, wrote analyses, journaled daily, and gave final presentations. Unreal. https://soundcloud.com/yalesongwritingsem Please feel free to like, share, and tweet them...