Make a song about the world. A retrospect of my lectio seven years back

Abstract

In this essay, I revisit and reflect on my previously unpublished lectio praecursoria from seven years ago: the examination of my artistic doctoral degree on singer-songwriter music took place in September 2017. The artistic research project consisted of recitals, recordings, and a written thesis. Besides exploring the creating of a song, I discussed the artist profile of a singer-songwriter as the author and performer of songs. A singer-songwriter is a composer, a lyricist, a vocalist, and an instrumentalist, but I also identified a fifth element, personal participation, which permeates the other four elements. What I still find essential is my conclusion that the more tangible the things are that I write songs about, the more space there is to read between the lines. Presence is the main thing: it carries the story to where it is supposed to.