Carolyn Arends is a speaker, songwriter and writer who has just released her tenth album. She has earned two Dove Awards and three Juno nominations and also is recognized as a West Coast Music Award Songwriter of the Year. Recently, she took time away from her busy schedule to chat with me about music and writing.
Maranatha News: You?ll be speaking at Write! Vancouver about songwriting. Can you give us a hint about what you?ll be telling workshops participants?
Carolyn Arends: I suspect the aggravating but undeniable secret of any writing?including song writing? is rewriting. So we?ll be looking at 
lyrical and musical questions you can ask of a draft of a song in a quest to take it to the next level. These questions include things like, ?Have I been abstract when I could have been concrete? Have I been passive when I could have been active? Is my melody as singable and memorable as it could be?? We?ll unpack about 20 questions as best as we can and listen to examples of really inspiring work in each of the areas we explore. They say that ?talking about music is like dancing to architecture.? It?s hard and a bit unwieldy, but that doesn?t mean it?s not worthwhile to try. And it?s never boring!
Maranatha News: How did you start song-writing?
Carolyn: My mom claims that as soon as I could talk, I would sing, and what I would sing wouldn?t make sense . . . but it would rhyme. I was a shy kid, and song writing was the way I found very early on to express myself. By my early teens I was writing songs to go with my pastor?s sermons. I signed my first publishing contract at 21 (writing songs for other artists) and then released the first project of my own when I was 25.
Maranatha News: What is the hardest part about songwriting? The easiest part?
Carolyn: I?d say the hardest part is getting a truly great idea, a lyrical ?hook? and accompanying concept that I can commit myself to and that is simultaneously unique and relatable. Once I?ve got the hook and the driving concept, the rest is relatively easy. Except, of course, when it?s not.
Maranatha News: How did you turn from song- writing to book writing?
Carolyn: I was a bookish kid, and if you?d asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up I would have said ?an author.? Of course, I ended up with a music career, and no complaints! But around the time my third album came out, my record company asked me to write a prose reflection on the events and ideas that had inspired the music. It turned out that I got almost as much response to the little article as I did to the album, and that led to the opportunity to write a book. Writing prose and music are very different processes, but I think they come from the same impulse to communicate?the desire to articulate and explore stuff that matters.
Maranatha News: Now that your tenth album has released, what is your next project?
Carolyn: I?m halfway through a Master?s Degree at Regent College, so that is my main vocational focus at the moment. My career has kind of morphed over the years from music to music-speaking-writing- teaching, and I?ve had a longing to become better equipped for those tasks. I love my studies and feel so grateful for the chance to undertake them. And in the midst of school, I?m still writing a bimonthly column (for Christianity Today), teaching music courses at PLBC, and doing a bit of concert and speaking touring.
Carolyn Arends will be teaching two workshops on songs and songwriting during Write! Vancouver on May 26, at Tapestry on the UBC Campus. The Write! Vancouver registration deadline is this coming Friday, May 18. For more information and to register, visit the website at www.writevancouver.com.?You can also find out more about Carolyn and her books and music on her website at www.carolynarends.com.
Bonnie Way is a stay-at-home mom who lives in B.C. with her husband and two daughters (ages 4 and 2). Bonnie conducts interviews and book reviews for Maranatha News.
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