The
Germ Theory
by Rod Goelz
Creation
of any kind starts with a germ, defined
simply as a tangible creative spark, the
smallest component
of the creative process. . . . the embryo
In songwriting, the germ
What ever the form, the germ is the single musical event that inspired you to create in the first place... that riff that sounded cool enough to develop into something greater. The central idea with music GERM is to FUSE it with other complimentary GERMS--from a simple chord progression, a melody can transpire; with that melody, storytelling can take place within a song lyric. Songwriters make their life work out of taking these simple musical/poetic ideas and attach them to other simple, yet complimentary ideas... into what becomes a song.
What the germ idea teaches us is that nearly anyone is capable of expressing themselves musically, whether you're writing a song, improvising a solo, singing. . . . or just about anything else. In the GERM THEORY, we can see that the act of creating can be reduced to the smallest of building blocks. In some ways, songs are nothing more than simple ideas added to other simple ideas.