Writing a song a week from Reddit /Songaweek and/or Songaweek.org prompts for 2024. Recorded raw and simply on my phone with a little lavalier mic, and with a little help from the Audiolabs app for a smidge of reverb and compression.                                                                      For song-a-week 2022 (starting in September), 2023, and a few previous songs from prompts, go here: https://audiomack.com/dharmika                            I removed many of my song-a-day songs from May 2020, but a few remain here on this SoundCloud account. 

Song-a-week 2024

Song a week 2024 #1 - The prompt word I used was "Renewal" - I wrote about of one of the places where I feel renewed.

I had a more complex chorus at first, but it wasn't doing it for me, so I ended up here.


Holy Water

Song-a-week 2024 #2 - Prompts: "In a million years", and also, writing in Dorian Mode

I wrote the lyrics from the first prompt and then created the song with the D minor Dorian mode key. 

I found it challenging to write to a prompt about so so so so far into the future. 

I tend to like a more natural voice, but in this case, I added a little reverb and echo for a slightly futuristic effect. 

Photo: Rock from a shoreline in Connecticut.



In a Million Years

Song-a-week 2024 #3 - Prompt was "Trade Secrets". A winter barefoot adventure at the beach inspired this. 

I worked with a shortcut songwriting technique that I learned in a workshop I went to with this song. Basically, another song was a template for the lyric phrasing for my own lyrics, all new, except for an interesting word or two here and there. Then I created different chords and melody to end up with a totally different song than the original. 

Two points if you guess the original!



You Are A Wonder

Song-a-week 2024 #4 -
SAW.org prompt #4 is "All of a Sudden"
Reddit SAW prompt #3 is to put the chorus first

I started to write about an imaginary relationship where someone walks in the door and I'm in their arms again, but then, I ended up writing about the more meaningful relationships that I actually do have, in the setting where the chorus ends up.

I love it when I can work with both prompts and end up with something unexpected. I like mulling over the prompts for a few days, to see where they take me.

All of a Sudden I'm Home

Song-a-week 2024 #5 - Two prompts, "Dream World" and "Apologies", combine into this intense short assessment of the present status of our world. Not my happiest song, but, it is how it is, as they say...

Rough recording; I am still in the process of figuring out the song. 

In a Dream World

Song a week 2024 #16 (Reddit #15) - Prompt = "Eclipse"

A folky version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" - The sun wins, and the shadow goes fading away. 

Photo from 2018 solar eclipse - leaf crescents, in Oregon

Your Shadow Goes Fading Away

DharmikaMusic