Thanks for those tips, Alaska Mike and El Grek: the one about matching a stressed word to a change in pitch, and the random playing cards idea. I can't wait to try that one out.

I'm getting back into this after a space of some 30 years. I certainly agree that the more styles of music you listen to (and perform), the better - for all kinds of reasons, not only for songwriting. I'm working my way through a very thick workbook at the moment, "Improvising Blues Piano" - it goes into all the different chord structures and so on. I never learned music "properly", so this is an eye-opener to me and I'm discovering interesting new (to me !) patterns and sequences of notes to try out. Great fun.

I totally agree about the great songwriters you mentioned. Funny that should come up. Just this morning I've been listening to Rod Stewart's CD, "The Great American Songbook" and I was thinking how (apparently) effortlessly perfect those words and melodies are: Gershwin "They can't take that away from me", Kahn "It had to be You", Cole Porter "Every Time We Say Goodbye"....Jerome Kern...Hoagy Carmichael... Forgive me for being "heretical" on a folkie website, but I have to say, those songwriters are high at the top of my favourites list. I think it's for the very reason being talked about here: the words and melody are inseparable and make a perfect whole.

- jeanie