Unveiling the Hidden Harmonies: How John Garrison’s Memoir Transforms Music into Life’s Untold Stories
Think about the artist. Does the personal history of the artist resonate with your lived experience? If not, can it throw your experience into relief for all the ways that your lives differ? Both Martín and Nelson do this elegantly in the essays linked above.
Look for places where a song can “show” rather than “tell.” Sometimes it can be challenging to portray the complex subtlety of emotions. Rather than writing, “I was devastated,” describe a heartbreak song playing on repeat. Instead of just saying, “I changed,” show us how your playlist evolved, or how your interpretation of a song altered. Marlon James’ essay “From Jamaica to Minnesota to Myself” does this elegantly when a song by the Velvet Underground clarifies his crisis of faith.
