How to write the perfect pop song

According to our secret holiday schedule, it’s time for another episode! At UXcamp Holger talked about song-writing, creativity, shitty first drafts, and teaching stuff. The title is »How to write the perfect pop song« – and yes, indeed, this has a lot to do with User Experience!

A video recording of Holger’s talk is available on Vimeo, thanks to Marian Steinbach (uxzentrisch.de).

Links for this episode – and go watch those videos on YouTube!!

• Holger’s example for song-writing is Feel by Robbie Williams.
• The B section in a thirty-two-bar form is called middle eight and common in Tin Pan Alley songs.
• You’ll find lots of Pachelbel rants on YouTube – named after Johann Pachelbel – e.g. this one by Rob Paravonian or this one by the Axis of Awesome.
• Randy Pausch used two head fakes in his Last Lecture called Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. You also might want to watch Time Management by him.
• The term »Shitty First Draft« was coined by Anne Lamott in her book Bird by Bird.
• We also mentioned the TED conference (great talks online!)…
• …and the Service Design Conference. Holger will give his talk again at the conference (13th + 14th October 2010 in Berlin).
• The song Holger played after the questions & answers was »A Decade In The Making« and is available on MySpace.

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