13. Compose Daily: 30 Songs w/Jenna Funicella

In this episode of The Music Executive, the host welcomes Jenna Funicella, a high school math teacher who embarked on an impressive songwriting journey. 

Jenna took on the challenge of writing one song every day in April, a task that tested her creativity and perseverance. 

She discusses 

• the motivations behind the challenge, 
• the emotional connection to her music, 
• and the practical steps she took to meet her goals, such as using voice recordings and exploring different instruments.

Jenna also highlights the importance of expressing and naming feelings in her songwriting process. The episode wraps up with an exclusive listen to Jenna's latest track, 'Special Treat.' 

Chapters

• 2:09 Steps and Challenges in Songwriting
• 5:44 Overcoming Instrument Limitations
• 7:14 Creating Memorable Melodies

Transcript

Being able to, able to, you know, heal yourself with giving that feeling attention, making it feel seen, and giving it that, that power to it. That has been one of the, the most inspiring things for me for the songwriting, is just naming the feelings.

This is the Music Executive, a show where we talk about gig tips, music, business strategies, songwriting experiences, collabs, and even more with industry professionals. Let's get into it. Hello. Hello and welcome to the show. Today. We have an amazing, amazing guest. Jenna, who has actually been working in education and is currently a high school math teacher.

So, why in the world do we have Jenna Vella on the music executive? Well, Jenna has done an April song A Day Challenge where she has written one song every day. And today we're gonna talk about how to sustain that and the steps she was taking, not necessarily in order, but the steps she was taking to write songs every day.

'cause if you're a songwriter out there, you know. That's a big challenge. And if you're not a songwriter, you know, that's a big challenge, but I think it's been beneficial for her. Jenna, if you could pick any superpower, what would it be? Ooh. Um, thank you so much for having me. This is so exciting. I'm so happy to be here.

Any superpower? You know what comes to my head that has never done me wrong is just. The teleportation, like just getting rid of the, that travel time and being able to bounce into all these different spots. Nice. I like that one. That's, that's definitely a one you don't usually hear. People usually say like flying or being invisible or something like that.

That's a cool one though. X-ray vision sorts like that. But that's a cool one. I like that. There's so many great ones. For sure, for sure. Now, Jenna, today we're gonna talk about, um, your April Song of Day Challenge. What was that like and what was the goal that you were looking to accomplish with that? Yeah, so the goal I think, that I was really looking to accomplish was to.

Thinking that this wasn't gonna be the right word, or this wasn't gonna be the right chord, or the melody was not what I exactly wanted. And just to get into that production vibe where I'm just like, I'm just, something has to be produced every day. Something's coming out. So let's just get that magic coming out.

Yeah. And the, the process itself was just really interesting because I, you know, songwriting is pretty new to me. I've been doing a lot of like cover songs and exploring music and getting into it, and also writing. So being able to fuse those two together just to yeah, show myself that I can do it and I can embody that energy.

It was powerful. Yeah. And did you. Did you meet your goal? Like did you meet your challenge? Did you have, how many days in April? Uh, 30 days. April. 30 days in April. So you got 30 songs. Did we, did we make that? I made it very nice. You should be proud of yourself. That's awesome. That's really awesome. Now, uh, let's talk about some of the steps we were taking.

And as I said earlier, this is not necessarily in any particular order as those in the audience know. So, let's see, let's talk Jenna, about darting or some of the steps that you were taking with your songwriting. Yeah, some of the songs I was trying to find places to express feelings. So, um, writing a song gave me an opportunity to feel a particular feeling.

So a lot of those songs were inspired by what am I feeling today? Like, what is bringing me. This joy or this anxiety or this, you know, whatever the feeling may be, and kind of placing that and taking that feeling and creating just a melody from it. Sometimes the melody would just kind of, uh, pop into my head as to what I want it to sing or talk about, and then I would just explore it and stretch it out.

And then there were other times when I would go back to my writing. And be like, I don't have a feeling today. Right, right. I need to go to a past feeling and give that some attention. Um, so go into a poem and seeing how I can find, you know, pieces. Like what is the course element of this poem, what is the theme?

And then, um, playing around with chords because that was definitely one of the harder parts for me is I'm not as gifted in. Singing and then being like, what chord does that match? So I had to do a lot of noodling with my ukulele to kind of figure out like, does this even, is this going together? Is this working?

And sometimes I would be blocked by my ukulele as well. And then I started like using my body or like clapping or doing like acapella, just finding different ways to still create the music if I was feeling blocked by the strings. Right. And that's the thing, sometimes we feel like there's a. There can be, I'm not gonna say it.

I'm not gonna say it as a final. Statement, but there can be a quote unquote limitation to putting your instrument with your songwriting and not having extensive experience on that instrument. Right. So sometimes it feels like the instrument's in the way. So how did you work through that? Because I'm sure a lot of people who.

Are starting to pick up guitar, pick up ukulele or the piano or whatever the case may be, how do you work through that? And you know, you said you noodled on your strings, but how do you really work through that? Yeah, it was challenging, especially with the ukulele because that has such a particular sound and sometimes you're playing and you're like this.

I feel like a lot of these songs are sounding similar. So for me, I just, I mean, I went out, I bought some other little minor instruments that I could play with, like a tambourine, a little egg shaker, and just kind of finding other ways around me that can make those types of melodies and flow with the words, because the, the melody and the words were always the easier part for me, um, being able, but then the matching with the instrument.

Became challenging. So I would try just Googling a bunch of different chords. Also using like websites that tell you which chords sound good together. 'cause those exist. Mm-hmm. Which was so helpful. So I would just like, fine. Okay. It says these four chords sound good together. Let's just do twos strums here and then a fast.

What does that sound like? You know, just really. Exploring and keeping an open mind and being gentle with myself that like, I may not know what is gonna sound good, but the only way to to test it out is to strum. And you know, when it sounds right, you get, you know? Yeah. And the thing is like too, when you're also, when you're starting with the melody, talk about how you work through that melody.

Because the thing about the melody ha, it has to be memorable, right? So, have you ever written your songs and you're like, yay, there's a great melody, and then the next day you're like, I don't even remember what, what I wrote. So how do you work through that, you know, making melodies that are memorable?

Yeah, that is definitely something I faced. Um, which then I started just voice recording. Like whenever I got a little melody in my head. I just picked up my phone 'cause I'm like, I have forgotten before and thought that I had this, you know, beautiful melody that and think that you're gonna remember and then you don't.

Was unfortunate, so just taking, anytime I get a little something in my head, just whipping out my phone and just recording it. And sometimes even then just doing the melody that I created, recorded, and then just keeping it going and just improv, exploring with what other things could come off of that melody, like how could this be stretched?

So as you've worked through. This process of writing a song a day, and that's not where you stopped. I'm sure you've still written many songs since April, 'cause it is now December, 2020. What is one thing that you learned that you're like, this is a good way to. Start a song, whether it be with a concept like you found this is a solid way to just start, or what is one thing you learned that you should keep doing?

Yeah. I think the most important thing for me was just attaching it to a powerful feeling that you're experiencing and being able to, you know, heal yourself with. Giving that feeling attention, making it feel seen, and giving it that, that power to it. That has been one of the, the most inspiring things for me for the songwriting, is just naming the feeling.

So being able to, yeah, acknowledge what you're going through and give it some attention. Right? Making it real, put it into words. Making it real, so. Y'all. Jenna has some amazing music. She's really a great songwriter. I love listening to her music. Jenna, where can the audience follow you? Ooh, I am on Instagram as Angel fni, so that's Angel, FUNI.

And then an underscore, and I'm also getting. My angel, NY up on Spotify. Apple music. Amazon Music, anywhere where it's streaming, which is really exciting and new. So that's where you can find me. Nice. Well, y'all follow Jenna and reach out to her as she has graciously been on the show and she's really fun to talk to.

As you can tell. Now we have a beautiful song that she's written that you're about to hear and it's called Special Treat. And Jenna, it's been amazing having you on the show, y'all. I'll talk to you soon. Take care. Thank you so much. Bye.

Because then I won't be feeling hungry.

You give all the sweetness I need

you.

Life is tastier with you.

Life is tastier with you.

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