I share three simple, honest tools for writing songs that feel alive: move from head to heart, let chords carry emotion, and capture ideas before judgment shuts them down. Solitude, co-writing courage, and skill-building all play a part in turning feeling into sweet songs.

• shifting from thinking to feeling as the creative starting point
• solitude as safety
• vulnerability and trust in co-writing rooms
• using chord and note choices as well as chord inversions to evoke emotion
• practicing enough get out of your own way
• embracing limitations on instruments as a way to get creative
• capturing stream-of-consciousness drafts without judgment
• returning later to refine things

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We trace how David Bowie used tone, accent, range, and attitude to reshape meaning across decades, on stage and in the studio. Stories from touring, vocal craft insights, and why change was his most honest instrument anchor the conversation.

• shifting timbre within songs, Diamond Dogs suite
• live evolution from Santa Monica ’72 to Glastonbury 2000
• Where Are We Now and purposeful vocal persona
• challenging fans through reinvention rather than repetition
• imitation as palette, Elvis, Bolan, Dylan influences
• croon, humour, and darkness coexisting in delivery
• It’s No Game and Heroes as case studies in meaning shift
• technique, timbre, and physiology affecting range and color
• accents as storytelling tools and identity play
• Toy as a midlife mirror of early songs
• Hours, The Next Day, Blackstar and age-aware singing
• performance ethos centered on audience connection

Check out the Emmhead community https://www.patreon.com/c/EmmGryner

Gryner Voice 8-week Transformational Vocal Course https://www.grynervoice.com/online-vocal-coaching-program

Maggiore On Bowie: https://maggioreonbowie.com

https://www.youtube.com/@johnmaggiore6751

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Inaugural episode! Come along with me on a winding path from a major-label high to sudden free fall, then to Bowie’s life-changing influence, a Joni Mitchell theatre run at the worst possible time, and the discovery that voice can survive what ego cannot. Because I'm ME, I make sure you get a few tips to eliminate roadblocks around fear, time, and beginning a new venture.

Come along for:

• the lowdown on my indie career roots and the Mercury Records drop
• joining David Bowie’s band and finding family onstage
• divorce as rupture and voice as anchor
• healing through Joni Mitchell’s lyrics and how to find breath in devastation
• watching Glastonbury 2000 to remember aliveness
• redefining success, visibility, and purpose at 50
• coaching insights on perfectionism as fear
• Einstein Time, reframing scarcity into ownership
• practical tools for breath, small starts, and momentum
• why I named the podcast what I did and how we can return to ourselves.

My 8-week transformational vocal course: https://www.grynervoice.com/

"The Big Leap" by Gay Hendricks: https://amzn.to/44PgLoV
"The Healing Power of Singing" by Emm Gryner: https://www.emmgryner.com/store/p/vdo7j5oe90ngf25u7wjutj4pf1gmji

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